City Park Storyland Reopens This Weekend

NEW ORLEANS, La. (WVUE) - After a two-month face lift the new and improved Storyland reopens this weekend. It's down to the last touches on many of the beloved exhibits.

Amanda Frentz works in public relations for New Orleans City Park the home to Storyland since the 1950s. She said, “You guys came at a great time. This is the first time we've had water.”

Back in July, the iconic Storyland shut down for a makeover. Waymon Morris is the park’s director of recreation. He’s excited about the refresh. Morris said, “Oh yeah! We have so much that’s been done in two months. It’s incredible actually.”

Teams from City Park, volunteers and local artists all came together for the largest refurbishment of the classic playground in more than three decades. Morris said, “It's extremely complicated to get all those people together, but to get all done in a short amount of time is pretty crazy.”

Frentz says the park had a vision for a more accessible and interactive play space. She said, “A lot of what we tried to focus on this time around is bringing in some elements of interactive play, STEM.”

There’s a lot more to touch and move. Frentz said, “We have a few little techie things here and there, but it’s not a place, you know those story books could have easily been an iPad, but we decided that’s not who we are this is not who Storyland is.”

Some attractions like Captain Hooks pirate ship just got a bit of a facelift, but others are brand new to the park. Humpty Dumpty is one of the new exhibits giving kids a chance to play with giant blocks.

Frentz said, “Boudreaux's always been our Storyland gator. We brought him back here and gave him his own exhibit.”

According to Morris, “It’s tough to pick a favorite with so many new exciting things. I have a musical background, so I think Boudreaux’s musical forest is one of my top three.”

The re-imaging of “Hey Diddle Diddle’s” cow jumping over the moon coupled with the space rocket embodies the mission of the park being more accessible for the disabled and interactive for kids and parents alike.

Frentz explains, “It's expanding diversity. It's expanding interactive play. We've brought in some STEM elements and it's pretty incredible especially when you couple it with the NASA space suit we were able to get on loan from NASA.

A suit worn in space by astronaut Charles Bolden will be display in the visitors center for the next five years.

There's still some major construction left.

Frentz said, “That is one piece that isn't going to ready for opening day, but we are inviting people to come back for Jack.”

The Jack and the Beanstalk jungle gym will be completed later this fall.

If you love the big pirate ship, you will probably be excited about another new addition.

Visitors will be able to drive radio control pirate ships around the mermaid lagoon.

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