Exploration Place reopens one of two play structures closed after safety concerns
One of the two pieces of playground equipment closed last week at Exploration Place’s new Adventure Playscape playground has reopened, and the other could reopen in a few days, the museum’s President and CEO said on Monday.
The climbable yellow rocket that soars above the playground was repaired over the weekend, Smith said, and is available again for play. It was closed as a precaution because of broken plastic clips, even though the museum had determined the structure was still safe for play.
The playground’s red biplane is still closed, Smith said. Repairs on the structure, which was discovered to have loose bolts, are ongoing.
Both pieces of equipment at the $25 million playground have been closed since a local mom’s social media post outlining her safety concerns went locally viral last week. The mom, who took her three children, ages 8 to 13, to the park on April 25, said that her youngest son got stuck on both pieces of equipment. On the biplane, his shorts got hooked onto loose bolts. On the rocket, they got hung up on the broken clips.
The mom, Britt McNally, shared photos of the broken equipment in her post and said she wondered how the playground could be in disrepair so soon after opening.
Last week, Smith said that Exploration Place knew about the rocket’s broken clips but had determined they did not affect the structure’s safety. They didn’t know about the loose bolts until the post.
The manufacturer of the rocket and the biplane, Danish company Monstrum Playgrounds, sent a crew to the playground over the weekend to inspect and repair the pieces, which were covered under warranty, Smith said.
He also said that the playground was safe and that other state-of-the-art parks often experienced similar growing pains just after opening. The museum staff performs daily walkthroughs as well as comprehensive weekly inspections on the playground, he said. It’s also planning to conduct independent annual inspections.
The 6 1/2-acre playground, which includes 10 individual, Kansas-themed playgrounds plus a cascading water feature, opened just as Wichita school children were starting spring break in March. Smith said it’s already lured 100,000 visitors and been the impetus for thousands of new museum memberships.
This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 12:27 PM.
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