University Community Park

Beautifully clean park. Lots of open green space to play, picnic tables to enjoy and a great playground with swings, infant area and sand box. Plus, there’s plenty of parking; street and two lots.

I just realized I never posted this review — it’s from a few years ago when I rented the community center’s MPR. I rented the smaller MPR for my son’s birthday party and had NO idea the kind of red tape and bureaucracy renting from the Irvine Company and the city of Irvine meant.
I was told I could use the kitchenette and all the things in there (had to pay an extra fee to use it) but when we got there, all the cabinets were locked so nothing was at my disposal. There is a fridge, but it was packed with things in there so ultimately there wasn’t much space in there for me to use — thank god I had ice to chill my drinks.
There were 2 ovens but they were minuscule so if you had big trays of food to warm in there they wouldn’t fit inside the oven. I thought there would be utensils I could use like oven mitts etc, but nothing was available so I had to go home and bring everything with me.
When we arrived, the room was closed up and I had wanted the doors to open into the outside area so the kids can go outside to play so I asked the attendant to help open the door. At least she obliged. Then it was so stuffy inside I asked her to turn the air on (which is all locked up and required a key for any changes) and she said it was already on but because of the doors being opened it was hot. I thought it was weird because when I went home to pick up supplies, the temperature outside read 70 degrees and the temperature set on the AC/​air system was 73 degrees. Once she turned it on it was much better.
The room offers your most basic items like tables and chairs, but that’s it. When you are done, you have to clean up. They provide you with a vacuum, antibacterial wipes, spray cleaners like simple green, garbage bags so you can take your garbage out to the dumpster. My rental w/​o the kitchenette worked out to be about $ 54/​hour but that was with my Irvine resident discount. They required a $ 200 deposit in case you screwed something up in there. The kitchenette is an additional $ 15 (not calculated by the hour, just a one time fee). They allow you one change on your original request — so if you had requested 3 hours and then wanted to change to 2 or 4hrs, you get a one time change for free. If you change your mind again, there is a $ 35 fee each time you change it.
This is the first and last time I will be renting one of these again. At the end of the day, I worked out that after buying everything for the party, renting the space, set up/​clean up, I would’ve been better off renting one of those party places where they set up, provide food and clean up as well. My final cost was only a difference of $ 50.
Not worth the stress and energy.

This review is focused on UCP’s community park center. I’ve been teaching dance classes at this Community Park for the past 3 years and it’s one of my favorite community park centers to work out of. The facilities are first, built green (eco-​friendly), always clean, and the staff is very friendly and helpful. I teach out of the dance room which has hard wood floors, ballet barres, and mirrors (with a state of the art sound system). I always see that the park and playground are filled with kids, and games taking place at the volleyball courts.

this is a nice park near uci. theres also this strange mud play area adjacent to the park but closed. i have no idea what it is but i remember going to it often and theres like some obstacle course or something. the park is very nice, typical of irvine park with huge grassy areas, tennis courts, playgrounds, the standard

this is a very nice park.
it has tennis courts. vending machine with drinks are right outside.
playground with rubber floor, to absorb shock
racketball courts.
basketball courts.
valleyball pit.
baseball field
huge grass area for you or your dog to run around.
PS: there used to be a hidden spot near the east side of the park where teenagers go to smoke pot & or cigs and to commit lewd acts… don’t ask me how i know, i just do. LOL. i believe the city of irvine found out and caught on, so they trimmed the bushes and trees so nothing is covering the benches nowadays.