A Place to Let the Kids Slide : They Rule in a Lost Kingdom Featuring Sea Dragon Slide, Sand-Bound Viking Ship

David Ryan Sanders is not afraid of dragons.

He is particularly fearless when confronted by Danny Sea Dragon, a 50-foot slide at the Atlantis Play Center that is shaped, not surprisingly, like a dragon.

“Whenever we come here, which is often, the dragon slide is the first thing he heads for,” says Mark Sanders, 39, of Garden Grove, David’s father.

Three-year-old David has plenty of company.

Laurie Ruley, who has worked at Atlantis since 1968, says the long, green slide seems to be the favorite attraction of most of the children who visit the 4-acre park.

The Atlantis Play Center, which opened in 1963, differs from most playgrounds in that there is an admission charge and adults are only admitted when they are accompanying children. “We’ve had people who grew up in the city and remember Atlantis drop by and want to come in to see it again,” Ruley recalls.

“They can’t. It’s for children only. It’s like a little haven from the outside. Parents can bring a picnic lunch or sit down with a book or a radio and know that the kids aren’t going anywhere, because it’s all fenced in,” Ruley says.

The overriding theme from the time the park--which is run by the city’s Department of Community Services--was built until today is the mythical lost kingdom of Atlantis. Children can sit on concrete dolphins and sea horses, crawl beneath the legs of a cement octopus and slide through the mouth of a blue whale.

A Viking ship might not be a perfect historical match with the Atlantis theme, but few of the temporary Vikings who climb in and man the oars seem to worry about a discrepancy.

Each play area has a nearby post with a poem written on it, pertaining to the attraction in that area. For example, next to three concrete dolphins in a sandy area: “Dolly and her kiddies ride the waves of sand, their happy smiles will tell you it’s fun they understand, boys and girls, join them, ride them to your fill, only dolphins made of concrete are expected to stay still.”

And there is a pavilion, covered with a concrete seashell roof last July, which is used for birthday parties. A larger than life statue of King Neptune, carrying his famed trident, sits in the pavilion. “Atlantis might be best known for its catered birthday parties,” said Roxanne Kaufman, department of community services supervisor.

“More than 400 children had catered birthday parties last year. You can invite up to 18 children, and they each get balloons, cake, party favors, ice cream, punch and a coloring book,” Kaufman said. The cost is $38.

There are also clowns. Gricelda Garcia, supervising manager at Atlantis, said clowns formerly wore the traditional white face makeup, red noses and the like, but no longer. “We find that a lot of the really young kids are scared of clowns,” she said. “So we still dress a couple people like clowns and have them make balloon animals and do clownish things, but no paint on their faces. That’s too frightening for the really little ones.”

The great majority of Atlantis’ visitors are the “really little ones.” Kaufman estimated that most of the children are “8 or 9 and under,” and most who are older than that are accompanying younger siblings.

“What we’re seeing now,” she said, “is that people who went to Atlantis as children years ago are coming back with their own families.”

In its first year of operation, according to Garcia, Atlantis had 9,632 visitors (1991 brought about 64,000 visitors). The cost was 10 cents in those days. It was raised to 50 cents in 1974 and hasn’t gone up since. Children under 2 are admitted free.

While blankets, for lounging on the grass, and lawn chairs, for avoiding lounging on the grass, are allowed, a few things are not. Alcohol is one of them. Barbecues are another, although families may have their hands stamped, leave Atlantis, barbecue at nearby Garden Grove Park and return.

Picnic lunches are allowed, but skateboards, skates, bicycles, bats and balls are not. “There’s no room for all that,” Garcia said. “They can do that anywhere.”

Additionally, the park operators seem to think, such everyday items as bikes and skateboards might tend to detract from the fairy-tale atmosphere of the Atlantis theme.

“When this was all built,” Kaufman said, “the playground equipment was supposed to be unique. It was done this way on purpose, to foster creativity, to encourage individual and group play.”

The concrete sea horses (flying sea steeds), the sand-bound Viking ship, the dragon and whale slides, “Dolly” and her baby dolphins are original equipment.

So is Sparky Shark, where the attraction is a cable connecting the shark’s mouth to a pier about 15 feet away. Children can attempt to tightrope their way across the cable that has “caught” Sparky, knowing that, if they slip, their fall is only a few inches into sand.

Newer equipment tends to be more generic, in the jungle gym family of horizontal and vertical bars for children to climb. Two such structures were installed last summer.

Still another attraction is probably invisible to most adults. As the would-be pirates, spacemen and cowboys have chased their friends around the park, they have created a series of paths through the shrubs and bushes that fill the area.

“It wasn’t planned that way,” Kaufman said. “We had regular paths and trails designed in, but the kids created their own. Now we make sure that we trim and maintain the paths the kids have cleared.”

During the summer, a snack bar operates at Atlantis every day. In winter months, it is usually open on weekends. It is adjacent to the park’s lone entrance and exit and also within a few feet of dozens of covered picnic tables.

Twice a year, Atlantis is closed for painting and maintenance, Garcia said. This is often done in late May and late October.

Then, when the park is opened anew, the kids can head once again for Danny Sea Dragon, whose descriptive sign says of him: “It’s really not from envy that he’s a shade of green, he’s just about the happiest dragon that you have seen, if boys and girls can find his tail, and probably you will, you’ll find that Danny offers a slide that’s quite a thrill.”

Atlantis is open six days a week all year. During fall, winter and spring, it operates from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Summer hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 on Sunday. The telephone number is (714) 892-6015.

Triathlon workshop continues. John Prang, a hypnotherapist, and Olympic trainer Mike Ross will be on hand Saturday as SBR Sports in Irvine offers the next installment in its series of free workshops for triathletes. Prang will discuss hypnotherapy as a technique to boost performance; Ross will help participants work on their race transition times. The workshop begins at 8 a.m. at SBR, 5405 Alton Parkway, Suite F, in Irvine. The workshop series will continue Feb. 1, 15 and 29. For information, call (714) 722-2727.