Tacoma, Washington - Never Never Land -Demolished

Weather, fallen trees and vandalism have finally won over at Never Never Land in Tacoma. The once well marked trail is now almost completely gone; what remains is blocked by fallen trees. All the story book structures on the trail have been demolished. Remaining at the site is the pile of books (minus Humpty) at the entrance, and the picnic area, which has the now boarded-up shoe slide and a sad, sad pirate ship. The area is not being maintained at this time, and it surely isn't a spot I'd bring children to picnic at, unless you want them to cry.

The parks dept. is planning on removing these last traces of Never Never Land soon. They don't know what the area will become, but they aren't really considering a children's play area for this site at this time.

Come to Point Defiance Park. It's incredibly beautiful. But don't plan on finding Never Never Land. [Laura S, 06/30/2008]

Poor Never Never Land. Humpty is AWOL. The books are there but in pretty bad shape. They have installed some crappy new playground equipment in the picnic clearing.

The only structures left are the Hickory Dickory Dock cottage, the shoe, Hansel and Gretel cottage and what I am guessing was the ticket booth, but they are all really trashed. The old path that led around to all the fairy tales is still there and the woods are absolutely stunning. It was kind of fun to pick through the wreckage and imagine what it must have been like. [Larry Brady, 04/11/2008]

I was so excited to bring my daughter and husband to this storybook villa. I remember walking into it with my cousins and being part of the fairy tale.

Sadly, when we arrived it was nothing like what I remembered. The book entrance was there, but no Humpty. The woman's old shoe was run down. I only saw a couple cottages along the gorgeous trails, yet they were covered in disgusting slander. It saddens me that this place is no longer kept up. I enjoyed it so much as a child and it's sad that the fairtales I grew up on are starting to disappear. Hopefully, someone with a heart and soul of a child will come in and revamp this amazing tourist land. [Megly, 07/23/2007]

Never Never Land lives! Well, sort of, anyway. The park was re-opened on July 4th, 2004. We visited there in November. [Paul Clift, 11/12/2004]

[RA: Repaired and once again open to the public for free: the Humpty Dumpty jumble-o-books entrance, nine other structures and the Old Lady's shoe, on a half mile, forested trail. Picnic areas available.]

Never Never Land is owned by the Parks Department. It is located in Point Defiance in Tacoma Washington. I remember going here when I was a kid. I am sad to say that it is being torn down. [Todd, 06/12/2004]

[RA: The decaying 40-year old Never Never Land, consisting of about 100 fiberglass fairytale characters along winding paths, was demolished in early June 2004. The lone surviving figure, Humpty Dumpty, has been put in storage until park officials decide whether he can be redeployed at another location....]