Storybook Island

I absolutely adored Storybook Island — it was a dream come true for my kids! From the moment you arrive, the atmosphere feels straight out of a storybook. You walk through castle gates over a charming drawbridge, passing a sparkling pond with ducks, whimsical water features, and playful pretend animals. Rapunzel hangs her golden hair from the castle tower, with a prince climbing up to meet her — such a magical and enchanting welcome! There is so much space for kids to run and play among adorable storybook-themed displays. The train ride was a highlight, and at just $3 per rider, it was very reasonable, especially since admission to the park is free. The beautiful carousel inside a covered pavilion felt absolutely precious, and the friendly staff helped the kids hop on their horses with care. Disney-style storybook music plays throughout the park, adding to the fairytale wonder. We loved the playful drinking fountains shaped like a lion and a hippopotamus, the pirate ship with its little pond and bridge, and the playground for kids 5 and under — all clean, safe, and spread out beautifully. Shady trees and plenty of benches made it easy to relax and take it all in. Each bench had a placard honoring its donor, and there were beautiful engraved stones along the pathways with names of people who contributed — a lovely reminder that the park is funded through donations and community generosity. Storybook Island is operated by the Rotary Club of Rapid City and welcomes donations to help keep the magic going. There’s also a cute little gift shop packed with tempting souvenirs, and an ice cream shop on site that wasn’t open yet when we arrived but probably operates later in the day. Overall, Storybook Island is pure childhood magic brought to life — whimsical, charming, and absolutely worth a visit. Highly recommend!

This was such a nice add to our trip! And best of all it’s free!! My kids 8 and 6 loved it, thank you!! If you want to ride the train it’s $2 and the carousel is $3 each ride.

My kids love this park anytime we are in the area. It has so many fun scenes to interact with your favorite story book characters. The children of all ages enjoyed exploring and interacting with the scenes. For a small fee of $3 you can ride the train or carousel 🎠. Entrance to the park is free. No pets inside the gate. Ample parking and even a rv/bus strip for us out of towners

Free, free, FREE! This place is incredible for our two young kids. The only thing you pay for is to ride the train and carousel, but beyond that they simply have a donation box. Kids adored it and have been talking about it ever since. If you are in the area with young kids, this is a must.

I have two little kids under 5 and they really enjoyed it here. My husband and I did too! The park was very pretty! Kids loved the carousel, the train, and the park near the middle! We will be back!

This one is way better than the Aberdeen one. Well maintained, we kept up. And bonus it is free!!! If you need budget friendly day this is the place!

This place is magical! We initially stopped just as a quick pit stop on our road trip and ended up staying almost 2 hours. This place is charming, creative, and is for kids of all ages. It's free to enter and donations only asks for donations. Your kids can explore while Disney music plays in the background.

I can't believe admission to this place was free. This is a large park with so many interesting things to look out for the kids both big and small. My kids are two and five years old and really enjoyed this place. It had both interactive attractions such as the sand diggers, the ride-on horses, Pooh's climbing house, the swings and carousel as well as attractions just for looking at. This is definitely a great place to come and get kids energy out while having a lot of fun! The park is really well maintained, beautiful, plays Disney music and has access to bathrooms. Well done!

Great place to bring young children. Plenty to do with rides and concessions that won't put you in debt.

This is an amazing and free place to take your kids and have a great time with your kids making memories! Worth the trip and they have A&W root beer floats for a treat on a hot day. The artwork is beautiful and nostalgic to me as a 90s kid and my kids had an absolute blast playing at the park. Enjoy the outdoors and play with your kids today! Will definitely be back!!

Very cool and FREE attraction to check out in Rapid City. There's free parking and you can walk around. Great to bring the kids here to check out all the attractions they have to offer! A must if you're in Rapid City!

This is a perfect free spot for families to go to. You can easily spend 2-3 hours letting the kids play here. Lots to enjoy for small ones. There's a train and merry go round that's does cost $3. It's worth it because it goes to the upkeep of this free park. This is a roadside stop that is a must for families.

No admission fee. Thank you!!! So helpful when you are shelling out so much cash on vacation. Staff was friendly and helpful. Definitely need more shady spots for grandparents and babies to get out of the sun so bring a hat and sunscreen or maybe umbrella to block the sun. Would be a good idea for parents to take kids here and tire them out before taking a drive to the Hills. The train ride and carousel were reasonable priced at $3 a ride. And ice cream options that opened at 11am. You have to "exit through the gift shop" but items were reasonable priced and the cutest selection of items and old fashioned Golden Books. Kids age 7+ won't get into this - but younger than that they will love all the little spots to have fun in. Things for disabled children and babies and toddlers as well. It's like a step back in time - a wonderful little gem. Don't expect Disney - but it's very sweet and a perfect picnic spot.

Absolutely amazing place to visit! You see many many story book characters while listening to kids music. Free to public, donation boxes are around.

It's a free park and yet you close the whole place for a private thing. There kids literally crying outside the gate. Not cool. So rude

This park is so much fun! It was free to get in and you could spend days exploring the whole park. They have a carousel and a train that you can ride for $3. If you have a little then you must ride with them and pay $3 for yourself also. We went on the train which brings you through half the park. The whole family loved this place from my little to his grandpa and grandma. On the way out there is a small gift shop where I bought a cute ornament.

The little kids had such a good time. Fun train, Disney music, fresh air, cute scenes, carosel, and tons of themed spots to explore. More than we expected. Spent a couple hours there. Nice big park. So cool that's it free so we left donations. Wish we had something like this near us!

We loved Storybook Island! We decided to go there during our Mt. Rushmore trip. I wish we'd planned for more days there! Not only is it free, but there is so much to do and play on. I thought my 10-year-old twin boys would be done after a little while...boy was I wrong! We were there all morning (rode the train and the carousel too), went out for lunch, then came back for a few more hours in the afternoon. Finally had to drag them away, and they still hand't played on everything! If you have kids and find yourself in Rapid City, make sure to have a fun day at Storybook Island!

I have gone here since I was a kid coming out to visit. I think it is a great and fun experience! I hope it can stay around since it has been here 1959 (I believe). It's not some perfect Disney or other money making park. It is just fun and simple out door good times. I hope parents and children respect the park and have a blast enjoying some unique park items, I have never seen anywhere else.

Such a fun location for visiting families and locals alike! We went twice in the week we were in Rapid City as our one year old us so much fun walking around and grabbing all the characters. Worth a stop for sure.

Free and I spent my childhood there. Definitely recommend as a great family experience!

Worth a visit even without small children. People are story creatures and this place will likely remind most visitors of many stories they grew up hearing.

My adult sister and I visited this park for our morning walk. It's super cute! Every city should have one! Kudos to the Rotary!

Somewhat late to leave this review but here it is. This is an absolutely Amazing place to take the kids! As an adult, I thought I may be bored here but I was surely mistaken. The park was extremely well-maintained and I enjoyed seeing all of the wonderful sets and flowers. We rode the train and the carousel. Both of which were extremely enjoyable and fair in price. The staff members were not only smiling and friendly, but were quick to ensure we felt safe and comfortable on the rides. The best part of this place is that it is free admission in the summer! However, I was certainly happy to leave a donation and will definitely visit again in the future. Couldn't recommend more.

For a free attraction, this is pretty much as good as it gets. Clean, well-maintained and better than a lot of things that cost much more. We only stayed for an hour and could've stayed at least another hour- there was plenty for everyone to do. Lots of snack bars and bathrooms. Train was fun. Shade around most things, too.

This is a "must see" if you have small children in Rapid City. Of all the places we visited my kids liked this the most. Oh by the way, it's free!

Great little free outdoor park. Cute displays etc., Well maintained and nice. Again it's free so complaining is stupid. I would visit it again with the kiddos if we came back.

I used to come here as a kid during our South Dakota trips and it is still as fun as I remember. The park is in great shape!! If you have kids, they will absolutely love this park! Even as an adult, I enjoyed walking around and looking at all the little nursery rhyme-themed buildings.

This placed looked awesome and so we headed out there but unfortunately it is NOT shown that after Labor Day, they are closed (Gated and fenced up) until Memorial Weekend. So we were sad to not have been able to go in.

This is a Great Free place you can spend some time with your kids. A nearly perfect place to spend the day and completly wear out your kids. I remember coming here when I was a toddler, and I took many of the same pictures of my son as I have of myself. There is about every story character you can think of (exciting for our kid since he reads lots of books...he liked seeing them), and all kinds of slides and things to climb on. They do have a small train ride you can put your kids on for $1/ride. If you are in the area and haven't been here, you can't beat the "Free Admission" your kids will have a great time

All the stagnant water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes, we were all eaten up! Many of the buildings the kids went into had hornets nests on them..it was a miserable time for us. It WAS free which was cool but then we were eaten alive by mosquitoes and my kids were stung multiple times by the hornets.

Great place for kids. Free... what's better than that? It's an excellent place to bring kids for a morning or afternoon. Very well kept. We didn't have issues with mosquitoes in July like other the other reviewer stated. We had friends get the $35 punch card and the kids did the train, bounce house, and carousel... don't forget to get the 25 cent otter pops to cool yourself off!!!

This was a great thing to take our kids to. It's a little old but the kids didn't mind and they had lots of fun. The park is free but a $1 per person donation is suggested. I'm glad that we took the time to visit this. It was cute & much larger than we anticipated. This is great for children probably 7 & under.

This place is free.... and huge!! Clearly it has been here a while, some of these things look pretty well-loved. Nothing was unsafe though. Tons of stuff to look at and climb on. Some stuff you know right away... other things I had to think about :) We probably spent a good hour and a half here and would have stayed longer if we weren't driving across country. As at any place there were a few kids (who we kept seeing everywhere) that didn't seem to be well watched. Bigger kids that were pushing, running, climbing on things not meant to be climbed on etc. Not really a hit to the park since it's not their fault, but a simple reminder to stay vigilent and safe. Lots of little baby ducks in the ponds and even a poor turtle that was likely scared to death trying crawl through the grass back to the water.

This is a small town amusement park based in story book characters. Like Humpty Dumpty and Cinderella. It's especially awesome during Halloween and Christmas. You can bring your kids and walk around to get Halloween candy or come during Christmas to see all of the displays lite up with lights. It'll be cold during that time, so make sure you bundle up. Also, the lines will get long as well so check the weather and get their early. It doesn't take much time to go through so it is a quick trip. I still need to check it out during the summer time when the weather is nicer.

How can you beat free?! We were in South Dakota last September so Storybook Island was closed for the season. I was so glad that we were able to visit during our trip this time! First of all, it was HOT... My temp gauge on my car said 103, and we felt it! Thankfully while the kids ran around, we found many shady spots to grab a seat and relax. I was very impressed that the characters were still there, dressed up in their costumes, and didn't seem to be miserably hot! They stayed in character for the kids to enjoy (even though it had to have been miserable!). We enjoyed walking around and taking photos with the various scenes. The kids loved it, and the adults had fun too!

What a neat place! It's a must stop for the little ones on your trip. You can't beat the price, it's a great stop for a vacation on a budget.

This is a hidden gem! I was so glad I took my family here. It was raining and we were going to pass but figured we'd wait it out and it was the best decision we made. Do not pass it up if you have little ones. Best part is no admission. They could easily charge $20 a person.

The park is great and staff friendly. However, I do not recommend birthday parties here. Event staff failed to return communications from me regarding questions I had. There was another family apparently having a kid's birthday party elsewhere in the park at the same time as ours, and staff got the 2 confused. Very little help from staff and many rules. It seemed like a lot of money to pay for the little we got out of it. Aside from birthday parties here, the park is highly recommended by me. I love that admission is free and it's a wonderful place to take the kids.

This is a free place to take your kids that has been around for decades! They keep up with the changing times and have a beautiful setting!! This is great for toddlers through late elementary. There is a special place for under 5 years old to play without the older kids as well.

No other reviews mention this so it is worth mentioning this place is only open Memorial to Labor Day. We came in mid September and found it all locked up. Very disappointed.

Best place to go!!! We brought our 3 year old and spent 2 hours could have stayed longer if they park didn't close. FREE to get in, and $2 for train or carousel. Love all the different stories that are included.

Great time checking out Christmas lights with the family. Loved the park. Hope things continue to go well for you for years to come!

Really cool place for the kids to get out and explore (great energy drainer). It is free, but recommended that you leave a donation. There is also restrooms and a concession area if you need to utilize them.

Great place to let the kids run off some energy! Fun to see the storybook and nursery rhyme characters come to "life". Christmas is a great time to go - the displays are covered in Christmas lights! Great to walk through while sipping hot chocolate.

No complaints at all. - free * some optional things cost money like a train ride for a couple bucks - very big - well maintained - did I mention free

Passing through while in SD, can't believe this place is free. If you have kids under 12 this is a must go, even with older kids. The park attached has a great stream with some deep spots and a rope swing. Some of the things in the park are a little older but there's so much it doesn't really matter.

Went here with our kids (7, 5, and 3) and they all had a blast. Would highly highly recommend this place! Pack some sunscreen and plan to spend a while here. It's free but I would still bring some cash. They don't allow outside food/drinks into the park but they have concessions which is one way they help fund the park to keep it free admissions. Overall, this place was worth the stop!

Super dope little spot to bring the kids. And it's free. I would for sure make it a point to stop at this joint.

This is a must for anyone who likes Disney characters or the cute fairytale stories. We took our sons 2 & 4 + friends son who is almost 2 they had a blast so excited they didn't know what to look at 1st. Admission is free they do have several donation boxes placed as characters. There is also a train ride it was $2.00 per person goes around a path & through a tunnel was also lots of fun. There was also lots of play spots with slides & a designated play ground area for kids under 5.

Our boys 9 and 12, had fun running around this awesome park! I so wish we had brought them when they were a little younger, would have spent hours here I'm sure!!

What a fun park to bring children to, it is very large so it doesn't feel crowded. Many things to see and do here. Lots of spots to rest for adults.free to enter, there are concessions, a train ride and a few others to spend a little money on

First of all...this is FREE theme-type park for children ages 0-4 maybe. It's a great place to take the kiddos and let them run around and play on Cat in the Hat or Talk to Dorothy and the rest of the gang from The Wizard of OZ. There are swings and teeter-tooters and slides and walking paths and grassy areas to play. Again, it's free durning the summer months and something to do with the young ones. They will run around and get sleepy in no time. During the holiday season, they do decorate everything in lights and it's a cool little winter wonderland with hot chocolate and people singing carols. There is a small fee to get in for that, but it is well worth it.

Storybook Island was a nice surprise. The kids REALLY loved this place. The place consisted of large diorama's of kids stories like Snow White, The Wizard of Oz, Winnie the Pooh, etc. The only downfall was that some of the exhibits need repair. I will give this a 4 for that reason only. This was even fun for me and my wife.

My 3 year old loved this! She thought she was at Disney :) This is a must do for anyone with small kids. Pay the extra money to see the magic show-it was worth it (and only $1 per person). Lots of fun for everyone (even us adults). Other reviews have commented on how run down it's been but for a free park I would say it's in great condition. The staff were wonderful and very interactive. Will definitely do this again if we are in the area!

Great place to bring children in the summer and for the Christmas lights in winter. Not a lot of places like this around anymore, its a true gem. I am 32 and came here as a child on vacation, it has only gotten better since then. A+

Small kids? This is a must see! This place is a large park with a nursery rhyme theme. For lack of better words it is sweet and innocent and lets kids be kids. Perfect and magical at christmastime! Not sure why some reviewers gave one star the wrote good reviews, but so own their each.