rdu observation park

We went here on Valentines day. It was cold but when the weather is warmer, we will go back. We love the observation deck and hearing the air traffic tower on the speakers. This place is not big but it would be a ton of fun to spend an afternoon with a picnic:)

My kid LOVES going here to watch the planes take off and land, this was very good use of what otherwise would have been dead space in the RDU airport campus.

If you are coming to pick-up someone at RDU and you have kids, plan to arrive a little earlier and go visit this park.Kids will love it.From there one can see planes taking off and landing and also hear the control tower talking to the pilots.There are also some activities for small kids like little runways and other things they can have fun with.Parking is free and it is very close to the terminals.

If you love planes, then this is the place to be. You can watch them take off and land and listen to the air traffic controllers. They also have a playground for the kids and benches to sit and relax.

When I was a university student, I came here a lot to de-stress and to enjoy the planes. Nowadays the observation park is still fun and a great place to relax. There's a play area complete with runways for kids, there are bathrooms and a water fountain, picnic tables, and of course the covered deck itself. The only problem is that the buildings erected between the observation deck and the runways now totally block the actual landing of incoming planes. Really, University of North Carolina (and yes, I AM a graduate), did you have to build in that EXACT spot? Seriously, one would think that, judging from the number of people who are almost always at the park, someone would have honestly considered the popularity of this free activity and would have searched for a way to preserve the view of the touchdowns instead of ruining the experience for airplane fans. Nowadays there is increasingly little free entertainment, so this place is really special and should be protected.

Being an aviation spotter this was a nice suprise to have an observation park at an airport. Being a spotter not every airport is to keen about this. It was a nice park with families having fun and the kids getting excited seeing the jets arrive and depart. A must stop for anyone that enjoys aviation.

Although a good place to relax and watch the big birds come in and out, the flight announcements are difficult to hear.

Fantastic place to spend an afternoon especially after nap time as kids can run around and look at planes all day long. Even adults can have a fun experience watching the planes land.

Well done, RDU! I am an avid planespotter and have been to the RDU overlook 3 different times now. It really is a great little place. They have a playground for little kids which has been busy every time I have been there. The observation deck is quite nice--it has information on different types of aircraft at RDU as well as ATC coming from a speaker. The speaker is pretty poorly placed, though, and you really have to concentrate to hear what it is saying.Photography opportunities are very good from the park. If the airport is using 23s, you can see landing traffic on the rollout and departing traffic taxiing by and taking off. If the airport is on 5s, you can see departures after takeoff and some landings on their rollout. Traffic variety is okay--most of the Southwest stuff uses the other runway, but you'll still see some along with AA, JetBlue, US Airways, American, Frontier, and Delta. Any airport with an observation deck gets the thumbs up from me, but this one is especially nice.

The observation deck is a fun place for kids and adults. When not watching the planes land and take off, there's a play area for the kids and picnic tables. Kids love the big sandbox and the area is generally very clean with plenty of parking.

I happened upon this place after taking a wrong turn going into the Airport. If you are not intimitely familiar with the airport make sure to use the GPS to find it. I was really surprised at the number of people that were enjoying the park and having a nice lunch. Great place to come with kids or just to have a lunch break. It is very much a park, there is grass, a sand box picnic tables and the main attraction the Observation deck that looks out over the Runway. Great place to come to with the kids or a relaxing lunch.

Kind of tricky to locate, but if you follow the signs you will find it past the terminals.Kids liked it a lot. Something different. We had a snack up on the platform which was breezy and cool on a hot day. The planes were not using the runway in front of us, don't know if they ever use it? The planes were taking off behind us, and that was good enough for my young kids. Interesting people watching, a lot more people there than I expected.I will be back, hope there is more going on in the front area.

This park is about the planes. The only play structure is a small climbing structure that is located in the sand pit. However, don't let this stop you from visiting. Kids love this park and enjoy seeing the planes land and take off. There are great views from the observation deck and you can hear announcements from the control tower. A short ride away is the general aviation building which is open to the public, it has view of planes leaving from terminal one - mostly smaller private planes. There is a balcony that you can stand on and watch the private planes fuel and load up. The view from the building is of the start of the runway so you are unable to see most planes when they lift off but it is still pretty interesting and kids still love it. Both areas are interesting for adults too. It is unusual to be able to get this close to the planes when they are taking off and landing.

This is a nice place to kill some time with kids if you're itching to get out, enjoy the good weather and do something FREE. Even in the heat of the summer it was fairly windy when we went and the deck is covered. My kids are a bit older and enjoyed it. It's strangely relaxing.Next will try the crosswinds café.

Could have better visibility and more to do around the "park" but just the fact they offe something like this is pretty neat.