My guess is that all the swings and slides were taken in the new playground, but you could use the old playground without having to wait for a turn. It was emptier, for good reason, but the daughter didn’t realize it.
Maybe. Could be the old playground was closest. No way a 12-year-old is going to drag a toddler an additional 300 yards (per the article) just so he’s got decent equipment to play on. That would defeat the purpose of getting him to want to return home as quickly as possible.