BREMERTON — When Rhonda and Angel Koh arrived on the scene about a year ago, the future of “Play Kitsap” was to be short. The intention, Rhonda said, was always to renovate and, in doing so, change the name.

“When we incorporated to buy the business, we actually were thinking, ‘What should we name ourselves when we take over?’ ” Koh said. “We wanted to do something that would get the community a little bit more excited than just ‘Play Kitsap.’ We wanted to play on the fact that we’re on the water. The Navy base is just down the street from us, and there’s a lot of Navy families in the area, so we thought ‘Ahoy Kitsap Playland’ would play off of pirates and mermaids, the Navy and Puget Sound, and kind of make us fit into the community better.”

Koh and her husband have been working on renovating Ahoy Kitsap Playland for a few months now. The goal is to open by Nov. 4. Currently, there’s no grand opening event planned, but Koh said they will be at the Bremerton Trick-or-Treat event “handing out coupons and fliers (and lots of candy) with Mise en Place Design.”

After taking the helm Oct. 19, 2015, Koh and her husband kept running Play Kitsap for a while. She said they “wanted the community to get to know us before we changed anything drastically.”

The old layout consisted of bright, primary colors and a concrete floor. Photo courtesy of Rhonda Koh

Then in May, they began a Kickstarter campaign and raised about $20,000 to help renovate, shuttering their doors over the summer to make their changes.

“When we took over, we wanted to take this place from something that looked like some guy just put it together to something that we felt could compete with Chuck E. Cheese and the big guys,” Koh said.

Where before the walls and decor were bright, primary colors — red, blue, green and yellow was splashed everywhere — and plywood nailed to the walls, now the building is decked out in nautical themes (pun intended).

The redecorated entryway features artwork of a sunken ship, to go along with the nautical theme. Photo by Michelle Beahm

“We wanted to go with the nautical theme, so this is the water, that’s kind of the beach, this is the dock,” Koh said, pointing out various areas of the mostly finished building. “It doesn’t exactly look like a ship, but it should give you the feeling that it’s a ship right at the dock.”

Koh credits Jennifer McLinko of Mise en Place Design. Koh said McLinko is “the mastermind behind the new aesthetics.”

Now, the area is decorated in blue, pink, green and yellow, but all softer versions of the bright primary colors of before. The concrete floor has been covered, and a few walls have been removed. There will be a three-story, 19-foot-tall play structure with multiple slides, a climbing net, swings, obstacle course, ropes and a large, tubular slide.

There will also be a toddler play area, gated on all sides to ensure the younger kids aren’t run over by the older kids, Koh said.

Before renovating, Koh said the parental seating area made it difficult to watch over the kids. The way it was set up, they either had to be in the play area as well, or standing by the wall. At the provided picnic tables, it wasn’t possible to see what the kids were doing, Koh said.

In the old layout, the parents’ seating area made it difficult to watch over playing children. After the remodel, the separating wall is lower to make it easier. Photo courtesy of Rhonda Koh

The new design includes bar seating on the outside of the play areas, where parents and guardians can sit with their food and beverages, able to watch the kids comfortably.

“There’s nothing else like this in the Kitsap area,” Koh said. “We wanted to have something that was really comfortable for parents without having to buy tokens for every single game. And it rains a lot here, so it’s important to have an indoor place where kids can play.”

She added that societal changes have made playlands like Ahoy Kitsap more necessary. Parents can’t just let their children go to the park alone, as she did when she was 6 years old.

“Here, parents can sit down and let their kids play without worrying about their children running off somewhere, like if you were at a public park,” Koh said. “Every person has to check in when they come in sdo we know every person has a legitimate reason to be here.

“It provides a safe environment for kids to play, to active play. It’s not video games, it’s not token games. It’s an indoor entertainment area, but it allows kids to have unstructured play time.”

Koh said community response to their renovations has been mostly positive. She added some people preferred the old design, with just bouncy houses, but said, “Kids, when they’ve seen our design, they don’t say, ‘Oh, that’s going to be terrible.’ All the kids are excited, so I think once parents bring their kids in and see how awesome it is, everybody will get excited about it.”

To learn more about Ahoy Kitsap Playland and to get updated information, visit ahoykitsap.com or www.facebook.com/AhoyKitsap.

Michelle Beahm is a reporter for the Bremerton Patriot and Central Kitsap Reporter can be reached at mbeahm@soundpublishing.com.