I grew up spending summers here, playing in the pool with my friends, and taking my baby sister…read morehere for swim lessons while my mom worked. So I had tons of nostalgic memories when I decided to take my own kids here this past summer.
In preparation, I did some research and looked them up online, reading about how much it costs, the hours, and I was specifically looking for information on pool toys and flotation devices to see what was allowed as I had a faint memory from childhood of there being some strict rules. Since it had been about 20 years since I'd stepped foot inside Tomahawk Ridge I figured it was time for a refresher. I read everything I could find online and couldn't find any info listed on their website. So, we made our plans, I packed up, and we drove over.
Upon walking up there are pool rules posted on the outside entry and again, while it stated some things like no running and I think it likely said no large inflatables, it didn't say anything about flotation devices for babies, and arm floaties for young kids. We bought our passes and walked in. It was a cloudy, but warm July day and the pool was empty aside from one other family so we got our girls ready and as I was about to get in with my baby one of the 20 teens that were staffed there came up to me to say I couldn't use her baby flotation device in the pool. I looked around, literally seeing no other people, and said "seriously", and the guy was like yeah, you can't use it at all. I asked why this wasn't mentioned to me when we bought tickets as the floatie was clearly visible and we clearly have a baby, and the teen just shrugged and walked away. I was annoyed since this really limited what we could do with our baby and I would understand if the pool was packed, but honestly even then, it's a bit wild to me that this is a rule, and even more wild that it's not posted and not communicated to you until you're there and ready to enjoy the pool as a family.
Once we got through that, and made a new plan for how we'd take turns with the baby, we got our five year old ready and as she walked into the pool wearing her little arm floaties another teen blew the whistle at her (again we are one of two families at this pool) and the issue was her arm floaties. We were told that those also were not allowed and that she would need to wear a coast guard approved life vest. Well, she's five and just about done needing any support, and I told the teenager that she is far too old for that and that she just needs a little support. He said she could not enter the pool wearing those. Again, I asked why this wasn't posted, and why this is such an issue and again I just got a shrug.
At this point I wasn't even sure if we could use a pool noodle since my daughter needed something to assist her in the water and didn't want to have to be in a baby pool as a five year old, so I sent my husband over to ask if we could use a pool noodle. The teen did not know.
They ended up not being mad at us for the pool noodles so we had an ok time. The facility itself is still really nice, and if your kid is a confident swimmer there's some really fun slides and inflatable obstacle course that my cousin's daughter really enjoyed.
Overall I think this has the potential to be a 4 or even 5 star pool but the website needs clear signage and the folks working at the front desk need to let you know about the rules regarding arm floaties and baby floatation devices. If these aren't allowed and your small children need them, it will impact your time here. I would have had a pretty good time had I been able to plan for this and not been constantly accosted to say I was doing something wrong at the pool, despite being right with my children the whole time.
This honestly left me feeling like this pool is more for older kids, and just not friendly to young families.