It's been a journey getting our kiddo to become an independent swimmer. We started out like many…read moreparents do enrolling her in swim lessons around age two or three to start. Those lessons were through the city, and we could never get her excited to attend. Most classes ended in tears, and she was adamant about not returning. Last summer we made really good strides at my parent's neighborhood pool and since my mom was a competitive swimmer and lifeguard back in the day she got pretty good instruction from her, which helped build her confidence back up. Flash forward to this winter, and I'm realizing that the clock is ticking on summer and our almost five year old really needs to up her game if she's going to attend pool parties and play with her friends once the weather warms. Enter: Aqua-Tots. To be honest I'm not sure I would have taken the plunge on an expensive little kid swim school had I not known folks that took their kids here. Aqua-Tots was recommended by one of our daughter's friend's parents and while pricey (it's around $30 per 30 minute lesson) I do think it's worth it overall. I was worried with the price point, and that it's a swim school in a suburban strip mall, that it would feel very impersonal and business like - like they would be trying to churn out as much money as possible. While I'm sure they are trying to make money, I don't feel like they are money gauging here. We've been going for probably two months now and I'd say even after the first lesson the front desk staff made a point to know who our daughter was and greeted us warmly each time we walked in. They even checked in with us to just see how it was going, how she's adjusting to lessons, and took the time to listen to her feedback, which I thought was super sweet. You can tell that they are engaged with their work and are good at it, which is partially why it costs $$ to go here, I think they likely actually pay their staff well. Now onto the lesson itself. The class sizes are capped around four kids which is great as they each get a good amount of personalized attention. The pool is kept warm so no tears getting in, and the teachers do a great job at keeping it fun for them. We've had a few tears going in here and there, and a few tears with going under the water, BUT she still likes going for the most part, and she loves her teacher. The bottom line here is that Aqua-Tots is expensive, there's no way around that fact, but they will teach your child to swim, they know how to coach young children, and they will do it in a supportive and welcoming environment.

KC swim academy is the swim lesson division of Team Unify- a club swim team. During the summer…read morethey offer swim camps M-Th x 2 weeks 30min each. During the school year they have weekly lessons on Sunday. Group lessons are $22 per lesson, and there are a max of 4 kids (but most of the time my kids were in groups of 2 or 3) also if there were 4 kids they usually had 2 instructors per group for the younger kids. I really like the fact that they did not use any swim 'backpacks' like the lessons we had at the YMCA. Suzanne is the director and is so nice and helpful. Most of the instructors are high school kids that swim on the team. They have recently added infant survival (and I believe it is one of the few places in the city that offers it). If you have an infant - I would highly recommend these lessons. They will be an expert swimmer by 3. If you kids are toddlers, you might consider private lessons first. I found we got a lot more out of the group lessons after a few private ones first. We had our lessons at the Shawnee Mission East HS pool, but I think they offer them at a few others during the summer. This is a very well run group and if you have a kid that swims and you want to improve his stroke, they'll do a great job.

I love how the "big kid" and "little kid" areas are separated by the lazy river where most adults…read morewanted to be, including me! Many areas are provided for those that don't necessarily want to swim or be involved in pool activities, but still be in the water. I love the padded splash pad for the littles, then the multiple streams of water throughout the "little kid sections" with two different types of slides. Then in the "big kid" section there's the pool for those that are older and I'm certain adults can enjoy it as well! In the general pool area there are built in basketball goals and in the diving pool there's a rock climbing wall....my first time seeing a wall at a pool. We came here with our 2 year old and she was asleep by the time we made it home, so it's safe to say she had a great time! This aquatic center was recently renovated and it was definitely money well spent, very inclusive and fun for all ages! Can't wait to spend more summer days here cooling off.

We were visiting from the west coast and needed a pool to lounge around at-this pool worked great!read more

This place is awesome!…read more First, there's a lot to do: -Totally little kid friendly area. They call this the zero depth area. Two kinds of slides, interactive fountains and fenced in. -Lap Swim area - even during peak hours, they maintained a few lanes for lap swimmers. -Normal "pool" areas varying from 3ft to 6ft. -A "lillypad" challenge. Put your ego aside because the kids will kick your butt, but it's super fun. -Diving boards (low and higher - I think apx 3 m) -Aqua wall (like a rock wall) -two slides Note: What I love about the slides, they have double tubes so you can take your little one with you. This policy/allowance SAVED THE DAY -Lazy river So why is that important? Because you can keep rotating through the various activities and really enjoy a good, long time there. Finally - their staff is top notch. Super helpful, engaging, nearly always smiling. Shawnee is lucky to have this place! It's worth the drive!

I'm a long time Johnson County resident and live not far from this pool. I used to bring my…read moregrandkids for years and had a membership. This is the first time I've been back in probably four years. We tried out there twilight hours for the pool, which are from 6 PM to 8 PM. It seems to be the least busiest and also it's not blazing sun, and there's more chairs to choose from with umbrellas at that time. I brought my 12 year-old granddaughter, my eight-year-old granddaughter and my six-year-old granddaughter. They had a great time in the pool, but there were several things they were disappointed by. They wanted to go down the lazy river in one of the Floaties and even though there weren't that many people they did not have very many Floaties to use. Also, they had the slide closed down that you go down with on the Floaties. They did have a good amount of lifeguards who are paying attention. I think the one negative it seemed like there were no adults on the premises, it was all teenagers. Now I will say that the teens were doing their job and we're not messing around and very attentive. But I do believe they need an adult to handle unruly people or people trying to sneak in to the pool without paying. There was a line to get in at the 6 PM twilight hours. And everyone was waiting patiently, but there was only one teenage boy at the checkout. There were three adult women in their 20s, who clearly went around the line and snuck in the side door and were bold about it. I do believe that the young man saw them and just didn't want to deal with them. When I got up to the cash register to pay, he was friendly and he asked if I was a resident of Shawnee and I said yes, and he asked to see my drivers license which I have no problem with. I think that's a good thing but it's still irritating that he knew they had snuck in and did nothing about it. I paid by Apple Pay and then I got one lifejacket for the smaller granddaughter and the other granddaughter who is a brought her own. I found a seat easily and watched the kids enjoy the water. The pool seemed clean and fresh. The bathrooms were another matter, the women's bathroom was a mess, and I tried to put my purse in a variety of lockers on the outside that did not work. I finally found one that worked with my lock that I brought so that I could swim. I enjoyed the pool as well and most people behaved themselves. There will always be some kids that they need to blow the whistle on about rules that need to be obeyed for the safety of others. And the last comment I have was, I was sitting in a chair by the lazy river, watching the grandkids go by and there were what appeared to be older teens. There were two girls and one boy. The girl punched the boy and proceeded to call him racial slurs in a negative connotation, (she was the same race). She kept hitting him and he did not hit her back and he just tried to hold her wrist to prevent it. The lifeguard clearly saw what was going on and did not blow the whistle or say "Hey, stop that or you're going to have to leave. " He clearly just turned his back on it and did not want to deal with it. The other girl was embarrassed and saw everyone looking, and she de-escalate the situation. So that was concerning to me because what if it was a larger crowd that got into an altercation around all of the children that were there. I absolutely know that the lifeguards could not handle the situation and they would have to leave their posts which then leaves the swimmers at risk. They need to definitely have an adult or several on the premises, particularly a security guard to make people think twice about their actions.

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.

This is a nice facility. Well maintained, spacious and clean but there are way too many…read moreover-zealous teen/20-something lifeguard "Karen's" who are constantly reprimanding kids for being kids. "No running'" "dont touch each other", "don't walk on the grass" "stop throwing that ball" It's a product of our Marxist nanny state. Sad state of affairs. The Karen's have taken over.

One my fourth year of being members here with my family, but this one goes all the way back to my…read moreyouth in the 90's as this was our pool back then as well. Time is a flat circle. It's gotten a nice facelift over the years, particularly with the kids/baby pool area. It was once a (questionably) warm, shallow area off to the side, but now has a gradual walk-in area with plenty of shallow areas, fountains, a small slide, and shade. And new for 2026, they've expanded the "lawn" with astro turf allowing more picnic style seating and laying out Great improvement. The rest of the pool area is strikingly similar, and classic in the best way. Picture the pool from The Sandlot of some other neighborhood throwback. It features a low dive and a high dive, a modest slide, and lots of seating all around. This has been a win for us as non-residents because: - The location is good - The kids love it - There is actual shade in parts of the pool which is rare - The snack bar is still somewhat on 90's pricing (please don't change that!) - The summer membership costs were reasonable ($75 per person I believe) The beauty of this spot is it's simplicity. Sometimes a pool trip with small kids learning to swim isn't the most relaxing time because of the necessary helicopter parenting involved, but this one does its best to make it fun. The kids love testing their comfort levels in a healthy way, and there's plenty of lounge time based on the redesign of the pool. It's a bit of a bummer that once mid-August hits, the lifeguards go back to school and hours scale back dramatically. It feels like the end of everything every if there are a few weekends left. I still enjoy time at the Woodside pool when I can find it, but I'm a fan of this community pool for the family trips out this summer so far.

Overall the park was nice, my girls had a great time! Lots of shade and chairs. The only thing I…read morewould disagree on is that they don't allow life vests. I have a two year old who loves water, gets really excited and wants to go with her big sister but the only way she can is with her vest. She doesn't know how to properly swim so it could be a life saver. Other than that it's a really nice park lots of space and pretty clean

This is a safe place to bring the kids, swim in the lap pools, enjoy the diving boards and water…read moreslides. It's $4 for locals and $5 for non-residents.

My niece (15yo) and nephew (11yo) has a great time. The team/lifeguards in charge was fantastic!…read more Super friendly and helpful and wanted to make sure the kids had a great time while staying safe. The kids played for an hour and said it was plenty but I would imagine they would've had fun there all day long. I was worried it would be more for little kids. Not at all. They were the perfect ages! This aunt scored lots of points with this activity!!