If you've ever imagined an oasis in the suburbs of New Jersey, where kids frolic on carefree summer…read moreafternoons in an aquatic wonderland just a stone's throw from home, this is it. Three pools -- one for tiny tots to wade in, one for bigger kids to splash in, and one Olympic-sized for adults to train in -- present a wealth of options for a full day of activities, in addition to which there is a diving tank with platforms up to approximately 30 feet, and two water slides, one open and one enclosed. A first-rate, snack bar keeps the munchies at bay if you've neglected to bring your own lunch or just didn't feel like packing one. Note, it's not the kind that offers artisanal twists on surf cuisine or anything fancy, just good, old-school summer treats, as well as burgers and the like. Memberships don't come cheap, although on a per-use basis, a summer pass could potentially mean your family of four can splash around all summer long for under $2 a day. Guests are welcome, although that comes at a slightly steeper cost. Nighttime entertainment also offers local adults a reason to come back after the kids have been sent off to sleep. The only possible thing missing is poolside cocktail service, although I'm fine with its omission since this is a family-friendly recreational establishment and not a singles pick-up scene. Our family gives it 10 thumbs up!

Four pools--from kiddie to diving tanks (rare in NJ) with a large Olympic pool in the middle (and a…read moretraining pool too). Very clean pool with friendly lifeguards. Great snack bar. If you like to dive, get there at 3 or 4 and try out the towers.

Love it!! family friendly, very clean, snack bar available, children will have lots of fun and I…read morewill definitely recommend it to spend your summer here.

Great place! Clean and wonderful warm pool! Water classes are great. Great for families!read more

Nice YMCA with good staff. Staff is mostly young adults who need some more training. Upset they…read morethe children's bathrooms are now gender neutral.

I believe the name of the woman who handles the tours and enrollment is Justine. And the lady at…read morethe front desk that I just interacted with is Carol. Having lived in the neighborhood for a few years we were excited to explore the facility as a possible daycare option for our 5 month old. Even if it meant putting our names on the waitlist. Well, after submitting the online ELC interest form and calling a couple of times, with no response back, I decided to stroll down the block and inquire within. I didn't intend to tour right then but I was hoping to schedule a future tour, to be able to compare all my Essex county infant daycare picks & make an educated decision. I explained to Carol that I made many attempts to contact the Montclair YMCA Learning Center regarding their Infant program & never got a response. In my opinion, Carol was cold, and seemed uninterested in providing any information. She called Justine and informed her that I've not had anyone reach back out to me, then returned from the call to tell me that there's a wait list, that the wait is a year long and that unless it's close to the time for enrollment, I would not be allowed to tour. When I asked Carol about the weekly cost, she said she didn't know and didn't want to "bother" Justine and call again cause she's busy and has meetings. I think if I was a white woman Carol would have called her back immediately and would've been much more pleasant in her interaction with me. Whomever set up that process didn't think it through because now based on what Carol shared- I'd have to wait close to 1 year to view the facility, with zero clue as to how it looks or differentiates from other day care centers and with no concept of the cost. Why would I be interested in putting my name on a wait list when you've provided me zero info and you're saying that it'll take close to a year for you to share any info? Very poor experience here.

We enjoyed around 20 years of fun in the sun at Colony Pool when our kids were young. The sandy…read moresection is great for little kids to easily walk into the water. Our daughters were on the swim team and one of them served as a lifeguard. We often enjoyed grilling with our friends and neighbors on one of the 4 Weber grills. So many years of fun!

It is just a great, low key and relaxing pool. I came with my family when they were little, the…read moreshady part of the pool was perfect for little children. The sand kept them occupied for hours, and shallow entrance to the water was perfect. Now that my kids are older, they enjoy the log roll and the slides while I hang with friends. Some people love the sand bottom and some don't, but at the end of day, it's a great pool for the neighborhood.

I almost drowned and they kicked all my friends out. I get it if it was one thing but kicking all…read moremy friends out when they didn't do nothing wrong. It's kind of cruel and then they started talking shit about me and all of my friends and just talking so much shit going to the front office and talking shit about me and just yelling at us very disrespectful never coming back here.

Needs a deep clean, top to bottom. Parking can get tough, we come for swim lessons and have to show…read moreup early or walk a few blocks down. Lessons are great. Bring a swim cap and lock for your locker. There never seems to be soap in the family bathroom, but it's nice to always have the heat on in the locker rooms. The pool also usually a warm temperature for the water.

My newly seven year old granddaughter has been swimming really well since beginning at SwimQuest…read more She took a break during Covid when she was 2 1/2 - 5, but returned once she went to Kindergarten. Mr. Chris is very skilled in teaching as well as patient. I can't help believe that a great deal of my granddaughters success is the trust she has in her trainer and the feeling of caring for his students and his sincere commitment to their individualized progress, he demonstrates. The entire family is thrilled with SwimQuest.

Our son has been taking lessons at SwimQuest for a couple months. The facility and instruction are…read moretop notch. The facility is set up to be both kid friendly, but also peaceful and serene. The lessons are a bit more expensive than the other leading kids swim school, but there are fewer kids so it is not nearly as chaotic. The kids definitely get great instruction and learn to swim in no time. Our son is not yet 3 and can nearly swim on his own after the lessons that he received here. The only thing that is a little strange with their structure is that your time and instructor are not guaranteed from one season to the next, so if you like your time slot and want to keep it, you need to wait in line on sign-up day. The benefit is that everyone has an equal chance of getting their preferred time each season and if you don't get it one season you have a chance the next season. Also, you need to pay for the full season up front, which is a big expense compared to other swim schools where you pay monthly. All in all, we've had a great experience here and would highly recommend it to get you child swimming well.

Went here last summer for the first time with my son, daughter and niece and it was great. It was…read moreclean and we had a blast. The people running it were never rude or nasty. They were nice and we enjoyed ourselves for about 2-3 hours and then left. We will be visiting again this summer.

Knoll Gardens Pool is a clean, nice pool and big enough to bring the whole family. Opens in the…read moremorning and closes at 7 in the night. Such a good amount of time to enjoy. Fortunately, that wasn't the case for my family & I. At the start My family & I were racial profiled, felt unsafe and were falsely accused of many things. Beside from that each lifeguard kept staring at my family even after when we weren't in the water. At one point my kids got screamed at for throwing a ball around even though they were other kids doing the same as mine. One of my other kids who were older and with no kids around was using profanity in between conversation with other family members. The owner screamed at all of them in the rudest manner and they were told by her to "Shut up and watch your mouth". We stood quite because at that point we knew something wasn't right, and there would be no point to fight with someone as ignorant as they were. A couple of minutes passed by and she was cursing with other lifeguards and cursed at her own kids. Which at this point we can rule in hypocritical and racial behavior between the owners and staff. My family isn't "small", and we're all not "quite" nor we aren't stupid and lesser than anyone in the vicinity. Best Believe when we all come together to enjoy a place such as the Knoll Garden Pool, We bought chips, drinks (soda, juices and water) and food. Which is allowed at the poolside. While we were eating, and snacking on our things, we cleaned up and threw everything in the garbage. As soon as the cups and the food were placed in the trash, the owner and staff Accused my family of being under the influence to hiding liquor, even said we had the whole place smelling like liquor. They took it to the extreme by taking all of our trash from the trash and smelling each empty cup. Since none of the cups smelled like liquor the manager then went to opening water bottles on the table and smelling each one of them. One of the staff even has the audacity to take a sip out of one of the bottles, and all she sip'd was water. They claimed to smell alcoholic beverage in one single cup. I took the liberty to walk around the poolside and ask the other people enjoy the pool if they smelled anything that closely resembles anything to liquor. Each and every single person we asked said no, that the cup smells like nothing. A Big Hispanic Family Racially Profiled and wrong accused of actions none of us did. Soon after, our every move was being watched by staff and the owner. They even placed a lifeguard to sit in the middle between our family. How inconsiderate can the staff and owner be towards my family. They were wrong during their assumption and to place a lifeguard in the middle as if we were animals that needed to be watched carefully. Knoll Gardens Pool closes at 7, it just so happened that by 6:20 the owner blew her Whistle and were screaming at my family to exit the pool, not even giving us more than a minute to exit. She was screaming at us like animals. " I don't care, my pool and I want you people out, I want you people to leave" Came straight from The proud owner of Knoll Gardens Pool. While my family were getting our stuff, we asked "why are you treating us like animals?" Just for The Owner to call the cops, and unfortunately a verbal fight broke out between a family member and the owner due to her rude and racial behavior. In the end, they treated us like animals, watched us like animals & kicked us out like animals that we are not. Little does any of the staff or owners know that they were video recorded during the verbal fight. They told the cops that we are rude and loud and drinking. The manager even called their whole family to threaten us And say " we called the cops, as if we were scared. And acted like we were scared of getting deported or something between those lines. All the statements that weren't true and the video will express those thoroughly. We aren't animals, we paid to get in, we deserve an atmosphere that didn't make my kids cry. Knoll Gardens Pool is a horrific display of racism to the illest extend. In the end, it's not about getting the money we paid back. It's knowing that racism is still alive and this memory will have the younger generation of my family scared of this type of behavior for majority of their life.

The best aquatic place for kids! My kids are 2.5 and 3.4 years old. We took them to different…read moreswim lessons in other places but they have made the most progress in this one. The instructors are amazing and they take away their fears immediately! We love it. Thank you guys!!

We have both of our children enrolled (5 and 3). Our five year old is in private classes and our 3…read moreyear old is in a group class. The kids are making incredible progress in the pool. They have a wonderful time and look forward to each lesson. I can't recommend this safe, friendly and knowledgeable school enough. Our daughter's private instructor, John is just incredible. First, she has the same instructor each lesson. He has formed such a bond with her. She trusts him and really has a wonderful smile on her face the whole time (even after coughing a little from the water). Her confidence and skills are growing day by day. The group classes are also stellar. Don't be turned off by the "group" part. The ratio is kept down to 3 to 1 and each kid gets plenty of solo instruction. They are given appropriate breaks and then it back out with an instructor to learn more. Our son has a warm smile on his face the entire time. His skills have grown leaps and bounds. If you're looking for classes for your kids this school is definitely worth taking a look at. At first we thought it was a little expensive (and compared with schools like 'The Connection" it is, but the results are completely worth it. They run a safe, friendly and fun school all while being focused on developing real skills.