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.

It's a nice pool. It has a short wide slide that two people can go down side by side. There is a…read moreclimbing wall and diving board. The bathrooms are nice and clean. There is a tube slide and open slide that are fun. The only thing that bothered me (and it was just minorly annoying) is that the teen lifeguards kept pulling their swimsuits up their butts and would stand in front of the chairs. It would have been less annoying if it wasn't directly in front of the people sitting down watching their family in the pool. Yes, the bottoms were pulled up deliberately. It was not an accidental wedgy.

I love this pool!!!! The summer membership rate is very inexpensive. The parking is so convenient…read more I am a lap swimmer and always have a lane to myself. The staff is friendly and helpful. THANK YOU!!! Ann

I was in the area today, picking up my grandson, so I went to the nearest park, which was this one…read more This park has a lot of parking because it has a pool, the pool was closed due to it being autumn. They have an updated nice playground with soft footing underground. There is tennis courts as well and a walking area that is paved. The negative for me was that I didn't realize it was backed up to an elementary school. So when I brought my 19 month old grandson, all of a sudden the school day was over and a flood of children came to the park. I expect that this is probably a daily experience around that time of 3:15 PM. So it was a little bit overwhelming with so many kids flooding the playground and the grassy areas. I would say it would be a good park to go to prior to that time.

If you're like me (i.e. living in Overland Park, paying infamous HOA fees but LACKING an infamous…read moreHOA pool), then having strong city pool options is a must for a family with young'uns. Any given summer, parents of schooled kiddos begin racking their brains for any possible way to run their kids ragged in hopes of getting them to go to bed before their way-later-than-the-schoolyear bedtime. That's where Bluejacket pool comes in! Out of all the Overland Park pools, this one seems to be the sweet spot of central location, perfect shape (keep an eye on those kids from anywhere in the facility!), entertainment options (read: slide, diving boards, basketball hoop), seating, and shade. That last one being of utmost importance for us weekday desk-jockey types. Yes, by that I mean pale. Okay, I said it. There's plenty of parking, good shower rooms with provided soap, plenty of seating (in-shade and in-sun), zero-entry, kiddie pool, and all the other above-mentioned features. We love that it kind of fits in between the standard, rectangle lap pool and the all-out mini-waterpark approach. The latter of which is guaranteed to be jam-packed no matter the day of the week. Here, there's always a good amount of room to practice your strokes or soak up some rays! Last but not least, we've always experienced it to be extremely clean and well-stocked with lifeguards!

This is a very nice public swimming pool with a 22 feet high spiral water slide, a diving board,…read moretwo kiddie pools, a 25 meter lap lane, a concession area, locker rooms, rest rooms, a shaded seating area, and a dedicated parking lot. There is also a nice half basketball court, and a play area outside the pool area. Very nice!

Best music playlist of all the OP pools. Everyday I come the jams keep on kicking. Whomever made it…read morebravo!

The manager lifeguard literally came up and said he would "bend the rules" for another child that…read morewas the same height as my child. Would not for my child when I asked after watching another parent ask. Just another Lawrence thing that's a joke rn

I'm not a beach person, but when you take them for granted and then move half a country away from…read moreany, you start to miss them! You need a fix of the sounds of splashing and screams and the smells of suntan lotion and fried foods and the sun on your...well, at the end of your towel if it must be anywhere near your person (I am a shade lover). Really, I've always been more into pools than beaches. Sand is gross and waves and jellyfish (and SHARKS!) often make swimming impossible (NB: I am just trying to make myself feel better about missing access to a coast). When I was a kid, the highlight of my summer were the daily trips to one of the county pools, where I'd spend hours swimming to the point where I'd leave with a lung ache from the chlorine. The Outdoor Aquatic Center is a lot nicer than the pools I went to growing up. I spent many an afternoon here last summer. Sometimes, I'd get lucky and grab a chair in the shade of an umbrella (hello, beach!), but if none were available, I'd spread out my towel in the shade of the trees. Really, an idyllic way to spend a summer day. The pool has very carefully sectioned off areas according to water level. As most of the time I was in the pool hanging out with a 7 and 3 year old, we'd be in the shallow area, which is very kid-friendly, with fountains and waterfalls. In the other areas there are 2 awesome slides/flumes and diving boards. I can't lie. Part of me was dying to be a kid again so I could ride down that corkscrew flume! There are lockers, as well as a snack stand that is pretty cheap. The most awesome thing? It costs $4 to get in! $3 for those under 5 and over 65, but if you know you're going regularly, a season pass will only set you back 20 bucks per 30 days (162 bucks for an annual pass that includes the Indoor Aquatic Center). Surely this isn't much more than it cost back when I was a kid (trust me, this is a very long time ago).

Gym is a great affordable option. only problem is the entire time I have had a membership here 1/4…read morestair masters have been broken. I assume it just won't be fixed. Well now 2/4 are broken and it's nearly impossible to get a turn at all during the evenings. It's really disappointing because that is the main machine that I use, as do a lot of other people. I would love to see these be fixed at some point and not just left untouched. It's unfortunate you have to wait sometimes hours for these machines and sometimes don't even get the chance to use it at all:(

I spent 20 years at Life Time Fitness paying for amenities that I never used such as the pools. My…read morewife & I have now been at Lenexa Rec Center for a year now. The price was right for our needs. I mainly use the sit down bikes due to back issues. I just wish there were more of them and they would keep the TVs working.

We went to this wonderful show room to try out all the play sets they have. They have open play for…read more$8 cash or $9 with credit card. They have wonderfully made play sets that are very sturdy and high quality. Our grandson enjoyed trying out all of them and the mini basket ball court and trampolines. I highly recommend for fun and for purchase for a backyard.

When I was a kid growing up we had one of these play systems in our backyard and I remember the day…read moreit was installed all the way up until the day my parents had it removed when I was an adult. The one my parents installed in their backyard in the 90s lasted three kids and over 20 years with regular maintenance. When it came time for us to look into a swingset for our daughters as tempted as I was by the kidcraft DIY ones at Costco, we ended up going with Rainbow simply because the kidcraft wooden playhouse in our backyard has been up for maybe three years and LOOKS it. We were a bit worried about how something we DIY might hold up so we figured we'd pay a bit more and go this route. First of all these things are expensive. There is no way around that. The website always says things are heavily discounted, like it never changes cost and is always on sale, so I think it's just the way they try to get you to pull the trigger - like OH it's not actually 7grand, it's ONLY 2 grand. I'd prefer they just be a bit more transparent on that, but I appreciate that it could be more. Once we were sold on the unit we wanted we decided to make the trek out to Olathe to see it in person and make sure we knew what we were doing. It was April, and honestly we were wanting to move quickly so we could have one installed early in the summer season. There is conflicting information on when they are open online - in some places it says they have hours on Sundays and on others it says they are closed. We couldn't figure out what the case was so we went there and they were closed to the public. The door was open and we thought oh, maybe we could just speak with a sales person but nobody was around so we just went home and ordered the one we wanted online. Now, their website is a bit dated but it worked okay. It was a little scary placing an order this big in this way, but we had no other time to get out to Olathe in the near future and decided it was worth it. Again, IRL would have been better because I would have asked about small add ons like a pirate telescope and baby swing, neither of which you can just add on via their website. At any rate, we made the purchase and a rep from their team was in contact with me by Monday morning which really impressed me! She told me the timeframe we'd be looking at and what to expect next. As the timeframe of 3-5 week delivery creeped into the three week mark I emailed asking about next steps and didn't hear back for several days. The following week I emailed again, and again no response so I called. Calling prompted an email and we got it scheduled and ultimately installed pretty quickly at that point. The installer was SO NICE and so fast. It was insanely impressive how they get these things up quickly. The main thing here is that these are impressive, well made, playsets. The folks working here are very kind, and thoughtful. Sometimes things just move slower than you might want, or you might have to reach out to get questions answered. Would I recommend Rainbow? For sure! Could they turn this into a 5 star experience with a few small tweaks? Absolutely. If you're not me though, learn from me, and go on a Saturday, talk to the sales people and I'm sure you'll have a smoother experience.

Such a gem in downtown OP! My family and I like to get a 3-month membership in the chilly months…read morebecause the hot tub and sauna feel so good after working out. My kids love the lazy river and slide. It has a zero entry pool and splash area for the little kids too. Classes do cost extra but the prices are very reasonable. They also have lovely community rooms and spaces available for birthday parties and any other events. Staff members are always kind and helpful. Shout out to Steve at the front desk and Rosemary the life guard!

I don't belong to this community center but I have used their free kids play area which is so nice…read moreto offer it for free. The place seems very clean and the staff is friendly. I have been to birthday parties on some of their rooms they rent and they were good to deal with and friendly. They have a nice pool and workout area as well.