Cedar Junction Family Resort — Attraction in Tshwane Ward 91

Visited on Sunday, 18 Feb 2024 by request of a find that wanted to book a lapa for the day for all the friends and family to enjoy. We were the 1st of the group to arrive, and upon entering to pay for ourselves, were promptly told by the older woman that they are going to stop all visitors without bookings. I said that we are the 1st to arrive as a larger group and to look for my friend's name for the booking. No name was found and she explained that all the smaller lapas were fully booked. (even though some larger ones were still available). The woman also said they are running a generator because Saturday night had a hailstorm, so the rides aren't working. (OKAY - so 2st you take our money THEN choose to tell us). We headed in a looked for a spot amongst the "free" areas (red and white umbrellas). Found a double table beyond the long slides at the back, and the 1st thing i had to do was clean the table from bones, bottlecaps and other bits and bobs that couldn't make its way into the bin a meter away! The table was covered in ants and beneath was cobwebs galore! Although the pools seem to be well taken care of and clean, the surrounding areas and gardens do have bits of trash tucked between the shrubs. The table had a layer of caked on dirt that only half a bottle of hand sanitizer could somewhat clean. The bathrooms are dirty. The lapa that we eventually used as part of the group had so many cobwebs under the roof that it was a constant thought of what wildlife would land on your shoulder when sitting under there. From the moment we entered that morning until we left at half past 4, we were told by all the staff of what NOT to do. At the long slides, your head hardly pops out from under the water when a masked lifeguard yells at you to get out by the stairs. The stair that are to the front of the slides still in firing distance of a fast slider coming down. This as I was making my way toward the side to get out of range. You can't go down this slide it's for kids only... You can't swim in this pool because slides (even though we have been floating in the water for about 20 minutes prior)... Then told again you can't sit on the steps to wait for the kids to come down so you are there to catch them, you have to wait on the side of the pool. You cannot take your kids down the slide with you - one at a time. (Never mind the kid can't swim properly)... Adult supervision with all the kids at slides and water always - then gets told you cannot stand here or there because some b$h!t excuse... The triple width long slide is utterly dangerous as even the tallest adult spins around when sliding down, never mind the few kids whose life flashed before my eyes as they were pivoting and hitting the sides going down. It's just a matter of time before a jaw is cracked on the edge of the slide because natural instinct bases us to turn on our stomachs to stabilize ourselves... Kids can't jump into the pool (where the adult is standing with open arms a meter in waiting) you have to use the steps. The same steps occupied by 5 other people. The same slippery steps I slipped on twice! Throughout the entire day we were told what NOT to do, even though i did not see one lifeguard actually lifeguarding. I would assume that you would have some kind of lifeguard in the water at all times especially in the kids pool if parents aren't allowed to be in the water sitting on the steps on the side. The staff at the top of the long slides also don't delegate a single person going down, and the risk of kicking someone in the face the the bottom is drastically increased if you are left to your own decision. No communication between the top and bottom lifeguards whatsoever. I hope I have made myself very clear that I won't be recommending Cedar to anyone thinking they will have a fun day out, as one is constantly worried about what a lifeguard will tell you next. The only plus side is that the people visiting the facility is actually very well mannered and I did not encounter one person who acted...

Absolutely disappointed!!!

We drove 2 hours to celebrate my 7 year old niece birthday, when we initially entered Cedar Junction, we were in awe of the well maintained premises, clean pools and variety of activities.

The only good thing to say about Cedar Junction, is that there is enough lapas (shade) and well kept grounds and the bathrooms are clean, and the lifeguards try their absolute best to keep the CROWDS under control.

We had to clean the lapa ourselves, which was very dirty and the braai grid was disgustingly dirty, it looked like it was covered in grease - we were asked by multiple other visitors if we could help them with something to clean their grids with. The little pond behind our lapa is littered with beer bottles and plastic.

By 12:00pm the place was absolutely flooded by people! Is there NO limit to the amount of people allowed at once? The pools were so full, kids could barely swim, there were so many women who swam in their underwear, or bathing suits that did not fit where their breast were exposed for everyone to see. (this was in the small kiddies swim area)

I was told that alcohol was allowed with the exception of glass bottles, there was bottles of Jameson, Richelieu, glass beer bottles etc. lying around everywhere! There were so many drunk people, who pushed their way through lines at the slides and the narrow foot paths. There is absolutely no crowd control at the slides or the train, we were literally pushed out of the way while trying to get on to the train with our little ones! I spoke to the "security" guard about this and he simply just said "we'll look into it'.

Due to the enormous amount of people that were the, we could not even leave our lapa with our belongings unattended at anytime during the stay, due to no visible security and the fear of of our belongings getting stolen.

Cedar Junction has the ability to be such a stunning place with all the awesome stuff they offer - but they will have to look into having a limit on the amount of people they allow in, the alcohol and...

Ok my friends ... now .... this place has loads of potential .

I loved the lay out of the park and the kids were entertained through out the day .... BUT i do have some negative feedback unfortunately ...

1 : The toilet facilities at this place NEED TO HAVE A PERMANENT CLEANER ON STAND BY !!!! as I was in the mens room at the train station ONCE and it was DISGUSTING !!!!

2 : The "booking of lapas" seems favour only certain people of certain ethnicity groups , where we had called earlier to book and were told that there were cancellations but we'd have to come through and see what spaces were available . Upon arrival and payment , i asked again if their were any lapa spaces available and was told there were none yet on my own recon walk around the park through out the day there were lapa's open that had been open since our arrival. I would strongly suggest a 30min booking fore-fit rule as there are allot people myself included that would pay the HIGH PRICE POINT GLADLY !

3 : I know that the park can't control the customers and the customer sentiment BUT you would have to have a real THICK skin as racial splures from the majority ethnic group in attendance really put a damper on the day .

4 : PRICE POINT !!!! Sorry to say but the price you pay for entrance apposed to the value you get. here is totally off balance , where R140 per adult and teen over 13 is DAY LIGHT ROBBERY !!!!

Thank you for the experience but myself and party of 8 will most definately NOT be back to...