Salt City Splash Aquatic Center — Attraction in Hutchinson

I just deleted my 5 year old review because frankly I'm getting sick of this pool.

The prices keep going up when the pool sees zero improvement. The playground they used to have is gone so there's nothing for kids to do out of the pools. The play gym in the kids area used to have a slide and hasn't had one in years now. There's a bench in the kids pool that has water jets in it that haven't worked in years. There used to be chained down floaties and I can't remember the last time they had those. They broke down and they just never replaced them. There's several things that shoot water in the kids area that don't shoot water out of all the holes.

The memberships are laughable because there's no family membership and if you do individual memberships you'd have to go to the pool at least twice a week for the entire summer for it to even come close to being worth it.

Then today was kinda the last straw for me.

I am ADHD and Autistic. I space on things. A lot. Normally I always bring water bottles with us and today I forgot them. Well I had medication I needed to take. I haven't gotten water at the pool in I don't know how long, but I remembered cups of water being free (like it is most places) and asked if I could have a cup of water to take my meds. Not a bottle of water. A cup of tap water. I was told no and that it would be $1.50. Now a buck 50 isn't much money, but it's ridiculous... for a cup of TAP WATER. Especially in an outdoor place! What happens if a person didn't bring water with them and only brought enough to pay for entry? What happens if that person starts dehydrating? Charging for TAP WATER is absolutely insane. A bottle of water I get, but I didn't need that much water. I just needed a small cup to take my meds. Keep in mind that this place has NO water fountains. So if you don't have extra money for concessions and forgot a water bottle, your SOL. Imagine going somewhere like the Zoo and there not being water fountains anywhere. If people are outside (and today was 100 degrees out) then you should be making sure people can get water if they need it.

On the principal of the thing, I was just gonna go home and get our water bottles that I left. And what am I told? I can't.

Apparently they recently changed it so that you can't leave the pool after you enter. You can get stamped to go to your car... but if you need to run home you will have to pay entry again.

That means that if you make a mistake and forget something important. Maybe you get to the pool and realize you forgot your water bottles, forgot to pack sunscreen, or one of your kids swim suits. You can't run home to get them or you will have to pay for entry again. Even if you just got there.

I'm betting it's cause they don't want people to leave to eat and come back, but the result is that if people forget something they are charged double.

I don't know if they aren't getting as much money as they used to or what. But maybe instead of making it so people can't leave and making people pay for TAP WATER, you do something to improve this pool that hasn't seen improvement in YEARS and make it more...

I honestly love this pool. There is plenty to do. The food is good. There's a playground and an area for little bitty kids. They have a time on saturdays cor the elderly and kids under 8.

My main issue with the place is the price. $5 each isn't that bad.... Unless you go often. Which I planned on. So I looked into their summer passes. I have a pass at the Sedgwick County Zoo. So I figured why not get one for the pool.

Now let's break this down. A pass that lasts a FULL year at that zoo for me and my husband is $99. My son is free but next year won't be. Then we will pay $130 FOR A FULL YEAR at a zoo that consistently takes us 3 hours to get through. We go every month.

At Salt City Splash they do not have family passes. Only individual ones. A pass FOR JUST ME is $70. This pass gets you like one week of May and August and all of June and July. That us $70 FOR LESS THAN 3 MONTHS. Tack on that my son will be 3 next year and his pass would be $30. That is $100 FOR LESS THAN 3 MONTHS access. We would have to go at least 3 times a week the entire summer. It would come to $170 if we also got a pass for my husband.

That is some ridiculous pricing....

So while I like the place. The fact that their pricing on passes is so ridiculous just kinda made me not bother going. I max wanted to go two times a week. And their pricing kept me...

As Community Aqua centers go this is definitely one of the best in the country. They have multiple pools for multiple ages lots of different apparatus in the kids pool they have a pool just for the 2 Aqua tubes that will Splash you into their own private pool. And the large pool has both a short and tall diving board as well as some Lanes that are buoyed off just for people wanting to do laps which is very nice so you can do laps without running into kids that are playing. It also has two basketball hoops at the shallow end and a large nicely manicured lawn area in the park surrounding the pools. The only negative that I can find is if they close much too early, usually at 6:30 every evening and I for the life of me cannot understand why they are not open later.

Overall this Hutchinson Aqua Center gets a 5-star rating. I have been to hundreds of tools across the country in my lifetime and this is one of the better pools I do not give out 5 star ratings lightly.

FYI I would also give the entire Municipal Park area here a 5-star rating because it also includes an 18-hole Golf Course a few blocks away which was very nice, very reasonably priced, and well maintained, as I just finished playing it.... and a zoo right down the block as well. I am quite impressed with this community park in a...