Lakeland Hills Family YMCA — Attraction in Mountain Lakes

This is a review for both swim lessons and the summer camp program. SWIM Our family previously loved the swim classes here. When management changed and all college aged students were hired to take over, the quality disappeared. We had swim lessons with instructors having their backs to kids in the deep end, eating pizza over the side of the pool on the pool deck, a mommy and me lesson where the instructor didn't get in the pool at all and sat with her feet in the water, classes starting and ending late, inadequate placement levels, and emails and calls getting ignored with the only return calls being essentially sales calls from the young staff to solicit private lessons without even having a date planned for them. It's sad because it was previously run well with wonderful, experienced instructors who were great with the kids. (Shout-out Savannah!)

CAMP Our child attended camp and previously enjoyed it as well, but in 2024, it was a different experience that only lasted 2 days for fear of safety. Our child has severe food allergies. All paperwork and medication were provided as required, yet his counselors did not know and followed no protocol with him at all, especially during ice cream time, something that happens daily at camp. Thankfully, he was able to read the labels and knew of things he had previously had, but this is dangerous for no one to be monitoring a small child with allergies. Then, there was the question of heat. It was a heatwave, and the camp takes place all outside save for swim class. My son had heat exhaustion and became very ill. He said he couldn't refill his water because his counselors said they were late for their next rotation. Lateness seemed to be the norm because they were also brought late to their swim lesson, changed, got in the pool, and immediately forced out of the pool without a lesson or play because of this. After that second day we pulled our child for fear of safety, and after speaking with camp staff were apologized to and told they could refund our paid weeks. Then, the next day we were told in a very different tone that that would not be possible, and they will not refund camp at all. It should also be noted that there is no medical staff at the camp, i.e. a nurse. There was a nursing student who ran the "health office," but for a camp that size, that is dangerous. A student is not a nurse, and if you're sending your child for this very expensive experience, it should be known it's at your child's own risk because no one seems qualified to deal with health issues and concerns. I don't know what has happened in the last couple years at this YMCA, but the quality for kids programming is embarrassingly gone. What a disappointment for a previously great facility that we used to...

Gym is good. Lots of equipment. New versions. Always clean. Whenever I went I didn’t see crowd or rush.

However am disappointed with the rest. Got my daughter into soccer. She is new to soccer but have not seen any training or coaching yet. They just ask her to play and hope she learns. I specifically asked if this class will teach her basics before enrolling her.

Also trying to get her to swim. Was asked to come in person when enrollment opens. When I got to the window at my turn, they said it’s all waiting. As others have said the swim director is not reachable. Doesn’t reply to mails or calls. My daughter knows swimming and I was told I will get a slot for her evaluation so I can try for higher classes. Again no response after calling going in...

The worst customer service by far . Rude employees at the entrance , except for two ladies .THEY ALWAYS want to be RIGHT even when they are not . Their guest passes policy is so stupid , you can’t bring the same person more than 3 times a YEAR , even though you get 5 guest passes for the ENTIRE YEAR. They won’t let your guest in even if they pay for the day . The membership is 700$ a year , and they make you sign a contract for the entire year . For the pool there’s only certain days that you can use it ,and everyone has to only use one line . The managers , the lady that is in charge of the membership is the worse , she doesn’t care . If you’re going to only use the gym , is a waste of money ,because is too small and have...