Kenwood Cove Aquatic Park — Attraction in Salina

Will never return again.

The park itself isn't bad. But it's WAY too small for Salina so always over crowded. Especially the slides and lazy river. It's hard to even move. The manager this year was a very rude and unprofessional.

We also attended the pooch plunge this year. Absolutely awful. 10/10 would not recommend.

I had my 5 and 7 year old with me. We checked the website multiple times to see what regulations were and if children could attend and nothing was published. A week prior to the pooch plunge we attended the water park and ask two different lifeguards who confirmed there was not age restrictions to their knowledge.

We drove 45 minutes with our dog for what I thought was a fun little side thing for the kids to do. Checked the website and still found nothing about age restrictions. Upon arrival, we were met at the doorway by staff checking rabies vaccinations who stated the kids could "get in" but "couldn't swim". I even confirmed "So the kids can get in they just can't swim" and the workers said yes. OK, cool. They charged for all 3 of us.

After about 20 minutes of us walking our dog around in the water and playing with her we started seeing dog poop in the water to the point you couldn't take a step without seeing fecal matter floating around. Some dogs were off leash that were more unruly than for my comfort. I just wasn't very impressed. We went over to the kiddie pool, I figured it would be easier for the kids to walk around and our dog liked the more shallow water anyways. Within seconds the lifeguard kicked us out of the kiddie pool saying "your kids can't swim". They weren't swimming, but they did go straight to the play equipment so I thought maybe that's what the lifeguard was talking about. I tried explaining that they weren't swimming and she abruptly cut me off and said "they aren't allowed". She was very harsh and unapproachable as it was so I just figured we'd go back to the wave pool. The lifeguards were kinder over there.

5 minutes into moving back to the wave pool, the manager came aggressively walking over hollering at us from 20+ feet away the kids needed to get out, they weren't allowed in the water. I calmly walked over and told her that was never said to us, we asked several lifeguards, checked the website, ect. She remained very rude and aggressive in her tone. Ultimately I requested a refund for the kids and we would leave. She reluctantly agreed with a lot of attitude. Completely unprofessional. We gathered up our things and when I went to show her proof of purchase she turned the story claiming we were told from the very beginning kids were not allowed in the water and then by another lifeguard while in the pool. I explained we were never told that or else I wouldn't have paid to go in in the first place. We were told the kids couldn't swim. That's not the same as not allowed in the water. She turned very verbally toxic trying to gaslight me into looking like I intentionally was trying to break the rules and refused to refund me.

We left and called the Salina Director of Parks and Recreation, Jeff Hammond and left a voicemail simply requesting a full refund now due to the managments poor behavior towards myself and my children. Several days later he called me back basically regurgitating the managers claim of "we were told". I explained to him the definition of swimming and why it was a simple mix up in communication and understanding and blown WAY out of porpotion and made into a much bigger deal than I felt it needed to be. Although he was much more professional about it, he did the same molding trying to make me look like I was trying to get away with letting the kids in the water. He claimed he needed to talk with his staff again to take all into consideration and would reach back out but of course he never did.

I was completely unimpressed in how all of this was handled. My kids still talk about and request to not go back to the pool with the "rude lady" and this was 2+ weeks ago. Not because of the situation but purely because they don't want to...

Our first time at Kenwood Cove was on Memorial Day, it was hot and very crowded. That is expected almost any outdoor activity for families to enjoy the fun. The lazy river was closed and here it is June 27, 2024 and it's still closed. There are places where you can't sit around the park, if you do, then a lifeguard will blow the whistle on you. There are no posted signs that say, 'No sitting here'. I see that happening lots of times, which doesn't make sense to me. The food is overly priced, for example a single pretzel were $6.00 which was cold and dry. A slice of pizza (Papa John's) was $3.00, which is not bad. At least 2-3 times during the day on occasion the water park (lifeguard's) make everyone get out to use the restroom and visit the snack bar. So, this draws the customers to over spend money for their food, that's not that great overall. I question some of the lifeguard's training and attention to detail when...

Great place for calm adults on not-quite-so-hot days. The features are amazing and the price is reasonable. This place has so much potential!! But…there are so many rules that’s it’s difficult to keep track of and follow them all- especially for active kids. You are not supposed to enter or exit the lazy river area except at steps. So, if you use the slides, you can’t just jump in the lazy river upon exiting the slides; you have to walk around and find some steps. We came at over 100 degrees. That’s some painful step-searching on hot concrete!! And, if anyone gets even a minor injury everything comes to a screeching halt and paperwork must be filled out immediately. Too bad! Totally kills the fun vibe we were aiming for! (Came for family fun on our anniversary). It’s a great place, but just be aware that there are a lot of rules which does affect the atmosphere to...