Mirada Lagoon — Attraction in San Antonio

We went with a large group on a Wednesday and it was okay. Plenty of parking and they didn’t charge a fee to park which is always nice. They do check you bags and they made us all empty our water cups and ice. Not a big deal as I’m sure some folks might try to sneak in beverages to get around having to pay for them.

Our first issue was figuring out which large tent we had rented. One person said one thing (the last tent around the back) and then another person said something else (the first tent after the snack bar). They have no signs up and nobody walking around to help anyone, so we just picked up to set up shop at.

The bar staff wasn’t very friendly or efficient so trying to buy drinks and ask for ice was an ordeal. Since it was a weekday, maybe they run on a skelton staff which is ultimately a management failure and thus makes the staff grumpy. So we had one round of drinks and then just gave up on another round. We also had an issue with the food and specifically the burger truck. Waited 30 mins for a burger and when we asked about the ETA and said we’ve been waiting for 30 mins and saw 3 other people who ordered after us already receive their food the server was downright rude and stated “you’ve only been waiting 24 minutes”……. It was Wednesday and the place wasn’t busy, the comment was 100% uncalled for from the staff as 26 mins is also unacceptable for one burger.

The Aqua Obstacle course was also tricky to understand. So they opened it every other hour and it would only keep it open for about 30 mins (I think it was supposed to stay open for 1 hour). They would lecture everyone about the rules for 10-15 mins and then shut it down 20 mins before the hour was supposed to be up so everyone could swim in. The 11 am session was led by a female lifeguard who mansplaned the same thing over and over again for 15 mins, then they called everyone in at 11:45. For the 1pm session, I was in the main pool watching since I didn’t see how the first session went (my son told me) - the first person hit the first obstacle at 1:14, then they called everyone in at 1:36 - so it wasn’t even open for 30 mins!!!!! It was absolutely ridiculous because they also don’t allow more than 80 people on it at a time but if someone exits during that time they don’t let someone else enter. My son wasn’t allowed out to the Aqua Park because it was full but 3 of our own family exited to allow him to enter but “Jordan” still wouldn’t let him go in (he tried on two different occasions to enter the 1pm session). I’ve been to a few of these Aqua Parks’s and this one absolutely was the worst run one so far. Generally they let one group go for an hour, then another group can go so that way all the paying customers get a chance to enjoy it. This one they basically make you like up 15-20 mins before it opens on hot concrete and then just hope you’re one of the first 80 people (our kids stood on their life jackets to protect their feet).

We also used the kayaks/paddle boards on the first go around with no incident. They let you pretty much go around most of the lagoon and actually stay open for the entire hour. The second session was a completely different story. So my son was again on a paddleboard in the exact same area as the first time along with other people and some lifeguard came over and said he couldn’t be in that area. My son then went back to the main desk to ask and they said the lifeguard was mistaken and he was allowed to be pretty much exactly where he was. The miscommunication between staff and the lifeguards not knowing the rules was a disappointment.

It’s a nice concept but we would never come back to this specific park due to the poor communication of the staff and poor service all around. We generally enjoy these types of parks but this one was a real...

If I could give 0 stars I would. Complete cash grab and possibly only worth it if you’re a resident of the area.

Let me start by saying that upon arrival, no map was given, no thorough explanation of the property or what to expect. Just pricing. All different pricing points. We opted for the “splash pass” as it was explained to be the most all encompassing and best chance to have a complete experience. $110 dollars for two adults. To a pool. Which by the way still has major construction and development all around that completely ruins the esthetic. It’s literally just a very big pool. Not much nicer than some of the YMCA pool areas I’ve been to. Regardless that’s not even the problem. Everything cost money these days I wasn’t expecting it to be a cheap day by any means to begin with.

The biggest issue here is that they didn’t tell us where to sit. And while that may seem like a small issue, it became pretty big pretty quickly. When we came in we saw an area that was close to the bar and honest first impressions were that it was kind of poppin so we were a little excited to have a good time. Then found out that area is for residents only. So we had to leave and decided to walk to the left a good ways where we found a partially enclosed area that we found out to be reservation online only. No other information was given and the area looked pretty quiet but definitely would have cost a good amount more. No big deal. So we walked to the other side of the bar area and saw some chairs with a few umbrellas where hardly anyone was sitting. The sign said reserved area but we assumed “shit for 110 bucks these gotta be the seats.” Nope. Wrong. 10 minutes into sitting down completely away from anyone, an older blonde woman came up to us and asked about which color wrist band we had on in the rudest way possible. As if we didn’t belong, and how dare we sit in this area. She proceeded to tell us how much more expensive it is to sit here or any of the other covered areas for that matter and that we didn’t belong there. We told her our wrist bands were blue and she exclaimed how the property employs her to make sure people like us stay in the area we need to be in. She was in plain clothes no badge, no name tag or any visual sign of affiliation. So I’m not sure what’s worse, terrible customer service or absolutely insane patrons. Both are red flags.

We definitely got the “you belong on the poor beach” vibe. Like second hand citizens or something. Wild experience. No refunds so we are trying to make the best of it. Will never be back and would never EVER suggest to anyone I know to come to any metro lagoon property.

For context, my wife and I are well kept and well groomed and give off no impressions that we are unable to afford any of the amenities offered so I am not even sure where the animosity came from to begin with. Again,...

EDIT Things are getting worse as time goes on. I'm a resident here and I don't feel welcome, Metro mandates we pay our monthly dues and we get absolutely no say in how things are run or what is/isn't done, and the lack of experience in hospitality is starting to become a very serious problem.

The staff is undisciplined and untrained in customer service. The cleanliness has become a serious medical concern. Metro has marketed the lagoon as a party spot when this a residential community pool. It is not uncommon to see thong bikinis, black out drunks, and smokers smoking next to children on the resident beach. They have no systems in place to keep everything organized and orderly except for at the gate where they flip your bags upside-down just in case you have a bottle of water or a protein bar. The bar service is AWFUL which explains their desperation for money as the #1 money-making service is barely operational. This isn't management's fault, whoever is hiring 18 year olds with no experience or worse those who clearly hate customer facing jobs is to blame.

Metro if you're reading this: GO BACK TO YOUR ORIGINAL PLAN! Have Resident and Non-resident members. Run this like a gym. You can have one-time visitor passes at a premium and then require one week, month, monthly, and annual passes for non-residents. You'll make more money and allow your inexperienced staff to build up their experience with members who actually support the business. Take the opportunity this off-season and re-build. Finish the lagoon, add the restaurant, get rid of the bad staff, and fix yourselves. Nothing wrong in saying you messed up and want to be better.

END EDIT

Same mistakes as Epperson on a monumental scale. Overall, it is apparent that Metro Lagoon has ran out of money and time and is sacrificing quality for a quick buck. I'll edit this later if/when they fix themselves....

Like Epperson, this is not meant to be open to the public. Their original documents (still available online) show that this was supposed to be on a membership-based model. They've instead opted to crowd it with public visitors who sneak in food and drink and they lose business of the resident members and even more money. The staff are completely overwhelmed. Allowing the public to crowd this place is a disservice to them and their hard earned money ($30+ p/person) and is unfair for the staff who don't have the support they need.

On top of this, they completely eliminated hundreds of seats, sqft of beach, and an entire restaurant. There's a food truck and grass patch where it was supposed to be. They also elected to not have a projector and screen at the stage unlike all the others which have it. The resident beach is tiny and in the worst possible spot. A good 2/3 of the lagoon is also roped off, so a 15-acre lagoon quickly becomes smaller than its counterparts...