Oviedo Gymnasium/Aquatic Facility - Building Hours Only; Check Website for Pool Hours — Local services in Oviedo

Be aware: We recently moved to Oviedo and enrolled our young child at Riverside swim lessons. The first training level for his age was a good experience and the young lady was very patient and caring. The second level came and unfortunately the young gentleman instructing displayed a very unmotivated domineer and it continued to show through the lessons.

My child was having difficulty jumping off the pool wall into the instructor's arms. At one point, the instructor asked him to jump and mentioned he would not dunk him under water. Once my child built the courage to jump, he jumped and was caught by the instructor. Then without any notice, he was dunked under water. Needless to say, my child was in tears and extremely scared of the instructor. It was the end of the class so we quickly dried off and proceeded home. The entire night, my child was in tears expressing how he did not want to go back, and furthermore, he did not want to get back in the pool. Although I attempted to explain to my child that perhaps it was an accident or the instructor was not paying attention, he was significantly scared.

The following day, as any good parent would, I visited the community center and asked to speak to the director of the swimming lessons. After introducing myself to the director, I began explaining the scenario that previously took place. The director expressed to me that it was common practice to dunk the kids (in that level) under water, perhaps without notification. I expressed to him my discontent with that practice and discussed further how a child could be stressed and fearful of returning after an incident like that. Counter productive is all I kept thinking. At the end, I asked the director of the swim program to ask the swim instructor what occurred that afternoon and to contact me to further discuss. I wanted to allow the instructor to respond and perhaps justify his actions.

I waited 2 weeks without any response. I left 2 voicemails on the directors voicemail with no call back. Finally, the 3rd week I contacted the director of Parks and Recreation who was extremely cordial and understanding. By this point, apologies and explanations were futile. We have since built a pool in our residence and taught our child how to swim.

Perhaps the root cause is the age and inexperience the instructors have with kids. Perhaps the instructor was having a bad day. At the very least, a phone call to converse was expected. I can only speak of the service and treatment that we were given and it fell extremely short of our expectation. Especially when it involves a loved one. Use your finances wisely and go with the organization that has been doing right for some time or hire a private instructor. My...

I wouldn’t recommend trying to host a party here! I scheduled a party for my daughters 5th birthday and had to cancel unfortunately because of the rain. Her party was scheduled to be at 6 and I had guests traveling an hour away. I called the facility at 5 that day only to be told the park is currently closed (I did not receive a call to let me know anything) and they did not have an answer as to whether they would be opening or not. I called back at 5:35 and the park was still closed due to the lightening. I decided at this point to cancel the party. I canceled over the phone and was told that since it was a Saturday I’d receive a call on Monday to confirm the cancellation. After a week of not hearing anything I decided to reach out to figure out the process of being reimbursed the deposit for the party. Once I finally got transferred to the manager I was told my refund was already processed and that I would received a refund within 4-6 weeks. It would’ve been nice to receive a phone call (as promised) explaining what was going on rather than me having to figure out on my own how to go about getting my refund. The park being closed is not my complaint, my issue is how the situation was handled. I live about a half hour away from the facility, it would’ve been nice to be in the loop of what was going on the day of the party regarding park closures just like it would have been nice for a heads up on my refund. Next year I WILL NOT even consider this facility for a...

This is more of a warning. This is a decent place for kids to play. Be aware of their capacity and very short play time segments. ALWAYS CALL AHEAD. My warning is about the "lap" pool. If you call and ask they will say they have a place to swim laps. Please know THIS IS NOT SET ASIDE FOR LAP SWIMMING ONLY. Because of their capacity issues and just the nature of the types of suburbanites who plopped into Oviedo and ruined it over the past 20 years, it will be flooded with families treating it like it's a beach. Obviously, they can't control the types who congregate in these areas but they can control the area better. They can have "laps only" in the lanes but they choose not to. Many of these places will assign lanes for those interestedin not treating it like its a resort. This is a bad thing to find out after you spent money and found out Disney daddy, mini van mommy and braxton Paxton jaxton conner colin and Bryson are all just floating all throughout the lanes. If thats the pool you want, thats great. This community probably eats that up. However, don't pretend like you also have a workout area. Not worth the $6/$9 to try and workout here. It's what it is designed for but not what they choose to cater...