Aquanation

Fantastic experience: State of the art facility including Olympic diving and swimming facilities and memberships are reasonable priced

Negative experience: At the cafe, my family was buying lunch however my partner and I were paying separately the cafe worker did not serve me hot food as she said the cut off time was at 1:15pm however all the other kids from the same family had gotten their food seconds before so only one child was left out as the payment was split I didn't let me put the order at 1:15pm

Fantastic experience: Slide is very cool

Negative experience: Facility is fantastic, modern and kept clean everytime I’ve gone there. However, the spas and showers are always cold!! Never had an hot shower there! Absolutely terrible!

Negative experience: The facilities are ok except I'd say it's at the top of the ladder for most "code browns" out of all the pools I go to. It's also really let down by the cafe. Opening hours on the website and out the front of the cafe are confusing (see photos). The cafe is often closed before 4pm on a Sunday too. If it's not going to open at regular times, just put in a couple of vending machines around the place.

Negative experience: Absolutely abysmal, not only did a watch a kid urinate into the kiddy pool. But when going down the drop slide I saw a women's sanitary napkin plastered to the wall near the middle section. The staff really need to take better care of this location, Kelly was a real piece of work. Very disappointing, I am disgusted and will not be returning. Sincerely Sianna

Negative experience: The diving boards are only operational for 8 hours per week on selected days and the public can only use up to 3 metre boards!! What a joke!! I remember jumping off the 10 metre anytime i wanted!! Let people jump if they want. The nanny state has taken over. Why even use my tax dollars to build the diving boards? Your rules are pathetic and the place is poorly managed.

Negative experience: Issues with cold showers for the last few months. It is not good for people with medical issues. Being promised next week will be looked at but next week never comes. Very disappointed.

Negative experience: Very disappointed that the childcare has closed. I don't believe there's justification for it and many families will suffer. Otherwise read the other reviews because I've had similar feelings regarding small accessible swim spaces, particularly when swimming lessons are conducted. There's nothing about this on the website, however it's typically after school and Saturday mornings. Regards lack of maintenance; for years there's been a rotation of signs indicating no hot showers, and they are" working hard to fix it". Mainly I have concerns regarding pool cleanliness as every time we've gotten colds after visiting. Updating this in mid 2024, that's no longer an issue, however my daughter, even using goggles, gets sore eyes from the strong chlorine.

Negative experience: I am a local and regular user of the swimming pool and steam room .The 50m pool is great ,unfortunately at the times when I can go as a worker, before and after work the pool is dominated by aerobics classes ,coaching,and swimming lessons ,only allowing two or three lanes for general paying public. Sometimes the aerobics classes belt out loud hectic music ,with instructor yelling commands. Its very distracting and annoying when you're trying to do your peaceful laps.. A positive note would be that most of the staff at generally extremely polite and helpful.Atmoshere is sterile and concrete cold.

Negative experience: Gym area is ok but warm water pool, sona , spa, jets, showers are terrible, service and maintenance so poor, pity

Negative experience: Showers are always having problems for the amount of money you pay for membership you would think they would fix them

Negative experience: went there for the first time. the pool was nice, a proper olympic size pool. unfortunately the staffs were super rude!

Negative experience: No Spa for over a week now No pressure in showers for over few months now.. Despite reminding, requesting from front desk, email, complaint... the management keeps ignoring the members. Wish there was another place to go ..

Negative experience: Generally I’m really happy with the facility. I use the lap pool and gym which are both pretty good. Unfortunately they can’t seem to fix the showers which have been stone cold on 3 of my last 4 visits. I’ll need to go elsewhere if they can’t fix it soon.

Positive experience: Good pool and facilities, except the Cafe. The Cafe is closed on a public holiday when the pool is far busier thet usual. It's closed on the weekends before official closing times, usually mid afternoon (after classes when there is actually space to bring young children to swim). Honestly, what's the point in a Cafe that's closed during busy pool times?

Positive experience: Hydro pool is great but you have time your visit when no water aerobics happening because they take up most of the pool. Been going here for past 3mths & I think I’ve had 2 warm showers only. Turns me off going.

Negative experience: Half an hour after we got there they had swimming lessons and the old ladies were looking at me like I’m occupying their space so i ask the guy working there if we had to move and he told me we have to move and go to the back or corners “sorry about that” lmao. Why would i wanna pay to come swim in a small space. Have to be considerate of other people if you want to organize a class at least tell us beforehand so we can go somewhere else. Just Wow

Fantastic experience: This is such a great place. Friendly staff and excellent facilities. The only feedback would be to put more people on the phones as it takes a while to get through. Well done Aquanation

Negative experience: Drove for 50 minutes to get here and experience the dive pool… shut because of staffing issues. 2nd waterslide shut indefinitely. These should be made available on the website. Extremely disappointed!

Negative experience: There is a consistent hygiene issue with the children's pool. Without fail there will be a "code brown" incident and on this recent occasion I couldn't have been in the pool for longer than 5 minutes before it occurred. My boys got cold very quickly and decided to abandon as it takes more than 30 mins to sort out each time- not worth spending $25.80 bringing the family here and I won't be doing it again. People need to be educated on using swim nappies in the pool as I've not had this issue at the other local swimming pools.

Fantastic experience: This facility is world class. It has everything you need, the staff are always welcoming and friendly. There are loads of varied classes. The gym itself is incredible and I’m so thankful I have this. If you’re wondering whether to join a gym. Do yourself a massive favour and join this gym. You won’t regret it.

Negative experience: Not sure how long but as far as I remember the showers are really in poor condition specially the men’s main one when all are in use it is almost no water coming through and absolutely useless. Nowadays noticed poor cleanliness across the men’s changing room ..

Positive experience: Fix the purple waterslide, its been out of action for years

Negative experience: Worst culture. Join if you like trainers who do nothing, teens hogging machines, on their phones and constantly posing in front of ppl training.

Fantastic experience: Don't know what people are complaining about. Took me a bit of time to understand the venue but it's a public swimming pool as catering for everyone's needs is always going to be hard. On weekends if you have children then best not to go till 12pm as they have swimming lessons in the kids pool and half is shut off. The waterslide (other one is broken) is open from 12pm weekends and is an additional cost of $4 for unlimited. Remember they have to pay 2 lifeguards to operate it. Child has to be 5yo+ The driving board's up to 3m high is open from 2pm weekends and is FREE is use. Child has to be 5yo+ There are smaller splash play and waterslides for kids for FREE My child always enjoys his time there.

Fantastic experience: Great 50m lap pool lanes are wide and more laps available except when booked by swimming school. Great private showeres

Positive experience: Don't go there later in the day swimming lessons on and everyone gets put over to one side and trying to fun with not much room and big line for one water side that closes i think it was at 5pm and you pay money but don't tell you they closes at a certain time same as the diving boards and there is only one person at a time aloud on them very badly run that pool Specially school hoildays days

Fantastic experience: The staff are really friendly and helpful. The gym is clean and well maintained. Facilities are orderly and modern.

Fantastic experience: Our go to swimming pool, clean, supportive staff, and good teachers.

Negative experience: Very disappointed. I don’t really get the logic behind why they close kids pool as early as 6.30-7pm. What is the reason behind that? Most parents are working full time and they only get time to take their kids to pool after 5pm, while by the time they get to the pool, they only can use the kids pool and splash area for 1 hour. I would like to know the logic behind this decision. Why are they only closing kids pool and not other pools? Also when you enter, you pay entry to use pool for kids and they never tell you it will close at 6.30pm and you pay money and get trapped with a closed pool. And when they close kids pool, there is no other pool you can take your toddler to as all other pools are deep. I would like to hear what the manager says about the reason behind closing only kids pool. This is very silly.

Fantastic experience: If you’re looking for a pool to suit little one’s particularly around age 1-2 years this pool is definitely suitable!! My 14m old loved it! It has a small pool for babies, a medium sized pool for bigger toddlers and children along with a fantastic little water slide/water play area. Adults can also go down the slide with the little ones which was great as my daughter was too small to go down on her own but old enough to have fun with adult assistance. Facilities wise… 3 parent rooms (1 was closed when we visited) which made getting organised to go home a bit hard when there were so many families wanting to use the rooms. But overall it’s a fantastic pool. The lap pool is a cold pool but has 2 open fun/play areas for everyone to enjoy too! Which was great! Very nice cafe area for food. I highly recommend this swimming pool!

Fantastic experience: Nice place and very helpful reception ladies, love this place!

Positive experience: All life guards here are terrible. Me and my friends are just trying to have fun and the life guards ruining everything. They stick their noses into all your business like, we know that the're just trying to do their job but like my gosh, so freaking noisy.

Negative experience: So disappointing that you shut down the Childcare, masquerading the closure due to the lack of numbers (which we all know is not true). Just to repurpose the area as a ‘Wellness Retreat’. Shame on you basing this decision on revenue, so many parent relied on this service for their health and well-being let alone their sanity.

Fantastic experience: Best gym I have been so far

Fantastic experience: 5-star swimming school. My son’s coach is very experienced and caring.

Negative experience: There online booking system is so utterly flawed. It's one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever encountered and I'm on the verge of cancelling my membership.

Positive experience: The pools are great and the food is too, maybe try adding or fixing the purple water slide though

Negative experience: Got kicked out of the gym for the dumbest reason. Overpriced casual pass btw ($20)

Negative experience: All facilities for disabled people not working cafe over priced. This is the reason we won’t go to the Croydon pools. Really appalling

Fantastic experience: Love taking the kids to Aquanation, and they love it more! It's a great set up and super family friendly, plenty to do for kids and adults, and always clean.

Positive experience: Some Swimming pools are great specially this one, I went there for a year or so but my swimming instructor made me jump in when I didn’t want to. It’s great still

Fantastic experience: Staff were absolutely fantastic hands down to the person who hired them, so friendly, nice and chill. Easy to talk to and were all really accommodating!

Negative experience: ridiculous pricing, $50 a fortnight for access to a gym (most do $25 a month). and to cancel membership had to pay $175

Negative experience: Alright, the toilets and showers are really dirty, has hair and dirt everywhere. Lifeguards are alright some are rude. Don’t come on Fridays or Wednesdays very crowded unless you like being squashed. Update: Too many people come here, so dirty. Once I saw a boy spitting water into the swimming pool. The lifeguards looked and laughed. The lifeguards always look angry and unapproachable. The showers are nasty and look like they are never cleaned

Negative experience: Rude lifeguard lady. Poor experience despite nice facilities. If you scroll down, you will see I'm not the only one to have encountered a rude lifeguard at Ringwood Aquanation. It may be the same person, or there may be a few. (I do not mean to say all lifeguards there are the same) but without a doubt there are some visitors having poor experience with lifeguard(s) who are ill-mannered., and really hope the management would investigate, and retrain these people.

Positive experience: Nice facilities but lifeguards need to control things more, perhaps need more training. Such as children throwing ball into lap lanes hitting swimmers. A hazard. They dont want to know. Kids playing in lap lanes sometimes. And once I was doing backstroke, the lifeguard removed the backstroke markers whilst I was swimming. I hitting my head at the end and when I got to the end after hitting my head she said "just a heads up I removed the backstroke markers" told her yes I know I just my head! she didnt react. Other than this ok.

Negative experience: Disappointed I saw good reviews of this place so drove there. I got there and paid for the waterslides, spa and pool. The drop waterslide is broken, the spa and "warm" water pool weren't warm at all. Also I dived off the 3m diving board I swallowed some water and was struggling to get to the side the lifeguard didn't even seem to notice (I'm OK thankfully).

Negative experience: Sunday on the hottest day of the year. Literally only 2 and a half lanes open for public play. Slides are closed l, diving areas off limits and the children's playground is closed for cleaning.

Negative experience: Reciption staff are very nice but one of the life saver was so bloody rude to my daughter. He yelled at her for not listening to him. It was a lot of people there so very noisy. He could just get down to her level and talk to her. My daughter screamed and cried after that happened for nearly one hour. We understand on that hot day, all life savers were a bit anxious but that guy was definitely over reacted.

Fantastic experience: Great place for swimming. I took my son there for a pool bday party and he had so much of fun playing in the waters. This was his first time in the water and there were different levels of depth which made him very comfortable. He is very much interested in learning swimming now which is a great sign. Also a great venue to conduct bday parties. The food was not too bad it could have been better but that’s ok not a big deal.

Negative experience: This is THE busiest pool I have ever seen. The rather large car park was FULL AT 5:30AM, open time. It doesn’t matter what time you go to this place either, as it’s the same story all day. If you’re looking for a pool that you can go to before it gets busy, you won’t find it here.

Fantastic experience: I got my son’s birthday here and that was amazing in booking and services. The staffs were very friendly and helpful. Kids had a wonderful time together.

Negative experience: Been a member for few years now. Everything is broken all Lockers. Jets on spa. Showers slow or not working. Reported few times to the reception . They don't care. Keep saying we have to get a approval for maintenance. But I can see they kepp upgrading non required tasks like adding lights on reception area or similar things like that . If i wasn't local and I wasn't required to attend for my back injury. I would never go there. Recently in gym there is few machines broken told the reception too after a week still the same

Positive experience: Good value for money. $11.10 for pools and slides. Unfortunately only one slide was operating which was a shame. There wasn't too much of a line so my son got to go around quite a few times. He also enjoyed the playground area. Unfortunately it is very slippery and he slipped and hit his head on the tiles and was very upset. The tiles might need to be cleaned or replaced because it's not safe, especially when that area is used by little kids running around.

Fantastic experience: New and clean in the swimming pool area, as well as the cafe. Just that the cafe have limited food choices and prices are not cheap either. Would suggest that you bring your own snack. The cafe has outdoor and indoor seating. Cafe is separated from the actual pools area but there are also tables and chairs in the pool aecrion. Warm water shower. Changing rooms are relatively clean. The water in the normal lap pool is rather cold. Overall, quite good. Will come again.

Fantastic experience: My family was very happy visiting this state of arts public pool during the school holiday. The facility overall is 5 stars. The play area has two toddler slides with water buckets and the water slide area has two giant water slides. Change rooms are spacious and clean. It is the best shower I've had in a council run swimming pool. 50m lane is also excellent and water is great. The entry fee is kept affordable with so much to offer. We would be happy to come back every now and then with the kids.

Fantastic experience: Excellent staff.. fantastic facility.. heaps of activities including swimming, gym, cafe etc.. One important tip: try to reach there at least 10 mins before your session since it's a bit difficult to find a good car park spot.. and that literally is self-explanatory of the popularity of this place..

Fantastic experience: Lovely staff and great services

Positive experience: I would give them 5 stars but the taps in the shower in the guys bathrooms are so a bit off .please call a plumber and get it fixed.. cheers :)

Fantastic experience: We all had lots of fun.

Negative experience: 05/09/2022. Well it's been a year on since my last post and nothing has improved the change rooms and I use the plural loosely, as one has been locked out. Maintenance is not a prioity at Aquanation and facilities for disabled is shocking!! I love to know who is in charge because nothing is improving in fact I'd say the opposite the spa was out of action for about a month and currently one disabilty change room is only in use. Great to see that the gym has had all the equipment updated but It’s disappointing that disabled people are treated as second class citizens Out of 2 change rooms available one is out of order and has been for near on two years! Only having 1 room available reflects management’s priority you would have hoped with the Lockdown repairs would have been made and possible adding an extra room. And then there is the Spa this too had issues prior to the Lockdown and is in desperate need of repairs. Who is responsible and what is going on!!

Negative experience: Today I felt really embarrassed and humiliated in front of other members when I was pulled out of the steam room for not wearing a wrist band. We (my family) have been a members for many years and I was shocked the way I was told off (sternly) in the room. I strongly feel the person could have been a little discreet and polite by calling me outside for a word. Very honestly, had I known or realized the wrist band was mandatory, I would have taken it from the reception. I have spoken at the reception and logged a complain so this doesn't happen to other members.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities, that steam room is so good! Very accessible with plenty of parking. Choose your times if you have flexibility, can get really busy. Overall very satisfied.

Positive experience: The pools are very clean and the water is quite warm in the small pool. The big pool is quite cold! The change rooms are good but again, very cold. It's terrible during the winter time and specially when I take my kids. The showers in the ladies change rooms are cold too. I take the kids to the family rooms where the rooms are spacious and the water is warm. They don't have many of these "parents" rooms though. All in all, this is a good facility :)

Negative experience: We've been coming here to Aquanation for our daughter's swimming lessons for the past two years or so. In the beginning, things were really fantastic. Staff were very helpful and friendly, the place was clean, and we had the same swimming instructor every week who our daughter adored and couldn't wait to see again each time. However in the past twelve months the experience has rapidly gone downhill. There seems to have been some sort of staffing mass exodus. I'm not sure if it was a cultural/management issue. But the end result is some weeks lessons are cancelled altogether, and the rest we turn up to find a new, random, seemingly inexperienced teacher. I've lost track of the tally but my best guess is we've had a new swimming teacher every week for the past 5 months. As well as that, I've also witnessed various pieces of the pool infrastructure fall into disrepair without being fixed. The water slide playground wheel, part of the toddler pool fence, the family toilet rooms and the main entry and exit gates. I understand the pandemic probably has a part to play in all of this, but the feeling we get coming here is they just no longer care. Subsequently we're starting at a new swimming school next week, something countless families have already done.

Fantastic experience: Great pool facilities and we found it great to take babies and toddlers as there’s a very shallow pool area for them.

Fantastic experience: Helpful staff. Clean facilities. Very enjoyable learn to swim program.

Fantastic experience: Great water plays and spacious for lessons. Always love watching swimmers doing high dives from platform.

Fantastic experience: Great place for the kids to play and do swimming lessons. Showers are clean and seem large enough. Parking can get a bit hard at times.

Fantastic experience: Very nice pool 15 min walk from Ringwood station

Fantastic experience: This is far and away the best public pool in the Knox/Maroondah area. The toddler pool is great, the water play area is clean and the whole facility is well maintained. I take my 16 month old regularly and we have a great time every visit.

Fantastic experience: Great place to chill with 50m pool. I attended a swim meet

Fantastic experience: Awesome pool. Very clean and the swimming lessons are excellent.

Fantastic experience: My daughter has recently started swimming lessons at Aquanation and I must say, have never seen her love a sport more than this, she talked to me about how lovely her swimming teacher named Sarah was and how much fun she is! Very impressed with Aquanation!

Fantastic experience: This place is great! Amazing facilities!

Fantastic experience: We all had lots of fun.

Fantastic experience: Excellent customer service and the pool is always super clean.

Fantastic experience: I haven't been there in years since it was Ringwood Aquatics Centre. Its makeover is fantastic, especially the water slide and gym facilities. Fun for the whole family.

Positive experience: Dropped in to pick up pricing for Maroondah leisure courteous service and food flexible pricing

Fantastic experience: Good fun for my toddler. Has a baby pool and kids pool. Slides and water play we enjoy every time

Positive experience: A very nice , clean place. Talked to Trav at front desk about swimming lessons for my daughters, and he was very helpful, patient and nice. He answered all my questions and booked my daughter for assessment test. The place is very clean specially swimming pool is very well maintained. I definitely recommend this place !

Fantastic experience: Great setup for kids.

Fantastic experience: Wonderful place Great friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Great for kids

Positive experience: Took my two young grandsons on the school holidays only to find the entire kids area closed. Very frustrating and 2 very upset kids.

Fantastic experience: The Pool is lovely and clean and all the new Gym equipment is fantastic. A membership for swimming and Gym is very great value

Fantastic experience: The kids pool is great!my children loved the tobogán, Nice temperature, nice facilities.

Fantastic experience: Great water plays and spacious for lessons. Always love watching swimmers doing high dives from platform.

Positive experience: Nice clean pool altogather, except for the steam room that I did not like, very small and not very pleasent experience

Fantastic experience: Great place for kids to play and have fun. Water slides are great and the swallow pools are perfect for them.

Negative experience: Horribly overcrowded and pretty gross. I’d avoid unless you love random wet strangers rubbing up against you. If that’s your thing though - you’ll love it here.

Fantastic experience: Really friendly staff, we've loved taking our little bub here. The kids pool is great.

Fantastic experience: Such a great place to develop a love of water and gently ease your way into learning to swim. My daughter loves it there and the water slides are always a hit!

Positive experience: This is my first time to aquanation with my 10 month old little. She had a blast! However... In the kids play section of the pool, there's a big "bucket" that collects water over the main play area, and when it fills up, it dumps all that water down below. My daughter FREAKED OUT neither of were expecting this. During my 45 minute stay at this pool, I noticed 2 other children that were frightened by this also. Parents of young children just be aware of this area.

Positive experience: This place is ok for lap swimming. It has a 50 metre lap pool. The humidity isnt too bad. Often the place is extremely busy so there are often only 3 to 4 lanes allocated for casual swimmers. Generally there is 2 to 4 people a lane which isnt too bad. It appears to have a strong family focus with a lot of lessons & a play pool for children

Positive experience: Great facilities and lovely staff. The only issue was kids randomly entering into the lap lanes from the multi purpose section. It would be great if the staff could monitor this better. It's a bit annoying to avoid accidentally bumping into kids while doing laps and could also be a safety hazard.

Positive experience: Staff really helpful on joining. Although we had to find our own way round and got a bit lost so could have done with a quick tour haha. Overall great place, modern gym equipment and the warm water pool is always pretty quiet, even at the weekends.

Fantastic experience: My usual pool was closed for renovations. Was pleasantly surprised at the great facilities and pool at Aquanation. Nice to get back into the water again.