Brighton Oasis

The Splash Pad at Benedict Park offers a comparable experience for free.
This facility is typical for Brighton, which takes decades to commit to build anything and then does a half-​baked job.
The facility is best under optimal circumstances — private parties — which keep attendance reasonable.
At its summer peak, there isn’t enough shade, the Teen crowd is under disciplined, the «river» is too small for large crowds, and the water slide is an under achievement.
Parking is awful — unless you have paid for a private party. City planners really muffed this one. Sadly, the indoor pool at the Brighton Rec Center has been Closed For Repair so often, (mostly due to abuse by the locals), it prompted the need for the Oasis.
Showers, lockers: Too few, too small, and apathetic staff. Life guard requirements are minimal, and they spend most of their time flirting with the coeds. (I was a fan of the Flamingo Kid film, but in the film, the guards do their jobs.)
And if the sky shows any sign of Lightening, the Oasis is closed, which kind of defeats the point.
Young children under 7 will be limited in what they can do.
This was designed by people who either don’t have kids or whose kids fit all the age-​appropriate amenities.
Splash Pad is free.

This place is great for kids over the age of 7, but for the kids that are under 6 will not have fun. The rule states that if or child Is under 48″ tall they can’t go on the slide even with an adult!!! Also if you kid is under 6 they must be an arms length from you or else the life guards will blow the whistle at you. Speaking of the life guards, there are about 20 of them. That’s not bad to have a lot of people on duty, but in the first 30 min I was there they blew the whistle about 30 times on babies, kids, and adults!!! There where also two life guards who look under 14 years old. I would not recommend this place for families with children under 7.

This place was pretty cool! If you want a spot under some shade on a weekend you have to get there just as they open. We were just like 5 minutes after 11 and missed out. The kids area is great, the lazy river is fun, the slides are a blast… and then they have a climbing wall and basketball hoop area. I will admit I was not a fan of the concession food. The nachos were decent, but the fries and chicken strips were a no go. The price to get it was really affordable too. I think for 2 adults and one child we paid $ 17.50. It would have been less if we had a resident card. Even if you are a resident, you need to purchase a resident card from the rec center to get resident pricing. Lame.

I’m sitting here right now, the place is super busy even for a cloudy friday. The place is very clean and organized and they have a ton of lifeguards, which to me look like they do the job better then lifeguards at Elitchs. The two slides are awesome, you do need to be 48′ OR pass a swim test to get a wrist band that will let you ride. The lazy river turns into a wave pool every so often and it’s fun with a tube you have to ride in. The zip line they have here is broken, they have two basketball hoops in a small pool, which would be great but the pool is small so it gets very crowded. The kids are having a blast so it’s worth the cash

The area itself is nice, but if you have kids you may want to rethink…
Pros:
— Pools are clean and appear well maintained
— Smaller in size so it is not overwhelming or super crowded during the week
— Parking is easy
— Bathrooms are clean & convenient
— Well staffed with life gaurds (which I love knowing there are people watching but this also turned out to be a con…)
Cons:
— Kids 48″ or smaller can not ride on the slides PERIOD! Not even with an adult. This was VERY disappointing and devastating to our 5 year old that only wanted to go down the tube slide with Daddy the whole time. We spoke with other families while there that were having the same problem and one eventually left because their child only wanted to go for the slide.
— The kids area is nice, but did not hold the attention of our older child for very long and because she did not meet the height requirement for anything else, she was stuck sitting in the kids pool. Our 1 year old loved this area though!
— Lifegaurds everywhere! I know I mentioned this in pros because I love knowing there are such attentive guards on duty. However, we stayed for only an hour and I heard them blowing there whistle at people about 50 times. My husband also got «the whistle» when our 5 year old was about 15 feet from him. They told us they had to be within arms reach at all times. So if you have more then one child, good luck keeping them both within arms reach the entire time! This seemed odd too when we saw other children running wild without parents in sight, but apparently children over 48″ can be there without supervision… Just don’t expect your 5, almost 6 year old to have fun running around because they must be tethered by your side.
We were told the height requirement was because of their insurance policy. This also seemed odd considering we have gone to the Brighton Rec Center for the past 2 years and both my 5 and 3 year old have been on the slide with my husband with no problems. The Oasis is operated by the city as well, how are the two policies so different?! Please purchase a less stingy policy, I would happily pay extra money to get into this pool if it meant there was more for families with young children like us to do.

The community water park is great. If you are a resident entry is cheap, like $ 3. It’s big enough that it doesn’t get extremely crowded and you can usually find a shady spot to set you things. They have a couple water slides, a lazy river with waves and a great kids play area. The concessions are reasonably priced and the staff is great.
But be sure to check their hours as they close yearly in the year, like 3 – 4 weeks before labor day.