Mountlake Terrace Recreation Pavilion & Pool

Okay for kids not so much for adults. They do not offer one square inch for adult swim during the weekend. Found the dressing room filthy shower floor was full of hair. Disgusting.

This place is a nice resource, but it’s not in great shape. The building needs a paint job inside. The ceiling tiles look terrible. We came for the indoor play area. It is not worth the fee of $ 3.75/hr per child! The place is dirty and so are the toys. Many of the toys are broken. This place needs funding and improvement. The front desk women were not warm and inviting at all. I barely got eye contact. Maybe we picked a bad day to come. My boys enjoyed playing, but I won’t waste my money here when there are other places in better shape. Lynnwood Recreation Center makes this place look like a dump.

I try to go to the cardio room and a lot of times there is a line. They cater to children, not adults. Probably won’t go there again.

My son floundered around in the swim level «turtle» for a few months, which began to worry me after a while. He wasn’t progressing, and I thought perhaps swimming just wasn’t his thing. However, we surprisingly got a new swim teacher named Vaila, who is incredible. She looks the children in the eye, doesn’t let them goof off, but also doesn’t need to discipline (how does she DO that?!), while teaching the children the techniques they need to know in order to progress to the next level. My son went up two levels in three months under Vaila’s tutelage, and I couldn’t be more in awe. She let me know where his strengths and weaknesses were and how to help him. I hope we will have her as a teacher for the rest of my son’s summer swim lessons.

Just wish the city would give the necessary funding for upgrades. The pool is a bit ghetto, however if this pool managed to raise enough money for upgrades, it would be one impressive facility!

The Instructors have been positive so far. However, the pool doesn’t offer make-​up classes if you or your child are sick and have to miss a class. The front desk staff can be on the snide side.

Bad experience today. Someone vomited in the riverpool. Instead of yelling for everyone out due to vomit the guards just kept saying get out this pool is closed so no one moved quickly. If I would have know it was vomit I would have jumped out right away. I think they should have been more animated and explained what was going on. It was also packed for happy hour… Used to be better when Seattle (MLT) was quieter… oh well…
Last thing：the men’s washroom is filthy! Change room is pretty bad too.

My son takes lessons here regularly and the facilities are a bit dated, especially the showers /​locker rooms. The staff is nice and pricing is good for swim lessons. They offer other activities but I can only comment in the pool.

Great for kids. My 5 yr old loves the leisure pool.

I give it a 5 cause my son enjoyed the indoor playground & it was all about him that day!

The hours are way too restrictive. Once I finally got in the one pool I was allowed in I hurt my neck trying to dodge everyone else’s kids. After suffering that, I was kicked out entirely for classes. None was explained by the very poor staff. They just looked at me despondently and shrugged. Once I finally made enough of a stink, I was told I could wait on the bleacher, which I can’t do because of my back (which is why I was swimming in the first place). Way too loud, crowded, and uncomfortable for dads or adults.
The bathrooms are as gross as port-​a-​potties and it’s obnoxious to ask for a coin to operate the lockers; that should simply be built into the entrance fee. The concessions appear to be an attempt to get your children to pester you into buying unhealthy junk. For a place for families, it doesn’t seem very sensitive to the hectic lives of parents.
I literally cried when I got home from the poor treatment.

The upside: Proximity, and offerings
The downside: Cost, Size
Ive been a resident in this community for almost twenty years.
My kids took swimming lessons at MLT Pavillion.
The family dog went thru weeks of Obedience training at the Pavilion.
Family swimming was always fun, and inexpensive.
The pool is far too small for adult swimming –especially if you actually enjoy a REAL workout in the lanes. Its great for kids, and low-​impact water aerobics, but that’s about it.
The Value is really not congruent with the Cost these days.
What this area needs is a solution more like what you will find in Federal Way: Olympic size AND great for families.
You’re welcome to disagree, but you’d be wrong anyway.

My son has been taking lessons here since day 1. He is now in level 5 and I have yet to find anything I don’t like about this place or the staff. Keep up the great work!

Such a fun pool for my 2 year old son! The shallow area with all the spray features and toys are the perfect place to let him explore the water with a little independence and the lazy river is a great «ride» for him.
The locker rooms are ok. Nothing glamorous but totally practical.
Here is my biggest complaint about the facility: The front desk staff needs an attitude adjustment. (Or maybe a morale boost.) They always seem grouchy and annoyed. They don’t even smile at each other! C’mon guys, you work in Recreation Service! Be upbeat. Happy, dare I say. Your job is to welcome families and children to a place to play and enjoy healthy physical activity. Buck up.
The lifeguard staff is very nice.
We will keep coming back and trying to kill em with kindness out front.

I live a couple of blocks from here and my children take lessons here twice a week, and we also take them to the recreation swim during the week every now and then. We enjoy going here frequently.
Pros:
Relatively affordable
Great swimming instructors
Kids area is shallow, has noodles/​can bring own toys/​etc
Frequent rec swims
Lots of parking
Cons:
Run down building – pool, deck, locker rooms, cardio room, etc.
Locker rooms can be a bit dirty, yuck.
Overall the place needs to be painted/​needs a facelift
They sell tons of junk food in the lobby (candy, ice cream bars, «fruit snacks», etc). I know they need to make money, but it’s ironic that in a recreation center they’d sell such crap. The counter looks like it belongs in a 7 – 11.

I take my kids often as it is a fun pool for them and the location is good. I have also found the staff friendly and I like the little holiday craft fairs they do. I personally think the pool water clean and warm, I would not go at all if that was not true.
They have great floating toys for the kids to climb on in the pool and the runways things to run and jump in the water. all unique to this place, in my experience.
It has a good family community feel… but a family that has not fixed things up for a while.
The urinals in the mens bathroom overflow often, and have for years now. um, just keep telling myself the puddle I am standing in is water… The shower room is good and large but multiple heads have one problem or another.
They have a great rate for family swim time. I would go more often if they fixed things up a bit.

Great spot for the whole family. Not only is there a shallow end with small fountains, a sprinkler arch, a lip low enough for infants to sit in while supervised, and lots of balls and pool noodles, this places also boasts a private area for swim lessons, party rooms, and lap area with enough room for every speed swimmer.
That being said, don’t count on the lifeguards to help out with roughhousing from older kids dumped in the play area by parents who are hopefully present with other children during lessons. I was forced to police the area when an older kid bullied every kid 3 and under in the area as the lifeguard dumbly watched.
$ 4 per child– can’t beat it!
There is also a huge area in the front where you can buy swim suits, goggles, life vests, and every other party /​swimming need you can think of. Travel size deodorant? They have it!
They also have a decent looking coffee /​snack bar.

I love the swim lessons!!! We go on the weekends and it’s perfect for the kids! Although it gets hot in the pool area!
The toddler play area is great too. The toddler goes in there while the older two swim. Plenty of things for him to do.

I am from Olympia and I can say you guys who are complaining don’t know how good you have it. We have the Ymca as a choice for public pools and it is overcrowded, cold, boring, and expensive! We have friends who live in Edmonds so we frequent this pool whenever we come up. Our kids love it. They always have warm, clean water and there are so many different things to do. They have nice new toys and play mats, a water walk, a fun current river, a hot tub and baby play area. I LOVE this place and wish we could get it together in the Olympia area to build such a place. Every community would be proud to have a pool like Mount Lake Terraces pool. It is 15 for an entire family to get in. That is cheap entertainment for 2 hours for 5 people! I t hink the locker rooms are showing their age but they arent bad.
The life guards always seem to pay attention and are attentive to bully kids splashing and acting like fools.
It was a bit crowded last time we went but I can understand why with such a good value. Highly recommended for all ages.

This is one of the best pools of all the public/​city pools I’ve been to. Plenty of stuff for an active water-​loving 4-​year old to do without me really worrying about him (yes, I was in the water with him, but he can basically swim on his own). From the lazy river, to the really shallow kid area, to the basketball hoops to the floating pads the kids can run on and jump off of, to the really deep area you can dive down into and collect sinking stuff — what’s not to like (if you’re a kid, or you have a kid).
I’m sure it’s fine for casual lap swimming as well, or a pool party, or water aerobics, too.
The locker rooms definitely aren’t great, but they’re on par for what I’ve found at other city pools. If we wanted nicer things we could pay more in taxes. But we don’t, so we can’t have nice things. Anyhoo. The lockers worked (for $ 0.25) and the vending machine worked (for $ 0.85 worth of sun chips). You can come here and work out in a small cardio/​weight room for like $ 2.50 if you just want to watch your kid through a window (this presupposes your kid is old enough to be on their own or you have a spouse in the water).
I’m not sure what’s with all the negative reviews? This is a public community pool, with lots of hours dedicated specifically to kids or senior citizens. If you’re expecting a lap pool for masters swimming 24×7 perhaps you weren’t paying attention to the web site?