Tropics Indoor Water Park

Elite '09

17

123

Norton L.

Shoreview, MN

4/29/2008

If you've seen my other reviews, you'll notice that I reviewed the Shoreview Community Center already.  You may think I'm just trying to up my review and first review count, but that's not what I'm trying to do.  There's more than just Tropics here, which is why I did a review of the community center as a whole.  But I like this place so much, I wanted to make sure people knew about the water park in case they were looking for it specifically.

Tropics is made up of a huge water slide, pool play area, a couple of swimming lanes, a shallow kids area, and a hot tub.  

The water slide starts about 3 stories up, goes outside, twists and turns, and drops out near the pool play area.  The stairs to the entrance seem to go on forever, but it's worth the climb.  It can get dark when it's not daylight out, but that can add to the fun.

The  play area has tethered floating animals for older kids to play on in the deep area of the pool and shallows to 4 feet for water aerobics and baby swimming classes.

There are only two swimming lanes and they are well marked.  However, if you come to use the lanes, take note of the open swim schedule because they can be occupied with swimming lessons or lifeguard training.

The shallow area is great for little kids, has a small slide, a big tree that sprays water, and floats that the kids can play on.   It's only a couple of feet deep and has a ramp that eases into the area.

The most impressive part of the park, believe it or not, is the lifeguards.  They are a very well run group.  They are mostly teenagers, but they're attentive and professional.  The park runs surprise drills on them to keep them on their toes.  My wife has seen them in action when it hasn't been a drill and was impressed at how quickly they acted and how each of them knew exactly what role they had in the rescue and what they should do.

My daughter takes swimming lessons here and frequently begs for us to go for open swim.  The swimming teachers are well trained and most of them are very good.  I've seen some of them yell at kids that aren't paying attention, but they are teenagers, so they don't know how to handle the rambunctious ones.  They have group classes as well as private lessons.

Overall this is a great place to go and cheaper than the commercial water parks.  Daily rates are $7.50 for adults and $6.50 for kids.  It's cheaper if you're a Shoreview resident.  Annual passes are also available.  If you trust your kids in the water, let them play there and get a work out in their fitness center, or take a walk around their track.

See my review of the Shoreview Community Center as a whole for more information.

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