Margaret W. Carpenter Recreation Center

I would give zero stars if I could. The registration phone center is very rude and you can tell they don’t even want to be there. They are untrained and will give you the run around and make you jump through hoops! Horrible place!!!

My kids love coming here to swim. They have their swim lessons here too and we are all pleased with the staff.

I love the rec PARK alot. but there is a HUGEEEEE bee problem. My son even got stung by a hornet a month ago. I cant go there without tons of bees folling me around everywhere and stalking me!!!

Premium prices for average service. No monthly passes available so you are committed for awhile. Pool hours for lap swimming are extremely limited. When I asked about expanding hours at the front desk they suggested I go to the high school. Personally, I think some of the corporate gyms around town are a better deal with better hours. Especially if you want to swim.

This place is great. The Thornton Recreational System is brilliant. Well rounded courses. Excellent and patient instructors. Friendly staff. I’ve had my son in three different courses, gymnastic, hip hop dance, and swimming and I’m pleased with it all. The newly added outdoor park is the icing on the cake.

Great rec center for adults.

We bought an annual membership at this center about a month ago and we love it! As far as the price, we pay out of town rates and are thrilled with them. A few years ago we were members of Lifetime Fitness and let me tell you, those are the prices that are outrageous! We have three adults and prepaid childcare for a 4-​year-​old and an infant and it is only $ 73/​month! So I don’t know what the people who are complaining about the price are used to paying but the going rate now at Lifetime is $ 65/​month for just the 1^st person. Now, are the locker rooms nicer there, yes. Everything is probably a notch up there but this place is still wonderful for the price. I go at different times during the week and the only time that things have been a bit crowded was this last Sunday afternoon at the pool, but even that was not too bad.
The track is nice. There are big windows and you can see the mountains as you walk. You can also pretend you are looking down at the basketball court as you look back to see if you are about to be lapped. You do have to ask for a code before going up but they tell you this if you come in and ask about the center.
The pools are a bit chilly (granted it is the middle of winter and there are huge windows) but they are a good size and seem to handle the number of people. I swim every Friday with my 4-​year-​old and she is usually the only kid. The guards are very nice and very alert! They are constantly walking and counting the guests.
I just started taking the interval class and the instructor is great. The people in the class are so supportive too. I am about 100 lbs overweight and was VERY self-​conscious about being in this class, but complete strangers were smiling at me, giving me high 5’s and when I went to grab my water one lady thought I was upset and leaving. She stopped her work-​out to encourage me to stay. That is a pretty great community of people.
My kids also love the child care. The workers are so kind. They have never acted put-​out or frustrated at all. They seem to really enjoy the kids and mine asks almost everyday if she can go there.
My biggest suggestion would have to be some customer service training for some of the front desk staff. I know they are busy and I’m sure they put up with a lot of stuff, but some of them act like they are constantly irritated no matter how polite you are.
Again, I don’t think that you can beat this facility for the price!

If you like inaccessibility, this is the place for you. We paid the high drop in rate of $ 6.50 today to see if we were going to become members. We live right down the street and as far as the location goes, we couldn’t have asked for better. But unfortunately, the location was the only thing about the Margaret W. Carpenter Rec Center that was convenient.
We had our 5 month old son with us today and every where we turned we were being told «NO».
–NO access to the elevator without a key card that we had to check out at the front desk (thanks for mentioning that to us by the way– would it be too much to ask that you make the connection that we’re new here and have a stroller– are the synapse firing front desk??)
–NO to the free weights sitting next to the track– as they are pad locked in.
–NO to running on the track– without a key code or previously mentioned elevator key pass.
–NO to strollers on the track– whoops! we broke this rule as we missed the sign when we initially accessed the track. Guess we weren’t looking for permission to bring our stroller onto a Family Rec Center track…
This trip couldn’t have been more uninviting. I highly recommend finding somewhere else to workout. Take it from me, they don’t want you there.

I love this Rec Center and surrounding new outdoor recreation area. The fees are low and you can get a punch card to enjoy the amenities inside (great pool, exercise facility). I absolutely love the new outdoor area (free). As others have mentioned, there is a carousel and giant outside playground for children. It is beautiful. Also, a small lake with paddle boats (summer only) and nice running path around it. The City of Thornton out did themselves again. People don’t know it, but the city is run quite well considering how large and diverse it is. Hats off on this expansion.

This place is pretty good! The facility is one of the newest in our area the pool area is decent, they have a lazy river, a huge floating frog, a slide, wave pool and hot tub. When my son was young he did swimming lessons here and ended up with Ecoli, but we’ve been back once since and we all survived…
The gymnastics here are pretty good, the work out area is nice, there is a running track if you take the elevators upstairs.
They have recently added a skate park, huge playground, carousel, lake and paddle boats. The park is wonderful! It has a splash pad too! They are making great improvements here.

Carpenter Rec Center has undergone some *major* outdoor improvements as of late. Do the improvements make the outrageous daily fee to use the indoor facilities worth it? I’m not entirely convinced they do.
CRC is one of those neighborhood haunts you probably visit for the first time when you sign your two year old up for swim lessons. At least, that’s how we first were introduced. The city has done a great job keeping registration and fees for recreational classes and most sports pretty reasonable over the years, and even with the economy, they’ve managed to not price gouge their rec classes much at all. But, the daily fee for residents is still higher than the per-​day breakdown at most of the area gyms. As such, while I would like to use their fitness equipment and attend fitness classes here, I can’t really justify it. And, what really irritates me is that there is no discount to use just the indoor walking track — wish there was!
What I do like, though, are the outdoor facilities. We have a brand new amphitheater with seating, paddleboats, a carousel (which, by the way, is the same one which was in front of Bigg’s Supermarket back in the day!), and tons of new walking trails around the center.
The splash fountains are fun, too, but I wish parents would be a little more cognizant of having little ones (or, bigger ones) stand *right over* the spray. That’s just gross!

I love this rec Center. The staff is very friendly. I go there (atleast) once a week, to play racquetball. It clean, and cheap. The locker rooms are big and spacious.

Yeah I am still a fan but when exploring other areas of interest for let’s say my physical being like work out stuff etc. the prices were out-​freaking rageous~!!! Way too expensive. Ended up at Fit19 for a better deal.

Jordan W. is funny and right. Perfect review! Only he didn’t mention how great the staff is. The life guards watch my daughter like a hawk and she loves them. Now that’s…PRICELESS. I even had my Harley stolen oughta the parking lot and I still keep my yearly membership. No chain can offer me the piece of mind that my price is fair and the people are real. By the way… I park my bike by the window now. The 3 stars are for… gyms suck by mines pretty good. Thanks Rec!

This is a review for Thornton Rec Center. Bless their underfunded little hearts, they really try. It’s incredibly undersized for the population anymore, and it’s an oppressive zoo for a month or two after New Year or during summer school vacation.
However, they do keep up with the equipment, they have great qualified fitness/​cycling instructors, and most of the time they do a decent job herding the kids. They keep up with all the current fitness trends, and offer BodyPump classes.
It’s very cheap, especially if you’re a resident.
The pool has waves, but also tons of people. I stay away from it.
The cycling room is in former warm-​up room on the track. It’s got hideous climate control. The fairly-​up-​to-​date bikes with the computers are cool though.
The track can get crowded but the staff does a good job chasing misbehaving kids out.
The aerobics room is fine, but you have to have a sense of humor when sometimes ceiling tiles fall down on you.
The locker rooms are just downright nasty, and so is the hot tub.
They truly do great with what they’ve got but need an additional facility like oxygen. I wouldn’t recommend them if you’re looking for more of a «club» than an in-​and-​out work-​out facility.