Tom Muehlenbeck Center
5801 W. Parker Road, Plano
972/769-4404
plano.gov/facilities
General hours: 5am–10pm Mon–Fri; 8am–7pm Sat; 10am–6pm Sun. Check website for activity-specific hours.
Parking: Free
Daily admission: $6 adults; $3 ages 3–15. Prices will change in January 2015. Check website for details. Memberships available for residents and nonresidents. Children ages 2 and younger are always free.
If you have littles that love the water, the Tom Muehlenbeck Center in Plano is where you need to be this winter. When cold Saturdays at the park just won’t cut it, take a day to explore the recreation center’s heated pools and indoor water slides, splash pad and lazy river.
While the leisure slide, drop slide and diving board are only open on the weekends, a splash ground for younger kids is open throughout the week. There, kids can turn levers to make water rain down on them and enjoy a single slide that sits in shallow water. Additionally, children over 48 inches are always welcome to swim in the lap pool when it’s not in use for practices or meets.
Inexpensive day passes provide access to a variety of other activities outside the pool. When fingers start to get prune-like, dry off in one of the family changing rooms and enjoy a game area that includes air hockey, foosball and table tennis. For a little more cardio, take a walk on the only stroller-friendly indoor track around or let the kids work up a sweat on the playground located just outside the center.
You can also join open gym for different sports; on various days the gym is set up for matches of table tennis, badminton or volleyball.
