Ray Friel Recreation Complex

Positive experience: We went during a holiday event, it was very well organized, different events in different rooms. The only this I will say, is that I wish I had known there was going to be free Swim and Skate at the event, but that is OK. It was a great time for my family. In terms of location the complex is easy to find and get to right on a main street in Orleans. It was very clean, and well maintained.

Fantastic experience: Great place ..clean comfy and had all sporting facilties you could ask for ...very very clean

Positive experience: Great as always, quite inconvenient for both change rooms to be closed for renovations though with a toddler to go swimming.

Fantastic experience: Like it

Positive experience: The facilities are excellent, but unfortunately, despite the signage, the 'no outdoor shoes in the pool area' rule isn't enforced.

Positive experience: Parking could be a challenge during the busy times

Fantastic experience: Love the fitness & yoga classes. Bright atmosphere, clean place, and friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: Went around noon on a Sunday, plenty of people however seemed to be lots of space in the change rooms, hot tub, sauna and pool. Waves were pretty fun,not huge but every 10min enjoyable. Plenty of life guards. Sauna was so wonderfully hot, Hot tub to,we loved it. Two people 8$ and hours of relaxing fun. I thought the pool was a great temperature and everything was nice and clean.

Fantastic experience: Lots of activities for kids. Very well managed and maintained. Prices for activities are reasonable too.

Fantastic experience: A lot of activities and maximum effort.

Fantastic experience: Outstanding place for recreation. The lifeguards are friendly. The little canteen is excellent.

Fantastic experience: A recreational facility for all ages. Multiple options for learning activities around the year.

Fantastic experience: Nice gym and very cheap. A good option

Fantastic experience: Used the facility for a hockey game but walked around and noticed alot of activities. 2 hockey rinks, 1x iceless rink turned into a kind of a gym for badminton, and pickle ball, etc. Small pool area, library, gym/fitness. There is probably other things that I didn't notice to.

Fantastic experience: Very good place and clean and perfect place to go

Fantastic experience: Such an amazing place for swimming and ice skating. My kids love it. Very clean and well managed.

Positive experience: I like the size of the pool and there gym looks nice.

Fantastic experience: Love taking my daughter here to swim. They also have a rink, workout room, cardio, and a decently priced canteen to get food from the complex as well on pool deck.

Fantastic experience: Hottub, waves, diving board, warm water and cheap bistro with good food

Negative experience: Mothers day weekend. Went on Saturday at noon, was not extremely busy as there was a fair set up outside. The showers were truly gross with gigantic tufts of hair on the soap dispensers, shower walls and floors. Thank goodness I wear swim shoes! The pool walls are very grimy with black scum and the hot tub railing extremely loose and wobbly. 100% needs a deep clean, better upkeep and a spruce up, refresher make over.

Fantastic experience: Clean facility, lots of equipment, friendly personnel.

Fantastic experience: Many ammenities with a well equipped gym, cardio room, pool, and rink

Positive experience: Went for swimming, busy with a lot of loud children during my adult class. Change rooms are small and outdated, but functional. Only one tall dryer for hair drying.

Fantastic experience: Many rinks, vending and a functional cafeteria area that keeps good hours.

Fantastic experience: Nice pool. It has smaller waves and a child area. There's also poolside cafe which actually has a good selection of hot food.

Positive experience: Website says 7:30am open on Saturday and Sunday, but the gym area doesn’t open until 8:00am. Auto-message on phone says 7:00am open. However, change room was open to change and door to get in gym was locked. Otherwise, everything is great :-)

Fantastic experience: Love bringing my daughter here for swimming. Alot more quiet versus some other pools which is nice when u wanna just have a relaxing time

Fantastic experience: Nice rec complex, lots of activities with an attached library.

Fantastic experience: Swimming pool is super fun for the family. The wave swim is great for a kid that likes waves but the ones at kanata leisure center are too strong and these are nice and gentle. The swim mats are a cool addition and the diving board is lots of fun. Wish the cantina wasn't so crazy slow but that's privately owned.

Positive experience: To be honest, its been a while since I have been a spectator to a hockey game tournament. Seating ok no working radiators (heat system)sucks specially when you're there for many hours mostly clean but the team spirit smell is overwhelming at times. I haven't had the chance to see the changing room's/shower area. I don't criticize the working staff.thank you for your work.

Negative experience: This place is sooo cold. Arenas are cold but this is something else. And the bleachers are small and way too low on some if the rinks.

Positive experience: The ice is always in great shape and the staff are fun to talk with

Negative experience: I love skating, but it’s really hard to enjoy it at this rink. Extremely entitled parents - let their kids skate recklessly, horsing around with the skating trainers. One parent brought a sled into the ice. Attendants do nothing. It’s supposed to be an enjoyable experience, but unfortunately I leave feeling stressed. You have to be able to skate like a hockey player or you will be tripped/cut off by these kids and their parents. It’s a nice facility, but unfortunately I’ll have to find another arena to skate, because this one is just unsafe.

Fantastic experience: Went with the kids for the pool/wave pool and had alot of fun!

Fantastic experience: Renovated Sauna works great. Flexible hours and clean

Positive experience: Nice place, clean. Snack bar closes early and not many options

Negative experience: Awful facility, no where to sit as a parent. No food options.

Fantastic experience: Like a family the staff with me They're all good kids.

Positive experience: My son (7) and I always have a blast. We have been going for a few years now for rhe wave swim. However it is too cold for babies or toddlers to play in. I see many parents come and go very quickly but also my infant son lasts maybe 2 minutes, if that much. Not only that but my oldest son and I don't last too long as we also get very cold. We try to keep ourselves going by getting in the hot tub.

Fantastic experience: Gorgeous spacious facility that accommodates a large number of sports and activities.

Fantastic experience: I love this place. It's probably the best city of City of ottawa pool. The cleanest too

Positive experience: I attended a Christmas craft market on the second floor. It was well organized and my wife and I made some purchases from the vendors.

Fantastic experience: Great facility, clean and seemingly well organized.

Positive experience: Their mens bathroom facilities and an overall waste of space is beyond comprehension with respect to swim and view area. Oh such a waste and mediocre facility

Fantastic experience: The pool is so beautiful so it's the sun and the world pool

Positive experience: In general it is great. But there are not enough family showers after pool and men showers are absent at all.

Fantastic experience: Hockey season in full swing. Ray Friel great spot. Parents watching have the luxury of heaters. Lots of free parking.

Fantastic experience: Ottawa farmers market in the parking lot on Thursday was great

Positive experience: Played pickleball in one of the arena during the summer. Awesome do in keeping the area clean. Staff very welcoming.

Positive experience: A nice city Ice Hockey rink. The ice is good and the locker rooms are of good size. The parking in front is ample.

Negative experience: It's ok. Dirty, super hard to find staff working. And when you do, they're not well trained. And don't they get a lunch or supper break??? Whenever I go to the counter they're always stuffing their faces with lunch or supper and say they don't have anywhere to eat, or if I eat when I'm working I get paid for it and don't have to take a break. So poorly trained.

Fantastic experience: Good swimming experience! The pool fitting room is separated from other fitting room (a little confused for me first time), but can tell a big difference that the fitting room for the pool is well heated. The pool water is warm, which is very nice! I find that the fee guide on Ottawa website is not so helpful for me l, so attached the fee guide picked up in facility in the summer of 2023

Negative experience: Do not go and pay for the waves there is little wave you have to look for them it’s a joke to pay extra for waves whirlpool is in poor condition

Fantastic experience: My second favourite rink. Could be a bit brighter on some of the hockey pads.

Negative experience: Rented a hall upstairs for a baby shower. The place was a total mess, tables are gross, moldy food in the fridge. Disappointed, especially for the price.

Fantastic experience: Amazing place, Amazing staff. Loved it

Positive experience: Big rec complex and Arena within walking distance of malls with grocery, restaurants and and book stores.

Positive experience: The complex is great however quite dated. Some of the amenities could really use an upgrade.

Negative experience: Information desk, 1 staff was sleeping and other wasn’t interested to provide info. Said take the brochure or visit website.

Positive experience: We love the swimming classes . Very friendly instructors and nice pool.

Fantastic experience: Good place to swim with kids. Decent fitness centers.

Fantastic experience: Using the pool for lane swimming. Very clean and sparkling water. Well attended by several life Guards. Pleasant and helpful Staff. Change rooms clean and tidy. You need your own locker padlock. Separate family change rooms with showers

Fantastic experience: Great time, great fun! For those who can't find public swimming times on the website. It's 2pm-5pm Cheers

Fantastic experience: Very good new arena with a pool attached even a wave pool restaurant inside very nice facility. A great place to watch a hockey game or take a swim. It's plenty of parking take the family enjoy the day there lots to do. Easy access from the highway friendly knowledgeable staff might plan on going for a swim soon with the family check it out you won't be disappointed

Fantastic experience: Awesome facility!! Friendly staff. The pool is great, extremely family oriented place. Clean and well maintained

Positive experience: Nice skating time at a reasonable price

Fantastic experience: Great place to swim! Very clean, with friendly staff.

Positive experience: Great place and massive. I attended the fitness class on Sunday, the instructor is very nice. The shower is cold though. Parking has lots of spots.

Positive experience: Very cold arena but has a good ice surface. Bring extra layers if sitting in stands

Fantastic experience: Me and my son go for swimming every week. We love this place.

Fantastic experience: Well taken care of! Great rink

Positive experience: Respectful staff and decent facility. I go for lane swim here regularly. Would be nice if the showers and change rooms are cleaned regularly.

Fantastic experience: First call up game for the Gloucester Rangers ... one goal and one assist! This is some good U18 hockey!

Positive experience: Confusing driveway as it looks like you're turning into the mall. Rink is nice and modern. Dressing rooms are a good size and laid out well. We're spoiled when it comes to nice rinks in Ottawa. Warm enough for shorts

Positive experience: Great place with a large variety of activities available. There’s a gym, pool and lots of classes going on. Great place to have fun

Positive experience: Good ice, good size changing rooms for teams. Downside, its cold AF, the reff rooms are hard to find in Arena 1 and some of the rooms have tile in the washrooms so you cant use them if you have tied your skates

Fantastic experience: Good place to workout! Great classes.

Positive experience: Good ice surface. Now have mats on sides you can walk to bench to enter ice so you do not get hit by pucks in warm Up.

Positive experience: only ever been swimming.. great fun for the kids, warm water and safe sized waves..hot tub always over crowded with entitled people and swimming kids and the shower stalls are not the greatest considering the size of the pool.

Positive experience: Great swimming for kids. The showers and family change rooms could use an update

Fantastic experience: The gym is well equipped and fairly big. I like it never gets overcrowded compare to the other place I used to go. Staff is friendly and the area is very clean. Some equipment are starting to show their age (rusted) and should be replaced. Other than that, the prices are decent especially if you get the corporate rates.

Fantastic experience: For a few hours of fun with the family, this place is absolutely amazing, kids absolutely loved it, and doesn't cost very much at all, will definitely be making this a regular event and already looking forward to our next trip

Fantastic experience: Wonderful spot for baby swim classes

Positive experience: Good. But once again the front desk person was talking on the phone for over 15 minutes before seeing us. She should have asked the person to hold the line placed them on hold

Fantastic experience: Nice pool, kiddie pool, hot tub and sauna. It's a great facility with other activities too.

Positive experience: I've been going to this pool for 20 years and it's never lost its luster. They could definitely afford to have someone go through and mop the change room floors a bit more often. Edit: a couple of years have passed and I'm still waiting on the floors of the changeroom to be cleaned in the evening hours.

Negative experience: What a joke this physiotherapy team are! My elderly mother that just had double hip replacement done, was to receive physiotherapy done at this location. The staff, especially Jamaal has absolutely no people skills! Treated my mother like she did not matter, blaming her for his late arrival to start her therapy. Which she never received at all. She was shuffled around from bed to bed, thinking she was going to receive some kind of therapy but all they did was waisted her time and energy for nothing! Jamaal even made her cry and made this whole experience going to this place to recover and receive therapy.,for double hip replacement. very disappointed with the lack of compassion towards there clients. She cried and was very upset with this whole process and treatment. She left there with very bad feelings and will not return to get her needed therapy to recover and heal from her surgery! People like this should not be working in this environment if they have zero people skills! The place was disgusting no care for cleanliness of facilities. They should be ashamed to treat anyone like this. Especially a OHIP approved facility.

Positive experience: I would definitely recommend this place for swimming and worthwhile using all of the other options like skating rink. Only thing is that I find they don't offer enough wave times during the week. (Non summer months)

Fantastic experience: Super helpful staff! Family all signed up for some fun!

Fantastic experience: Nice place. Friendly staff.

Positive experience: Nice all around recreation complex for Orleans. Swimming pool has a nice balance between lanes, wading/beach area, wave pool and hot tub. Lots of meeting rooms and activity rooms. There are usually 3 ice pads. Rink 1 is currently pickleball. The parking lot can get very busy whenever there is a hockey tournament. Spots are narrow. Having a library on site is also a welcome convenience.

Fantastic experience: Wave pool offers great fun for the young and those not so anymore :)

Positive experience: December 2022 I like the classes available here, and the facility overall. Reasonable prices for drop in classes or buying monthly, quarterly, or an annual membership. If the pool is busy, the women's changeroom is crowded, and there are only four showers. The pool is great for families because the water is warm, and they have wave swim times. Friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: Good clean swimming pool and very nicely managed .. enjoyed the 3 hr public swim sessions provided

Negative experience: Terrible pool. No flutter boards or mats for the kids to play on. Do not recommend and will not return.

Fantastic experience: Lots of parking, easy in and out, some small dressing rooms.

Fantastic experience: I'm pretty sure this is my favourite ciry pool and gym, even with covid! Now that we have hot tubs and saunas... its perfect to go work out, do a lane swim and then relax in the sauna/hot tub! Yay. Thank you to the staff, keeping the place running and open! We appreciate you

Fantastic experience: Kids love the public pool and rinks.

Fantastic experience: Very clean place. Staff at the desk are amazingly hospitable and willing to help. Kids had a blast skating.

Fantastic experience: Great location and tons of options - a major hub for the community. City of Ottawa staff working there are phenomenal.