I was excited to read the article reviewing swimming pools. I have 2 daughters, ages 2 and 4, so I end up buying an inflatable pool every year. The Intex Swim Center Summer Colors Pool looked the best to me.

One note I will add concerns the Whale Pool. I bought that pool for my girls at the beginning of the summer. They loved it and had a blast going down the slide and running through the sprinkler out of the top of the whale. Unfortunately, by the (I think) 4th time of using it, things went downhill. I filled up the pool with water then attached the hose to the whale. Pretty soon, the kids were complaining the slide fell over. I told them to just push it back down (ours didn't come with the strings that were supposed to be in it to tie down the whale to the pool part), but they said it was too heavy. When I went around to it, I saw the problem. The whole side of the whale where the hose was attached had filled up with water. It was extremely heavy and it was about all I could do to lift it myself. Then to make things worse, the only way to get the water out was through the valve you blow air into! It took a HUGE amount of time to squeeze the valve to let the water flow back out. GEESH. I was ready to just cut a hole into it make it go faster. I cannot recommend the Whale Pool to others because of that reason.

There also ended up getting a hole in the pool part. While the kids were jumping and sliding on the whale part that 4th time, the whale itself also got a hole in it and didn't keep its air. I ended up throwing the whole pool - slide and all - into the trash. It doesn't stand up to a whole summer of sliding fun. Bummer. The kids were very disappointed.