The Dancel Y in Ellicott City

I really appreciate the care staff members offer. Trey is always helpful and always has a smile for everyone. Tonight I was trying to fill out a registration for camp for my grandson, but having lots of difficulty with the unfamiliar program, but Ace came over and helped me significantly. That kind of helpful attitude is missing in most places, which underlines the spirit of the organization. The fact that Ace recognized my frustration with the software and literally took the form over to ensure it was completed by the deadline should be noted and rewarded. Well done, Dancel!

I love the Y. It is truly the best thing since sliced bread. Ha! We moved to this area and needed to find a gym. We are use to the LA Fitness’s of the world, but decided to check this gym out since our son was going to camp here. We fell in love. I love the different things you can do, from the gyms, rock wall, swimming pools, and classes. You truly feel welcomed here by the staff. And for me, a double bonus is no one is looking at you while you are working out. Sometime, as a women, I feel like dude check me out when I’m working out, but not here! Woohoo… maybe its because my husband is always with. Ha! Nevertheless, I love this place and would definitely recommend it to anyone new to the area.

it is overpriced. they are constantly cancelling classes or using the rooms for other things. They have periods where there are no classes but you still have to pay.

This is the third swimming class my son have taken here. They have completely change over the system. So far I’m very very disappointed. The new system will have the instructor assess each student swimming ability the first day of class then the instructor will place each student in level 1,2 or 3 class. My son was placed in level 3 after the evaluation but this is where the problem start. His name was never added to the level 3 and every single week I have to let the instructor knows he was placed in level 3. It will help if the instructor was the same every week but it is not. So every week each instructor have no idea how each student is doing and able to help them to improve on their swimming. So the class could go from practicing breast stroke one day and the next day they go straight into butterfly stroke without completing their breast stroke training. It is funny even the instructor don’t want to get into the freezing water and they expect these kids to learn to swim. I see no problem with instructor in the heated pool for level 1 but in the un-​heated pool I only see 1 instructor every week consistently stay in the pool teaching and my god she was very good and very nice to the kids too. I really only see a few instructor that is very good in the un-​heated pool with them and doing hands on training showing them how to swim while standing in the freezing water next to them. It is very unfortunate you can’t choose which instructor to have but I will find another swimming school for my son. I like to give a half point. u

Excellent amenities and options. The facility itself gets at least 4.5 stars. They have many classes and plenty of machines and free weights. Cleanliness gets a 3. By the evening the restrooms and locker rooms are exceptionally filthy and often out of paper towels or soap. Parking this time of year is a 1. There are basketball and swim teams that bring a lot of visitors. They allow vehicles to park all along the curbs as well as wait in front of the door for pickups. When it’s dark it’s horrible yet they do nothing about it despite many complaints from different members. It’ll take a child stepping out in front of an illegally parked car or a vehicular accident due to obstructed sight for them to enforce parking rules.

This is one of the best Ys I’ve been to. Staff is very nice and polite and will answer any question you may have. The locker rooms and actual facilities are very clean. Even the gym members are nice and generally respectful. There are always a lot of kids during the summer time, so during peak hours it can get very crowded. There are lots of options for group classes and the overall all gym is very well maintained.

I love this place it’s awesome I love the steam room in womans shower room. I find this to be the most awesome awesome place. You high school warm water exercising or swingman. The people here are so wonderful and so welcoming and make you feel like it’s home sweet home. There’s so many different things you can do here. I despise anyone that’s looking for a place where you can lose your weight and do multiple things come on and come down into the welcome you in my arms of the YMCA

Love free yoga classes, especially on Saturday morning in a big gym where you can breath and have enough space.
Sign up for fitlynxx. Not sure how to spell it. The personal trainer will fit the correct position and maximize the benefits of each gym equipment that you want in your personalized program. Free!
The pool time is disappointing. Too many people.

I was a little leery at 5:30 this morning when the parking lot filled up. I had read other reviews that said it was overcrowded and didn’t think I would get a treadmill. Not so!
We have an «away membership» and use it all over the country. This is by far the best YMCA I have used. It’s new. It’s clean. The staff is friendly. All the machines work. There’s hot water in the showers (yup, that’s a problem at some places). The Y in many locations is starting to become the Walmart of workout facilities. Most are run down. Dingy. Staff with piss poor attitude. Broken equipment. This location is none of that and really raises the bar for other locations to aspire to.
Exceptional! Fantastic! Superb! Keep up the great work!

I’ve been a member for a year and overall I’m satisfied with my membership. It’s difficult to find a comparable price for amenities in the area. I’ve always been able to use cardio equipment and weights without a wait. The cardio equipment has individual TVs with headphone inputs to watch TV (network TV and a couple basic cable channels). My guess would be during peak hours, after school to 6pm, that it gets really crowded, but by 8pm it’s not.
I’ve done the cycle and yoga classes without any trouble with overcrowding. For yoga, you do need to sign up. My main critique with the yoga room is that it isn’t a particularly relaxing environment. It’s full of windows, and it’d be nicer to have shades that could be drawn so it wasn’t so bright. I’d like to zen out when I do yoga and pretend I’m not at the Y.
The pool is pretty much always full of children whose parents do not take the opportunity to teach them about respect and personal space. Good luck swimming laps.
The women’s locker room is it’s own universe of annoyance. People don’t put locks on the lockers and take up an entire locker just for a sweatshirt. One time our lock was cut off because someone hid their car keys in the back of the top shelf. It’s nice that people don’t steal, but come on, carry your keys with you while you work out or keep them at the front desk. I think it’d be nice if the Y put cubbies in the locker room for those who don’t have locks. The sauna is nice, but no one seems to follow the wear clothing/​towel or talk at a low volume rules. The staff does nothing when you complain, their standard response is «we’ll put a sign up.» I’m tempted to start posting my own guerrilla signs. :)
Again, just minor complaints. I’ve looked at other gyms in the area and for the price it’s the best for our needs hands down.

there are 5 filtered reviews that you don’t see, all of them less than 3 stars. I go here because it is very close to home. all of the filtered reviews are valid, so please look at those. :(

I pay a monthly membership but always have to call before coming to use the gym to play basketball. They rent out the gym to the Columbia Ravens constantly. They get rent from the Ravens and my monthly membership. Double dipping at the members expense.

I’ve been going to this YMCA for a little over a year now. I usually just go to workout with the free weights and on the machines. The workout area has a pretty sizeable collection of free weights and they also have plenty of your typical cardio machines like treadmills, elliptical machines, and stationary bikes. One cool thing about the cardio equipment is that they have a video screen on them which allow you to play a simulated bike-​riding game or you also have the option of tuning to any tv channel you want to watch. The facility has an upstairs and a downstairs basketball court, which is good if you find that one is occupied. The Y also has a few different aerobics classrooms spread throughout, as well as two pools. One pool is usually used for free swim while the other typically has some type of swim class going on. Another great feature of this place is their childcare which is included with your membership. Your child can be supervised for up to 1 and ½ hours while you work out. They have toys and computers for the kids to play with while they’re there. The only complaint I have about the YMCA is that they close too early compared to all of the big fitness centers.