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Centennial Pool is a relatively new swimming complex in Park Ridge. It is open all summer and has both resident and non-resident rates. Our family has gotten passes the past few years and got plenty of use of out them. There is a huge parking lot which sometimes fills up, but there is ample street parking in the area to supplement any need. There is something for every age at Centennial. There are three pool areas: toddler splash pad, all age pool with graduated depth and a competition pool which has the diving boards. There usually are not capacity issues and the staff is well trained. The large waterslides are a hit for young kids and there are multiple water features for everyone to enjoy. There is limited shade from umbrellas - many times we have had no umbrellas and it is hard with younger kids. There is a concession stand through EVOO (Al Fresco). They have very good slices of pizza along with some fun options like walking tacos or smoothies. Prices are very fair, but the Park District also allows you to bring your own food if you'd rather save a few bucks.
For years, Park Ridge has been experimenting with the idea of a water park comparable to some of the fancier suburban parks in Des Plaines, Elk Grove or even Niles. Seems every time they had a referendum, it got shot down by at least a 2:1 margin because of its ridiculous expense and added burden on taxpayers. One PR parent told me, "Why can't Park Ridge come up with a really cool water park for the kids like other suburbs?" Well, after settling on this as a compromise, the new wading pool is the closest thing to it, so be happy with what you have, I guess. The wading pool is an addition to the 2 larger swimming pools at Centennial already. What really sucks is they charge $5 per person to use the wading pool, PR resident or not. This includes parents, most of whom I saw sitting around reading newspapers and magazines on lounge chairs while their kids played in the water. There is also no distinction in the pricing between a 2 year old and an older child. So for $20, the four of us got to enter the wading pool area. For comparison, the Rosemont Splash Pad is $6 for non-residents, but parents or caretakers don't pay. For $12, we could have gone to a neighboring town and enjoyed a better park. Anyway, Centennial Wading Pool kept my kids occupied for 2 hours regardless. As its main feature, it has the overhead buckets that fill up with water and dump their contents on the kids below. It also has a small water slide with a padded area near the bottom. The Stunt Baby liked the slide so much that he even went headfirst into the water though he's not a swimmer. I had to pull him out, but he did not seem frightened at all. The wading pool areas range from 6 inches to 1-1/2 feet deep. There is also a series of water chutes with flaps so you can play with it like locks and dams on a river. My older son liked that more than the slide or the buckets. From a grownup's perspective, it's pretty lame though. There were 2 lifeguards on duty and they were very vigilant. When a group of teenage boys showed up in the wading pool, they were immediately shown the way to the other pools, since this is for small kids only. There was no unruly play allowed either. Yes it was fun, but unless you splurge on a residents' summer pool pass for 4 at a cost of $150 and go at least once a week in the summer, this is not the best deal for the amount you pay to play.
We went to this pool as a birthday party guest. The pool was completely deserted because it was 65, overcast, and even slightly raining. So despite being nearly the only people at the pool the staff asked us to vacate the pavilion at 2:30 per the agreement. The posted sign clearly stated to "Feel free to use this space if it is not reserved". Staff confirmed it was not reserved the remainder of the day. The most upsetting part was that the staff later came and asked us to leave the pool after 2:30. If we wished to remain we would have to re-enter and pay the daily fee. We had expected to stay for a bit longer as we had arrived late and the host had told us we could stay as long as we wanted. The hosts confirmed that the kids pool admission should've been valid til public swim ended per their email contract. The website also states this as a bullet point when booking parties. The pool staff called their manager who agreed to let the guests stay til 3:30 (the end time they put on the invitation) but would have to pay for re-entry after that. I would have been furious if the weather hadn't been so cold. I gave 2 stars only because the pool itself was pretty great. The staff and management apparently have no regard for their own written and posted policies. I have no idea why they were so intent on enforcing these (incorrect) rules. When our party left there were less than 10 people at this huge pool. It's not like the kids were disruptive or taking up needed space. Just poor customer service.
There's a lot to like about Centennial. It's an okay pool. It has three different water spaces. One is a pool with a couple water slides, and there's another large pool that's much more calm. Then there's the wading pool, which is nice. I didn't realize at first which was the wading pool and I thought that the pool with the slides was it--I was wrong. The wading pool is between the other two, and is enclosed separately from the others. It's a significantly larger wading pool than at South Park, and with more features--there's a slide here too, but also a couple other water play structures. One of the parents of my child's classmate said that the pool sometimes reaches capacity, so it's good that they don't just let as many people in as will pay. It can be difficult to find a place to sit--the chairs can go quickly, so I wandered around a bit until a seat became available. There's a concession stand here, as well as some bathrooms and a family changing area. There appeared to be some showers as well, which the splash pad and wading pool in town doesn't have. I don't like that every hour they make people under age 18 get out of the pool for 10-15 minutes, regardless of that apparently being an industry standard practice. My daughter doesn't like it either--she was very very upset about having to leave the pool a couple times whilst we were here. And one of the lifeguards didn't even seem to know what they were doing; when we heard that announcement, most of the folks got out of the splash pad but there were still a few in it and so I asked the lifeguard thinking it may have been just for the large pool and she said "yeah, I think it's for this one too". We will be back, I'm sure. Our pool pass gives us a marginally earlier entrance time than the general public (fifteen minutes or so) so maybe we'll take advantage of that, or of their longer hours since they're open until 8 most days. Truth be told, I like the other splash pad and wading pool better. This one may grow on me, and assuming we're still here in the coming years as my daughter ages out of the splash pads I'll have to come here because this is the "fun pool". But I prefer the vibe at the (much less crowded) other pools. read more
Centennial Pool is a relatively new swimming complex in Park Ridge. It is open all summer and has both resident and non-resident rates. Our family has gotten passes the past few years and got plenty of use of out them. There is a huge parking lot which sometimes fills up, but there is ample street parking in the area to supplement any need. There is something for every age at Centennial. There are three pool areas: toddler splash pad, all age pool with graduated depth and a competition pool which has the diving boards. There usually are not capacity issues and the staff is well trained. The large waterslides are a hit for young kids and there are multiple water features for everyone to enjoy. There is limited shade from umbrellas - many times we have had no umbrellas and it is hard with younger kids. There is a concession stand through EVOO (Al Fresco). They have very good slices of pizza along with some fun options like walking tacos or smoothies. Prices are very fair, but the Park District also allows you to bring your own food if you'd rather save a few bucks. read more
4 years ago
For years, Park Ridge has been experimenting with the idea of a water park comparable to some of the fancier suburban parks in Des Plaines, Elk Grove or even Niles. Seems every time they had a referendum, it got shot down by at least a 2:1 margin because of its ridiculous expense and added burden on taxpayers. One PR parent told me, "Why can't Park Ridge come up with a really cool water park for the kids like other suburbs?" Well, after settling on this as a compromise, the new wading pool is the closest thing to it, so be happy with what you have, I guess. The wading pool is an addition to the 2 larger swimming pools at Centennial already. What really sucks is they charge $5 per person to use the wading pool, PR resident or not. This includes parents, most of whom I saw sitting around reading newspapers and magazines on lounge chairs while their kids played in the water. There is also no distinction in the pricing between a 2 year old and an older child. So for $20, the four of us got to enter the wading pool area. For comparison, the Rosemont Splash Pad is $6 for non-residents, but parents or caretakers don't pay. For $12, we could have gone to a neighboring town and enjoyed a better park. Anyway, Centennial Wading Pool kept my kids occupied for 2 hours regardless. As its main feature, it has the overhead buckets that fill up with water and dump their contents on the kids below. It also has a small water slide with a padded area near the bottom. The Stunt Baby liked the slide so much that he even went headfirst into the water though he's not a swimmer. I had to pull him out, but he did not seem frightened at all. The wading pool areas range from 6 inches to 1-1/2 feet deep. There is also a series of water chutes with flaps so you can play with it like locks and dams on a river. My older son liked that more than the slide or the buckets. From a grownup's perspective, it's pretty lame though. There were 2 lifeguards on duty and they were very vigilant. When a group of teenage boys showed up in the wading pool, they were immediately shown the way to the other pools, since this is for small kids only. There was no unruly play allowed either. Yes it was fun, but unless you splurge on a residents' summer pool pass for 4 at a cost of $150 and go at least once a week in the summer, this is not the best deal for the amount you pay to play. read more
4 years ago
9 years ago
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8 years ago
We went to this pool as a birthday party guest. The pool was completely deserted because it was 65, overcast, and even slightly raining. So despite being nearly the only people at the pool the staff asked us to vacate the pavilion at 2:30 per the agreement. The posted sign clearly stated to "Feel free to use this space if it is not reserved". Staff confirmed it was not reserved the remainder of the day. The most upsetting part was that the staff later came and asked us to leave the pool after 2:30. If we wished to remain we would have to re-enter and pay the daily fee. We had expected to stay for a bit longer as we had arrived late and the host had told us we could stay as long as we wanted. The hosts confirmed that the kids pool admission should've been valid til public swim ended per their email contract. The website also states this as a bullet point when booking parties. The pool staff called their manager who agreed to let the guests stay til 3:30 (the end time they put on the invitation) but would have to pay for re-entry after that. I would have been furious if the weather hadn't been so cold. I gave 2 stars only because the pool itself was pretty great. The staff and management apparently have no regard for their own written and posted policies. I have no idea why they were so intent on enforcing these (incorrect) rules. When our party left there were less than 10 people at this huge pool. It's not like the kids were disruptive or taking up needed space. Just poor customer service. read more
12 years ago
8 years ago
10 years ago
The pool is amazing care but the food is not. I come here with my kids all the time and they all love it here but the food. The cheese on the Pizza is all fake and terrible The burgers are just the worst and when we were walking by a kid said that there was something in their water. The Cokee is just bad how they serve at the lid is all crumbled up and so I don't even by it for my kids even though they love it so much. When we always get something from there there's only two people working there sometimes even one there's a line down right by the pool and it takes forever for us to get our food. Whenever we try to get popcorn it's always burnt read more
9 years ago
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