THIS PLACE IS A LOCAL GEM!!!! As someone who is here in Illinois for vacation and lives in…read moreCalifornia, this pool is all you will need!! The pools in Cali are so much worse!!! While today was a bit chaotic, the staff was still extremely respectful and mindful, whether there was vomit in the pool or a fire drill. The slides and activities definitely make up for it. Turtle Splash was definitely designed for babies and young children!!! whether it was the playground that comes with the pool or the small slide where your child can enjoy a quick slide into the water
The food situation is a bit strict... They are quite stern on the no food allowed, all food that you buy in the food court must be eaten there, and no outside food allowed in at all (you can come in and out of the pool as you please to eat your food from home!!) We tried the food at the restaurant,t and while you can definitely tell it's just frozen food, it's probably the best frozen food there is!!! (slightly overpriced though...) My 2 children and I all had the corn dog, and we all liked it, and I tried the smoothie, and it was not good at all... But the ice cream selection is quite good!!
The changing rooms are a bit bare-bones, and there are lockers that I believe you can rent at the front of the pool, but we just took our stuff with us. CAUTION!!! IT GETS EXTREMELY SLIPPERY IN THERE, SO WALK WITH CAUTION!!! They weren't the most sanitary, and there was trash on the floor, but it wasn't terrible.
The staff was OK; some lifeguards cared about their jobs, and some didn't give a sh-, with any pool, it was run by high schoolers, but they were all mostly respectful. There was a supervisor named Bill who asked my children if they were having fun, and Bill was one of the few who cared for his job, he was the only staff memeber that was over the age of 30, lol, there was also this lifeguard, if i remember his name correctly his name was Peter, he was at the bottem of the slides and he always asked me and my kids if we were OK after going down. One time on the Tube Slide me and my 4 year old daughter flipped, and he wasted no time grabbing my daughter ASAP so she wouldn't go under (the current is EXTREMELY STRONG). But some lifeguards just stand there like a post and don't move. Shame on them!!
It was very packed today, and we still managed to have a lot of fun! There aren't a lot of lawn chairs, and of those, very few are shaded,d but there is a big spot of grass with umbrellas and trees where you can set up base! You can't bring your own chairs or chairs from the pool,l but a blanket is fair game! Pack one just in case their isnt any seats!!
Overall, if I lived in the West Chicago Area, I would be a regular at this pool!!! If anyone is on the fence about going to this pool, I highly suggest going!!