Bartlett Aquatic Center — Attraction in Bartlett

Long story short: We came from the next town over, paid 3x what we would have normally at our local pool because of the additional amenities, but both my daughter and I decided it wasn't worth it and we'd rather just go to the smaller, more cost effective pool in the future.

Full story: I was looking for a pool in the area that was open after work on a Friday, this was the only one open past 5pm. We head over and it was actually really empty considering how hot it was outside. We paid to get in: $36 for a father and his 9 year old. I only hoped that it was worth it because that was way more than what we are used to paying, but there are understandably more amenities than we're used to, and we had to pay more as non-residents.

The actual pool is very nice. There's a wide range of areas of depth from level with the ground to 5' deep. And it was big, so it didn't feel like everyone was on top of each other. We enjoyed this part the most.

Then we did the lazy river. This part is nice if the people on it are respectful. But at one point there were teenagers plowing through, shoving people, actually separated me from my daughter by plowing through her until she was 30 ft away, but none of the lifeguards did anything. So they just kept acting afool and shoving through people in a lazy river. So it was good until it wasn't.

Our biggest incident came involving the water slides. My daughter is super nervous about water slides, but built up the courage to go up there by herself. I waited at the bottom to cheer her on when she came out. But, after a few seconds of it being her turn, she came down looking sad. She doesn't like water in her eyes, so she wears goggles. They told her that she couldn't wear her goggles and sent her back down to hand them off. She was super embarrassed and to shy to question it. But I went and reviewed the rules they had posted, and there was nothing about not being able to wear goggles. I offered to go back up there with her to see what's going on, but she was already too embarrassed from having to come back down the stairs once and didn't want to risk it again.

So, we moved on to other things. She decided she wanted to look more closely at the zip line they have, where you ride a zip line down and get dropped into a pool. Again, checked the rules: no mention of goggles. Just to be safe, I walked up to someone in a shirt that said "HEAD LIFEGUARD" figuring the person in charge would have a definitive answer. When I asked if she could wear goggles on the zip line, I was told "It depends on who's up there running it at the time." So, for everyone's knowledge, there's going to be inconsistency in how rules are applied especially unposted ones. Understandably, my already embarrassed daughter decided it wasn't worth it to her. It's been a long time since I've seen her look this dejected, but I understand. She keeps getting turned away from fun activities, the ones that really make it worth the extra $25 we paid to come here, for a minor accomodation that isn't violating any posted rules anywhere.

So we swam the rest of the time in the general pool, and left at closing.

The last thing worth noting is that the family changing rooms are on the inside of the pool area. My daughter and I had to split because there weren't any accessible from the entrance, which she really didn't like and I didn't really like, but had no recourse. Also, the only lockers available are those ones where you have to put a quarter in to use them. I brought my combination lock but ended up having to just take my bag with me because it's 2025 and I'm not walking around with change in my pocket anymore.

By the end of all that, we both decided that we like our we prefer our smaller, no frills pool. I can't even imagine how much worse our experience would have been had it been packed like other people are mentioning in...

Terrible experience! The pool is expensive, even for residents (and we know how high our taxes are)- $14 for an adult resident and $13 for a child resident. That being said, today we got there, swam for about 15 minutes and then a child was continuously vomiting in the pool. Everyone was evacuated, and they said the large pool would be closed for 30 minutes. My very young son was freezing and too cold to play in the splash pad and only big enough to play in the shallow end of the big pool, so we had no choice but to leave because I wasn’t going to make him sit outside wet and freezing for half an hour. I figured no problem we can get a voucher to come back a different day and enjoy the pool, but it did not go smoothly as I had imagined it would. The young man at the front desk was very nice and apologetic but said he couldn’t help me. So after two other girls came and seemed to not understand why I would want either a refund or a voucher to return, a girl finally said she had to go ask the manager. She came back and said the manager said I couldn’t have a refund or a voucher because this wasn’t “a big deal.” It would have to be a really “big thing” for them to issue a pass to come back. They were not at all apologetic about this nor did they let me speak to the manager directly. I personally think a child profusely vomiting in the pool is a big deal and doesn’t make me want to jump right back in and swim even if we were allowed to, and to me 30 minutes of time that you can’t use the main pool is a very big deal. That’s the whole reason I took my son to have a special day together. So, I would have to say, horrible customer service/ public relations. Waste of money and time. Also, I was very calm the entire time and not rude, but I did let the girl know to tell her manager I would be writing a review about my experience, and she very condescendingly said, okay, and rolled her eyes and walked away. This is not how Bartlett residents should be treated at their own public pool.

Just an update: I shared this on the Nextdoor app, and people are up in arms. They pointed out that vomit is a biohazard and having been through a worldwide pandemic, the management handled this in an incompetent way.

Update- someone from Bartlett Park District Aquatics emailed me and said they would send vouchers, and they said that the pool staff did follow protocol, but they were sorry if I experienced poor customer service. So I appreciate that, but I still think that issuing a refund immediately when someone is uncomfortable with the cleanliness of the facility should be protocol- especially for residents that are paying...

I’ve been coming here for a few years now, and have always enjoyed it. I came with different family members, my husband, myself. But most recently I brought my my grand baby. Lot of choices for lot of fun, for everyone. My ultimate favorite is the lazy river, by far! I was very disappointed with how FEW inner tubes there were, for all the people and activities you offer. And also the condition that the inner tubes were in. Many were half deflated, when others were completely out of air. I feel it is important to keep these inner tubes maintained, or replace them as the go bad. There shouldn’t be a massive line to wait in, until someone is finished using one. When I was there with my 2 yr old grand baby, just 2 wks ago, after an hour of her in the kiddy area, I need to relax with her, but still stay cool. There weren’t a lot of people on the lazy river. And yet there were no inner tubes available. I asked the young man who was manning that area, where all the tubes were, and he said they were all in use. Clearly there needs to be more added to what you...