West Gwinnett Park & Aquatic Center — Attraction in Berkeley Lake

Me and my family have been going here for 2 years. During that time, we loved it. However, today we were unjustifiably refused entry.

My family wanted to have one last pool day before school started on Monday. We packed food and snacks for a long day at the pool. We pull up to the parking lot. Get what we need out the car. Walk up to the entrance and wait patiently in line for entry.

A young lady walks up to us with her clipboard and starts asking the standard questions. "How many people are in your party? What are your ages? Do you have any alcohol?". I start answering for my mother due to her not understanding English.

"My brothers are 17 and 10 years old. I am 19. And my mother is 45, but she's not going into the pool". The young lady looks at me and then my mother who is dressed with a long sleeve shirt and pants. Then she replies back with, "Because he's 10. He needs an adult with a swimsuit to be with in the pool". I blink at her. Maybe she didn't hear me. "I'm 19," I remind her.

She looks at me and then my mother. An awkward pause passes. She glances at my brothers. She's looking for something. She finds it. "Can I feel the material of their shorts please?" asserting herself quickly. We were a little taken aback. We've never been asked this question before. We went to this center three weeks ago. But, I know policies change. However, yesterday I took the liberty to go over the dress code policy before we went to the pool just in case they changed it. Nothing had changed. It was the same. How it's always been the past two years.

I give her a quick nod. She bends down to feel the shorts and says "These are not swimsuit material". I correct her with "Those are swimsuit material". We bought them 2 years ago at Walmart and they were advertised as such. We specifically bought them to go to this pool 2 years ago! We been going to this pool for the past two years with the same shirts and shorts for my brothers. I've been wearing the same swimsuit for the past 2 years. My mother has always worn a long sleeve shirt and pants to the pool. We've always been allowed entry. ALWAYS.

The young lady adds on "Those are not swimsuit material. They're more like basketball shorts material. You need to go to a store like TJ Maxx and buy proper swim shorts". She turns her clipboard around and shows me where the basketball shorts are not allowed on the pool rules. I was a bit taken aback. We can't just spend money at a drop of a hat when my brothers swim shorts "don't feel like swimsuit material". They're all kinds of swimsuit materials!

But, I bite my tongue. Said okay. And walked out with my family. I wasn't going to embarrass her or my family. When we walked to the parking lot I noticed other families being turned around too. That's when I remembered when pulling up to the parking lot around 11:46 AM other families were storming out. I've never seen so many families get turned around. I just figured maybe they didn't follow the dress code or the aquatic center was full. But, me and my family were following the dress code so we were in the clear. Not thinking we would be turned around as well.

I get to my car turn on the GPS. Look up the nearest Gwinnett county aquatic center and drive. We once again park and get in line. The standard questions come and I answer. And then the new one comes "Can I feel the material of their shorts please?". I nod. The young man feels my brother's shorts and says "That's fine". We are allowed entry and paid for the day.

Clearly, there must have been a policy change. And clearly they have not updated the dress code on the Gwinnett County website. Clearly some employees don't know what a swimsuit material is and what isn't. They're all kinds of swimsuit materials! And yes, in different percentages of materials.

Be wary of what swimsuit material you bring to the pool because you might get turned around or you might not! Clearly this aquatic center has not properly trained their staff on the recent policy change! Go to another aquatic center they most definitely will...

I live in North Carolina and my 6 year old daughter asked me to take her to a water park when we went to visit Atlanta. I did the research and of all the parks, I picked West Gwinnett's because I expected it to be family friendly and community oriented (it is, after all, a public facility for an impressive community).

When we walked in the door, happy as cats and ready to swim, we were immediately shocked by front desk staff speaking to what appeared to be latino immigrants in a mean, cold, undeniably racist and derogatory manner. The family had come with inflatables and because they didn't speak much English, were not understanding the front desk woman's request to leave them in the car. Of course it makes sense they would be confused - eh? no swim toys in the swimming pool?

But Instead of trying to communicate more patiently and clearly, the woman behind the counter was hostile and unbelievably rude, while the immigrant family was patient, kind and open. I wish we had left then, but I wanted to have an open mind and give the place a chance and I didn't want to let my daughter down.

Then when we got our place at the counter to check in, there wasn't a shred of friendliness. Other than take my payment, the only thing the woman behind the counter said to me was "DO NOT LET HER IN THE WATER UNLESS YOU ARE BY HER SIDE OR WE WILL ASK YOU TO LEAVE"

Really? Wow. Thanks for the welcome!

Then we went out to the pool area and decided to shrug off Ms. Nasty. I figured it was just her. But within minutes of getting into the water, lifeguards were yelling at my child like she was some kind of criminal over tiny things that 6 year olds do, like jumping up and down in the shallow end and going underneath the water slides for shade.

So we moved to the wave pool, where I figured we couldn't attract a fussy lifeguard. A few minutes into the wave pool and we are stopped by yet another lifeguard who tells me that my swimming suit is "inappropriate for family" and "we require actual swimwear here". My swimsuit is a form-fitting professional suit - it cost $50 and is more definable as "swimwear" than most of what anyone else was wearing. I realized the issue was the form-fitting element (think: crotch) and found the experience very embarrassing. I petitioned to be left alone, showed her the speedo logo, and went on. 30 minutes later, another lifeguard approached me and again, stated that "I am sorry sir but we require swimwear at the pool." There seemed to be a big issue with a man wearing a form fitting, professional swimsuit.

I think the worst issue was when the lifeguards got on my daughter for climbing out of the wave pool in the wrong place. "Get down! Stop! Don't get out there!" yelling at her, confusing her, causing her to stop mid-way getting out of the water and then fall back in backwards. I jumped in to pull her up (while the lifeguard just observed as a 6 year old fell backwards into the water without anything to grasp) and instead of coming to help, the lifeguard came over to lecture us with a raised, impatient voice.

I could keep going and going but basically the culture at this place is so (I can't think of a better word) negative that we gave up trying to have fun and left after a few hours. I will never go again and I hope that this review is helpful for anyone who wants to bring a happy child to a water park - go...

8/17/2025 Pool supposedly open at 1pm however because there were people from GA Diving is closed till 2pm and regular people have to stay outside until 2pm. There were no information of it on the website and a sign on the second set of doors instead of the entrance doors. And the lady inside was really rude

I have knee problems and about once a week I like to come to the pool here to walk (can't swim) usually after 6 pm. However twice now I was told I can't because there are swim classes at that time. This small piece of information in nowhere in the website nor when you look for the open times in Google. As the weather is now getting a little better I called yesterday Feb 27, 2025 because when I check in Google (again) there were no hours showing and if you press on the hours it stated that it showed that this location was "permanently or temporarily closed". So the lady that answered said that it was open. When I asked about the times she explained that indeed it was open untill 9 pm, but from 6-9 pm it was only for the swimming classes so if you were not for the classes it was only untill 6 pm I had given this place a 5 star rating, however when I went again about 10 days ago on a weekday, after I had pay and when already outside I was told the outside pool was closed and i had to get back in, I explained I only wanted to lay down to get some sun I and had no intention to get in the water, i was told by the young man somewhat rudely to use the back pool which by the way was being used for some swimming classes and then about an hour later there were more little children classes there. All in all not a really good experience this time. They should advise that the outside pool is closed once the schools started. This was my review of about 3-4 weeks ago: Great place for kids and adults to have a good time. There is an outside pool, and 2 inside pools. The closest to the outside pool is divided into 3 areas (laps only, diving board and one not to deep) On the back is another pool I think for those learning to swim. The bathrooms are very clean and there is a shower area in long cubicles also divided in w parts (front has a small bench perfect to put your bag) followed by a shower with a soap dispenser. Water nicely goes from cold/medium/hot🔥. Only thing is needed are wider shower curtains to make sure water doesn't go into the bench area and maybe a door so another patron can't open the curtain where your stuff is. However the shower curtains are of a...