Pelican Bay Aquatic Center — Attraction in Edmond

2023 Swimming Lesson Review

This review covers the experience I had with one child enrolled in the Preschool Group Swim Lessons and one child enrolled in the Level 1 Group Swim Lessons from June 26-July 7, 2023.

I would have appreciated a review like this before I enrolled my children, so I am taking the time to write it for you. Hopefully you will find it helpful!

PROS *My kids enjoyed being in the pool. *My kids enjoyed the other children in their swim group. *My kids said their instructors were nice. *My kids felt comfortable in the water. *My kids showed small growth in their swimming skills. *If you are on Facebook, Pelican Bay posts on their business page when lessons are cancelled due to weather and when they will be made up. *It is much less expensive than many options. *There are usually slots available to enroll your kid. *Kids were allowed to stay and swim after final lesson. (This was not communicated ahead of time so we were not able to take advantage of it.)

CONS Communication: *Incorrect information about the swim class holiday schedule was on the web portal. *Employee who answered the phone could not answer questions about the swim class holiday schedule the week before the session began. *Employee gave an email contact, but no one replied to the email I sent about the swim class holiday schedule. *The automated class registration confirmation email I received states that communication about schedule changes, make up classes, and other important information would be sent via contact information on file. None of this communication was sent via the (correct) contact information I submitted upon registration. *Class instructors did not communicate with parents at all. *There was no communication or progress report to let parents know if kids were doing well on skills or not. *No certificate was awarded upon completion of the class. *Since I did not receive a progress report or certificate, I do not know if my kids have mastered the skills required for the next level.

Schedule: *Lessons started five minutes late half of the days, but still ended on time. Because of this, kids missed out on a total of 20 minutes of instruction. *One morning the entrance to the pool was locked until 5 minutes after lesson start time. Lessons were started five minutes after that. An extra 5 minutes was added to the end of the lesson, but this still resulted in kids missing 5 minutes of instruction time. *Morning lessons cancelled for weather had to be made up in the evening of the next week. If your schedule isn't flexible enough to accommodate, that could be a problem for you. *Sometimes my older child had 2 instructors scheduled, and sometimes only 1. When only 1 was scheduled my child spent more time waiting for a turn than working on skills.

Instruction: *An instructor for my younger child's make up lessons was over heard asking another instructor what he was supposed to do, and he allowed the kids to play for most of the lesson instead of working on their skills. *The final make up lesson included all children from all swim lesson time slots. It was massive and programmed very poorly. 20 minutes of the time was spent putting kids in life jackets for an activity that was then abandoned 8 minutes in, possibly because it became clear there was not time for all the children to fully participate.

Facility: *The bathrooms may have been clean, but looked unpleasant and dirty. *During one evening make up lesson, only one family bathroom open was open. There was no communication sent ahead of time about this. Families with small children had to wait a long time.

Safety concern: *It is not safe for an adult to go down a slide with a child. On the final night of lessons, lifeguards went down the water slide with several children who were too nervous to go down the slide on their own. *Parents who did not adhere to the expectations laid out by the head instructor on the first day (such as staying at the facility during the swim lesson and remaining in the seating area) were...

I want the owner to contact me as your team refused to give me your contact information.

My family and I were there today. My husband had our Registered Service Dog in a carrier on his chest. The ladies up front let us in, we payed for our tickets. There are no rules against having dogs in the facility in general. No signs posted at the location or online that day dogs aren't allowed in general.

When my husband went to get food after about an hour of being there and two lifeguards approached him telling him no dogs allowed. He informed them our dog is a Registered Service Dog and they demanded documentation from him. First of all, you're not allowed to do that. The only thing, by law, that is allowed to be asked is:

(1) Is the dog a service animal? (2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

Staff is not allowed to request any documentation for the dog, require that the dog demonstrate its task or inquire about the nature of the person’s disability. Which your staff did. And then kicked us out for not having documentation.

My husband decided to sit in the car and let my daughter and I swim with the rest of our family for a little bit longer. I demanded a refund and told the manager I would be staying for a little bit to swim with my daughter, because she's 3 and doesn't understand what's going on. Your manager chose to fully refund us.

About 15 minutes later, the same two lifeguards approached me while my daughter and I were in the lazy river and told me we had to leave because they gave us a full refund. I refused because I told the manager I was staying and she chose to fully refund us anyway. Your lifeguards made a scene, followed me around the lazy river telling me I had to leave. They were rude and demanding.

We got out and decided to leave. I went to get all of their names and they made a big show of it, including telling me they texted you, the owner, about this situation. But they refused to give me your contact info. The ladies at the front did not know the lifeguards names (they were the two in the first aid area), so they went to get their names. Instead of just getting their names, the two lifeguards and the manager who refunded us came up to the front and made a big show of giving us their names. Then when my 3 year old daughter fell and started crying, they did absolutely nothing to help us.

To top it off, I was so embarrassed by the way they were acting, I forgot our water bottle and my daughter's drink. None of them did anything to help us at all. This is not good customer service. This was a complete disaster because your employees think they are above the law and like to make a scene of people's disabilities. I want a resolution to this. Please let me know how to contact...

After hearing about this location being a great mini water park and having family coming to town staying at a hotel near here, we decided to give it a try.

I should have taken it as a sign when not only was the social media not updated with current information, nor was it easy to get ahold of anyone to confirm hours, COVID19 potential changes and expectations. However unfortunately I persisted, after calling the Edmond parks and recreations, getting a non public use number and leaving my 2nd message finally got a call back so we decided to make a day of it.

Arrived 15 min early to ensure we could get a cabana as the online form was confusing for just a cabana rental. Purchased the small cabana and tickets for my family. The process was easy and things were looking up!

Unfortunately this is where it ended. After about an hour into swimming we saw another family enter out cabana and set up. I asked her if the cabana was to be shared as I was unsure to be honest. She said the guy at the front told her she could sit there as there was two tables. I didn't want to ruin her kids or my kids day and just left it be. I did inquire with the guy who charged me if the cabana was to be shared and he said "not really, if you want me to make her move I can". She really wasn't causing trouble and I honestly didn't know how to handle the situation. It should have been a given if I was paying $75 for the cabana then he just handle it without me having to ask. Or charge her for half....

We were informed we were not allowed to bring in snacks or drinks. The Cafe was unmanned for a good portion of our stay as the main person was going back and forth between the front and the Cafe, not that it mattered since there was virtually nothing to purchase. We had choices of diet coke, la Croix or $1.50 for a cup of ice water or chips. Complete disappointment we ended up leaving due to hungry and thirsty children. Even the expensive water parks like white water bay give you ice water for free. We did not want to return that day or any day again actually.

The lifeguards seem nice enough and were on top of their jobs. Altho there were some weird rules like no life jackets in certain areas, no floats for infants even, and no googles. These may be on the website not sure but even the lifeguards when asked why had no answer as to why the infants couldn't...