Pirates' Cove Children's Theme Park — Attraction in Elk Grove Township

I took my two children, 7 and 3, to Pirates’ Cove Children’s Theme Park for the first time. We live about an hour away and we met friends at the park. I would have never known about this little toddler treasure if my friend hadn’t pointed me here. I think I was expecting a bit more with “theme park” as part of the title. The kids thought there would be a roller coaster and I thought they might have some sort of water feature (perhaps a splash pad area). The rides were fairly limited - a tiny carousel (which my friends jokingly called the umbrellousel), a spinning pirate ship that flies up and down, a nice park with a dragon slide, a stage, a jumpy house, a tall slide with burlap bags to slide down on, a rock climbing wall with three difficulty levels, kids mini hand-cranked paddle boats, a craft area under a large ship used as a picnic area, a rope climbing structure, and a mini train. So in all, we are talking about 10 attractions with three electronic rides. I’m not sure if I would count the craft area or the stage as an attraction, so if you take those away we are down to 8. That being said, the kids spent 5.5 hours at the park and still didn’t want to leave. I enjoyed that the value seemed to be good - $24 for the two of them. You don’t pay as an adult. We were very lucky to go on a day that was not busy at all. We went when rain was threatening and it was in the high 60s. I did note that there were a lot of areas that provided shade, had you wanted it. I also liked that they let you bring in your own food. I’d highly recommend packing lunch or, at the very least, snacks. My 7-year-old still loves parks, so he enjoyed pretending to be a pirate on the park. He didn’t really want to go on any of the rides more than once. He enjoyed the paddle boats and the climbing wall. You are suppose to be 45 lbs to climb the climbing wall. He climbed the wall about 20 times as my three-year-old and I went on rides with friends. The nice part is that the park is small enough that I felt comfortable doing that. It was only a minute to walk across the park to get to him. Overall, we had a wonderful day and I would recommend spending at least half a day at the park. We never had to wait more than a couple minutes for a ride, so we rode most rides at least twice. It’s a good value for the money and nice to be outside with the kids having a good time. I’d highly recommend going with friends since rides are not for adults. That way you can talk while your...

We celebrated our daughter’s first birthday at Pirates Cove in June, and unfortunately, it didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped. It rained all day, and the park’s opening was delayed. When we arrived, we saw that while other groups were given covered spaces, our party was placed at the edge of the pavilion tent. We were exposed not only to the rain, but pools of water runoff from the main yellow tent that we weren’t “lucky enough” to be under. This hit directly in the center of our table, soaking everything and everybody who was brave enough to sit there.

Even though we paid for a larger party package and were among the first to arrive, our group was the only one left without a dry area. This wasn’t a last-minute booking either—we had reserved the space months in advance, but somehow, the other five parties were fully covered. When we mentioned this to the staff, they just said it was bad luck and offered us towels. Unfortunately, the rain continued, soaking our food, gifts, and guests, as the runoff hit directly on our “assigned table.” While the weather was beyond anyone’s control, the way the space was managed clearly wasn’t. Extra tables had been added to the pavilion, making it overcrowded. They prioritized profit over experience.

When we finally spoke to a manager that day, she acknowledged that she had been recommending expanding tent coverage to the park’s owners for over 10 years, but nothing had changed. I’m sure this wasn’t the first time one family got the short end of the draw. They clearly don’t care. We ended up sending someone to Costco to buy beach umbrellas so we could at least sing “Happy Birthday” under some sort of cover. A few days later, after finally hearing back from the person who helped us set up the event, we were offered to a small refund, which didn’t even cover the cost of the umbrellas or the hundred of dollars food that was ruined.

I waited before writing this review, but after visiting the area again recently and seeing that no improvements have been made, I felt it was important to share...

We love this gem, it’s a park district ran facility. They have a little rollercoaster boat they can run about bounce house wall:rock climbing and more! Just a short drive from the city right off the expressway really. If you remotely live in the area I’ll go as far to say, for your pirate loving laddie’s it’s a must go! Get it gift a membership, is well worth it’s weight in gold, matey. Also makes a great gift to look forward to! A super fun place to take the 3-6 crowd.

A great way to play and make memories can not wait to reopen hopefully next summer ( see yar soon! ) highly recommend, also be advised it not a fun free for all, run free kinda environment. Not totally fenced off for each, but the areas all have their own “entrance” so mom or Dad can sitback somewhat. Table to eat at too. Party’s and rental options call or see website. They used to have In and out passing throughout the day so you can leave and try Cuban bro’s or another great local businesses and go back after lunch!

Also “attached” to the community pool FYI, if you have a little who looses it at the sight of possible water fun, lol been there. Dealt with that: just a heads up. Super cheap too for the day. No additional cost outside of gift...