Prophetstown Aquatic Center — Attraction in Lafayette

It was $8 per vehicle, to park, when we first entered the area(state park). •&&&• Then it was $5 per person (3 & under free) for the water park.

I had definitely had been wanting to check this place out, for some time now. We went on a holiday weekend, July 3rd, and it was pretty packed, as expected. Facility was clean, there were showers and a changing area, in with the restrooms. The girl at the front desk, was super kind & friendly! & there was no wait to pay for tickets, or lines for the restrooms! 😊

I had hoped the water park area would of been much larger/had more to do, but I had heard it was kind of geared towards babies/toddlers ahead of time, but wanted to check it out for myself! --I would definetely agree with that statement.

There is a small lazy river, which was kind of difficult to enter. There is a whirlpool in the middle of it, which was probably my kids favorite part.😂😜 Half of the lazy river was blocked off. There were 2 water slides, and one was shut down. The one that was open was a body slide, and you had to meet the height requirements, of I believe it was 48, but could of been 52 inches tall. There was another little area with some basketball hoops, and then another super shallow area with a baby slide, and one of the big buckets that dumps water on you. The water in every area was either super shallow, or a max of 3 ft.5in , Maybe 3ft. 8 in max, so that is definetely a nice factor to those of you with small children. The water was super cold!

•There is a little snack area, with some picnic tables, & you could purchase posicles, drinks, etc. When I asked if I could bring a cooler inside with drinks in it, the answer was unknown, so I did not, bc I didn't want to have to walk it all the way back to the car, if someone did have an issue with it. So we decided to go find a park to play at, (I believe there are 2). • We had the whole picnic/park area to ourselves!, It couldn't get much better than that!😊 The views at the top of the little hill we sat on, was sooo beautiful & just peaceful!!•There is a camping area, also with picnic tables, & a much larger, very nice, equipment area.! •There are trails you can walk. •You can visit the shops/tour buildings. •There is a pond you can fish at.

Overall I think it was a decent place. Would I go back...no, not to the water park. But that is bc my children ages 8 & 9 were just kind of bored. However, I would go back to camp or walk the trails, or to get the whole experience at the visitor...

The facility is exceptionally nice and very clean. The staff, however, was a different story. The girl at the front desk and the gentleman I think was security were both great. Unfortunately, these were the worst life guards I have ever seen. We were there at 5 on a Sunday when there were only about 30-40 people swimming. Most of the life guard chairs were empty, even by the kids splash area. We tried to go to the area with the basketball hoop, only to find 4 lifeguards there in the water playing ball. Apparently one of the lifeguards family was there as well. He was spending most of his time running around with them. One of them told my husband that he need to get out of the whirlpool area in the lazy River because it was for kids only, though nothing was posted and other adults had been in there earlier. There was one guard who was dedicated to staying in her chair. One guard only was actually doing her job. Her co-workers were not. One was flirting non stop with another and chasing each other all around the river. Another was 'watching' from inside the river, actually sitting down in the water. I ran over him coming around a bend floating on my tube. Two more were swimming in the lazy river. One sat in a lounge chair about 15 feet away from the splash area checking her nails. The guard on the slide duty kept coming down to gossip then would have to bolt up two flights of stairs when she realized kids had gone past her to go down the slide. It was ridiculous. I have been a lifeguard and I would have been fired asap if I had done just one of these things. To make matters worse, the pool states closing at 7pm. At 6:45 they closed it down. Perhaps it's normal, I don't know. They quickly came back on the speaker and said that the changing rooms would be closed in 10 minutes. Seriously? I had my 10 year old and several other moms had babies they need to shower, dress and get ready. Sure enough, in 8 minutes all the girls who had been out NOT doing their guard duties right, were right there rushing us out so they coupd go home early. They had kicked everyone out and locked the doors before 7pm even came. I'm really annoyed and very VERY disappointed. Such a great facility, yet such rude and useless life guards. I hope the DNR and Prophetstown addresses this. Not sure if we will be back if this can't be fixed. Definitely puts people in danger if guards aren't taking their...

We normally love coming here rather than the place in town (Lafayette), because it's a lot less chaotic, the atmosphere feels safe enough to let your older children do their own thing with out being worried, and they keep it far more clean. We normally have a great time. But this time they had breaks every 30 min. For 15 min each time in 2 hours they had 3- 15 min breaks where the teenage lifeguards floated the lazy river while the 200-300 people wrangled their kids and tried keeping them from the water. It was 96 degrees out. They were at capacity. I get having the safety check, but if you are telling customers that is the reason for the breaks then don't take spins around the lazy river in groups enjoying break time while every one is fighting their children in the worst heat index of the year. This has never been the way they have done this. I have been a patron numerous times while they are at capacity, they call the safety check, check the pools and slides and then blow the whistle. This was last Sunday (6/22). All the people around us were complaining and commenting and I heard people mentioning it over the rest of the time we were there. Which actually wasn't too much longer. They called two additional breaks 15 min each in the following hour and we were just done. I don't know who was in charge but there was a definite abuse of power happening and the kids/ lifeguards enjoyed it. People would ask them about the excessive breaks and they would just all say it's for a safety check, it is mandatory. But I doubt the requirements include them floating the lazy river for 15 min. It was very rude and not ever been the kind of atmosphere I have experienced here in all the years we have come. This was our first time of this season. We plan to try another day of the week and see...