The Great Outdoors Waterpark — Attraction in Lafayette

Update: we have been twice since my first review. The lifeguards seem a bit better at being kind while still in charge. There is a sidewalk that goes all the way around, which is appreciated. It's not any shorter than the first way we walked, but you don't have to walk along S. Boulder Rd if you don't want. Rules seem to be a bit arbitrarily enforced. We have seen children with pool noodles every time we've been there (3 times now) but have been informed they are not allowed by the gate staff. My niece and daughter did not understand why we couldn't have our noodles in the pools, but other kids could/did. I get that done people maybe just aren't following the rules, and coding to play with theirs anyway... Whatever the reason for "no noodles" it's frustrating to see their rules not enforced or only partially enforced.

This water park is within walking distance from my house. So in that respect, is great. There are a few things that are irritating about it though. 1) even though it's within walking distance, it still feels hard to get to because of the location of the entrance and the lack of sidewalks around it. We're newish to the area and I didn't want to wander around with my newly 3yo walking in tow to discover I had taken the wrong path... Maybe more/better sidewalk coverage is planned, or everyone else just knows. I can't help but notice that it definitely caters to cars and parking rather than those who love in the neighborhood nearby - which seems odd to me. 2) The cost. I took just my daughter and myself = $20 with no local discount (Lafayette resident). The punch pass saves a small amount, but overall not enough for us to be able to visit frequently. The season pass is exhorbitant given what is available at the water park. 3) The Lifeguards are unsure of themselves even it comes to letting kids safe. Language like "sweetheart, can you please get down from there?" In an overly gentle tone does not set the them up for success if something is truly a safety issue. I work with kids. It is possible to be kind, polite, respectful and still have the lesson you're speaking to know you are in charge.

It was a good experience. We will probably go back but there are definitely things that need...

Today we decided to take our son to the swimming pool. This was our first time here and will be our very last time here. We bought our son a small sit in floaty literally only a small child is able to sit in the floaty, anyways when we went to go pay to get into the pool we asked the ladies if we were able to have the floaty out, she said yes. The manager (I did not know that at the time, and a lifeguard) stopped us to look through our bag, she did see our floaty and said “the other lifeguards may ask you to not bring that into the pool if there not to see swimmers, I understood and said okay. Moving along before we even blew up our floaty we asked TWO lifeguards if our floaty was to big we weee told NO and we can have it in the pool. In the lazy river, the manager Julie approached us as rude as can be and said mam you can’t have the floaty in the pool, confused I told her we asked two different lifeguards before we even blew it up and was told otherwise. Julie said “WELL IM THE MANAGER AND THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER” I told her okay whatever I’m not gonna go back and fourth however for futures reference you should make sure yall are communicating effectively because you all have different answers, she walked away. Before we left I asked the lifeguard on duty what the swim pool managers name was and pointed her out as she was sitting in a tower seat, he said he didn’t know her name. The second lifeguard when asked for the lifeguards name said “I’m not able to give you her name for legal reasons” which is not correct information I simply asked for her first name NOT her full name. There is no communicating amongst these lifeguards and the managers customer service was poor. This just goes to show not everyone should be in a position of power. We were not the only family who was upset with this particular manager. We tracked over an hour to come here and will never come back. Please do better and train your employees the importance of customer service, rules, AND MANAGERS ARE REQUIRED TO DISCLOSE THERE FIRST NAME JUST...

UPDATE: You’ll see in their response how inconsistent their policies are… it’s unsafe for 1-4 per the CDC yet they’re harassing my 5 yo…..

We used to really love this place, been going for years with friends; hosted several birthday parties here, etc.

However, this past weekend we were harassed all day by lifeguards as to our daughter’s age. The 12-15 lifeguards on duty are being told to ask the age of every child they deem to look 5 and under and give a wrist band, which limits their activities (no monkey bars in the lazy river for example) and forces a parent to ‘be within arms reach’ of their child, regardless of swimming abilities. Great policy for children who cannot swim, sure. But what they’re failing to address is kids that can’t swim is NOT dictated by age!

In addition, we had issues with the slide for my other daughter. One lifeguard decided after lunch, my daughter was not allowed to go down any longer after she had been going down the slide all day. Supposedly when he measured she was showing half an inch too short. When she came down the stairs, I went up with her and he refused to re-measure her for me and told me to go find his manager if I had a problem. Even after I pointed out she had been measured and gone down the slide previously, multiple times.

My daughters are very good swimmers and I was within 10 feet at all times, regardless of their policy. I can understand that other parents may not do the same. However, the 5 year old rule is bias plain and simple; it has no merit to determine if one can swim or not. Even when shown that the child can swim, they roll their eyes and gang up on you to make sure you know their authority.

A lot of money to pay for them to not have a fun time because some teenage lifeguards are being directed to harass them about their age and tell them they can’t do things because they’re 5, all while watching a 6 year old who can’t actually swim do the exact...