Darlington County Park — Attraction in Mahwah

Zero stars. The staff at this park are some Of the worst I’ve ever encountered. I have never paid for something and been made to feel Like such an inconvenience at a place i am the patron to, investing my money to be treated so carelessly and without regard for my time as a customer as well as a human being in general. At the gate they will advise you to have at least one person in your party come ahead and buy obstacle course tickets to avoid them selling out. I did so and when the other half of my party arrived they were told the park was at max capacity and even tho i purchased their tickets they could not enter AND that I would not be refunded. The other half of my party was only 2 people, not a large group. Not that it should even matter. And while trying to get my friends in with the ticket i paid for, this conflict ate into even my time for my own experience on the obstacle course i had arrived at 9am and waited until 3:20pm to experience. The supervisor showed to regard or concern for any solution for us at all. And on most visits majority of the lifeguards were very rude and most lounging around doing nothing but be fraternizing amongst each other with backs turned. Non hospital mentalities and almost all gave off a vibe that they were annoyed to even have us there. Ha. Just overall horrible and limiting experiences each visit. Extremely disappointing and discomforting experience. I would never patron again. Liable to not receive what you’re paying to experience. Theft even if you want to be technical. How can you sell tickets to something that takes into account of becoming “sold out” yet buying a ticket doesn’t mean you’re allowed in to use the ticket???? Smh a whole day ruined. And they show no...

Today I had one of the worst experiences at Darlington Lake with my 9-year-old son.

He wanted to try the splash area, so I bought the tickets. As soon as we got there, he went into the water and sat down—without a life vest. I calmly tried to explain to him that it was against the rules and he needed to wear a vest because it could be dangerous.

Suddenly, a lifeguard started yelling at us to get out of the water. I told him my son has autism and asked for some patience, but he kept yelling. Then a second lifeguard began screaming even louder. People around us started staring while the shouting continued, and my son began to get very agitated.

I couldn’t hold it together—I broke down crying. Thankfully, an angel came over to help. He spoke gently to my son, and my son told him it was our first time there. This kind man helped calm him down and encouraged him to get out of the water—and he did.

I told my son, “Let’s just go,” and promised him we’d try again another day—but honestly, I don’t plan to go back. I cried the whole way home. My son just wanted to enjoy the splash pad, but I couldn’t handle another situation like that.

I absolutely do not recommend this place. This should never have happened. My son has severe anxiety, and two years ago he went into catatonia. Only in the last few months have we started going out again. Today was supposed to be a small, brave step forward—but it turned into a deeply traumatic...

On Sunday 9/4/2022 at approximately 5:25 pm , my family (son , daughter and myself ) arrived at this park to join the rest of our family for a holiday get together. Upon arrival We attempted to enter the park at an area which turned out to be the exit only. There were 2 occupied police vehicles parked there talking to each other. I asked the officer closest to our vehicle how do we enter the park? He pointed to his right and said right there. My daughter turned around and went further down the avenue to make a u-turn so we could approach the entrance from the proper side of the street. There were orange cones blocking the entrance so we could not enter or drive up to the guard house.The time was about 5:32 pm when my son got out of the vehicle to approach the guard house to see if anyone was inside, but there was not. I also got out of the vehicle to see if there was anyone I could speak to, but observed again that the booth was empty and the gates were locked before the posted and stated times on the display at the entrance and on the parks automated service for closing time for this date. I went back to the exit gate to speak to 1 of the 2 officers and the both had left the area. We drove a hour to come this park to enjoy our family for just a small amount of time and was really disappointed because of the misleading posted signs , closing times stated on the parks automated system and somebody...