We are so excited for the summer season at the Forest Park Pool, but disappointed again by the slow/confusing check-in process. There is usually a 10-20 minute line to check in to the pool (even for passholders), which will become even more stressful as the weather gets hotter with small kids in line.
The Oak Park pools do not have this problem, and neither did Lombard’s Paradise Bay Waterpark (where I used to manage guest services). Why? Neither of them require paper wristbands. Forest Park still requires every attendee (even passholders) to get paper wristbands fastened by staff, and young children need two paper wristbands to indicate “non-swimmer.”
This more than doubles the check-in time with no clear benefit. Do we feel the fences are not sufficient and need to use the wristbands to ensure people don’t “sneak in”? But even then, they fall off easily – so if someone were asked where their wristband is, that would be the first excuse. Are lifeguards really looking for small red non-swimmer wristbands on each kid in the water vs. scanning for signs of distress?
Removing paper wristbands would be an easy change to accelerate the check-in process and mirror what other successful pools have already done.
Daniel Huizinga
Forest Park