I don't live in the suburbs, and I don't even wish I did, but every so often you discover one of…read morethese amazing places . . . The Cermak Family Aquatic Center is awesome. A holy-grail destination for summer days with kids. They have a lazy river full of innertubes, and giant 2.5 foot deep pool with a play structure and various splashing items, plus a splash pad, and a junk food concession. It is neither a real swimming pool nor a water park. Not a real swimming pool because the deepest part of the pool is 2.5 feet deep. Not a water park because there's no actual waterslide, though there is a slide ... into the water -- if you grasp the distinction I'm making. But as a consequence this means that you can feel much more comfortable giving even young kids a decent amount of freedom (obviously not too much! be safe!) and generating the kind of wet, chlorinated, hot, happy, exhausted summer day that you may have grown up with as a kid. Chicago is a big city of rich amenities, so there are not a ton of things that I say are clearly worth a 45 minute drive from my house, but this is one of them.

Located inside Forest Preserve District of Cook County; Cermak Woods. Free parking for customers…read more Wonderful recreational area to enjoy with your family and friends. This is a well designed water recreational area. It has been changed, upgraded and redesigned throughout the years, but still here providing a great relaxing service to this community and visitors. You can grab a towel at the nearby Marshalls, and sunscreen as well. Plenty of grocery stores and restaurants nearby if you would like to enjoy a picnic with your family as well. Enjoy this wonderful experience.

Locker room is very dirty . Way past needing a clean coat of paint too. Entrance, waiting area and…read morelocker room look run down and poorly maintained. Student lessons are done at the far opposite end of the pool where there's no way anyone can observe them. Drink vending machine was out of most items, including water, and soda purchased was HOT as if machine was heating contents instead of refrigerating. Staff was clueless. All adds up to poor management oversight.

My children have had a great experience with swim lessons at Superior Training. We had tried a…read morepark district years ago with my first, but we quickly realized how poor the level of interaction was with the instructors and the lack of progress being made.  We switched to Superior and have had a great experience since then (in fact, we just enrolled our third child). The ratio of instructor to child is excellent, allowing swimmers to become comfortable in the water and learn skills at a faster rate. I highly recommend Superior Training!

I only had kids in recreational programs here, so I can't comment on the competitive ones…read more My girls started here with the parent and toy program before covid. From there they took one mini stats class before the shut down. Then we were on pause for some time and we found our way back after the dust settled about two years ago. Ever since then it hasn't been the same. Whether it is a feeling with some coaches that (he) only has time to work with those who might be potential competitors, to very repetitive and non- progressive skills over months of time, it got to be very discouraging for the girls. Add to that an insane and chaotic parking situation and I'm out. Literally every week, entitled people would block all traffic in the back so they could walk their special snowflake inside the building instead of parking like the rest of us. Others would drive the wrong way on a clearly marked one way path. By the time you got to the exit and had to make a blind left turn onto Circle, you need a drink.

High-quality, competitive gymnastics gym with a focus on technique. Our 5-year-old has two classes…read morehere, and he loves it. There is/was open gym for like $5.00. It was a great way for him to expend energy in a unique setting. Unfortunately we'll be moving soon so we won't be able to consistently patronize this gym. Highly recommended, especially if you are close geographically.

As a board of directors, we are very appreciative when we receive feedback from members, guests or…read moreeven former members and want to thank you for your comments. In reviewing them, it is obvious that you have had some strong concerns about how things have occurred in the past and some of the previous communication about these situations. First and foremost we are a member-driven organization, but more than that we are a place where our members can come to enjoy their time with friends and family in a safe, relaxed and fun environment. At the "V" we consider ourselves more than a pool; it is really a place in the neighborhood where our member families can enjoy the summer! Just like any organization, we have some things that require maintenance like the pool, the grounds and our clubhouse. Over the past 2 years, we needed to put in place a "special assessment" that would allow us not only to improve the pool facilities, but to enhance the experience of our club through a renovated pool house, improved landscaping to our grounds and a clean and safe pool. I would encourage any existing, new or future members to come and see the architectural plans we will be executing on our pool house this year, they are remarkable! I think that you will find as although we have a focused improvement plan on the above areas, we also continue to focus on improving the overall experience for our member families. The "V" has a long standing reputation as a positive environment in our community and for our member families, we will continue to grow and foster this reputation. We realize that what we provide may not appeal to everyone but also know that the our communal grill area, scenic grounds, competitive swim team, social activities for both adults and kids, affordability and general fellowship do appeal to many families in our community. We look forward to Opening Day this year and hope that you'll consider joining us again!

No star...ur not respect the people when they comming from far away 35 min..I called and asked ..I…read moretold them I don't have membership and they said yes u can com and pay for it ..and when I come never allowed to me to enter ..no respect no good stuff..unfortunately..iWill never ever get back

The swim teachers are good but the filter went out and they gave me a call at 4:18 when my child…read morehad class at 4:30 we were already there. So then they will give me a credit to my Foss account not even back to my cc. I didn't like the way they handled things.

I am truly sad and disappointed in our Foss experience at the Elmood Park location. When we started…read moreat Foss, the quality of instruction and kid-friendly environment made it worth the steep price. Our son loved his lessons. However, several major factors have caused us to pull our son out mid session. This year, Foss stopped offering any make up sessions. To us, this was unreasonable as the current session is 13 weeks long and the price is $30 for a half hour. Instead, Foss offers family swim as a substitute for a make-up lesson, which books out months in advance. Other swim schools offer tokens for make up sessions as inevitably, very few families are available for 13 weeks straight. We also experienced a major lack of communication with management. Nobody answers the phone. We missed a session once and when we arrived the following week, the building was closed. There was nothing on the website or any form of communication to inform us of this closure. When I called and asked why the building was closed I was told that there had been a note on the door the previous week (the week we missed.) Most unfortunately, the quality of swim instructors at Foss varies widely. Although our three teachers before this session were great, our most recent teacher wasn't in the pool when class started, had 4 year old kids sitting on the step for long periods of time, and put the kids in time out if they moved to the other end of their lane for their turn. Of course the top priority is safety, but she never showed the children what she expected of them. I'm still not sure how they were expected to get to the other side of the lane for their turn. I had to stick up for my son when the teacher put him in time out for moving down the lane. During the first class with her, my son only swam for 10 minutes total, as the kids sat on the step for the first 10 minutes, played games for 5 minutes and were sent out of the pool early. This is not acceptable when classes cost about $1 per minute. When I spoke with the manager about my concern, another mom was doing the same thing about the same teacher. Instead of listening to me, the manager said she'd call or email me the next day, but I never heard from her until I followed up a few days later. If I were the manager, I would be interested in knowing why families were ending their sessions. Overall, this lack of communication, and poor teacher experience is no longer worth the high cost (and parking nightmare.) We were hoping to keep our son (and eventually enroll our daughter) at Foss as there are few swim environments close to us that are as kid friendly. We know a lot of families at Foss who have had great experiences, but unfortunately, it was not for us.

Honestly, I don't know why more families in Bolingbrook AND the surrounding suburbs don't go to…read moreBolingbrook Park District for their swim lessons! Not only is Pelican Harbor indoor water park humongous and perfect for all levels of swimming, staff is incredibly friendly and prices are beyond reasonable!!! Even if you're not a Bolingbrook resident, if you sign up early enough, you can get 6-8 swimming lesson sessions for about $8 per lesson. I currently have both my children in Parkie's Starfish Swim School (ages 3-8) and each lesson is 40 minutes long. At private swim schools (Bear Paddle, Goldfish, British Swim School), lessons for that age group are 30 minutes long and almost 3 times as much per lesson! One thing to keep in mind are that many of the instructor are VERY young (probably high school-early college age). One of my kids is a newly minted 3 year old and doesn't listen very well at times (my kid just wants to play around in the water). I think the teacher had a hard time instructing in the beginning, but she doesn't give up and spoke to me about methods to "speed up" the progression as well as boundaries I may have. I appreciated that because I can only imagine how hard it is to teach young children who would rather play than learn. Parkie's Starfish Swim School has several levels starting from White (never having a swim lesson before) and ending in Green (able to swim on side, can freestyle 30 feet with rhythmic breathing). Levels Red-Yellow-Blue are in between. After mastering green, they can move to Parkie's Starfish Stroke School, perfecting all the strokes with longer distances as well as flips and open turns. They also have Parkie's Babies Swim Lesson for babies (ages 3-36 months). Overall I highly recommend Bolingbrook Park District for swim lessons. It's extremely affordable, the indoor swimming facility is very impressive and staff is so nice. I love that I can bring my kids here year-round instead of just summers. I know I'll continue bringing my kids here for years to come!

Had my two sons in their swimming classes and would practice with them after their classes for…read moreabout 15minutes. I have been doing this since last year, then one of the personnel walked up to me last month after their class whiles practicing and asked if I was a member which I answered no. She then said, you can stay if you are a member but if not then get out". I got my kids ready after we were done then asked her what was their policy for after class, she said, you are able to stay till 15 minutes after the swimming class. I called the manager of the place and reported this incidence. Will I take my kids back there? NO!!! Staff should have the respect for people who patronize them and not disrespect them.The staff should have explained their policy because this same staff if there every day I take my kids to this place. She was out right rude and disrespectful! They just lost two customers.

Great place and the staff and instructors are super friendly and wonderful to interact with…read more However can't say the same about Coach Bernadette. She's just not a friendly person and disappointed with my experience with her.

My daughter takes Gymnastics here during the fall. Overall she enjoys it and always looks forward…read moreto going. The coaches/staff members are very good with the kids and keep them engaged from beginning to end. The gym is clean and organized. It's one big gym, so they have different age groups and skill level groups all practicing at the same time, but they keep things moving so no class collides with another. Prices for the classes are pretty typical in cost and the classes, especially weekends do fill up very quickly. When registration opens it's wise to sign up that day, because putting it off could possibly leave you with a "class filled." If there is one thing they need to address and rectify it's the horrid smell of feet that reeks from the gymnasium when the door is opened. I mean I get this is a gymnastics gym and all of the 50 plus people in one area at the same time are shoe less, BUT that does not mean it should smell as it does! I mean they seriously need to invest in some commercial deodorizers or something! Where you have large dispensers on automatic spray timers because every time they open that door to the gymnasium my nose threatens to leave me!!

My Only child Just grew up in Oak Park & for many years enjoyed the park district with his friends…read more Justin even worked the Summer at Ridgeland Commons Pool. I also enjoyed him & the guys ice skating there. He's now a Sophomore at Illinois State University. Thank you for the memories! Have a God 2022 & Beyond With Love, JesusjerrijustinBrandon

One of My Bucket List Check Off Of 2018. I found this amazing deal on Groupon. I was super excited…read moreto try out Ice Skating. Sunday Funday for Me & A Friend Our first time getting on the ice with skates. I love to roller skate so I thought to myself what a piece a cake. I was in for a little more hard work and dedication. The staff team was very helpful and attentive. Olivia took the time to show us a few if her technique skills. Even though I was stiff and unbalance it was still worth the effort and fun to do something different and exciting in the New Year The Park District has so many programs and events to check out. Family Friendly atmosphere for everyone. Go check out the website and sign up for your next class and fun filled events to enjoy.