Mystic Waters Family Aquatic Center

It truly is a nice place but the amount of daycamps and kids without supervision is too much for me plus it is very expensive and had a severe chair shortage, even getting there 20 minute after park opening is too late. In addition, I go with my neice who is a well behaved 5 year old. We are on the lazy river and she is in my lap, she was kind of antsy and over it and wanted to get out so I asked a lifeguard to assist her off my lap because i couldnt dismount safely with her on me, she said no. i said even if i go to the stairs and you hold her hand? she said no. useless. then i asked a guy in a blue shirt, who is supposed to help, he said he could but just to go on another lap around and enjoy it… no…we wanted off, so finally we get to a grassy/​sidewalk area and i hold onto the ledge and she gets off of me and gets up onto the sidewalk. this way i am finishing up the river and she is walking the parameter. not 4 steps in does some prepubescent teenage kid yell at her and scares her for walking there and that she needs to turn around. i corrected him and told him she needed to be out of the water, he sternly told her and us no that cant happen.
unbelievable the power these kids think they have. this was not the first instance of them scolding little kids much harsher or in the wrong way (giving them long detailed instructions for their short little attention spans). they should take a course first i believe.
lastly we had family visiting (grandma and grandpa) who were in street clothes and… elderly…and not swimming but were charged the $ 12 each just to walk in to spend time with their granddaughter… unbelievable

I arrived at noon on a Friday. I paid my $ 12 entry fee. There was absolutely no chairs available to use. I asked if they give refunds seeing as I did not have a place to sit. They do not. I left and I will never return. Thank you for nothing Mystic Waters.

The place is clean. Lots of things to do. But there were a few downfalls.
They charge you $ 12 per person no matter how old your kid is. That adds up. But I do like how they have areas inside the park where you can picnic.
they have a lazy river. That’s cool. It’s small, but it works. Unfortunately when it gets busy, they make you get off after one trip around the lazy river which lasts LESS than 4 minutes.
They have a few slides here that make it fun for smaller kids and up.
Their snack bar were decent prices for what it is.
What I don’t like is that you saw people jumping in with their regular clothes on. T-​shirts and jeans. Some kids were wearing regular shoe sandals in the water. Isn’t this regulated at all? I can’t tell you how many times my 3 year old got knocked down by a group of grown teenagers just for not even paying attention.
So, this place is fun and great and all. I just wished they had stricter regulations on what to wear into the swimming pool.

Nice facility… not nearly enough lawn chairs for the amount of customers that were there the day I was there. Had to lay on the grass where there were little bugs that kept biting me. Lol.

This place is pretty great. If you come in with the appropriate expectations, you’ll have a great time. This is a park district water park, not the Wisconsin Dells. Two long slides, two plunge slides, two diving/​jumping platforms, a lazy river, a pool with a zero-​depth entrance and a roped-​off deeper end, and two fenced-​off little kid areas plus a play area in the main pool for bigger kids is really all you need. Plus, they have a picnic area and some fast food. You can bring coolers but not lawn chairs.
Here are some things I like:
–The lines move fast for the slides.
–The little kid areas are fenced off AND gated so your tot won’t scamper into trouble while your back is turned.
–There are a couple areas where they put a shade canopy where you can park your seat.
–The splash pad has two separate areas – one is a playground for more rowdy play, and the other is more low-​key and has little jets of bubbling water and a «car wash» type setup for kids to crawl through.
–It’s very clean! I almost never see band-​aids in the water.
–The lifeguard to patron ratio is very good. The lifeguards are also really on top of things. A little girl fell into the diving pool on my last visit, and two lifeguards were assisting her before I even realized what was happening. I wish they were like this everywhere!
–The locker rooms are roomy and have a ton of benches. The walk-​through showers are great on busy days since there aren’t waits for stalls.
I love coming here with my little one and can’t wait until she’s old enough to race down the slides with her cousin. This is a great family park with excellent staff and fun for the grown-​ups, very young children, and all ages between.

Went on Sunday and it was alot of fun for a local water park.
If you go on a hot day or a weekend get there early or you will have to wait in line outside due to it being at capacity.
I had 2 kids & my 2yr old loved the splash park.
The concession stand was to overpriced but the food wasnt great (fries were old/​sat out)
If your lloking to cool off check it out

Why can’t I find the policies /​rules on the Mystic Waters webpage. Do they allow towels, chairs free of charge? Coolers? Are these items allowed on the pool deck? Or must I go out to my car for my cooler if I must keep it there? Locker situation? Fee? Cash only? what’s the deal.

The whole experience was amaizing! I mean the drop slides were so much fun! the only thing i had a problem with was the life gaurds were snappy and rude to my family and I. Next time this incedent happens i will be reporting it to the office!

My four yr old son and I do get the season pass every yr, we are Des Plaines residence so we do get the in residence rates, however i feel that the pool season could be opened a bit longer than what i normally is.
Now on to the fun and positive stuff…
As I mentioned i do have have a four yr old son and nephews and nieces that range from the ages of 4 – 9 yrs of age, they love this place and i love mystic waters for many reasons… My favorite is the dolphin bay they call it where it’s padded floor w/​spraying water just for the little ones who are under the age of 12. The sand pit is my second favorite place, i love how they Incorporated the old dolphins and seals into the decorations. the lazy river is also fun, however, at times i wish it was a little longer and perhaps be able to go twice around instead of once. The big slides I’m not too much of a fan only because my little is still not tall enough to go on, but I’m sure once he is — we’ll be on them… The pool is OK, all though on the hottest days from what i can remember this past summer 2011 the water was very warm and it was just had an awkward feeling to it. other than that, I’m very impressed with the in-​service life guarding they perform about twice a week, it gets everyone involved and aware and educated on how to react when there’s an emergency. The bathrooms need a little updating maybe more lighting, it seams like I’m walking Through a tunnel in there. The exit revolving doors could be a little wider especially when you have two lawn chairs, a cooler, and a four yr old to squeeze through… they do have concession stand where the prices are ehhh OK… of course their expensive!!! bring your own food… but the ice cream cones are a must… i wish they would let you eat on the pool deck instead of walking all the way to the picnic area to eat… it’s not convenient when you have kids to look after and one of them is hungry.

After visiting this waterpark over the summer, I decided I’m going to try and make an annual trip to this park. It is fantastic, so close to the North side of Chicago, and a great price for so many pools, slides, and diving boards. It was about $ 12 per person.
There are 2 large water slides, 2 drop slides, 2 diving boards, a pool that you can walk into and it gets deeper and a fun lazy river! I don’t have any kids so we didn’t go to any of the sections for young kids but there seemed to be 2 pools, a sand area, and a playground.
There were A TON of kids. Seems a lot of city and suburb day camps send busloads of kids here. Luckily all the kids need to leave the pool around the same time to eat or leave so it seemed to clear out mid-​day and then get busy again.
Can’t wait to go back!

We are season pass holders and we love this place. We go every Saturday and Sunday and the occasional weekday evening. My daughter is 2 and she LOVES it. The zero-​depth-​entry pool is perfect for her. She loves the lazy river and the splash pad with kid-​sized water slides and the sand area. There are also bigger slides for grown ups.
However, if you are not a season pass holder, I would warn against coming on a weekend. The lines are CRAZY for the general public. I don’t think it’s worth it to wait in that line.
If you have a season pass, you can enter at 10:30 (11am for the general public), and you don’t have to wait in line to enter. We get there right at 10:30 and get in 2 hours of swim time before it’s time to leave for lunch and naps. We leave right as it gets super-​crowded. Perfect.
If you’re planning to go more than once in a season, definitely look at the season pass. I think it pays for itself in 4 or 5 visits, but the savings in frustration and time spent in line are priceless.

Had a wonderful thursday afternoon here with my 5 year old son. We mostly enjoyed the lazy river (which was amazing and had shaded and sunny parts) and the big pool. They also had a great splash-​pad area for the little ones. We didn’t do any waterslides, but they certainly looked fun. The price was pretty good for the two of us, considering how much more expensive a «true» waterpark would be.
I’m sure this place is terribly busy on the weekends, but i can’t wait to go back with all three of my kids some weekday afternoon!

We came out here the week before Labor Day weekend since some of our other favorite summer pools were already closed for the season. Mystic Waters actually extended its season thanks to the 90-​degree weather. And the turnout was amazing. Within 2 hours of its opening on a Sunday, it was at capacity (1500 people).
Near the corner of Northwest Highway along Dempster/​Miner, this is actually the closest water park to our house, but it was our first time there. At $ 12 a person for non-​residents, it’s more expensive to visit than Flick Park in the evening or Atcher Island in Schaumburg. But we came here to enjoy one last fling at a water park before we hang up our swim shorts for the year.
The park has 2 big water slides you can see from the street, or even several blocks away on Busse Hwy. The one slide has a steeper drop near the bottom than the other, but they both end in a shallow pool 3−½ feet deep.
For the littlest kids, there’s lots of options. There is a little splash pad with a playground-​style water slide. My 4 year old & 7 year old got bored of that in a few minutes. There is a sandbox area right next to the splash pad. It has sprayers go off once every few minutes to keep the sand wet. I saw kids sculpting fancy islands and castles thanks to the moist sand making it possible.
The main pool starts out as a shallow wading pool and goes gradually deeper. It has lanes for lap swimming too. The lifeguards on duty are attentive and watchful for unsafe play. Considering it was a very crowded day at the pool, they did a remarkable job. I saw a kid get pulled out who looked like he got in deeper than he expected. They wasted no time getting him out of the water and recording the incident.
The lazy river is rather short compared to Rainbow Falls but it is nice and well-​managed. While there is a limited number of tubes, lifeguards let people have only one lap around before they come out, pass the tube to the next person in line and go back to wait for their next turn. It keeps others from hogging all the tubes like what we witnessed at Skokie’s water park.
Another nice thing about Mystic Waters is that you can bring your own cooler with food and drinks. A lot of parks won’t let you do that. As long as you keep it in the picnic area, you’re fine. Being as close as it is to our house, I know we’ll return here next year.

Close to home and not too expensive, PLUS you can get a coupon in the Oakley’s guide and several other family-​friendly periodicals. What I liked: surprisingly short lines, polite patrons (for the most part — you know, teenagers — ugh) and resonalbe food. The ONLY complaint was not staff supervision in the beach area, adjacent to the kid’s area. This means 9 – 10 year old boys having sand-​throwing fights in and among the 3 – 5 year olds. Where were their parents? Don’t know, but I had to stop in when a little one (not mine) started to cry.

Best way to spend a hot afternoon in the suburbs! Something for everyone or every age!

I’ve been coming here since I was a 3 year old, and it’s always been awesome!
It offers some fun attractions– 2 huge water water slides, a huge pool with some stuff for the kiddies, 2 drop slides, 2 different height diving platforms, a lazy river, and a kids play area, along with a great snack bar, and a HUGE parking lot.
The only downside is that in summer there are HUGE lines to go with the HUGE parking lot. It can get so bad that you have to wait in line for other people to get out!

tara m pretty much said it all :)
the bf and i went here one day cause it was hot and well they had cool water to chill in
i can see how this place would be an amazing escape if u had kids… each little area (slides/​drop slides/​sand pit/​lazy river/​concessions/​etc) is sectioned of so parent/​sitter can feel confident letting the kiddies play without having to stand right next to em
slides are fun and the pool/​lazy river are a nice escape during the occasional 15min ‘adult swims’
its a district pool so expect campers galore
concessions are decent but they will also stamp u so u can leave and grab some food/​drinks elsewhere
also fyi women get jipped on the locker room situation… the mens side has pay and bring ur own lock-lockers…the womens side is pay only

This place is a local favorite and is loads of fun for all ages. There are about six different attractions. Otter’s Run has two 37 foot slides that claim to be some of the highest in the area. For the daring there is Sea Lion Falls where they can try the drop slides and cliff dives. I’m not a thrill seeker so the Crocodile Cove lazy river with 550 feet of inner tube floating fun is perfect for me.
The kids liked both the Dolphin Bay and Beluga Beach. The bay is a leisure pool that starts at 0’0″ depth and inclines to 10″. On the shallow end, it has a child size dolphin slide, fountains and some water sprays for the kids while the beach has a non-​slip surface with a jungle gym that has two kiddie slides and mounds of sprayers and fountains. The cool thing about the beach area is that has a gate so you toddler can’t out run you to the other pool. There is also an area for sand building but I hate sand. No matter how you try to prevent it, it still gets in the car and back into the house.
The Café was’t as expensive as we thought. My mom treated us to chicken strips, a hot dog, a pretzel, fries, and two sodas. She said all of that was about $ 10.00. Not bad for bland cold food then I over heard someone yelling they were going to get their cooler so I guess you don’t have to eat their food, just bring your own. Then we found out you can get your hand stamped and come back later. Oh, man, we could have had real food…
In all, with today’s gas prices, stay close to home and enjoy your day here. Just don’t forget the sunscreen.

For a park district pool facility, this is great! The whole family, regardless of age, can enjoy a day at Mystic Waters! There’s the pool itself, which is one of those gradual pools that’s got a soft slope and is kind of like a shoreline, so kids can just get in that part and have a blast. That shallow end of the pool has a dolphin slide for tots, a mushroom that pours down the water and gets you good and soaked, a few little fountains for the kids to play in. Then there’s the two big water slides on one end of the center and two smaller slides that have big drops that launch you into a 10-​ft deep pool. A HUGE sand box for little ones to play in (and these kids can excavate! Roads, moats, rushing rivers… you’d be amazed what a bunch of little kids can put together!). The lazy river thing rocks, with it’s big inner-​tubes… Lastly is the water play area on the street side of the center, it’s got all sorts of sprinkler type things on a small but tough jungle gym!
There’s life guards on duty in every area, except the sandbox. A small cafeteria area with mediocre food. Locker rooms are clean and staff is really friendly!
Non-​residents are $ 11.00/adults $ 9.00/kids 2 – 18
Residents are $ 9.00/adults $ 6.00/kids 2 – 18
There are season memberships available as well.
A great way to spend the day with kids… just keep in mind that the evil cicadas are still in the area right now… but should be gone within 2 wks (we’ve had them since Memorial Day in the area).