Well today we went for the first time to the Dakota splash pad. I've heard from many, Many people that there is a line up and they only allow so many people in at a time. We went with friends and my friends husband says we are going to be there for 9:00 am. It opens up at 9:30. My friend was like no we are not getting there that early. But Nathan was having trouble with his poison ivy, so I did a run to Shoppers Drug Mart, to get some benadryl. And my need to get to places on time had me at the park at 9:00. We sat in the van for a couple of minutes, as no one else was there. Then all of a sudden, a few vans came speeding through the parking lot. So I said to the kids, OK go stand in line while I get the stuff. It didn't take long for the line to get long, I was a little surprised. My friends got there almost at 9:30 and they got in. Then a big daycare came and there was some discussion about whether or not they could get in. I'm assuming they were pretty close to the cut off. I have a feeling they were over a little bit. What I find funny is that yes it's an enclosed space, but they had 6 lifeguards on. The one off Jubilee is not enclosed and I have only seen 3 lifeguards there. And it gets really busy some days. The Jubilee one also has a pool with standing water that is deeper then the Dakota one.
So I think it was a good one. Water was cold, but that's to be expected. They have a slide, it's wide and runs into a little pool of it's own, you don't slide right into the big pool. Nathan loved it, he was yelling Best Slide Ever! Then there is kind of a pool with standing water, it's not very big really. I would have liked to see the pool part bigger; not deeper. There are 7 of spraying things and a bucket that dunks water. But basically nobody played with those. They have two spray guns with a kind of wall near them to hide behind, those were a big hit, with both the little and big kids.
There is a lot of cement there, plus 2 bathrooms. Clayton realized that the air for drying your hands is warm and he would sneak in there to stand underneath it for a couple of minutes. There is not really a lot of grass for sitting. Because I was the first in line, we got the one spot that has shade for the majority of the day. Plus it gave a great view to the whole park. I wish that the seating area was a little bigger, cause let's face it, they could extend the fence quite a bit. Then that would open it up to allow more then just 100 people in at a time. Should parents really count because they are not in the water?? There were 2 different daycare's that came. I was a little surprised, the second one had to sit outside for quite awhile before they were let in. As a parent I don't know if I would like that. The life guards are counting and writing notes every 10 minutes or so. I was impressed with how attentive they were. The ones at the Jubilee spend an awful lot of time on their phones/ipods.
The kids Loved it and hopefully we will go back on a day when the water doesn't feel quite as cold.
