A Sneak Peak Into the Behind the Scene’s Tour At Keylime Cove Indoor Water Park

Attending a water park should be on everyone’s must do Summer Activity list. They’re a great place to take the whole family for hours of fun and relaxation. If your local in Illinois I hope you’ve had a chance to visit Keylime Cove Indoor Waterpark located in Gurnee, IL just minutes from Great America and Gurnee Mills Mall, if not I suggest you certainly make time for a visit soon. Last year we were invited for an overnight stay and just loved all the fun things to do there. You can read all about our

KeyLime Cove Indoor Waterpark Resort is an island-inspired family vacation destination less than an hour drive from Chicago and Milwaukee. It’s the official year round resort of Six Flags Great America that offers a complete family vacation without ever leaving the property.  For locals in Illinois and Wisconsin it’s quickly becoming a local drive for American coastal experience for resort entertainment and amenities.  This tropical-themed indoor waterpark offers an arts, crafts and activities center for kids and awesomely huge square-foot arcade and has multiple restaurants including D.W. Anderson’s Eatery and Ice Cream Parlor and The Crazy Toucan Margarita Grille. You’ll also be able to enjoy being pampered at the Paradise Mist Spa and Children can enjoy their very own pampering at The Enchanted Lagoon Kids Spa.  Walking around the halls you’ll even find  uniquely themed interior, arts, crafts, interactive festivities, shops and street vendors. KeyLime Cove is operated by Madison, Wis. based S&L Hospitality, a hotel and resort management company with a niche in indoor waterpark resorts.

This past weekend we took the our family for water park fun and attend our first ever behind the scene’s tour. KeyLime Cove is providing behind the scenes tours of its Lost Paradise Indoor Waterpark to educate parents about the water their kids are swimming in. KeyLime Cove is proud of its state-of-the-art ozone technology and would like to extend an exclusive invitation for you to learn firsthand the science and safety behind its indoor waterpark.

We got to meet Bob in person. He has a wonderful passion for taking care of the water that you and I swim in and the air that we breathe while in the waterpark. He monitors the equipment day and night with special technology and has been with his team for well over 20 yrs. He loves his job and was really excited to share information with our tour group.

About Keylime Cove Lifeguard Staff

One of the most important jobs in the water park next to Bobs of course is keeping an eye on the swimmers and making sure everyone is following safety rules. You’d be surprised at how many times you’ll see someone doing something unsafe. The life guards follow safety rules in all areas of the park and are always changing guards throughout the day.

The 65,000 square-foot indoor waterpark is operated under the watchful eyes of Jeff Ellis and Associates certified lifeguards. Each lifeguard completes 38 hours of training prior to setting foot into the waterpark, which certifies them in CPR, First Aid and Emergency Oxygen Delivery.

Once considered a lifeguard, all crew members are expected to attend four hours of continuing education training a month to maintain their skills. Training includes everything from assuring that guards maintain the 10/20 rule: to recognize a guest in distress in the water within 10 seconds and reach them within 20 seconds, to providing unmatched guest service. Each lifeguard faces continual testing to meet staff standards at any given time. Jeff Ellis and Associates performs unannounced audits to ensure a test ready level at all times. The aquatics staff has exceeded its last four unannounced audits by Jeff Ellis and Associates. In addition to the four unannounced audits that are performed, KeyLime Cove Aquatics performs four varying types of audits, more than 2800 times a year, to ensure the utmost safety for KeyLime Cove guests.

Air and Water Facts

How many gallons of water does it take to fill Lost Paradise Indoor Waterpark?

A total of 420,120 gallons — filtered at a rate of 4,788 gallons per minute. The resort’s waterpark technicians maintain a tight ship, working hard to make sure the water temperature is comfortable and clean, within a half of a degree of the waterpark’s standard 84 degrees. The waterpark’s six pools were recently outfitted with climate centers that give a digital reading of the pool’s water temperature, air temperature, humidity level and time of day. The climate centers are visible to guests and are accurate within one degree. You’ll find them located around the park and pictured below so you know what to look for.

The air quality is also a primary concern. Air is refreshed every 20 minutes during the hours of operation.

Waterpark Facts:

•  420,120 gallons of water
• Lazy river is 560 feet long and winds throughout the waterpark
• Tube slides are 45 feet high and 350 feet long
• Hurricane’s Vortex is 45 feet high and 140 feet long
• Pineapple splash bucket is 10 feet tall and holds 250 gallons of water
• The Maximum occupancy of the waterpark is 1,476 guests

The lazy river is one of my favorite rides. Grab a water tube and float til your hearts content. The kids even enjoy the relaxing nature of the ride and even the unexpected sprinkler splashes as you float about. Hubby and the kids enjoy the slides for several hours climbing a staircase to get to the top will certainly make you wish you had an elevator but oh the ride come in down is worth the trip. The Pineapple splash bucket is exciting for all but can be an unexpected surprise to those who are not listening for the sounded bell alarm before the big 250 gallon dump right on their heads. To small children it can be quite scary so be sure to stand next to them for the first couple of down pours. My six year old son and eleven daughter really love the pineapple splash down while my four year old and I enjoy watching everyone get drenched.

Behind the Scenes Tour With Bob the Director of Engineering

Even  though Bob has a really great Statue of Liberty pose going on here he certainly kept us all interested about the information he shared. It is so important that the water we swim in is clean and free from bacteria in order not to spread germs. Bob share’s all the exciting details on how he monitors the water to keep it clean, sanitary and safe for swimming.  You’ll find many of those statics and details below.

KeyLime Cove’s waterpark opened in 2008 with state-of-the-art ozone sanitation technology. The tour reveals how ozone is 200 times stronger than chlorine but has no effect on skin or hair. If a person breathes ozone, it will be exhaled as oxygen. Ozone is a highly effective sanitizer, effective against Cryptosporidium and MRSA (antibiotic resistant staph), E. coli and Salmonella. Ozone benefits the environment by reducing the energy to heat water and lowers chemical consumption because it creates no harmful byproducts.

“I believe that the condition of a pump room is a direct reflection of how an operation is run,” said Williams. “Our waterpark technicians take air and water quality seriously. They are trained to know every pipe and how the water flows through all 176 valves and 46 gauges.” To date, there are few waterparks and municipal pools in the U.S. that are using ozone technology.

Pump Room Facts:

Pump room is maintained by five full time technicians, who hand test water samples every two hours (State of Illinois requirements are two times daily)

• Pump room has 18 pumps, 176 valves and 42 gauges
• Water is filtered through tanks of gravel and sand before it is treated with chemicals and ozone
• Sand within the tanks is cleaned by backwashing
• A master computer system controls all underwater lighting, temperature, ozone, chemicals, valves and pressure
• System makes pure ozone, recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an antimicrobial disinfectant

KeyLime Cove is rapidly becoming known as a destination of choice. TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel website, recently announced its top Travelers’ Choice® Hotels for Families, naming KeyLime Cove Indoor Waterpark Resort the #1 Family Hotel in the US and #2 worldwide. In addition, KeyLime Cove was recognized by Aquatics International with the “Best of Aquatics” award in the waterpark resort category for 2011.

Visit KeyLime Cove’s behind the scenes water park tour and say “Hello” to Bob for me. You’ll love the peek inside the waterpark pump room and will be amazed at what it takes to keep a waterpark running and the water safe to swim in.

For more information or to make your very own tropical getaway reservation, visit keylimecove.com or call 1.877.360.0403.

disclosure: Many thanks to Keylime Cove for providing a complementary one night stay for our family of five to experience  waterpark fun at Keylime cove. We attended the behind the scene’s early morning tour to share information with our readers. No other compensation was provided. Meals and extras were out of pocket expenses.