Overlee - 10+ years.

Anonymous wrote:I won’t say the pool because I’m probably already outing myself, but mine was 13 years from signing up for the waitlist to membership offer. My time on the waitlist outlasted my marriage.

(I was unmarried when I joined the waitlist, never added my then-boyfriend to the listing, and months before I got my membership offer I was served divorce papers. So on the bright side I didn’t have to give up the membership?)

Can anyone top that?

Was it Cardinal Hill? We sold the house and moved away and got a 'congratulations' email eight years later. Did we still want the membership?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Palisades. 11 before we got in.

It was said in Katie Ledecky’s memoir… imagine if Katie waited a few more years to get in the fun summer swimming, we may have missed a legend … that would be crazy, some pools just a little too upper class, really don’t have to be that way… why not just take more families in… it’s ridiculous for any family to wait for a pool membership for years

It’s not about pools being too upper class it’s about capacity limits. We could offer more memberships but then members would throw a fit if the facility was at capacity and they weren’t allowed in.

Cardinal Hill in Vienna says it’s 8+ years for a summer lease and 10+ for a membership.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Palisades. 11 before we got in.

It was said in Katie Ledecky’s memoir… imagine if Katie waited a few more years to get in the fun summer swimming, we may have missed a legend … that would be crazy, some pools just a little too upper class, really don’t have to be that way… why not just take more families in… it’s ridiculous for any family to wait for a pool membership for years

Little Falls is always talking about what could have been with Katie.

Anonymous wrote:You all need to move to just outside the beltway in Northern Virginia. Areas that feed to high schools: Woodson, Lake Braddock, Robinson. There are nice pools to join. No waitlist.

It’s the same for at least some that feed into West Springfield.

Anonymous wrote:This is bumming me out. I've been on a waitlist for a year and it seems like by the time I get an offer my kids won't care about going anymore!

Where are you located? Is there another nearby that doesn’t have a waitlist? We’ve been members of ours for 17 years and during that time there has never been anywhere close to a waitlist. We use it a lot and never once had to wait outside to get in either due to capacity.

I just looked up the waitlist of the pool near us and there are folks who have been waiting since 2010.

You all need to move to just outside the beltway in Northern Virginia. Areas that feed to high schools: Woodson, Lake Braddock, Robinson. There are nice pools to join. No waitlist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Palisades. 11 before we got in.

It was said in Katie Ledecky’s memoir… imagine if Katie waited a few more years to get in the fun summer swimming, we may have missed a legend … that would be crazy, some pools just a little too upper class, really don’t have to be that way… why not just take more families in… it’s ridiculous for any family to wait for a pool membership for years

Go to a different pool.

Anonymous wrote:9 years and counting (still on waitlist at our pool), but we have received a full summer “rental” membership in every year except our first.

That’s a huge benefit! No pools close to us have rentals as an option but it’s too bad because it works for the families on both sides of the equation.

Anonymous wrote:For the person on a waitlist, it really depends on the pool! Many pools clear their waitlists within a year so do not lose hope! Or perhaps get a membership elsewhere until a spot opens up at your closest pool.

This is true- Op of this thread and while I was on the 13 year waitlist I joined a neighborhood pool with no waitlist that was a 30 minute drive from my house (worth it to get the kids access to a pool, any pool when they were tiny), and then joined a 18 month waitlist for yet another pool that was slightly closer at 25 minutes but also has dive and tennis. We are very established at the second pool. So now that we are off the waitlist at pool 3, which is 8 minutes away but has no dive or tennis, the kids are going to use the 13 year waitlist pool for friend time and the distant pool for dive and tennis.

It is stupidly complicated.

My advice to anyone just starting out: buy that first house within a neighborhood with a no-waitlist pool that has an acceptable swim team at a minimum and don’t look back! Bonus points if it is walkable or bikeable.

9 years and counting (still on waitlist at our pool), but we have received a full summer “rental” membership in every year except our first.

For the person on a waitlist, it really depends on the pool! Many pools clear their waitlists within a year so do not lose hope! Or perhaps get a membership elsewhere until a spot opens up at your closest pool.

9 years but it would have been longer were it not for families moving away during Covid.