Summer Camp Registration: Virtual Waiting Room

The Park District’s software vendor, Vermont Systems Inc, has implemented a virtual waiting room feature that is applied to our Summer Camp Registration on the first day of resident registration. The virtual waiting room helps manage this high-volume registration event, ensuring that user volume does not exceed the website’s ability to provide a responsive registration experience.

On registration day, you will log into the online registration site as usual. If user volume exceeds the software’s capability (as it did last year), a virtual waiting room will engage and all users logged in will enter a waiting room. If you log in five to ten minutes prior to registration, you will randomly receive a spot in line. If you log in after the registration has begun, you will receive the next available spot in line. You will keep your place in the waiting room line even if your phone goes to sleep, you lose your internet connection, or you close the virtual waiting room page, provided you log back in on the same device using the same browser.

Vermont’s hosting team will let users out of the waiting room a certain number at a time each minute. The hosting team controls this number to keep the website performant, and the number of users released from the waiting room may go up and down in order to keep things moving along at a performant pace. Once the waiting room is clear, users arriving to the registration site will no longer be pulled into the waiting room and will go directly to the site to register.

When it is your turn to register, you will be redirected to the registration site where you can browse the site and complete your transactions.

We are committed to providing a positive experience on our website and in our programs. We are looking forward to a great Summer Camp season, and we hope that starts with a smooth registration day for all!

Helpful Tips

Waiting Room FAQs

Tips for a Positive Experience

Single Household Login

The Park District’s software vendor, Vermont Systems Inc, has recently rolled out a “Login Warning – Active Session Alert” regarding, multiple Household logins. You may see this prompt if you attempt to login using your Household account, multiple times. As a reminder, logging into your account from multiple devices and/or browsers at the same time will cause your session to be dropped and all items in your cart to be removed.

Login Early

Make sure to login prior to the 7:30am registration time. We recommend logging in 5-10 minutes early. If you arrive early, you will receive a random spot in the virtual waiting room line when the registration event begins. If you arrive at the site after registration begins, you will receive the next available spot in line.

ONLINE REGISTRATION

Before the Day of Registration Ensure your Account is Up-to-date

Prior to registration, ensure your account is ready to go.

  • Verify your username and password on the online registration site.
    • If you forgot your username or password, use the forgot username/password link on the registration site to recover/reset your information. If you have difficulties, please contact us at recreation@prparks.org or 847-692-5127.
       
    • If you need to set up a new account, please complete a Family Information Form.

FAMILY INFO FORM

Both residents and non-residents must complete this form.
If you are a resident household, you must also provide Proof of Residency for your family. The Family Information Form and proof of residency must be submitted by email to recreation@prparks.org or in person at one of the following facilities: Centennial Activity Center, Centennial Fitness Center, or Maine Park Leisure Center.

Once your account is created, you will receive an email from parkridge@rectrac.com  that contains a link which will direct you to our registration site to create a password for access to online registration. Please be aware that this link expires 24 hours after the email is sent.   

Check that your resident verification status is current.

  • To check when your verification expires:
    - Go to the registration site of prparks.org
    - Log into your account
    - Click on View Shopping History
    - Under Module, select Pass Memberships, then click on search
    - Check Residency Verification description for date range
     
  • If you need to renew your resident verification:
    Email recreation@prparks.org with scans or photos of your proof of identification for one person listed as Head of Household. Accepted documents include: current driver's license or state ID or current utility bill. We ask that you secure your account or license numbers by redacting/crossing them out completely prior to emailing.

 

Make sure any household members who will be attending camps are listed on the household account and their birthdates are listed and correct.

  • If you need to add a child to your household account or correct a birthdate, please email recreation@prparks.org with name, birthdate, and gender of the dependent child that needs to be added.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I waiting?

The Park District’s online registration site is experiencing high user volume. Our software vendor, Vermont Systems has implemented a Virtual Waiting Room to ensure that user volume does not exceed the site’s ability to provide an informed and responsive registration.

Can I lose my place in line?

No. Once you have entered the Virtual Waiting Room, you will retain your place in line. Rest assured that you keep your place in the Waiting Room line even if your phone goes to sleep, you lose your internet connection, or you close the Virtual Waiting Room page. When you return to the page, you will see your updated progress in the line.

How does the Waiting Room determine my spot in line?

  • If you arrive at the registration site prior to the registration start time, you will receive a random spot in line when the registration event begins.

  • If you arrive at the site after the registration event has begun, you will receive the next available spot in line.

What happens when it's my turn?

  • If your Waiting Room page is open when it is your turn to register, you automatically will be redirected to the registration site.

  • If your Waiting Room page is not open when it is your turn to register, when you return to the Online Registration site, a popup will notify you of your turn and confirm that you want to proceed to the registration site.

When it's my turn, how long do I have to complete my registration?

Once it is your turn to register, you may browse the site and register at your own pace. There is no time limit for completing your transaction.

Once it's my turn, if I leave the registration site and come back, will I have to wait again?

No. Your waiting room number is device/browser specific. This means that, once the Waiting Room releases your Waiting Room number, you may browse away from the registration site and return without needing to wait in line again.

I received a timeout error on the Waiting Room page. What do I do?

Don’t worry. You haven’t lost your spot in line. A timeout error on the Waiting Room page indicates an attempt to redirect you to the registration site failed due to connectivity. To address:

  • Try refreshing the page in your browser.

  • If a browser refresh doesn’t work, check your internet connectivity.

What happens if I try to access the registration site from multiple devices and/or internet browsers?

Waiting Room numbers are device/browser specific. As such, each device or internet browser used to access the site receives its own Waiting Room number.

Note: Once released from the Waiting Room to begin registration, a Household can open only one active WebTrac session at a time. Subsequent logins by the same Household on an alternate device or browser will take over and replace any of that Household's previous active sessions.

If I logged in to the registration site with my Household account, will I still be logged in when released from the Waiting Room?

Yes. The registration site will retain your page and login status while you are in the Waiting Room. Your Household will log out only if you access the registration site from a secondary device or browser that was released from the Waiting Room prior to your current session.

Does one Household have to log out of WebTrac for a new Household to be released from the Waiting Room?

No. The Waiting Room is managed solely by metering the inbound site traffic to ensure the number of new users accessing the site / minute remains within the site’s performance thresholds. Long-running, abandoned, and logged-out sessions do not impact the rate at which new customers are released from the Waiting Room.