Remember how you felt, as a child, the day before the first day of a new school year? There was the excitement and nervousness about starting that first new day. You had all of your “new” things laid out, back pack, supplies, outfit and new shoes. Well the same feeling resonates for the Operations Department as we gear up for SeaWorld San Antonio's park opening on February 26th. We are excited for that first new day of the 2011 season but we have a short window to pull everything together.
In fact so many times, people have posed the question “What do you do when the park is closed?” where should I begin? Our Quality Team is busily pressure washing pathways, hosing canopies, stocking storerooms and ordering paper products. Ever wonder how much toilet paper we go through?
Well, for this year 17,645,796 feet of toilet paper will be inventoried and distributed to our park facilities. The 17 million feet translates into 66,000 rolls of toilet paper. We will also use 13,200,000 feet of paper towels and 2,800 gallons of soap. They are also picking out restroom scents. When you visit our restrooms near SeaStar you’ll notice the scent is Café Twist and we have Linen Fresh scent in our restrooms near the Exit Plaza. Before you sit at that shaded umbrella table, our Safety Team has gone through and inspected every single piece of park furniture prior to opening.
The Guest Arrival team is busy training our merchandise and culinary teams on our new Discovery Dollars Program. It is a fantastic program that allows you to leave your cash and credit cards in your locker and wear a wristband, preloaded with a designated amount of dollars to spend in the park.
Our Rides Team is learning how to operate all of the new rides in our all new Sesame Street Bay of Play. Not only are they learning how to operate the physical rides, they are also going through Sesame Training. Which means that if a child asks “What is Big Bird’s favorite snack?” they’ll know his favorite snack is birdseed milkshakes.
So while the feeling and anticipation is very much like the day before your first day of school the look inside the park, is like Santa’s workshop. There are a lot of teams busily working to make our park guest ready. Although this is my 16th park opening, the excitement never gets old! I hope to see you around the park. You are most likely to find me in Sesame Street Bay of Play, enjoying the new area with my one year old daughter.
