I have worked at SeaWorld for over 30 years and the majority of that time I have been involved with rest rooms. In the early years, I helped clean them, later supervising the cleaning crew while still staying hands-on and finally today I oversee the cleaning and design of he restrooms at SeaWorld San Antonio.
It took awhile, but my wife has finally gotten used to me coming back from visiting a rest room while out to dinner and sharing my discoveries of a new kind of dispenser or a really cool fixture of some kind.
I also am always quick to discuss how clean or dirty it is, but I don’t get real descriptive with the latter.
The truth is, rest rooms, how they look, smell and work is very important to my job. I have a great job at the best marine life park in the world, but no matter how great it is, if the one thing our guests remember is a dirty, smelly rest room it takes away from the experience we hope to provide.
It starts at midnight with the Night Park Quality team, they go through the all rest rooms top to bottom to make sure they are not just clean, but sanitized and they also make sure everything works. Then there is a smaller detail team that only does one or two rest rooms each night, taking extra time to deep clean floors, walls, light fixtures, etc. with heavier power equipment and chemicals.
Once the park opens, the Day Park Quality team takes over, they are responsible for keeping things stocked (running out of paper is a bad thing) and doing their best to keep all 32 men’s and women’s restrooms as clean as possible.
This can be a major challenge on a Saturday in July, when the crowd from Shamu Theater rushes over after the show.
Rest rooms are a big deal with me and my team.
Even though I can't get all the latest toys, the hand dryer that vacuums water off your hands are awesome and I am still waiting for an automatic toilet tissue dispenser, but the dedicated team I have makes all the difference.
As you get soaked by Shamu or become a little green after riding the Great White inverted coaster, you can be at ease knowing there is a dedicated team day and night working to make sure the next rest room you visit for whatever reason is ready.
Got to go “burning daylight!”
Geoff Baldwin
