Why my Water Park is better than the Zika breeding pools you call your Water Park.
Marcus Miller
Heat pump expert for swimming pools, aquaculture, aquaponic, hydroponic, HVAC and geothermal applications.
It is still summer for us Northern hemisphere types. It is a perfect time to take the kids to a water park. Blow off some steam, bond with the family, and then maybe you might see me sneak off to the hotel room to watch the Olympics when nobody's looking. Disclaimer: Even though I am old enough to be your older brother, I still like water parks. 2nd Disclaimer: I don't really have my own water park, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express once, and also played one on TV. Hey, there are some things you guys have to do though to make me come back next year. You know I have to have a top 10 water park no-no list. The first is the most important from my point of view. The rest you can mix up in priority depending on your values, and your tolerance to people yelling at you.
1: The water is too cold? I know some of you water park bean counters keep the water at the coldest temperature you can get away with to have the least complaints. Perhaps you have a too high natural gas, oil or propane bill? You know you want to open earlier and close later in those cold weather locations. Don't forget I can save you tens of thousands of dollars a year if you just go with some super high efficiency heat pumps. Might even be only a one or two year payback for the machines depending on what fuel you are using now. You will also never lose a heat exchanger like you do with your gas and oil heaters when your PhD swimming pool chemical engineers add too much of the wrong chemical and forget that 7.4 is perfect for humans as that is what our eyes and mucous membranes are naturally at. I promise this will be the only plug for my heat pumps. The rest of the post will just be me complaining. :-)
Update: The swimming pool water is Green in one of the Olympic pools in Rio??? Ugh. They should add a second to everyone's competition time to swim through that swamp. Don't get me going on the Zika again. They should have read my post I guess. Come on Brazilian pool guys. At least get up early in the morning and look at the pool before the world sees your green pool. Yuck.
2: There is no excuse for cloudy water. Well, maybe a couple, but it is all fixable. Test your water as much as needed to keep it just right. Test deep down and not just at the surface. You know the horror stories of what cloudy water hides. Don't have your lifeguards walking around looking bored and like they would rather be someplace else. Have them smiling and taking an interest in the guests needs. Make them scoop some bugs out of the water if they see something.
3: Clean clean clean. Clean walkways with no green algae, clean water, fresh paint and wood stain on the wood, no stains on the walls of the pools, etc. You get it. Inviting!
4: The lines to get on the attractions. That is a tough one. If everyone is doing their job then you are moving people as fast as possible. Maybe some mist machines to keep everyone cool? Don't let the kids burn their feet if it gets too hot out. Maybe have some distraction while in line to take the boredom away.
5: This is my personal pet peeve that happened to me recently. It was in the high 90's Fahrenheit at a park in Spain. I know that isn't Texas or Abu Dhabi hot for you tough guys. Someday I will tell you about the coaster at Six Flags in San Antonio, Texas that I took when it was 114 Fahrenheit. The faster you go the hotter you get. Ugh. Still for a guy from Seattle, 96 F in Spain is over my comfort level. I understood what I was getting into when I went there, but what I didn't understand was why I had a hard time finding ice cream and cold drinks to buy? Hey guys, Disneyland and Disneyworld have that down pretty well with their little mobile drink and ice cream carts running around. I want to spend my money on comforts. Make is easy for me, please.
6: The water is too hot? I can't comment on that because I already promised not to push my heat pump chillers. The ones that will even make a polar bear smile.
7: Zika? I know my top of the line water parks don't have an issue. Can't hurt to make sure you don't have standing water by the mechanical rooms, fountains, and any other not chlorinated water features you are using. I bet I can find a puddle if I looked hard enough though. (Management crying puddles of tears from unhappy clients that won't buy season passes don't count.)
8: Bad weather? Have some balance of non weather related distractions to keep everyone happy. That might even increase your return on your investment and make your shareholders happier. You can keep your job for another year Mr. CEO. Unless you are a family run park and then you will make grandpa dance the jitterbug when you show him the receipts. Sometimes you have to give a refund or a credit if your guests just arrive. Someday I will tell you about the time I was kidnapped by a cruise line that promised to take me to Mexico but instead took me to Victoria Canada an hour away from where I live because of a tiny little hurricane in the ocean. Dressed for Mexico to swim with the dolphins, (not the football players) and wound up in Canada, and not during any Vancouver Canucks hockey home games I might add either. I love Canada, and maybe that is why I live on the border, but I don't want to vacation where I shop. You haven't lived until you sail, eat and listen to complaints for 1500 miles with 500 plus angry Canadians.
9: Shade. Make sure you have lots of chairs and shade for the old folks (over 18 years old). Not everyone comes to a water park to get wet.
10: Maybe #10 should have come first on the list before I shared my shameless plug for the best heat pump in the world that heats and chills water. Make sure all the employees are on the same page; the one that says that they are the hosts and have important guests that need a break and want to have fun. Maybe they will even come back year after year. Give them a discount on next year's season's pass when they are happy. Do all the old fashioned stuff. Smile. Ask how they are and if they need any help. Compliment them on their running makeup and Hawaiian shirts. Offer cups of water if the line gets too long and it is hot out. Don't let the lifeguards turn into security swat members with just nasty frowns telling people just what they can't do. There are nice ways to change behavior and then there are the mini dictator ways. We all want to have fun and don't mind paying for it if all goes as expected.
Below is a link to the Green pool and what they think could be the problem :-)
Enjoy the last days of summer.
Best,
Marcus