Bubbles area 21 and over at Soak City

When I was there, a week ago, today, there were sandy shoe prints on top of the bar, from one end to the other. There was even a manager working behind the bar along with the 2 bartenders. Totally disgusting and no excuse for that.

I am continually amazed how often Cedar Point leaves money on the table for stuff. How many drinks don't get sold because of those conditions?

received a response to my email

1. We had an extremely problematic opening to Soak City. Every member of our management team from our Vice President and General Manager to our seasonal Supervisors are aware that we fell short of Cedar Point standards. A combination of an extremely difficult winter, a spring time Nor’easter, and one of the heaviest bug migrations on record effected our ability to offer the best possible experience to our guests. For this, I apologize. We also are aware that we did not manage these issues with vigor and urgency that is required when managing a world-class waterpark.
2. We have changed our management structure in Soak City to include our Park Services team. The Park Services team is the same group that cleans Cedar Point. In previous years, the Soak City lifeguard team has been given this task. We have seen a noticeable and clear improvement in Soak City cleanliness since this change. We now have a dedicated “clean-team” for the facility and a seasonal management team that is committed to the cleanliness of Soak City.
3. All of our attractions are now open. From time to time, some attractions may close due to mechanical issues, but we are no longer experiencing the downtime you mentioned in your email.
4. The park has invested in multiple new pool-cleaning devices. These new devices include vacuums and more dynamic pool-bottom cleaners.

I am going back in late July so I am hoping things are back to normal.....want to spend many hours at SC during my vacation.

That was an amazingly detailed response. It really goes to show they care about their customers concerns. It's great to hear that they are actively taking a better role in ensuring the experience is what it should be

Good response by the park They realized the problem, (and heard about it no doubt) and took corrective action.

I was at Soak City today and I will say it was in much better condition that in early June. Bubbles pool and deck were clean, lifeguards were actively cleaning the pool throughout the day. Bathrooms were clean as well. No real mayfly issue today. Also, all attractions were open. It was a good crowd today at the water park.

Was at Soak City yesterday. Gave Bubbles a second chance after sitting at their bar that had sandy footprints on it, from one end to the other, a few weeks ago.
Yesterday, I was more disgusted to see that there is a bird's nest complete with bird(s) almost directly above the uncovered ice bin.
What the hell is wrong with these lazy managers?
Having a dirty appearance is one thing, but they are asking for their customers to not buy from them or to just take a chance on not getting sick.

I think a lot of people are just not ever in the habit of looking up. Those that do don't always connect the dots. Cute little birdies...what's this on the ice cubes? Is there something wrong with the machine?

Just called and complained about it. Hopefully, they remedy the issue quickly.

If they don't, can you take a picture? I realize this is in the water park where people might not always take their phone or camera, but this is pretty funny.

Unfortunately, my phone was in a locker.

Something they should do, besides making the bar sanitary, is make it feel more resort-like. I love to drink a nice tropical drink while lounging by the pool, but with the amount I, along with everyone else spends in that bar area, some live entertainment would make me spend even more.
They also need to make the path to it more inviting. It looks like a service walkway.

I've only been in Soak City 3 times but honestly if I wasn't told the area existed i wouldn't know. One of my kids said it looks like there's a hot tub for grown ups with a bar but when I questioned him about it he couldn't tell me where the entrance was. Not that he's the most observant person but it does seem to be kind of away from it all.

Yeah it's not on the main Soak City "midway". Bubbles is located directly behind DragsterH2O and the big set of color slides. I would imagine they put it away from where most kids would be for a reason.

If anybody has been to Hotel Blue in Myrtle Beach, then you would see a swim up bar done right. Tons of seating in and around the bar, as well as a swim up serving station, so you don't have to hover (or feel someone hovering over you) over people who are sitting at the bar. Not to mention, the speakers and the mix of music are great for everybody.

I have always noticed how disgusting the ceiling is above the registers and bottles. I'm sorry, but it is not hard to take a broom and knock the cobwebs down. If crews took a little more pride in their work station, all would be good. I don't understand why you would want to work in a filthy work environment.

TwistedWicker77 said:

If crews took a little more pride in their work station, all would be good. I don't understand why you would want to work in a filthy work environment.

Low pay and not being given the proper amount of time to clean for starters. Plus if your management isn't noticing these things or they don't care, the hourly employees aren't going to care either.

The thinking that better pay automatically equates to better performance when it is not merit based is severely flawed, as people who just don't want to put forth extra effort or take pride in a job will just move on to the next equal pay based job and continue with poor performance.

That being said, bartending and server jobs are actually Merit-Based due to tips. Better performance, attitude and pride in your job will result in better overall tips (albeit not from the people complaining about $15 for VIP seats/food for fireworks). I would think this would hold especially true at Bubbles due to the close/personal interactivity with guests.

I've talked to servers/bartenders at CP and those jobs are highly sought after due to the ability to earn great wages, even though the hours are very long and it is hard work.

It's the management over there. At the marina, they are constantly cleaning the spider webs off the fences, emptying trash cans and keeping everything clean and inviting. Especially now that Soak City has a dedicated cleaning team, keeping all prts of the bar spotless should be a no brainer. It seems there is still a lapse in management at the water park though it is looking much better in many areas.

XS NightClub said:

The thinking that better pay automatically equates to better performance when it is not merit based is severely flawed

Maybe so but anywhere I have ever worked that paid their employees good, always had employees going above and beyond. The places I have worked that paid the minimum amount, typically have the lowest form of employees who can't even show up on time. Maybe its not that way everywhere but since I have had a job at age 14 its very much been that way. I even witnessed this at Cedar Point when they paid upwards of $1.50 more than minimum wage to the end of my time at Cedar Point when they only paid minimum wage. I can guarantee you that the type of employee was completely different from one wage to the other.

But as Pete pointed out, its very much the management and seasonal supervisors who do not empower their hourly employees to look at everything outside of their window of what their job is.

99er said:

TwistedWicker77 said:

If crews took a little more pride in their work station, all would be good. I don't understand why you would want to work in a filthy work environment.

Low pay and not being given the proper amount of time to clean for starters. Plus if your management isn't noticing these things or they don't care, the hourly employees aren't going to care either.

I could have sworn we talked about this before. If given the proper cleaning equipment (which is NOT hard to get from Park Services, but oddly enough, they're the ones in charge of cleaning SC now, from what I understand), then it is not hard to clean your area before opening. My location got an A+ my first year for cleanliness, and we took pride in that.

Yes, you will have those with the "I don't get paid enough to do that" attitude, but it should be listed in the job description in the first place. My manager was very adamant on cleanliness and appeal. It's just disgusting that the SC manager wouldn't be like this, especially at a water park, which is where I would expect it more. If other water park employees can do it, so can Soak City. There is no excuse.

I don't know if it is still this way but when I worked in Soak City, it seemed like most of the summer the bartenders were given enough time to set up the bar (its completely struck of alcohol each night) and that was it. No time given for cleaning the bar or for that matter the rafters above it. The seating area was of course cleaned by the lifeguards so it was always clean but the bar was the responsibility of Food Services. That brings up another point also; the departments at Cedar Point always have the attitude of "not my job" when it comes to going above and beyond. So if cleaning an area was actually the responsibility of Park Services, then the bar tenders would probably look at the mess in front of them and say "not my job". I don't know how many times I witnessed this, even if the mess impeded someone from doing their actual job.