All Dried Up

Ah, fall --a time for hayrides, haunted houses and... hyperactivity at Morey’s Piers?

Most people assume summer is the busiest season at Raging Waters and Ocean Oasis, our two high-octane water parks. Rides are inspected daily, chemical levels are tested every two hours, and wild animals are occasionally ushered out of the Endless River. (No, we’re not referring to local teenagers. A group of peppy ducklings have routinely followed their mama into the pool after hours. And at least one skunk took a dip last year before Larry from maintenance gently scooped him out with a skimmer net —without getting sprayed.)

But it’s only after our last rope swingerof the season has performed the final bellyflop that things reallykick into gear. That’s because it takes a supreme effort to go from wet and wild to dry and, uh, unwild.

The shutdown begins at Ocean Oasis, which closes the Monday of Labor Day weekend. (We’re not crying, you’re crying.) And it lasts until just before Thanksgiving. That means nearly three months of cleaning, fixing, draining and winterizing.

“We’ve got it down to a science,” says Nick Ebner, manager of water park operations and a bigfan of matt slides. He started his Morey’s Piers career 19 years ago as a lifeguard, at the age of 18. “The really cool part is that, from the moment we pump out the last drop of water, we’re already planning for next season. Everything we do —from repairs to improvements —is about getting ready to fill her up again.”

Here’s how we get through that process (almost) wipeout free:

1. Clean it: Everything removable needs to be scrubbed, power washed and put away. This goes for chairs, tables, umbrellas, lifejackets, and the matts used for our speed slides. Also: Tubes. There are approximately 200 per park, and it takes three people a day and a half to deflate one set. So... where does all this stuff go? Wherever it can. All covered spaces —including bathrooms and locker areas —are fair game. Oh, and Nick’s office turns into an offseason obstacle coursestorage area for fire hoses and other equipment. All told, this part of the process takes 18 people up to a week and a half per park.

1. File it: If you think theCliff Divetakes guts, you’ve never stared down the pile of water-park paperwork that needs scanning and filing at the end of a season. We’re talking binders full of inspection sheets, lifeguardlogs and maintenance reports. Ask us who was manning Shotgun Falls on August 4 at 3pm six years ago, and we can tell you. But only because one hardy soul spends a week at each park every September, uploading all this info into our electronic system. Not all heroes wear capes.
2. Drain it: On a summer’s day, there are more than one million gallons of H20 —siphoned (legally... you should see our water bill) from the city’s supply —flowing through each park. Typically, this water is continually suctioned by motors through grates in the side of every pool so that it can be pumped via PVC piping up to the slides and through a nifty filtration system. But when it comes time to drain these pools for the year, this water is redirected to the city’s sewer system (after any chemicals have dissipated, of course). The pipes connected to each slide must be dried out individually using a small air blower, a task that takes three to four weeks per park. Then, these pipes are winterized with antifreeze we buy by the 55-gallon drum. Even so, there’s no guarantee that a pipe won’t burst come January —that’s happened before (we’re looking at you, Rocket Raft ride), and sometimes finding the leak requires digging up concrete.
3. Inspect and Repair it: Enter our maintenance crew, who go over every motor, pipe and microprocessor with CSI-level forensic scrutiny, looking for signs of faulty hardware. At the same time, our carpenter team inspects “every single inch of wood,” Nick says. Using a highly effective but not-so-technical tool called a poker (aka, a nail on a stick), they check the integrity of every step and rail, replacing any subpar boards. Finally, our painting team inspects each pool and spidermans every slide to examine any fiberglass section that may be in need of a little TLR (tender loving resin). Some repairs require strapping into a harness and rappelling down a slide with a rope, Peter Parker style. (Oh, let us have the image.)

1. Count it down: Once everything is dried out and spruced up, the countdown to next season begins. Only eight months to go until Nick gets his office back. Before then, we’ll get you the skinny on what it takes to reopen water park for another summer of guests —human or duck.