Sea Coast Fun Park

Update: Sept. 2006 Friend of mine recently visited the park and report that significant changes have been made to the running of the water slides. Radios between the top and bottom attendents are in use and the timing of the sliders has improved greatly.

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As you recall our experience earlier in the summmer....

I had a rather disturbing visit to the Sea Coast Fun Park water slide park today. My six year old was getting clobbered at the end of the slide by larger kids being let down the slide after him too soon.

The problem is that kids of different sizes travel at different speeds down the slides. Also kids on mats move faster than kids without mats.

After the second time my son was pushed under water by the wake of the large kid coming behind him, I spoke to the lifeguard on duty about the timing on the water slide. That should have fixed the problem but... later when it happened a second time I spoke to the lifeguard again and he said basically "What do you want me to do about it I don't have a radio."

A lifeguard at a waterslide/pool with no contact with the person at the top of the slide or anyone else in the park?

The third time it happened I took matters in my own hands and walked up to the top of the slide and explained to the attendent what was going on. I did not feel that the attendent had the mental capability to understand what I was saying so I sought help from the manager.

I spoke to the "manager", a kid named Alan (who someone said is the son of the owner) and explained the serious safety issue and suggested that as in other water parks I have visited the slide be clear before the next person was sent down. He said that it didn't need to be clear and wanted to know what I wanted him to do about it. Did I want attendent fired on the spot?

All I wanted was the safety issue to be looked at, fixed and for someone in this park to actually care if someone got hurt or not.

Alan treated me as an annoyance so I asked for his supervisor's name and number.

I called "June" who appears to be at the park in Windham.

She basically said "I'm three hours away what do you want me to do about it."

Her attitude came across the same as Alan's "hey things happen, don't get so upset" rather than focusing on the serious safety issue that will lead to someone getting seriously hurt.

Another parent in our group also spoke to June in an attempt to explain how concerned we were about the situation and the lack of interest from the park employees to actually fix the problem.

A water park focused on safety would have clear communications from the top and bottom of the water slide and managers who are concerned about their customers safety.

SeaCoast Fun Park has neither.

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About the Sea Coast Fun Park:

This fun park features mini-golf, go cart racing, a climbing wall, paint ball and the water slides. The water slides cost $15 for an all day pass. The two slides empty out into a small pool which also has open swimming in the other half. We've tried the mini golf on a previous outing and it's expensive and not recommended. The greens are not very level and each hole ends up taking six to eight shots to complete.