Hey Matties, I figured it was time to thank my captains and staff.  Last night I hosted an employee appreciation party for all employees and their families.  It was a huge success with many staff members joining in the festivities.  We had plenty of food to go around as well as water park fun for all!  Thanks again to our wonderful staff her at Big Splash Adventure for all that you do!  It takes a crew to sail a ship!!!  Check out some pictures!

Howdy Mates, my good friend Santa checked out this morning : (  However, he had such a good time on my ship that he has decided to come back again next year!  Hopefully I will get a little something special for Christmas for getting him such a good deal!  We are gearing up for the big New Year’s Celebration tonight!  It is going to be a blast…not to mention a beach ball drop, frisbees, t-shirts, noise makers, and plenty of party hats!  I am looking forward to ringing in the New Year with all of my friends here at Big Splash.  Until next year…Lee Wally

Santa Claus made his way to the front desk this morning to start his vacation from delivering presents. The Front Office Manager, Tricia, said when Santa Claus checked in at 9:50am he appeared very Holly, Jolly and Exhausted.

Yo Matie’s the weather outside is getting cold and frightful, but yet Christmas time is soooo Delightful , and then as the song goes let it snow, let it snow, let it snow… That’s fine because here at BIG SPLASH ADVENTURE where my ship has landed it is 82 degrees and sunny year round . The water is warm , and we are Splashing and playing, and ready for SANTA…

The Christmas tree is ready—shining and beautiful in our hotel’s lobby. Muschett is working on the menu for the Christmas buffet. Mary has the Boat Yard Restaurant looking absolutely wonderful!

We’ve created an early holiday special, too. As a gift to all of our past and future guests, we’re offering packages starting at the low rate of $139!

Of course, some conditions apply—New Year’s Eve is blacked out, and rooms & rates are subject to availability. But still…you get Water Park admission for four people from noon the day of check-in until closing time on the day of checkout! That’s nearly two full days of water park fun.

 Every room reservation comes with a complimentary full hot breakfast every morning of your stay! The rooms are our Double Splash room, complete with 32 inch flat screen television, free wireless internet, and two queen-sized beds!

Double Splash Room!

The phones are ringing off the hook in our Reservations department—Brenda and the rest of the team in the department are doing their best to keep up—and the rooms are filling up fast! If you’d like to take advantage of this special rate, you might want to give one of our reservation specialists a call soon!

Today is the first day of December! I’m so excited! I love December in hotels because holidays in this industry are absolutely special!

Although this will be Big Splash’s first Holiday Season, our resort does  include two additional properties that have had many, many Christmases. Both The Ranch and The Mansion properties were built in the early Nineteen hundreds and have hosted several famous individuals, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and Al Capone. I’ve included some photos I’ve found in the archives of The Mansion decorated for Christmas! Aren’t they just gorgeous?      

At Big Splash we are excited to have Santa Claus vacation with us for the first time. Throughout the month of December we will be visited by  Santa’s elves as they  help us in our preparations. They want to make sure everything is just right for Santa’s visit!

Santa’s Vacation starts Dec. 26^th and he will be here until Jan. 1^st!

I just got some interesting news.

Being so close to Ski Paoli Peaks, it’s only natural that we do something in conjunction with the ski mecca of Indiana this coming winter season. Apparently that’s exactly what we are going to do!

A tubing/splashing combo sounds wonderful to me!

Well…I spoke with V., from the Marketing dept at Paoli Peaks—and a good friend of mine—to see what they had to offer. She was just as excited as I was!

We do need to work out more specifics such as pricing and scheduling and all the what-not, but it definitely looks good as soon as the snow arrives!

We here at Big Splash love tropical weather and the temperature in our Water Park reflects that. Going from the chill of the Peaks to the thrill of our park sounds like the ultimate adventure to me! (Plus the  warmth of the water park will help me thaw out from all that playing in the snow I plan to do!)

I’m truly excited to be a part of creating the Resort’s packages and activities, from the Peaks tubing package this winter to the Holiday World package this summer—and everything in between—Big Splash Adventure in 2010 promises to be a fun and, well, adventurous, place to be!

Like I’ve said before–I love hotels and resorts. You can find almost anything you need within a good hotel/resort. Here at Big Splash Adventure, it’s no exception.

Have a toothache? The Seaside Market has several different pain relievers to choose from (trust me, I know!). They also have games, beach towels, t-shirts, and stuffed animals, just to name a few things!

When it comes to food, the choices at Big Splash Adventure are virtually endless. We have the Boat Yard Restaurant and the Galley, just to start. The Boat Yard has wonderful sandwiches on the menu (my personal favorite is the Reuben!), as well as salads, pasta, and chicken. And that’s just a handful of the options on the menu. There’s also a children’s menu that features the absolute best chicken strips!

But the Boat Yard is not for me today. No, today I am camping in the arcade (my second favorite place in the hotel besides the adult’s only hot tub!).  Fortunately, the arcade is right next to The Galley.

Now my only question is what will it be today?

Pulled BBQ pork sandwich is always a favorite of mine. Especially when combined with Big Splash’s home-cooked potato chips that always have  just the right amount of salt for my liking.

But then again…a pepperoni and pineapple pizza is always a beautiful choice…Or Bosco Sticks, bread sticks stuffed with pepperoni and served with dipping sauce.  I do love breadsticks…

Still…potato chips sound really  good…

I’ll be back in a few minutes…it’s lunch time.

(Ok. I’m back…I decided on the pork BBQ and potato chips! Always a good choice!)

Wow! Last night’s Springs Valley Youth League’s Annual Sports Banquet was an absolute blast!

We had more attendees than we expected so space was a bit limited (and our pizza ovens got quite  a workout! I tasted the results, too. Excellent, as always!). I had to wait  for half the crowd to leave the Port Room before I could pop in and snap a shot.    

I did catch our Director of Sales, Liz, doing a few last minute setup tasks…

I don’t think she knew I was there…

I also popped into the water park to see how things were going before the event got too far under way. It had been a while since I’d been there after the sun set, but the atmosphere was awesome! It looks a lot different (but just as fun) during the day.

Buccaneer Bay has ALOT of water...

I found one SVYL player who looked extremely familiar. There, right in the middle of our activity pool was Trey, Liz’s four year old son.

All the crew here at Big Splash are all glad that Trey and the SVYL players & families had a great time!

We look forward to seeing them again next year!

The hotel and water park are buzzing today! We are excited to welcome the Springs Valley Youth League for their annual sports banquet, and preparations for tonight’s event are well under way! They’ll be joining us here at the Resort for pizza and drinks, their trophy presentations, and then some fun in the water park!

Almost three hundred kids participated in the SVYL’s season and over two hundred kids are expected to attend tonight’s event–along with parents and siblings, of course!

I took one of my daily strolls around the Resort just to see what was going on…here’s a few shots of what I found!  

Crews have been hard at work setting up our largest conference room to hold the attendees.

I also took a stroll through the water park to see how preparations were going in there…I timed my visit perfectly, catching Lifeguard Supervisor Paul and one of the lifeguards doing their preopening safety checks. Paul told me that the Water Park checks the slides each and every day to ensure they are in proper working order! Paul also let me watch while he tested the water levels.

One of the best parts of my stroll was when I wandered through the Boat Yard Restaurant just in time to catch Marcus, son of our Food & Beverage Director Muschett, blowing out the candles on his birthday cake! Several other crew members took a few minutes out of their day to help him celebrate, too!

Happy Eleventh Birthday Marcus!