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Toilets - A bit of a dump

MattyH

MattyH

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I've been visiting lots of theme parks across Europe recently and with one noticeable exception in Energylandia, I've encountered something every theme park has in common.

The toilets.

While most are acceptable they can sometimes be miserable and outdated. The most common problem I have found is the lack of hot water from the taps.

However the problems are bigger than that, toilets are consistently outdated, feeling run down or dirty, contain hand dryers which don't actually dry your hands.

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Here's an example from Parqie Warner Madrid of a toilet cubicle with a sunroof.

Even my favourite theme parks such as Europa, Phantasialand and Alton suffer from the same issues.

I wonder if it's time to invest in toilets, admittedly they're not amazing or glamorous but I'd say all of your customers are likely to use at least one throughout the duration of their visit.

As theme parks are trying to provide more and more immersive experiences surely it's time the toilets got some love too?
 
I would reject the notion that Europa-Park toilets are a bit of a dump in any location. The worst it may get could be theming quality being less good in some than others - but EP provide toilet brushes in all, and most have sanitising spray you can use to clean the seat. Also, they are the only park I know where the toilets are religiously checked and cleaned every 45 to 60 minutes. There are also more toilets at EP than any park I have ever been to.

The *only* issue is hot water but this seems a cultural issue rather than something not working.

Toilets at EP are so good we had a one time Toilet Tuesday feature on ES socials a few years ago

I took these photos this morning for reference.20220531_093347.jpg20220531_093352.jpg20220531_093340.jpg20220531_093357.jpg

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Having just picked myself up from the floor after rolling around laughing, I have to echo Dan's comments above regarding the toilets are Europa-Park. To mention them even in the same sentence to the toilets at Alton Towers is quite frankly laughable.

Yes some of the toilets at Europa-Park are better than others; however they are all themed, all clean, and there are so many around the park that they are rarely full of people. The hotel toilets especially are immaculate. I would genuinely love to know what issues you have with the toilets at Europa-Park?

Toilets at many parks are sub-standard. Too often a park does not have enough of them, meaning a fair walk to find them. Or they are dirty and bland. There are of course many exceptions to this, Tripsdrill has some cool toilets for example. From memory, the toilet situation at Cedar Point is far from ideal.
 
My biggest issue with public toilets is hand driers, not just at theme parks but in general, designers don't seem to understand that having 10 sinks but only one drier doesn't work! There should be 1-1 driers to sinks ideally, or at minimum 1 drier for every two sinks. Or if paper towels there should be plenty of dispensers if there is a lot of sinks.
Alton Towers has about six sinks to every drier I think so I'm often leaving with wet hands which isn't pleasent. Otherwise there is a decent amount of toilets well spaced around the park (apart from Katanga Canyon).
I can't recall what they were like at all but I do rememeber toilets at Phantasialand being a little harder to find.
 
jon81uk said:
My biggest issue with public toilets is hand driers, not just at theme parks but in general, designers don't seem to understand that having 10 sinks but only one drier doesn't work! There should be 1-1 driers to sinks ideally, or at minimum 1 drier for every two sinks. Or if paper towels there should be plenty of dispensers if there is a lot of sinks.
Alton Towers has about six sinks to every drier I think so I'm often leaving with wet hands which isn't pleasent. Otherwise there is a decent amount of toilets well spaced around the park (apart from Katanga Canyon).
I can't recall what they were like at all but I do rememeber toilets at Phantasialand being a little harder to find.
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Also, with hand driers in any toilets, they should have a powerful jet of air that comes out - not something that can only be described as an asthmatic mouse trying to blow through a straw.
 
AstroDan said:
Chessington have also invested heavily in refurbishment to toilets over recent years. The problem is they're all tiny.

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Thorpe's new Dome toilets are actually really nice (search the Thorpe thread for pics).
 
Tir Prince wins this thread. Floor was covered in pee and rotten, the cubicle was broken and the smell stripped the lining from my nose. I nearly hurled it was that bad. Makes Towers look like the toilets are from a 5* hotel
 
Tir Prince was ABYSMAL.

EP Toilets may be themed but the lack of hot water is still the same issue as Towers and Phantasialand and basically every other theme park.

It's all well and good themeing but you need to get basics like hot water and good handriers sorted.
 
Confirm hot water available in the Rulantica lobby.

I think maybe newer toilets have hot and cold. I'll gander on park tomorrow.

But I'm still dumbfounded you're even equating Alton Towers toilets with EP.20220601_222259.jpg

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I'm one of those weird people who's not arsed about hot water in toilet sinks. I find that it can often be so hot to the point where it's painful for me to touch it. Wonder if it's an autism thing...
 
AstroDan said:
Confirm hot water available in the Rulantica lobby.

I think maybe newer toilets have hot and cold. I'll gander on park tomorrow.

But I'm still dumbfounded you're even equating Alton Towers toilets with EP.20220601_222259.jpg

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It's definitely a park issue. No problems in the resort's at EP, Phantasialand or AT. It's strange that they can sort it out on resort but not park.

I'm only comparing it terms of hot water, the toilets are quite nice, I remember hot water being available in the Iceland toilets.

But in various well respected theme parks the toilets are lacking behind the rest of the parks.
 
If you have irritsnces with the toilets at the handful of European parks, I advise you to steer clear of the ones in America. You can park a bus in the cubicle door gaps.
 
Jonathan said:
I'm one of those weird people who's not arsed about hot water in toilet sinks. I find that it can often be so hot to the point where it's painful for me to touch it. Wonder if it's an autism thing...
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Yeah I prefer sinks that have hot water, but not too hot. One place I go to I have to use the (ice) cold tap because the hot one gets scalding hot.
 
Maybe the real question is how essential is hot water in the toilets? Unless it's steaming hot it's not going to help kill germs, and as shown most people avoide them if they are that hot anyway.

Must admit for years I watched the complaints in the AT general thread about cold toilets and thought "sure it'd be nice to have but overall the toilets aren't bad".

Still I remember when UK parks used to take pride in their toilets! Legoland used to boast the best loos award (yes it's a real thing outside RCT) for most of its early years. Now they are just fine.
 
For Toilets Drayton Manor have the best in the uk with just the super loos that not been updated in the past 10 years.
They also themed to fit into each area with Dyson hand driers.
Paulton’s park have also good toilets but it misses out on top spot as they all look the same.
I also like that both have changing area and feeding areas for babies.
The Safari park look like they replaced a lot of there old toilets in the past 2 years.

Alton Towers toilets are ok but you can tell it’s low on there budget fronts. Can’t believe they got temporary toilets still in CBeebies land where u think they need them the most. Some toilets have had minimum work done to them in 30 years.
 
The hot water thing has honestly never even occurred to me, but I guess, by the looks of this thread, it is an issue for many people.

I mentioned the Walygator toilets for being unpleasant. I’d also like to throw Six Flags Magic Mountain toilets into the discussion here.

They’re perfectly clean, but the size is grossly inadequate for a park of that size. Having only 3 cubicles in the toilets in your main plaza area, at a park which gets such big attendance is frankly ludicrous. Just one of many, many operational inadequacies at SFMM sadly.
 
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