'Tis the season!

The hustle and bustle of the holiday's are upon us.  The kids are excited and pretending to behave as the threat of being "naughty" is forever lurking over their heads.  As parents we continue to threaten that Santa won't bring any presents if the kiddos don't behave.  Just this morning my 4 year old son told me he didn't want to go to 4K and I told him Santa wouldn't come if he doesn't go to school...works every time!

For my own family I am always trying to find something new, something different, something I haven't bought them before!  It's hard to find the right gift, especially for the difficult family members who have everything, or just go buy whatever they want anyway.

Every year we do a big push at the Resort for people to buy gift cards for their families.  It amazes me at the number of grandparents who simply buy gift cards for the family rather than presents.  So, I've asked many of them why they do that.  I have heard time and time again that having everyone together laughing is the best present anyone can give for their family.  It really makes me take a step back and think about the things that mean the most to me.  The greatest memories that I have in my life are with my family and we provide that experience for families every day.  That's a pretty great job.

Happy shopping to everyone, I really hope you find the perfect gift for your family this year.


Spend $50 - Get $10 Free

Sara

When you're in Chaos, it's best to have friends.

Photo by David Gard/The Star-Ledger, POOL) 

Like many of you, I've spent a good chunk of my free time following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In a little over a decade, we've had to watch as New York pulls itself up by it's bootstraps after something outside of their hands knocks them on their butts twice.  New York is the capital of the world in many respects, and for those of you that know me, you know how hard that it is for me.  (I hate the Yankees so much that I don't even like New York style Pizza.) 

AP Photo/Mike Groll

Despite my perfectly understandable opinions of the most overrated team in baseball (re:jealousy) I believe you should always save a dance for the man that brought you to it.   Looking at the photos of Coney Island and the New Jersey Boardwalk reminded me of all those that worked and invented and entertained so that the family entertainment industry could be born.  In one day, those operations were washed away.

Having lived through microcosms of these disaster ourselves, I can't help but sympathize.  In no way can I compare the plight of Metropolis Resort's basement flooding for two months or being struck by lightning and losing nearly every piece of computer equipment or being snowed in at the resort in one of our lovely blizzards.  But when you throw all of these and more into one storm and turn up the dial, you can't help but feel for the millions affected.

But as I've watched these tragedies unfold time and time again, I've realized that watching tv with my sympathies won;t make the situations recover any faster.  We talked in a managers' meeting about a way we could help and here is what we came up with. 

Until December 20th, Action City will donate $5 from every Wristband Wednesday admission, Chaos Waterpark will donate $1 from every $5 Thursday and Dairy Queen will donate $1 from every large blizzard.   We will also be taking additional donations at each desk.  All this money will go to the American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund to help the East Coast rebuild.

Hope to see you down here.

Let's get started!

Hello Blog World!

I am Sara Abbott, mother of Grady, wife of Brian, and pet parent of Polly & Hank.  I share the dual role of Resort General Manager with my dear OLD pal, Benny Anderson (notice I got the first jab in about his age!).  Together we spend a great deal of time and energy running the Metropolis Resort. Our partnership has evolved over the years.  Yes, we've had ups and downs, but what we always find the most important thing is our team and our guests.  We continue to strive to provide the best customer service and lasting memories for families.   

We recently attended an industry conference along with our Controller, Adam.  During our travels in a minivan to and from, we had several conversations about a blog.  We wanted to start one, but we didn't know exactly what to talk about or who should write it.  Almost simultaneously (I still maintain it was my idea), we thought...why don't we have our staff write it!  All of them know something about everything.  We have an electrician, a graphic designer, several self proclaimed geeks who can fix any computer problem, professional video gamers, a chef, bartenders, lifeguards, a couple Mr. Fix-its, Moms, Dads and a bunch more of really talented people who would love to share their knowledge.   So, why not ask them to help with our blog.  Then Benny thought...why not ask some of our guests to help us out with some blog posts (he's brilliant, but please don't tell him I said that).  Our guests have the best first hand experience with us and the service we provide at the resort.

The foundation of our blog is the foundation of our business, our team and our guests...just perfect!  Thank you for reading this and I hope you will continue to follow our blog and enjoy it!

Sara