WTOL.com, Toledo's News Leader, News 11 | Sandusky waterpark closes

Sandusky waterpark closes

Reported by Colleen Wells email

Posted by Kate Oatis email

SANDUSKY (WTOL) - A Sandusky waterpark resort that opened last summer is going under. The Maui Sands Resort has shut its doors, laying off 100 workers.

Brian Jackson, a Maui Sands employee, learned during Thanksgiving dinner that he's losing his maintenance job at the park.

"I got a phone call from my buddy I work with saying they locked their doors. When I came out here to see if I could get my last paycheck -- they owe me three weeks now -- they said it won't be for two to three weeks," Jackson said.

This was sudden news -- not anticipated by the workers.

Lexi Robinson, the spokesperson for Maui Sands, says the company has filed for bankruptcy and admits the timing is unfortunate.

"You really couldn't have a full meeting with everyone, it had to be kind of, we had to plan it out so we told the employees, we did tell them personally, and we do have staff here calling them," Robinson said.

Robinson said unfinished construction made guests unhappy, and when you add this to a slumping economy, they say it was a recipe for failure.

"It's a combination of all different things, but primarily, yes, the economy. We're looking at a severe economic downtown; families don't have discretionary income. They're just not going on vacations right now," Robinson said.

The company plans to re-open with new attractions next summer after construction is complete. Laid-off employees will have "special consideration" for the jobs, Robinson said.

That still worries, Jackson, though, because he has "a baby on the way. I don't know how I'm going to support it, because of how bad the economy is. It's just bad all around."