Dude please don't bring up old post read the rules before posting thanks..

Absolutly awesome!

Well dude looking great and Awesome! thanks to you for sharing the pics about towers and parks.....

Absolutly awesome!

Thanks for your comments.

Hey Guys well that's an amazing info about marina tower park including lots of duned sand.Thanks!!

You're welcome. That's one of the reasons we post images of our parks to share ideas with other members so others can access information about what's possible in RCT3 - and of course the images of members' parks are nice to look at too!

Marina Towers Tranquility Tea Room is now open to guests. You may recall from earlier writing that it was originally planned to be just off the coast of Marina Towers Island but our research had shown that guests would better enjoy a tea room that was a little more substantial than that originally planned so we’ve taken their suggestions to heart and built this facility.

We’d like to show you around today on top of which I need to meet our photographer out there so we’re flying out in helicopter from Marina Towers main island and accessing the tea room the same way our colleagues do, via the tea room staff complex. For our guests, usually Tranquility Tea Room is reached by motor yacht from Marina Towers Main Island.

Our photographer is at the tea room along with a magazine team to take some photos for a spread in which we’re being featured and he has about an hour ago texted me to say they’d gone on out ahead and he’ll meet me there. Until I get there the photos you’ll be seeing will be taken on my mobile phone.

Ahh, there’s the tea room – sorry, that was the tea room. By the time I got my phone ready it was gone, but the administration complex is coming up in view.

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In the helicopter, there are a few minutes after Marina Towers disappears from sight at the rear until we can see the tea room ahead, and then can observe farther along the staff complex. The layout has been designed in this way for two reasons: so the guests don’t need to travel past the staff complex in order to arrive at the tea room from the main island, and so that when at the tea room staff complex the staff can be less customer focused and more colleague focused. While we value our guests we prefer that if at all possible our staff are able to interact with each other and focus on their responsibilities without the distraction of guests. Just like they do in large hotel chains we feel guest needs are better served by staff who are specifically there to make them feel welcomed.

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Rather than avail himself of the opportunity to do some boating I see the photographer’s also taken another helicopter out here. We’ll just circle once around the complex to get a bead on things.

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The dumpsters are gone as is the empty shipping container. Two additional supply containers have been offloaded so our barge team has gotten a move on very early indeed this morning.

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We’ve landed and while the blades stop revolving I’ll finish collecting my things before we get started.



Ahead is the main staff building for the Tea Room and is where the administrative side of the facility is seen to by our colleagues. Below at the left are the service and access docks.

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There is an open area on the admin block rooftop for staff relaxation with cafeteria serving substantial continental cuisine. In addition to containing offices there is a sick bay, an apartment for the complex’s single live-in staff member and his family, a staff lounge and a few rooms available for staff who choose to stay overnight. This photo was taken by another colleague while on his way out to the Tea Room reception,



There are almost no reefs in this area of the ocean but I understand that the game fish, caught off the premises when they do swim by, are delicious! Our live-in had a gathering a few weeks ago and we found his wife can barbecue a shark steak that will melt in your mouth!

Every couple of weeks the live-in and his family will cruise a couple of miles out to do some deep-sea fishing during which they usually catch sword fish which grills extremely well, or sail fish with are no good to eat and are either thrown back into the sea or saved if someone wants one mounted.

Let’s go down and get on our way!

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Ooh, I’ve just received a text from the helicopter operator who’s said he’s returning to the main island. We all seem to have our wires crossed here at Marina Towers today. The Accounts team and Customer Service team need to come out here and tour the facility so he’s gone to pick them up.

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We found it a challenge building the tea room complex close enough to the tea room without it being an intrusion and yet not so far away that there would be a problem with service, supplying and maintenance. We’ll just get on one of the boats and be on our way.

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It looks like we’ll be arriving in moments.

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And now to disembark at Tranquility Dock.

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Beneath a sky strewn with azure and ivory it’s a lovely day out here and though it’s not much later than nine in the morning, as you see from the number of parked water craft the facility is already busy with guests. In addition to the motor yachts there are a couple of excursion craft docked out here - unusually early in the day for our excursion craft.

After the dinner sitting each evening and the subsequent nightly closure of the facility, staff will use this same dock as access for maintenance, the stocking of the facility and removal of rubbish. When we left the complex I found I had left my regular sun shades on the service dock so I’ll just collect another pair here.

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The tea room docks have been specifically located so that it’s almost impossible to see either the docks or the water craft secured there while up in the tea room.

Some of our more intrepid guests will spend the half hour or so that it takes to Jet Ski from the main island to the tea room and usually by the time they arrive all they want is to simply enjoy the facility. Most of our guests who arrive at the tea room in this way don’t wish to return by Jet Ski and arrangements are in place for them to return by motor yacht to the main island. On an average day we drive about two or three dozen vacant yachts out to the tea room for this purpose. We have nearly a hundred spare Jet Skis to hand on the main island so the guests can continue to enjoy them until the ones brought out to the tea room are returned to the main island, inspected and put on stand-by ready for use.

However, while it is possible to Jet Ski out to the facility we don’t rent Jet Skis from the tea room dock as we would prefer they not be speeding around while it is anticipated guests are relaxing into the seclusion of our facility. This is the same reason that only plastic balloons and not latex balloons are available at the tea room.

Upon approach the most notable aspect of the facility are the steel beam supports and the stonework cladding covering the reinforced concrete quarter-dome & half-arch support structure beneath.

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Comprised of four levels access to the Tea Room is gained from the dock, up stairs and through a glass elevator.



As you see the granite slat & tempered smoked glass access stairway is supported on an anodized aluminium framework which in turn is suspended by stainless steel chains anchored into the ceiling above. Because chains cannot be painted they’ve been chemically stained to better suit the area.

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Two of the bathrooms have been placed in this location in order to enable the stairway framework to extend into the wall for stability, the bathrooms being slightly set into the curvature of the stonework above. The bathroom area is enhanced with white ash swinging doors glazed in semi-reflective glass.



We really wanted hanging plants or some kind of gardens in this area but the gardeners’ evaluation had revealed that the amount of space available would not justify the plumbing, artificial lighting and specialized care that would be required.

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Let’s go up to the lobby now.

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The lobby is here on the top level where four stalls have available gourmet coffees, herbal teas, flavourful cocoas, a steakhouse offering a delicious variety of grilled fare, another stall offering picnic-type sandwiches & subs along with Nathan’s hot dogs, and a small selection of our quality international frozen treats.

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I’ve just discovered the tea room Assistant Manager and his family are on-site this morning. Here we’ve just had a brief chat with the grill vendor to get a reading on what’s going on here from a front-line colleague’s point of view. I’ve stood behind the counter for a few minutes in an attempt to get an impression of what it might be like to work in such a confined space for several hours a day. In the photo, along with my colleague Theo and his wife Carol at the right, is a customer waiting to receive her shrimp kebab. During this time our photographer and the magazine team stopped by during their travels.

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Theo had been trying to get his son to eat something from the stall but Maurice didn’t want his photo taken this morning and promptly disappeared into the crowd.



And there’s the little dickens … he’s run around to the other side of the elevator and is hiding behind the tall wrought iron fence next to it

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Like the rest of the facility, the lobby is decorated in arches made in pink and in white Italian marble topped with alabaster supports. The look is complemented with silk canopies in a pale-coral & cream Empire stripe highlighted with beams and pergolas made of African mahogany.

Access to the second and third levels is gained through similar archways framed with lush bamboos which invite guests down wide spacious stairways. Authentic Japanese paper lanterns and other Eastern décor enhance the facility.

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Dragons cast in solid bronze, each weighing nearly a ton, stand guard at the bottom of each set of stairs. The dragons are carved in extreme detail and staff here tell us that at least once a day a child will ask if the dragons are real.

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Booths and tables adorned with charming umbrellas and striped canopies provide ample seating for the guests.

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The entire facility, particularly the balconies, offers stunning views of the surrounding ocean.

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All on beds of moss, the gardens have been designed to suggest relaxation, harmony and serenity. The addition of plant boxes, plant pots and a few topiary trees give a feeling of order and arrangement.

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We also wanted to give the facility a cooler feel so have planted pines to suggest an alpine environment. In addition to the facility’s structural support system the pines also enhance the feeling of stability, security and permanence. Our florist is here each evening to attend to the table centrepieces.

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The gardeners were also here yesterday and they inform us that the most challenging aspect of bringing this facility from blueprint to reality was in encouraging the pines to take root and then to put on new growth. They’ve recently told us that although the pines were a lot of work to get going they’re doing extremely well now.

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Five minutes after I told the photographer we had lost Maurice the photographer reached over beneath one of the railings with his camera. Later today Maurice’s parents will show him that he got his photo taken in spite of himself.

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More on Tranquility Tea Room to come in a few days.

Holy crap is that cool. How long did that administration complex take you?

Thanks for your comment.

I started about four, maybe six weeks ago, building the park on and off. Two weeks ago I decided the park was ready to post but discovered every screenshot that I took that there was some detail that I had put aside to do later but then forgot. Then fixing some of the details created new difficulties, then dealing with the difficulties sometimes meant there were further changes needed resulting from that – I’ve been the past two weeks tidying up the details and making sure the screenshots were true to the park.

It’s posted but even now I look at the park and wonder, ‘what if I did this’ or ‘suppose I did that?’

This is the most challenging park I’ve built containing the most challenging structures I’ve ever assembled but because the park is there now, and thanks to the fabulous contributions made by our terrific CS artists, I finally feel I’m where I want to be with CS in RCT3.

I’ve already begun getting the next update together. Stay tuned!

After telephoning Maurice’s parents on his mobile to tell them he had been observed safe & happy and to say where he’d been seen, our photographer, Warren and I had a chat with the magazine folks about our facility. We were about an hour and during that time, while going over the photos on his laptop, the following photo of me displayed. Warren told me later he was inspired by the photo he took of Maurice and for about ten minutes after photographing Maurice, by remaining in the same place he was able to get various candid photos of some of our colleagues that were out here today. He’s planning to share the photos later with the staff he’s photographed.



That was just before the meeting and I’ll tell you, hot drink, warm sunshine, balcony view and Chicago playing in my earphones ….. mmm – I was transported by the trumpets, soaking up the day and wasn’t thinking about much else until we met up.

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Then a power lunch for eight of us and that lasted two hours. And no one ever eats much at corporate meals which means I’m still hungry. We’re all looking forward to the upcoming magazine reception in a couple of weeks which, aside from our work, was the main topic of conversation at lunch. Before the eight of us met up Warren showed me this next photo. Not only is this an unusual view of the facility but it shows how much he gets into his work.



Our security guards are always on the lookout to prevent those few guests who wish to do so from attempting to climb the trees. However Warren has years of experience in his field which includes taking photographs perched on cranes, leaning out of skyscraper windows, suspended from helicopters, sitting upon an airship, and once atop the Chrysler Building eagles. He has climbed trees in world famous parks & gardens and on European castle estates. Warren knows how to look out for himself and for whatever it is he may be balanced on.

Don’t ask me where I was going or what I was doing at the time but I’m in the bottom of the photo, have just walked past the tree and had no idea he was up there.

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Back to the present, my colleagues and I have separated and will meet up again later on the main island. Let’s go down to the ride dock and get those rides evaluated.



I can see here it was a good design choice to inset the white cedar panelling into the front of the bathrooms rather than to wrap it around.

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I had planned for us to go on Windsurfer first but there seems to be some commotion over there at the entrance. Our security guards don’t like to alarm the guests by running unnecessarily so this must be really urgent and as I’m near by I need to get over there.

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It seems a few of the young men visiting the facility were planning to jump into the sea on a dare. After the first teen jumped in his mates were suddenly feeling more cautious, didn’t follow him in and it was about that time our security guy, Larry, heard people saying the words “somebody” and “overboard.” Right after that Larry, having ascertained that the guest did himself jump in and can swim, and reminded the guest of our tea room’s no swimming policy. Larry was helping the guest out of the water while telling him this.



Another guest who has just sailed into Windsurfer station saw the friends of the wet guest balk and, like many in the queue and on the dock near by, seems amused by the situation.

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Including the Balloons vendor who trotted over to see if he was needed there’s a bit of a crowd at Windsurfer so let’s detour to Rowing Boats.

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And away we go for a little row. From what I’ve read, most of the guests prefer to row a short distance and to look around from where they are and now I can understand why. Turn one way and there’s nothing but ocean stretching to the horizon and birds and sails. Turn back to the facility and it’s an eyeful; a very relaxing view and it’s unbelievably quiet out here.

I know I sound like a commercial but when on the sea in the boats one really does want to simply sit and soak up the tranquility.



No marathon required.

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Now it’s settled and the queue there is shorter we’ll give Windsurfer a look see.

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Windsurfer sure feels zippy after Rowing Boats.

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I am endlessly pleased with the work the designers did in creating this facility and in the contributions our other colleagues made in bringing blueprint to reality. I can’t get enough of it. For both the facility and the complex I agree it was an excellent design choice in using support structures embedded in extensive foundations rather than placing landfill on top of which to build everything.



Within the next year we are planning on creating several artificial reefs near by which will enable us to offer glass bottom boat tours, submarine rides, air mattresses, water lounges, snorkelling and scuba diving to guests. We’re not sure at this time if we’re going to change our policy on no swimming or if we’ll have some of these attractions in designated areas.

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My work here is done for today but there’s one more stop I need to make upstairs before I return to the main island.

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There is no background muzak played at the facility except here in the elevator. Questionnaire results have revealed that our guests do prefer to hear music when in an elevator and that they enjoy 1950’s Big Band, Glen Miller, and Count Basie type music which is played at a low volume for their enjoyment.



At the tea room anyone, guest or staff, who chooses to bring their music with them is required to wear headphones while playing it.

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While on the elevator I receive a text from the Financial Controller, Maralee who wants to know if I have a minute. I do. She and I spent a short while convincing her two daughters that our dragons are not real. The girls seemed satisfied when I told them both the designer and myself were present when men came out and lifted the dragons with a big machine off a boat and put them here.

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There are eight dragons guarding four sets of stairs and they seem to fascinate almost everybody.

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This is what I really came back upstairs for: no trip outside the office would be complete without some Haagen Dasz but I was in for more than a frozen treat as there were four children just arrived there. They’re so cute when they’re at that age and most of our staff interact with them very well. Here the vendor has just been asked how big two scoops would be – I waited aside until they were done. Warren and I had arranged to meet up at the Tower when he later returned to the main island but he joined me while I was waiting here as he is also done with the his work here for the day. The magazine team have indicated they will probably be here for the remainder of the day

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All of us had such a great time at our new facility today and it’s unanimous that none of us is anxious to get back to the office. I took my Vanilla Swiss Almond and Warren his White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle and ...



….. we delayed the inevitable by thirty minutes but there’s no putting it off any longer. However it’s just occurred to me we might consider booking this facility for events and I’m certainly going to float the idea that every few years we have the company summer barbecue here.

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As you may realize the bathrooms are behind me. We’re about to go down the stairs to the dock. It’s always refreshingly cool in this part of the facility. I had wanted the lighting fixtures in this area to have more oomph but the designers believed what with the steel spans, stone cladding, suspended frames & support chains, fixtures in this style were most suitable. We here at Vanguard Capri have found the best way to manage staff is to hire good people, give them the best tools in the best environment, and to give them some measure of control over what they’re being paid to do. As you see the designers made a good choice.

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The south dock is usually deserted unless guests are alighting or leaving. This little guy is simply exploring the facility, plans to sit on the dock edge and notice some fish.

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And it’s back to the administrative complex with us, then. This guest has made a great start in that direction but as it usually happens I’m sure after a few minutes she’ll turn aside when she realize she doesn’t appear to be getting any closer to it.

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This excursion craft at the right isn’t where we would ordinarily expect to see one. Warren radioed and it turns out there are several staff on board who have been enjoying their day off. With air mattresses, snorkels and water lounges they’ve been sun tanning, snoozing and swimming out here since dawn. Chances are they’ve just eaten at the administration complex where barbecued pork ribs, done to a turn by Carlene, the live-in’s wife, are available for staff lunch today.

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Our arrival.

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And our departure.

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We’re flying higher than it appears in this photo. Warren’s managed to get a clear shot from a moving vehicle with a zoom lens.



There’s no doubt my colleagues and I will be back soon.

The posts have been replaced. I believe I’ve gotten this sorted. There are one or two different images and some text edited but on the whole the posts are the same.

every time i see this, it just gets better and better. can't wait to see more