Heartspitality: How Wild Adventures is Doubling Down on Guest Service to Celebrate 30 Years
March 09, 2026
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As Wild Adventures prepares to open its 30th season on March 14, new General Manager Donald Spiller is placing a clear bet on culture.
The focus is something the park calls Heartspitality, a service philosophy built on Love, Purpose, Impact and Joy. For Donald, it is more than a slogan. He sees it as the framework guiding how the park operates, how the park’s hosts are supported and how guests experience a day at Wild Adventures.
“When people come here, they are giving us their time,” Donald said during a recent walk through the park. “That matters. Our job is to make sure every ride, every meal and every interaction reflects that we value them.”
Donald stepped into his new role in September, ahead of the park’s milestone season. He quickly began reviewing operations and guest feedback from the previous year. The process, he said, was direct and practical.
“We listened carefully to what guests were telling us,” he said. “They want rides running. They want food lines to move. They want to feel welcomed by our hosts. None of that is complicated. It just takes discipline and heart.”
Heartspitality Transforms the Guest Experience
Heartspitality begins with what Wild Adventures defines as Love: choosing actions that make guests and hosts feel welcome, valued and respected. It is rooted in Purpose: bringing families closer together by creating memories worth repeating. When those two come together, Donald said, the result is Impact and Joy that extend beyond the park and into the community.
That philosophy is now shaping tangible changes across Wild Adventures.
To address ride uptime, the park has expanded maintenance staffing and strengthened response times. Several attractions have received updates designed to improve reliability and increase capacity, including Safari Train, Island Falls, and Boomerang. The goal, Donald said, is consistency.
“A great day can change quickly if a ride goes down,” he said. “We’ve invested in people and processes behind the scenes so guests spend more time riding and less time waiting.”
Food service is another area receiving attention. Queue lines and pick-up areas at key locations have been redesigned to improve flow. Menus have been streamlined to reduce bottlenecks and speed up ordering during peak hours.
“Food should be part of the fun,” Donald said. “It should not feel stressful. We’ve looked at layouts, staffing, leadership and execution. Guests will see shorter lines, simplified ordering, and just a better overall experience.”
Setting Up Success for Our Hosts
As part of the commitment to Heartspitality, the park is also focusing on host friendliness and engagement. Wild Adventures is hiring additional hosts ahead of peak season and increasing leadership presence across departments. The park has also invested in upgraded team member facilities, including an improved break room and new host cafeteria serving hot meals daily.
Donald believes guest experience and host experience are inseparable.
“You cannot expect exceptional service if you are not investing in your team,” he said. “When our hosts feel supported, trained and appreciated, that energy shows up throughout the park.”
Leadership training has been updated and reinforced with a renewed emphasis on guest engagement and accountability. Department heads now receive regular updates tied to guest feedback and service metrics, with a focus on continuous improvement.
“We are not chasing perfection,” Donald said. “We are chasing progress. We are listening and adjusting. That builds trust and improves the guest and host experience a little more every day.”
Those operational changes are unfolding alongside continued expansion. The Water’s Edge area enters its first full season in 2026. A large portion of the Alapaha Trail will reopen after being closed for more than a decade, offering guests an expanded space to explore an authentic South Georgia swamp. New animal experiences and habitats are coming are being introduced. The 2026 Wild Adventures LIVE! concert series will bring nationally recognized artists to the park throughout the season, including ZZ Top, Travis Tritt, for KING + COUNTRY and more.
Donald said growth and discipline must go hand in hand.
“It’s exciting to add new experiences,” he said. “But if we are not executing the basics at a high level, none of that matters. Heartspitality keeps us focused and grounded. We believe Love plus Purpose equals Impact and Joy. And that joy, that fun, is what families come here for.”
That simplicity is central to the park’s broader message for its 30th anniversary season: No One Funs Like Us.
For Donald, the phrase is less about competition and more about identity.
“It means guests feel the difference,” he said. “Heartspitality shows up when a rides host high-fives a kid after their first coaster, when a food line moves quickly so families can get back to the attractions, when a host goes out of their way to help someone find their favorite animal. That’s what fun feels like here. It’s not complicated. It’s people caring about every experience every time.”
As opening day approaches, Donald said the milestone year is an opportunity to strengthen relationships with guests and the community.
“Thirty years is something to be proud of, but anniversaries are not just about looking back. They are about showing people we are committed to the future. We are investing in our rides, our food service and our hosts because we want families to come back again and again,” he said. “At the end of the day, our purpose is bringing families closer together. If we do that well, everything else follows.”
Wild Adventures opens for its 30th season on March 14.
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