Olde Mystic Village

Thank goodness for this restroom, but it sure takes a beating! In the summer during the height of tourist season you will stand in a line that snakes out the door and down the sidewalk of this popular tourist attraction. Conveniently located just off Interstate I-95 right next door to Mystic Aquarium and up the street from Mystic Seaport Museum, Olde Mystic Village is a scenic walking mall of diverse and interesting shops including a movie theater that attracts large crowds of people year round. My visits there usually occur during the summer and height of tourist season when the restroom is experiencing its highest volume of traffic. Don't wait till the last minute!

The ladies room is usually crowded and is set up in a way that is efficient in getting people in and out with two facing rows of stalls and the bank of sinks and hand dryers funneling traffic toward the exit. The place is old and not pretty, but I figure the condition is expected considering the constant stream of women and girls from the time the place opens until it closes in the evening. The counters around the sinks are always wet with puddles and dripping soap from the dispensers. Puddles are common on the tile floors from messy patrons in a rush. These are summer inconveniences that all popular tourist establishments probably expect.

However, I was there this weekend and it was quite crowded with families enjoying the Easter egg hunt, but I was disappointed to find that the ladies room was just as messy with puddles around the sinks, a dirty floor and soap foam puddles under the dispensers as it was during the summer. I had on a long coat and found that the stall I entered didn't have a coat hook so I had to drape my coat over the stall door to hang it. There was no way I could sit on the toilet with the coat on without having it hit the dirty damp floor. The water from the tap was freezing when I washed my hands.

Good points were the plumbing worked, it's family friendly with a diaper changing station, I could warm my hands after the cold water with the nice Xelerator hand dryers and best of all, it was there in my time of need!