{"id":884443,"date":"2026-06-22T08:16:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T08:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/884443\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T08:16:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T08:16:47","slug":"seaworld-san-diego-employee-celebrates-90th-birthday-after-62-years-with-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/884443\/","title":{"rendered":"SeaWorld San Diego employee celebrates 90th birthday after 62 years with park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of employees have walked through the gates of SeaWorld San Diego over the last six decades.<\/p>\n

But only one can say she’s been there since the very beginning. And that’s Charline “Charli” Manzano.<\/p>\n

She’s been the friendly receptionist greeting employees at the administration building, but her SeaWorld story started long before that. <\/p>\n

She began working at SeaWorld San Diego 62 years ago, a week before the park officially opened.<\/p>\n

And when she wants to take a trip down memory lane, all she has to do is open one of the many binders filled with photographs from her life at the park, something she finds herself doing often.<\/p>\n

At 28 years old, Manzano’s first job at SeaWorld San Diego was as a server at the Hawaiian Punch Village, one of the park’s original attractions.<\/p>\n

\"Charli<\/p>\n

Seaworld San Diego<\/p>\n

Charli Manzano at Hawaiian Punch Village<\/p>\n

\u201cHawaiian Punch was basically my second home,\u201d Manzano said.<\/p>\n

For 13 years, she welcomed guests there, always wearing a smile and a fresh hibiscus flower in her hair.<\/p>\n

\"Charli<\/p>\n

Seaworld San Diego<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was my signature,\u201d Manzano said.<\/p>\n

A signature look that’s never gone away. She still wears a flower on her hair every day to work.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Manzano’s career took her all across the park. She started in food service before moving into entertainment, where she performed with dolphins in the lagoon show.<\/p>\n

Eventually, she found her spot behind the front desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to get out of food!\u201d Manzano said with a grin.<\/p>\n

This week, she celebrated her 90th birthday. And according to her, retirement can wait a little longer.<\/p>\n

\"Charli<\/p>\n

Seaworld San Diego<\/p>\n

Charli Manzano 90th Birthday celebration at the office<\/p>\n

\u201cI might work for two more years because that\u2019s when SeaWorld will be 64,\u201d Manzano said, showing her commitment to the place she’s called her second home for the last 6 decades.<\/p>\n

The attractions at Seaworld San Diego may look different after 62 years and the crowds may be bigger, but her smile and flower in her hair remain a constant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of employees have walked through the gates of SeaWorld San Diego over the last six decades. But…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":884444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[190879,5229,1582,276,359078,359077,1451,3549,7264,359079,359080,23848,359081,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-884443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-90-year-old","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-charline-charli-manzano","tag-hawaiian-punch-village","tag-positive","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-seaworld-employees","tag-seaworld-jobs","tag-seaworld-san-diego","tag-seaworld-san-diego-careers","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116792773161179011","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}