2007 New Employees

A couple of more questins:
1. I dont know when to start, my high school gets out about 2 weeks before the actual graduation, would it be better to drive up there for 2 weeks come back down for graduation and stay for a couple of days a go back to CP or should I just start after graduation.
2. When you check into housing do you get put into a room with out the other room mates not knowing? meaning they might just come into the room after work and see a new person in the room.
3. Since Im guessing everyone starts at a different time how do you wake up without disturbing the others? ex. alarm clock.
Thats all I could think about now. Thanks.

1. That's ultimately your choice. I'm sure they would prefer you to start as soon as you can, but it really just depends how soon you want to start working.

2. Yes. That can, and will, happen.

3. As with any dorm situation, you just deal with it. If you are living with others in your same department chances are you're all going to be up at the same time anyway. If not, it's really not that big of a deal. You're going to be so tired from work that alarms not belonging to you are not going to bother you. Just be quiet and cautious, and expect the same from your roommates.

as long as I give them a warning for that weekend furing my interveiw should I get off that weekend?

For a graduation? Absolutely.

First of all, this is an awesome thread for all the new kids next season. My name is Nick and I cannot wait to start right after graduation. Questions:

1. If you choose a specific ride to work during the interview, will they try to put you there?

2. Cedar vs Commons (I know most of the differences, but I'd like to hear some personal opinions.)

3. If it appears that it is going to be raining for the majority of the day, what do the TTD ops do?

4. I wouldn't mind being a ride-op for either MF,TTD,WT, or Raptor. Any ride-ops here care to explain which of those rides is the best to work on and why? ;)

5. Do employees have some sort of ride night? If so, when does this take place? *** Edited 11/8/2006 4:07:42 AM UTC by RACE4THESKY***

^
1. You can ask for a ride during your interview... They can tell you that you will be put there... You can even be CONTRACTED at a particular ride, but even then there is a good chance that you will get put somewhere else once you actually get to the park. I was contracted at Raptor, but never worked a single day there all season. I was put at WT instead.

2. I only lived at Commons, but in my opinion it's better than Cedars. Cedars is where most of the internationals live. It's ghetto. It leaks. It's hot. Stay at Commons. Like I said earlier in the thread, you'll probably spend most of your free time at Commons anyway.

3. It depends. You may have to clean, you may be put on-call, or you may be sent to other rides to help out. Chances are that they'll find something for you to do.

4. I worked at WT and MF, so I'll let you know how I liked those two. WT was awesome. Really the only thing that I didn't like about it was that you had to be a loose article Nazi (not at entrance, but when guests were actually boarding the train). Hats, glasses without a strap AND loose fitting shoes are not allowed on the ride - making it the most strict ride at the park in terms of on-ride loose articles. WT is also probably the most liesurely coaster to work at in the park. Since there is only one train, you get that 1 minute and 5 second period to relax, talk to guests, or make weird faces to your co-workers across the station. Great fun. No other coaster at the park has that amount of relax time. MF is a whole different story. It's very fast-paced go go go. Incredible ride to ride, but not the greatest to operate. You have to kick a LOT of people off because of the seatbelts and you have to be a test seat Nazi at entrance. You will be screamed at pretty much every day by pissed off guests.

5. Last year we had ride nights every Monday for about an hour and a half after the park closed. Ride nights are awesome. Usually the crews do a theme for their ride nights - I was on the WT crew and our theme was Twister (the board game).

Just to let the new people know. There is other jobs at CP besides rides.

Depending where you work in the park comes with different perks then what others may get. Some of which not everyone knows about.

Southpuddle, thanks for your input. I really like the idea of living on the point, so I could just get up and walk to work, but from some of the things I hear, I'm really starting to consider commons.

I guess I don't mind being constantly busy all the time but I don't think I'd like to be yelled at by guests who are restricted from riding due to the seat belt. I work as a waitor at a banquet hall so Im always walking back and forth and I guess every now and then you get that person who is extremely ungreatful and treats you like servant.

Anybody else who cares to give some feedback on what it's like being a ride op for MF, WT, TTD, or Raptor please share it.

Raptor is pretty much awesome....but it all depends on your crew!

At the beginning of the season, Raptor had an amazing crew. We all hung out together, we went out to dinner with each other, and we were like a family. Then within 3 days, two people were moved off the ride and one person had to leave CP and the crew was never the same! It is awesome at raptor...it is very fast paced, you don't have to kick alot of people off bc the harness are very accomodating...BUT you do have to worry about height bc we are 54 inches and also Loose articles are supposed to go in the yellow binnnsss...but you try and ask a lady to leave her purse in the bin...it is not an easy task..."especially if there is money in it!!!" The best respnse is...my purse has money in it too, and I left mine in the bin! but yeah...get the right crew, you will hit interval and life is amazing...otherwise, get ready for a longggggg summer!!

Yeah, about Raptor. Raptor is fun if you want to work, work, work, and have fun while doing it. Don't work Raptor if you move slow because the crew will not like you at all (and they will do everything in their power to get you moved off the ride, and you might end up in Kiddy Kingdom...)! Your goal at Raptor is to get the people in and on their way safely as quickly as possible. People will give you a hard time about the height requirement, wanting to wait for the front line, and putting their loose articles in the bin. Also, you will invariably have 13 year old girls who put their massive amounts of black Old Navy flipflops in the same bin and then complain that someone stole theirs. Also, don't work Raptor if you don't want to spiel! Crews don't appreciate people who don't want to / avoid spieling, because we don't like to spiel for 3 hours at a time either! Rides like Raptor, TTD, and Millenium also tend to have longer hours because of Joe Cool and lines at the end of the day, so if you want more hours, it can be a good idea to choose one of these rides. But if you think you're not going to be able to wake up and get to work by 8:25 every morning, don't work Raptor because no one appreciates someone who's late all the time. Plus you'll rack up points pretty quickly that way!

Raptor was my favorite ride to work because it has a small platform, so you can have a good time with your crew, because it tends to have the most interactive spieling, and because it is so fast that you really don't have time to get bored. But it's also very tiring.

But if your crew is awesome (like ours was), you'll have a blast even when you have 8 OCs in a row!

Raptor sounds like fun. Sounds like something I would deffinetly not mind doing either. When I am at work, I am there to work. Why have a job that's boring all the time? I don't know which ride I want to ask for. I'm now starting to think Raptor or TTD. What is the interval for Raptor anyways?
Do MF and TTD all have spieling now as well? *** Edited 11/9/2006 3:14:25 AM UTC by RACE4THESKY***

37 seconds, if i remember correctly

*** Edited 11/9/2006 5:19:51 AM UTC by twisted sister***

That's actually pretty fast.

Does someone teach you how to spiel, such as what to say or do they give you a paper which tells you what to say till you have memorized the spiel? What are some of the things you must say to the riders? Does anyone think that Maverick will be a fun faced paced ride to work?

Once you process-in you'll be given a ride manual and in it are all the spiels. Of course, you can come up with your own material too, once you get more comfortable at spieling. You're really not able to read the spiel card while you're actually spieling, though, because you'll be busy checking harnesses/restraints/keeping an eye on the platform. This is what I said at WT:

Oncoming riders, Welcome to Wicked Twister! Please place all loose articles in the lovely yellow shelves BEFORE you board the train. Hats, glasses, loose-fitting shoes, cameras, cell phones, backpack, (*insert random object here such as garden gnomes or bowling balls*) are NOT allowed on the ride and MUST be placed on the shelves. Cedar Point is not responsible for any lost, stolen or damaged items while riding. Once seated, please pull down the yellow thing and buckle the black thing, and if you need any help at all, a beautiful, amazing ride host in red and blue will be around shortly to assist you! Please keep your head, back and shoulders firmly against the backrest at all times, but especially during that launch because here at Wicked Twister we do NOT start out slow! Wicked Twister is the tallest and fastest roller coaster of its kind in the entire world. We'll start you out 0-60 in two and a half seconds - later reaching a top speed of 72 AMAZING miles per hour. You'll go spiraling forward and backward not just once, not just twice but 5 times, straight up, and yes, straight down - 215 feet in the air. Trust me, it's gonna be a whole lot of fun! (*computer tells you that it's okay to dispatch after the train has been stopped for 60 seconds*) Ready. Riders on the train are you ready to go??!! Alright, you asked for it. You're clear and outta here - launching in 3........ 2................1

And I'd say that roughly every 2 minutes for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Of course it's not always exactly the same. I'd mix it up a bit, but that was the basic spiel. Some people get really creative, and other go by the spiel card word for word. Spieling was one of my favorite things about the job! *** Edited 11/10/2006 6:23:12 AM UTC by southpuddle***

I always wondered if you HAD to count down to the launch or if you could just launch it? Is that there for legal reasons or what?

For instance, I doubt Maverick will have a countdown in the tunnel for the launch. I also think some of the public will be quite surprised its there - unless there are signs all over the station warning about it.

That's a long, yet kind of a fun spiel to repeat. Let's here some more fun spiels. When I was there last year the CCMR ride ops had gotten creative with their spiels as well.

^^ We were told that we had to count down, but sometimes we'd just say clear with no warning - it really caught the riders off guard and they loved it! We were even told that we HAD to say 3 2 1 *launch* - we weren't supposed to do the 10 9 8 *launch*... but sometimes we did :) You have to find some ways to entertain yourself and the rest of your crew :)

You asked to hear more spiels......here is the Grand Prix/Sprint Race Track spiel. I worked there from April - October in '02.

Welcome riders to the Grand Prix/Sprint Race track. For your safety and the safety of all other riders, please listen carefully to the following instructions. Please step into your assigned go-kart, pull the shoulder harness over your head, on to both shoulders and connect to the buckle between your legs. For a proper fit, the shoulder harness straps are adjustable. If you need assistance, please raise your hand and a ride host will assist you. While on the course, please do not bump or ram the go-karts. Bumping, ramming, or reckless driving will result in your immediate removal from the ride with no refunds. Those riders with a 2-consecutive ride ticket, please remain seated in the go-kart after returning to the station and hold up that 2nd ticket for your ride host to collect. While on the course, please observe and obey the traffic signal lights. When the light is green, you may go. When the light is yellow, so down and return to the station, and when the light is red, stop your go-karts immediately by pressing the brake pedal on your left and wait for instructions. In just one moment, we'll begin dispatching your go-karts. Once again, please do not stop on the gas pedal until you are instructed to do so. RIDERS ON THE GRAND PRIX TRACK, YOUR LIGHT IS GREEN, YOU MAY GO. Your light is GREEN GO!!!

For each light color, we had another short spiel.

Green: Riders on the Grand Prix track, your light is Green, you may go. Your light is green, GO!

Red: Riders on the Grand Prix track, your light is Red. STOP YOUR GO-KARTS....YOUR LIGHT IS RED STOP YOUR GO -KARTS. STOP YOUR GO-KARTS...I SAID STOP YOUR GO-KARTS. (For some reason, this is the one part of the spiel people don't hear)

Yellow: Riders on the Grand Prix track, your light is yellow. Please slow down and return to the station, once again your light is yellow, please slow down and carefully return to the station.

As riders are returning to the station: Welcome back riders, please enter the station slowly and carefully making sure not to bump the go-kart in front of you. Please remain seated until all the go-karts have entered the station and you've been instructed to exit by a ride host.

After all the karts have returned to the station: Thank you for waiting, at this time you may exit your go-kart, follow the blue lines to front of the station and exit through the white gate marked exit your left. Thank you for riding and enjoy the rest of your day at Cedar Point.

The Magnum spiel which came on at 8:00am everyday, and drove all of us go-kart workers who worked underneath it NUTS! (from what I understand, the spiel is no longer automated) Welcome to the Magnum XL-200. You are ascending to a height of 205 feet. You will reach a speed of 72 mph. For your own safety, remain seated with hand and arms inside the train at all times. Hold on to all loose articles and be prepared for any sudden stops throughout your ride. Thank you, and enjoy your ride on Magnum XL-200.

oh yeah...That Magnum speil. It could drive mini golfers nuts too. It would replay like every 30 seconds. Thank God it's history!