2016 Ride Crews

Something I realized that was mistaken was that CP GCI said that it was during GateKeeper's power hour. GateKeeper actually doesn't have a power hour. They consistently run trains that fast.

When I went in early June GK never had a line more than 5-10 minutes. One of the times I was in the station a TL was announcing "READY...BEYOND READY...SHOULD HAVE DISPATCHED..." over the PA.

I spent last weekend at Valley Fair and it left me wishing that CP's operations would filter down to their other parks. They were short staffed and lackadaisical at that. Renegade (their best coaster IMO) was running one train at one point; on top of that I counted multiple times while sitting in the station that the gates weren't open after all riders had already grabbed their stuff and left the station. Sometimes there was no one in the booth to even open the gates. This all added up to 4+ minutes between trains and it got to be pretty ridiculous. Oh, they also do the whole "SCANNING.....(looks over shoulder, behind trash bins, in lagoon).......ALL CLEAR" dispatch routine at Valley Fair. I was hoping that'd be gone this year. I will say that their Soak City ops is much better than CPs.

The Dodgem crew on the evening of 4th of July. 3 crew members and I'm not going to mention any names. We noticed consistent undercounting (with as many as 5 or 6 empty Ninja cars) each boarding, just unacceptable. I can't fathom how a worker can't see multiple empty cars that need loading and it made it more magnified with the line snaking through 3 queues and current riders just constantly bumping into empties.

Also, the Giant wheel crew's "balancing act" of loading continues to defy logic to me when there are huge long lines in the queue. Too many empty cabins not being utilized. I think those consistent 12 empty cabins could hold the weight.

GK and MF crews continued to excel when we were there and made the energy in the stations wonderful.

Valravn crews, I have the feeling that I will never get a front row seat if I don't have a Fast Pass. Is it the setup of the station and the ways the FP line converges closer to the front or do they ever board front row when you're waiting in the regular line? Just curious.

I'll second the Dodgem scenario. I was there on a different night but similar situation. Though I only ever saw 2 empty cars at most per cycle. I've never really paid too much attention to operations at this particular ride, but this was the first time I noticed empty cars. I don't recall seeing the operator counting as guests came in so it seemed to be a "stop the line when it feels about right" scenario. At first I thought maybe the cars were not in operation and were still left on the main floor but sure enough next cycle someone used them and they worked just fine.

CPfan1976 said:

Valravn crews, I have the feeling that I will never get a front row seat if I don't have a Fast Pass. Is it the setup of the station and the ways the FP line converges closer to the front or do they ever board front row when you're waiting in the regular line? Just curious.

I've had front row rides on Valravn while waiting in the regular line. I do like the back row better on that ride though.

CPfan1976 said:

Also, the Giant wheel crew's "balancing act" of loading continues to defy logic to me when there are huge long lines in the queue. Too many empty cabins not being utilized. I think those consistent 12 empty cabins could hold the weight.

You're allowed to be wrong. They're doing this for the exact reason you just stated

Valravn crews, I have the feeling that I will never get a front row seat if I don't have a Fast Pass. Is it the setup of the station and the ways the FP line converges closer to the front or do they ever board front row when you're waiting in the regular line? Just curious.

There's a way, it's called when you get to crowd control, ask for the front, when they can't get you on there, say you'll wait and let others who want to ride past you. Next cycle when they can they'll generally let you go there. Be nice about it and reasonable, they're not seat Nazis.

^ I was able to do that for the first week or so, but every time I asked since then, they snapped back at me with a really rude "we need to fill this train, so either you get in the row I told you, or you don't ride."

You should stop asking Tim then. He sounds like a real jerk.

Now that's some straight bs..and would be very worthy of me sending an email.

Other people can fill the station. Capacity can be maintained. The line can keep flowing. A small request where someone sits shouldn't be met with hostility.

Like when I was in rides, if people wanted to sit a certain spot/face a certain way. Pull em to the side if you can't currently accomodate em, let em know you can get them there they will just have to wait a min or so. Then when you can, let em sit there. It's seriously not the end of the world or difficult. I've met a few seat Nazis, but usually logic wins. Refusing to let one ride though..Wow. I'd have brought that up.

Sollybeast said:
You should stop asking Tim then. He sounds like a real jerk.

Ha know, you're right. I'll start asking Joe then.

But yeah, autocorrect is pretty bad...

thedevariouseffect said:
Now that's some straight bs..and would be very worthy of me sending an email.

Other people can fill the station. Capacity can be maintained. The line can keep flowing. A small request where someone sits shouldn't be met with hostility.

Like when I was in rides, if people wanted to sit a certain spot/face a certain way. Pull em to the side if you can't currently accomodate em, let em know you can get them there they will just have to wait a min or so. Then when you can, let em sit there. It's seriously not the end of the world or difficult. I've met a few seat Nazis, but usually logic wins. Refusing to let one ride though..Wow. I'd have brought that up.

I brought that up to Guest Services, and they snapped even harder. I sent an email, and got a response back from Shaun Hill, who said that it was for safety as well as courtesy to guests that it wasn't allowed, which is honestly some BS. There's an extended queue for the front for a reason.

The reason for assigned seating is supposed to be so everyone has an equal chance for the front row without an extended wait. If the turnstile attendant was fair, a rider, regardless of with line they used, should get the front row every third ride. Management really needs to have the crew stop treating the Fast Lane as a front line queue. I know many people will say "I paid more, so I should have first pick on seating", but they also can ride more times an hour, thereby upping their chances of a front seat ride.

The park really owes an apology for claiming no wait for the front as an safety issue. It is supposed to be a guest satisfaction issue, if it were run correctly.

In no way does the park "owe" anyone an apology for having seating policies.

I've tried that... Still wouldn't budge. The thing that frustrated me the most was that every 1-2 trains sent out would have 1-2 front seats empty. Still wouldn't let me, who was a single rider, wait up front.

^^ I never said the park should apologize for the seating policy. In fact, I personally like the policy if it were enforced correctly. What I said was the park should apologize for guest services claiming it is a safety procedure.

jscll said:
^^ I never said the park should apologize for the seating policy. In fact, I personally like the policy if it were enforced correctly. What I said was the park should apologize for guest services claiming it is a safety procedure.

Ideally, I think the attendant at the turnstiles should only let enough riders through at a time to fill one train. Groups would be able to get on without having to hurry up and pick lines and count the people in front of them. I'd also like to see them work harder at pairing up single riders.
I'm talking every ride. Does this attendant have anything else to do other than just sit there and measure the occasional kid who is border line tall enough.

I'm sorry that happened to you Go Intamin. Shaun Hill knows what he is doing. He was one of my Supervisors when I used to work there, and if a crew member didn't do what they were supposed to, he'd let them know. All brand new rides have assigned seating to keep the line flowing smoothly. And yes, the ride op at crowd control could have handled it better, but we ALL have our moments, or maybe he/she was having a bad day. Which again, we all do here & there. Again, I'm not siding with the ride op as they could have handled the situation better, but could have just caught them at a bad time, and Valravn is brand new, so it (might) take a little bit for the crew to feel comfortable working the ride. Josh W. & Crew, keep up the excellent job!

Hm. Bit of a name dropper.

So we're to gather that ride crews are composed of human beings? With feelings, emotions, good days, bad days? Well! Who knew?

For many years I worked a job that my work mates continuously stressed over. After I was there for only a week it occurred to me that I had probably encountered everything I was ever going to. It was rather true, and after that it was just tedium.

Ride ops see and handle thousands of people a day, day in and day out. After so long, and not long I'd reckon, (no matter how new or old the ride is), it gets to be only more of the same. Some are made for it, and good for them. And for some it's like riding a bike. And the bike is on fire. And everything's on fire. Because they're in hell. That's the reality of every job, everywhere.

I'm sitting here trying to decide which would be worse. Herding the uninformed masses, known around here as the GP, or dealing with whining enthusiasts who fly to the office when they don't get their way every time. They both can lead to a very bad day.

It's great to recognize a ride crew for whatever good things they do that are important to you. But before we come down too hard on the others, on a public forum no less, lets try to remember some of the things that make them and their jobs what they are. I'm generally satisfied if I observe ride operators performing their jobs efficiently and safely. Things like seat choices and stacking? It won't ruin my day.

It sucks that we can't have any choice for Valravn and some never manage to get to the front but I remember when seating on everything was assigned. I'm pretty sure I remember being told which dot to stand on waiting for Blue Streak.

Because Iron Dragon wasn't built to stack on the second lift regularly, they removed the third train alledgedly because people felt "rushed on."

Blue Streak before the automated control system was never meant to stack at all. Now, with the ratchet bars and seatbelts, I've never seen it NOT stack.

I say get people through as fast as safely possible. Put up signs to get people to put away their phones before their turn to ride. As long as it is safe, capacity should never be compromised because a few people will whine about it. After all, it was safe 25 years ago.

On another note, besides Fury and GK 2016, Banshee also has a stellar crew.