A Career At Cedar Point

CP_CollegeGuy said:
If you are in Ride Ops you will be trained by your TL and ATL for safe operation of the ride before you will be allowed to operate it yourself.

Sorry, but could someone please explain what a TL and an ATL are? I have seen alot of people in here talk about them, and I never actually understood what they were. Thanks!

Team Leader and Assistant Team Leader. In many ways, a babysitter.

MrScott

Thanks for the insight Chief Wahoo. That place down south never loses my interest. I can only imagine what kind of madhouse the HR dept is down there heh heh. And... uh... 'textile services'? That the laundry?

CPL

Yeah...textile services is the laundry. He is a manager there. But, it isn't anything like you have ever seen before. I have been there a couple of times and it is like walking on the set of a Star Wars movie.

Everything is done by computers, conveyor belts, etc. The bags of dirty clothes are carried overhead on conveyors through the plant. They are whisked into a washer, whisked back out, whisked to a dryer, etc. They even have machines that fold the towels. It is quite an operation. I think it is one of the top 3 laundry facilities in the world in terms of size and volume.

Just to add another comment to this exciting topic....even if you know everyone you should know to get the position you want and have put your time in.....don't get your hopes up! I have seen not only myself, but one other, highly qualified and in my opinion, best candidate for the position, not get the job! Sometimes, no matter how much you LOVE Cedar Point and want to work there, it seems that those dreams are easily shattered, b/c they decided to hire someone with absolutely no experience in the position over someone who worked a few years in that very same position. Sometimes it's just crap!

I still want to work at CP full-time, but now that my experience is growing, it's going to take alot more $$$ for them to get me if they call me again in the future. So--someday, I might be back, until then, I'm a season pass holder.

CPBeesh....let me introduce you to something called the Real World.

Cedar Point is no different than the Real World in that you will see that happen in any business. We call them, "have-to-hires". The person interviewing you may want to hire you but could get trumped by Human Resources. HR and the person interviewing you could get trumped by an executive.

I've been in many situation outside of Cedar Point where I was told I was going to hire someone who wasn't my number 1 (or even #2 or #3) choice.

Chief Wahoo said:

They even have machines that fold the towels.

I'd pay a lot of money for a machine that would fold my laundry! Probably cheaper and quieter than a wife... *snicker* ;)

I can only imagine what kind of laundry volume they do down there in a day. I'm sure it is staggering. Again, thanks for the info.

I want to say they do between 1 and 1.5 million pounds of laundry per week at the major facility. Of course, WDW has 3 laundry facilities. One behind the Magic Kingdom does basically wardrobe. One over by All Stars does basically restaurant linens. And the largest facility for hotel linens is back in the Magic Kingdom warehouse area.

Lets put it this way, Mr. Kinzel started out at the bottom. Mr. Hildebrandt, started out as a Ride operator. Mr. Spehn started out changing the trash. Mr. Wozniak started on a ride. Mr. Keller started in a food stand I beleive. See a pattern.... ;)

In the list is the CEO, Current an former General Manager, The GM of GeaugaLake and former VP of Operations, the currenct Director of Rides and Water Park operations.
*** Edited 6/16/2005 8:15:17 PM UTC by MonsterMan***

I'm starting at the bottom and working my way up ;)

I hope, if this is your future plans, you went to college before being hired or currently are attending college...

I don't know if this is how they tink at Cedar Point, but, in my opinon, greater education beats higher seniority, usually. In that case I would employ somebody with a degree similar to field before hiring somebody who ran the ride for years.

I'm not saying your job sucks, I plan on working there in two years, but some kind of education, beyond high school, would help you out along your way.
*** Edited 7/6/2005 4:08:15 AM UTC by MIA-Mike***

MIA-Mike said:

I don't know if this is how they tink at Cedar Point, but, in my opinon, greater education beats higher seniority, usually.

Thats definately not the case with at least some of the departments at CP. I have to help train games people all the time that barely understand how to speak english, let alone know how to break a $20 and pull a meter.

You'd be suprised.

A friend of mine just got on not too long ago. No, you don't need any special education and no - pay isn't that great. It is an amusement park, afterall....

What about the engineering department? Is it a similar situation (having to put in many years, working your way up) as other depts?

I'm not sure that CP HAS an engineering department. I think all the design and fabrication is farmed out. I can't really think of anything they do that would require a full-time engineer.

There is a research & design building visable from Perimitor (sp) Road. It's it the woods near the Frontier Trail area. SOMEBODY works in there...designers and engineers, I would guess.

MrScott

MrScott -

Thanks for the tip.

Can anyone confirm what this building contains? It would be a great help to me.

uh...I would assume P&D has planning and development related material. ;)

I think the park has a 10, 5 & 2 year plan Cedar Fair may have a company plan that spans further into the future too.

Ten years out they have a general idea of where they want to take the park as a whole, but they don't have any specifics set. It gives the people at P&D a basic idea of the scope of their future additions to the park/resorts.

Five years in advance they have a general idea of what year will get a new attraction or when there will be an addition to the resorts. They still don't plan on the specifics of any rides because they like to choose from the latest technology.

Two years in advance they know exactly what they are building and who they are contracting to do it.

There have been a few times in recent history when they have retracted future plans, however. They announced the addition of some kind of dancing fountain display at the front of the part a few years back, but for whatever reason it was cancelled. It seems like the water ride that they were thinking of adding this year may have met the same fate as well.

If you walked into the building you would find folks who work on the various signs (oddly enough called the sign shop), folks who work on building design (both exterior and exterior), a paint shop, and other related items.

I believe they do work for all of the Cedar Fair parks.

JuggaLotus said:
I'm not sure that CP HAS an engineering department. I think all the design and fabrication is farmed out. I can't really think of anything they do that would require a full-time engineer.

If my memory serves me correctly, there was a job posting for an engineer specializing in fatigue analysis and vibration analysis on CP's website for year-round employment about a year ago. Therefore I'm assuming Cedar Fair does have in-house engineering.

In any case, I can see where it would be beneficial for a company like Cedar Fair to employ a few engineers. At my current place of employment, most of our engineering work is contracted out, however we employ a large number of engineers to oversee the contractor's work and interact with the contractors. Also the in-house engineers here do long term engineering planning, where it would not be feasible to hire a contractor.

Obviously the fabrication and much of the design work at CP is contracted out, but it seems reasonable to have engineers in-house to interact with the contractors and the administrators at CP.