Break Downs

I was just wondering what a ride operater has to do during a break down on their ride. What kinds of break downs occur, and how often do they happen, not talking about TTD. Thanks for sharing.

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If I had a dollar for every time Top Thrill Dragster had a break down, I'd be rich.

Most ride operators either hangout in the station cleaning up the ride, or just sit around if the problem is minor. Most minor problems are corrected in a time frame of 25-30 mins depending on the problem. I know that when Raptor broke down on Employee Ride night, it was about 45 mins before the ride was back up and running again, mainly due to a safety check function malfunctioning. It all depends on what kind of situation it is, and don't expect to sit around doing nothing, you'll be either doing some cleaning or informing guests waiting in line that the ride is currently down and it will be up asap, mechanics are working on the problem!

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03-Housekeeping at Hotel breakers from April 16-June 16-03
04-Kings Dominion Ride Op

during mechincal diffuculties you clean, clean some more oh did i forget to mention you CLEAN if your at the entrance you tell ppl that were down for now you can start a line but we dont know how long you will be standing there if your on a load side you talk to the guest on the platform while they fix the problem. if you find the problem while testing then guess what ur ride is the cleanest ride there is in the park cuz thats all you will be doing till it goes up now if its a problem that cant be fixed then you either get sent home or moved to a diffent ride depending on whats wrong and how long i know this year when ID went down on the busiest halloweekend ever they sent the crew to clean cues for other rides so we had help cleaning up
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~Brat~
Kiddykingdom 03
mantis n millennium at the end of season

You will clean the ride and queues! Mostly you keep telling guests the ride is down and answer their questions. If your supervisor knows the ride will be down for a few hours or the rest of the day, they usually send you to another ride to help (Kiddy Kingdom, Camp Snoopy, Space Spiral, etc).

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Raptor 99-00

not only do u clean, but u can also talk to the guest that are still in the line... oh course you can go to another ride and work.... when i was on DT, we cleaned, talked and talked some more.. The crew before i got there was like there is nothing else to clean but yet we found stuff to do... u never know when it will happend, but when u do u can make the best of it.. i like the whole talking to guest even though they would ask the same questions but it was still fun.....

Megan

'04- Power Tower ATL
'03-PTC/TTD

Thanks for all your responses, but I was playing Miniture Golf in the Ch. Park and the Magnum was going up the lift and it just stopped 3/4 the way up. An employee had to walk up all those stairs. I was just wonder why he had to do that, and what was wrong with Magnum. (Don't tell me he was cleaning the stairs)

Normal if the trains get stuck up the lift someone has to go up to make sure everyone is ok and keep everyone calm at mantis we have two ppl go up one on each side that way we can run up and tell them to stay calm and make sure everyone is ok and to talk to the guest if they have questions for what was wrong i dont know things just happen

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~Brat~
Kiddykingdom 03
mantis n millennium at the end of season

Raptor Man said:
the Magnum was going up the lift and it just stopped 3/4 the way up. An employee had to walk up all those stairs. I was just wonder why he had to do that, and what was wrong with Magnum. (Don't tell me he was cleaning the stairs)

Magnum has done this a bit; if the ride hosts dont get a train dispatched in time, the train that finally leaves out the station gets stopped towards the top (safety feature), if a guest unbuckles their safety belt, if a ride host hits emergency stop, or the computer on the ride decides that it isnt safe for the ride to run and it will shut down.

There are many reasons why a train gets stopped. Just hope you arent afraid of heights! Generally a ride host goes up and assure the guests that they are safe and make sure all guests are happy and not freaking out.

But Magnum isnt the only one getting stopped on the lift hill. Raptor, Mantis, Gemini, Wicked and a rare occasion, Millennium, have stopped and had to have ride hosts go out to the dispatched train.

I know Raptor has had its share of guests unbuckling their seat belts so the train gets stopped on the lift hill

The seat belts are certainly the biggest reason why a train will be stopped on the lift. On Raptor, if a host caught someone unbuclking their belt for any reason, they'd call a hold and the op in controls will stop the train once it clears the feeder motors. It happens enough that it doesn't take long to get the ride up again.

I really enjoyed going out to stopped trains during breakdowns. Climbing the two hundred or so steps on the lift, or making the hike out to the block brake was a treat. Cleaning bugs off the train with some SD-20 wasn't quite as fun.

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VertiGo rides: 32
2002 Raptor Crew
"Hey, Cool. My voice is on the lift"

i always loved being down at mil force. i gotta megaphone to say wewere down. or the mic at entrance. when i was at gemini or raptor i had to scream.

As a ride host, on an average day how many times would you have to walk up the lift hill for your rides?

It was a very rare occasion to walk up your lift hill. However, everyone gets to do it at least once as it is part of your training. The greatest memory I have from this year was my Magnum lift walk. That view is unbelievable.

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2003 Super Screw Crew

Drew said:

everyone gets to do it at least once as it is part of your training.

With the exception of MF and TTD.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82

and WT ;) ... You do get to "Baywatch" a lot, though.

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2003 - Wicked Twister Crew

.. I knew I forgot that after I posted.. thanks Jeff...

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82