Breaks, and how do they work?

This past summer I worked at Zoombezi Bay, the new water park at the Columbuz Zoo, as a lifeguard and the worst part about it was the breaks and how they worked.

I was wondering how do breaks work at Cedar Point? When we got our breaks at ZB we had 30 minutes from the time we left our chair to get food from the break room, which was in the very back of the park and the only one, and get back to our chair. It was horrible 50% of the time becuase we had no time to eat becuase it took so long to get to the break room, had to wait on them to cook our food, and they were slow, eat, and get back to our chair withing 30 mins which most would go over and get in trouble.

Also how many break areas are there for employees throughout the park, and how easy/hard are they to get to?

Thanks for your help, I hope to be joining you all this summer as an Employee of Cedar Point!

It's pretty much the same at CP - you have so much time from the moment you leave your location until you have to be back. The amount of break time you get depends on your shift:

O-C (Open to Close): 45-min, 30-min, and a 15-min breaks
O-8 (Open to Eight, or open to whenever breaks are done): 45-min and a 30-min
O-6: 45&15
11:30-C: 45&30
1:30-C: 45&15

There is the big employee cafeteria behind Planet Snoopy which is the only air-conditioned break room in the park. There is also a place called Stockade in-between the Chuck Wagon Inn and Mean Streak that is mainly used by the employees in the back of the park. Some people love Stockade, and others, like me, hate it.

MilleniumForceSmurf2008 are you planning to be a lifeguard??

There are also a few Vending Machine break areas scattered throughout the park as well that are nice for quick 15 minute breaks, or if you pack your lunch. Most employee's will go to the cafeteria since it is air conditioned, especially for 45 minute breaks. It is also the only real social center for employees while at work.

I worked at Mantis this summer and had my break routine down to a science. It was about a 4-5min walk to the cafe (depending on how fast I walked), allowing me about 35mins of sit down and eat time before I had to return. I usually left my 15min break for bathroom only.

CP lifeguards get a 45 minute break if you're working an o-c. We got hour breaks at Ripcord. I freaking loved that. I think we were the only crew I know of to get hour breaks. The downside was you don't get another break later on, but at Ripcord you really don't need it.

Ralph Wiggum said:
CP lifeguards get a 45 minute break if you're working an o-c. We got hour breaks at Ripcord. I freaking loved that. I think we were the only crew I know of to get hour breaks. The downside was you don't get another break later on, but at Ripcord you really don't need it.

Rides get an hour and half breaks, but are split up among 3 different breaks, not just a single hour like at RipCord..it's not even supposed to be one long break.

Jes1298 said:
MilleniumForceSmurf2008 are you planning to be a lifeguard??

No im not planning on lifeguarding again, I really want to be a ride host on a coaster! Always have wanted to do this it looks like so much fun! Sometimes at ZB i would get to be a slide attendent (very rarely) and it was a blast being up there talking to the guests about the rides and giving them the spiels.!

Yeah, Rides is definitely the area you want to work in ;)

It's a lot of fun.

^ what rides do u work?

You're assigned one ride to work at full time, but you will often cross train at other ride locations, usually within the same zone. Some ride locations have you work at two locations. And when staffing goes crazy, you always have the chance to switch to a new ride location for the rest of the season.

How are you assigned a ride? I know last season I was talking to a ride op on TTD and he said that in his interview they asked "Do you want a ride that is fast or slow" and he said fast and got TTD.

Push button, thumbs up, bye bye. Push button, thumbs up, bye bye. Push button, thumbs up, bye bye. Push button, thumbs up, bye bye. A little repetitive, huh?

Take it from someone who has worked both coasters and skycoasters. Coasters are boring. At least with a skycoaster you interact with the guests and get to have a little fun with them (oh, how I love mind games). Plus if there's no one currently riding or in line you can just chill out and relax till someone else comes up. Or you can fly if you want, but that only attracts more attention to the ride.

Take it from a guy who's been doing it for a while now, life at a skycoaster is good.

I've also worked at both a coaster and a Skycoaster. Coasters aren't that reptitive. It keeps you moving as long as rotation is there. At Cedar Point, you're supposed to rotate every 30 minutes on a ride.

Take it from this guy.

I thought for sure, before I opened this, that the thread would be about brakes on the coasters. :)

^Hahaha, that'd be more fun!

CP_Obsessed_Freak1987 said:
I've also worked at both a coaster and a Skycoaster. Coasters aren't that reptitive. It keeps you moving as long as rotation is there. At Cedar Point, you're supposed to rotate every 30 minutes on a ride.

Take it from this guy.

Once again, is there a universal rule that you're supposed to rotate ride ops every 30 minutes? I think you're making up rules now.

^ More of a rule of thumb... I've been in a position for only five minutes and I've been stuck in the same position for two and a half hours. If things are going smoothly, however, you can expect to be rotated within a half hour.

RaceRinger said:

CP_Obsessed_Freak1987 said:
I've also worked at both a coaster and a Skycoaster. Coasters aren't that reptitive. It keeps you moving as long as rotation is there. At Cedar Point, you're supposed to rotate every 30 minutes on a ride.

Take it from this guy.

Once again, is there a universal rule that you're supposed to rotate ride ops every 30 minutes? I think you're making up rules now.

Last time I checked, this was a Cedar Point site. Yes, I'm talking about Cedar Point. Rotations are to happen every 30 minutes in Rides. Sometimes they can be forgotten and missed, which happens, but not a lot. How''d you know, anyways? I don't make up crap.

I guess it depends on the ride. I always figure if there's a solid rotation going, then things will still run smoothly. We ran a rotation every hour back at RipCord/SkyScraper, mainly because we don't have the ridership of the coasters and other rides in the park, and that always worked fine. Challenge Park is definitely run a little differently from rides.

Yes, and even that "rotation" didn't work and had many flaws. People still came back late from breaks and bathrooms. It's not that an hour is too long or anything. For that rotation to be more sucessful, there would not much picking and pairing between people. Someone goes into a spot, stay there, and just move in a direction every 30 or 60 minutes.