Favorite/Least favorite coaster crew for 2011

BrittanyB said:
If I recall correctly it was an international girl at the load platform?

Yes it was. I don't know if she didn't understand what I was trying to say to her or what, and she may be the nicest person in the world for all I know, but she really ticked me off. I don't like to act the way that I did, but she just didn't get it.

I have no problem with being paired up. I've been a single rider many times so that's nothing new to me, and this Halloween Haunt will be my 20th season working at KI (1989-2004, 2008-2011) so I can certainly understand the need to pair people up to increase capacity and get people through more quickly. But good guest relating skills involve listening to the guest and accomodating them with any request within reason. It's partly my fault that I didn't come up with the solution of suggesting that the other single rider move up with me instead until it was too late, but maybe she was too set in her ways that it didn't occur to her either. Either way, I was able to enjoy most of the rest of the day anyway.

I do want to say this to the comment about pairing up single riders. As a guest, I can understand how awkward it can be for single riders to paired up with strangers, but when we do pair single riders together, it is not our intentions to make you feel obligated to ride with someone else when you do not feel comfortable doing so (atleast on Twister). I don't like to put anyone, or be put, in that awkward situation where I have to force someone, or be forced, to ride with a stranger as well, but as an employee and a 6 year guest, I will say that it is our job to try our best to not leave empty seats. I just wanted to comment on this and let you guys know to not feel obligated to be put in that situation. If a ride host asks you, you can simply say I don't feel comfortable and we completely understand.

And I'm glad my crew entertains some of you. I am huge on hitting interval over here at Twister. Me and a couple of my crew members always try to race to see who can get back to our safe zones first by walking as fast as we can. I hope to see a lot of you guys ride and to continue to make your ride on WT enjoyable each time!

What interval? You have one train. ;)

Pete said:
Wow, the "can you hear" comment is completely uncalled for and extremely rude. I can see how they might be a little hurried if a lot of cabins are on the line. But, if the station gets backup up because of a slow loader, better to stop the lift for a minute then be that rude to a guest.

In order to "stop the lift" they have to stop the entire ride and call management. Then management has to be on each platform before they can restart the ride. And when people got off the ride the are usually extremely angry because they were stuck up there.

A guy on the TTD crew was announcing that glasses and phones must be put into a pocket. He said, "Your hands is not a pocket. Your face is not a pocket." And the Gemini crew was hilarious, as usual.

I really enjoyed the TTD crew this year. One time when we were in the station he was talking about it is the best ride in the park that was running. Also after everyone boards he would if you like to ride again i will see you in 2 hours. There was also another guy in the exit area who referenced South Park by just mumbling and ending with thank you for riding TTD.

MagnumFan said:
^ Yes. It's my observation that there are a lot of gay ride operators. Just an observation. I have no problem with that as long as they keep their preferences to themselves and are not demonstrative in front of my children.

And this comment is gonna bring some heat. I do not understand why there are so many ride ops, particularly female, who are very overweight. It seems like the physical demands of some of these jobs would lead to substantial weight loss, but no. I realize the CP uniforms are probably as un-flattering as they come, but I'm really surprised.

I don't say that to make fun of overweight people (heck, I used to be at least 80lbs overweight). I just find the percentages unrepresentative of the general public, especially in a physically demanding position.

I checked out this poster and it appears they left the board. Hope this is true. I have not even read this entire thread yet and find it the most offensive thing I have read in memory.

Wow - hate on for homosexuality and the overweight. Nice. You seem like a super person to raise intolerant children.

Also, loving the post about accents - nice to add a listle rascim to the flavor as it appears Magnumfan didnt get to his lack of tolerance for that.

I will keep reading so I can cringe further.

FYI - Canada's Wonderland has or had gay day. I used to get complaints about it when I worked there in guest relations. That was 10 years ago. Until today I thought we had progress.

I sincerely believe that progress has been and continues to be made. But there are still large areas of the country and segments of the population that stand firm in their intolerance and ignorance. Just as with misogyny and racial prejudice, we're unlikely to see it die out completely in our lifetimes. Hate always finds a new seed.

And there will always be the "cheaply paid gardeners" to try and "dig out" the roots of those seeds with the "shovel of truth and understanding".

Hmmm......that doesn't sound as profound as it did in my head. :P

Well I really didn't think this would turn into a bash on homosexuality, but opinions are opinions no matter who they offend anymore I guess.

Anyways, if you think watching us try to hit interval before was fun to watch, come ride WT now. We have 2 of us checking the whole train and we're trying to beat the clock each time.

I just got back from the park and wanted to comment on this topic. I haven't read this whole thread (just the first 5 or so posts before mine). I noticed lots of Eastern European ride ops (and staff in general) this year, many more than usual. That isn't a problem, what ever CP needs to do to staff their park is fine as long as the park runs well. However, when I ride Disaster Transport and there are only two ride ops in the station (1 booth behind glass and 1 checking lapbars) and notice they are speaking to each other over the PA in their home language I find that odd. The female with the head set kept reminding the guy in the booth to speak english. Almost ever ride that I rode today had a ride op spieling that I could barely understand. I know it isn't anything new at CP to hire foreign employees this time of year but I've never seen it so widespread across the park in all departments. Later in the day I walked up to the Dragster refreshment stand under the bleachers for a glass of water and I felt like I interrupted a group of 3 foreign employees who were speaking to each other in their home language again. They looked at me, seemed to finish what they were saying, then gave me my glass of water.

I'm not here trying to sound racist or discriminatory in any way whatsoever, I was just surprised by what I saw today and wonder if any one else has experienced anything like this.

You know, I love having all the international folks running the concession stands. One of my favorite activities at the park is, upon receiving my food/drink at the counter, to thank the clerk in his or her own language. It's great to see their reaction: startled, gladdened, amazed. I enjoy being the anti-Ugly American. And I believe it's important to let these people from countries around the world see and know first hand that there are at least a few of us who don't match the stereotypes of Americans they've been taught.

That being said, I do think it's imperative for all ride ops to be fluent in English. That means not only being intelligible speaking the language, but more importantly being able to readily understand English speakers. Easy and immediate communication between riders and employees is critical for safety. Put it this way: if your lap bar on ride X won't stay locked, you need to be able to inform the ride op instantly and have them comprehend you, and not merely hope they'll catch the error on their own before you leave the station.

From my experience traveling abroad, people don't see us nearly as negatively as we think they do. Compared to other cultures, we're a pretty good group of people.

That said, it is interesting to hear other languages and always nice if someone can speak in them, but the world is also a generation or two away from english being widely spoken by everyone.

You spelled "Chinese" wrong, Ben. ;)

Wicked Twister Crew, Disaster Transport Crew, and Raptor Crew. All extremely fast this year!

Wicked Twister 1,130 times so far this season.

@TwistedWicker77 hey whats up?! lol

Coaster23 said:
I didn't like Bluestreak, the guys butt crack was hanging out and was a bit smelly.

No one is asking you to smell it.

I really have enjoyed waiting in line and hearing the Skyhawk crew. There is this one guy who is from Hungry who just has a funny way of getting people on and off the ride. My favorite part from him is when the ride is over, all he has to say is, "Bye Bye, "See you next time".....lol. I also enjoyed the Windseeker crew. There announcements on my last visit were funny. The ride operator was saying things like, "please secure all belongings including cell phones", and please no facebooking or video youtubing, while riding...lol.

Hungary :)