future ride ops beware!!!!!

I just wanted to say something to those of you that have shown interest in working at cedar point next season for the first time, specifically those of you that want to be ride ops. i have noticed that many of you have shown great interest in working as a ride op...almost as if you put us (i worked raptor this past season) on a pedastal. i have read people refer to cp employees as ride ops and everyone else. i remember one person wrote, "i'm pretty sure that if it weren't for 'everyone else' there wouldn't be ride ops." i strongly agree with him/her. like i said, i did work raptor this past season, and i have every intention on returning next summer to work raptor again, i wouldn't work anywhere else, but not because of where i worked, but who i worked with. and those of you coming next year will quickly realize the same thing. what makes your summer great is not which dept. you work in or what park of the park, but the people that you work with, your crew. and i'm sure that most everyone that has worked at cp would agree with me. you will find that you will spend endless upon endless amounts of hours with your crew, it will make your friends at home sick of how much you talk about CP this and that (to them you will sound like...this one day at cp!!!) you will work with your crew for 14 hrs a day, then party with them till the early hours of the morning after work, then sometimes fall asleep with them, and spend days off with them, only to see them again the next day. and just like every other position in the park, there are downsides to being a ride op, here are just a few things you can expect to happen (and trust me, THEY WILL!!!!)...

-you WILL get thrown up, drooled, and spit on (especially on ARC day!!!)

- you WILL get cussed out for things that you have absolutely no control over (i was once cussed out while sitting entrance b/c a man needed a map and i didn't have one), along with things you have no control over, you WILL get cussed out when your ride goes down for mechanical or weather (if nothing else on this list is true, this one most definitely is!!!)

-you WILL get asked the same **** STUPID QUESTION a million time (ex. can we smoke in line, why is TTD down??)

-to go along with that, you WILL get asked...where is the nearest bathroom/restaurant etc. or what time does the 10:00 laser show start at?? questions to which the answer is completely obvious

-you WILL clean your ride for what seems like days when it's down for weather/mechanical, or anything.

-in May when it's raining and in July when it's HOT AS ALL HELL, you WILL wish that you worked Disaster Transport or any other position in the park where you could be inside

these instances are just an INKLING of what you will undoubtedly experience as being a ride host. you will work loooong hours in rain, cold, wind, heat..you'll deal with unruly guests...managers that you could swear are the scum of the earth, but EVERY dept./position in the park has these downfalls. but most will tell you, like i said before, that it's not where in the park they worked, but with who. Now true, being a ride op does have it's high points too, test riding, getting to know your ride enthusiasts, etc. but there will be days when the downfalls more than outnumber the high points. and just a little warning...just because you apply for ride op, doesn't mean that you will work a rollercoaster...remember, there are 68 other rides that need to be worked...so just b/c you want to work TTD, you may end up on frog hopper (if you don't know what frog hopper is, think Power Tower, but about 13 ft. tall, if that!!) so if you want to be a ride op, just look back at the list and think to yourself, can i see myself putting up with that for 14 hrs a day, 6 days a week, 4 weeks a month for 3 months?? if your answer is no, then ride op definitely isn't for you. and i know i made it seem like a horrible job, but like i said, i had soooo much fun at raptor, i would never work another ride (which by the way, throughout the summer, you may be assigned to different rides for different weeks). I hope that employees that read this will back me up and hopefully they will feel the same, that once again, it's not where you work, but who you work with that makes the job fun!!!

Edit: watch the language, please
*** This post was edited by Gemini 11/2/2003 7:20:01 PM ***

Well put Raptor Hooker ;-)

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Melissa
Magnum 00'
Pet Farm AATL 02'
Melslambs@hotmail.com

i definetely agree with raptor hooker. if you don't get along with your crew you can always transfer to another ride but that always depends on staffing....so if you ask to go some where and get stuck on superscrew you have to deal with it. (superscrew is the corkscrew/super himalaya rotation)

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dragster crew '03

I agree, I wish I was in a position where I could spend the entire summer working at the park.

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Dan Haverlock
Magnum: 2440
TTD Rollbacks 4
TTD Complete Laps 73
"get a job man!"

Of course you get the random weirdos who show up on your rides and marathon them for hours on end. They help brighten your day, especially when they bring you candy. ;)

Seriously, the long hours and hardships are all made up with the satisfaction you get and the friendships you make. If you can't hang out with your crew, then who can you hang out with?

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2003 Raptor ride count: 246
Raptor Rules the Sky.
Environmental Services knows who I am!

In my many adventures of theme park employment I did just about every type of job. I worked in games, foods, rides, marketing, custodial, merchandise, etc. To be brutally honest, the job with the least amount of variety was rides.

There is a stigma that working a coaster is the place to be. Granted, it is exciting in the beginning but what it comes down to is checking heights, lap bars and once in a while "driving" which is rather boring these days as computers do most of the work.

Some of the most fun I had was in games where there is a lot more guest interaction, particularly if you ever have the chance to be a age/weight/birthday guesser.

If you want a sense of freedom, custodial is the place to be. You get around the park more than any other position and you probably have more guest interaction than any other position in the park.

Of course, most people can't get past the idea of working on a coaster and there is nothing wrong with that. I started my "career" working in a kiddie land and it was probably the best year I ever had. Kids are so much more fun than adults. Working a kiddie bumper car ride is loads of fun compared to working a coaster.

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"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality."

You are right about that. I didn't say I liked the parents, just the kids. Their innocence and first experience of amusement park rides is priceless.

Where I worked we did have a "crew" mentality like a coaster as we rotated rides, started and ended the days in meetings, and the like.

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"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality."

i agree w/ raptorhooker, Lauren :) miss you lots, loved working raptor with you this year. your crew does make the summer fun, if i did return next year i would work raptor again, and if you have a good crew those 14 hour days dont even feel like work.

ya it was actually fun, though i hated the whole mike fiasco-musick will be tl next year and donnie atl

I am going to miss all the great times i had with the Magnum Crew over the season. Even who i worked with at first over at GCA. My first crew was great till they got all shifted lmao. I miss you all for shure next year, but i be there to play in the park before i ship out.

Kelly G

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2000-2003 Cedar Point Ride OP
2004? Not cedar point
LBFL 4 LIFE

If you want a truly exciting job try lifeguarding. Theres nothing quite like hauling butt from the pool at sandcastle all the way down to the beach by breakers to do net drags. Plus you get the added satisfaction of being in the most self sufficient department in the park. No body does anything to help the lifeguards. But I garuntee it just brings you even closer to the people on your crew. And thats not even to mention the 17 rescues I had by myself last season.

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Soak City West Crew Guard 2002
Soak City Wave Crew Guard 2003

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Aaron H. said:
Plus you get the added satisfaction of being in the most self sufficient department in the park.

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How do you figure? What makes lifeguarding more self-sufficient than any other CP department...? Not knocking your opinion, just confused and curious.

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~Lee~

Group Sales ATL '01
Group Sales TL '02
Park Admissions Zone 5 Supervisor '03
2004 TBA -- Wow, four years already?!
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"The greatest leaders don't take credit for their actions; they don't have to."

The main park has sweeps and bathroom people that take care of that kind of stuff. My crew alone had to change 56 trash cans three times a day, clean an entire set of bathrooms with twelve showers, do all of the butt-picking (picking up of pathways). We also have to vacume and skim pools, wax slides, clean up all of the food service outdoor dining area messes, and that doesn't even get into the topic of all of the dead fish and crap we pick up off the beach. The only time we get help is for landscaping and serious maintenance issues. And all of this is while staying physically ready to make a rescue which actually happens very often. At least on the Wave Crew last year we had about two hundred pullouts and a few back boardings. Luckily every one of them turned out ok.

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Soak City West Crew Guard 2002
Soak City Wave Crew Guard 2003

RaptorHooker I completely agree. You have to put up with so much in rides. I would never be able to work any little rides. I was on Millennium and I'm most likely going back there in '04 even though i was thinking about Raptor but i'm not sure. BUT YOU SAID IT! everything you said is true and doesn't it make you look forward to next season! LOL but we both know through all the bad times, you have too many friends to make it all seem great :)

Raptor? Make up your mind, Steph. I need to know where I apply, so I can bug you. ;)

-michael

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Drag Races: 8

Well put Raptor Hooker. I worked on Millennium and some days working is like being raped in the butt and you have to listening to management changing their minds FREQUENTLY. But overall it is a great experience and well worth it. Yo Michael and Steph you need to stop changing your minds.

Steph, thats quite a vile and slightly disturbing interpretation of a bad day at work. I have to say that it never seemed that painful, but maybe thats because I forget all the bad stuff during the off season. You are right about the great experience though, and I highly recommend it for anyone that has a free summer. Especially if you get to work with the coolest kid in school, Ray K.

Quasi, you silly old fool, Musick and Donnie will be zone 1 sups next year. I heard a rumor that they are both moving to Orlando over the winter to get more park experience. Musick will also be taking a class in how to cope with difficult roommates.

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BS SR MF SR WT MF TTD PWE
Now IOA

I'll all about going wherever you are going to be, Votaw.

Seth, you are right. It was working with Ray that made the whole experience worth working on Millennium. ;)

-michael

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Drag Races: 8

I do miss the people I worked with they for the most part were really cool and management was cool too (for the most part). I won't miss the stupid @$$ guests and thier dumb questions/complaints.
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I'm in the world but I'm not of the world.

Camp Snoopy 2000-2002
Mean Streak 2003

I am thinking about working at the point next year. Since I am only 16 the only choices I have would be foods (cashier), games, or merchandise I believe. For people who have worked any of those departments how was it?

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Final 2003 Stats: Trips: 37
Top Thrill Dragster: 17
Magnum XL-200: 85 (last train of the year in 6-1)