In a Serious Rut on Working Here

I was recently accepted in rides department Area 3 on Maverick Crew. However, my excitment wore off in less than 24 hours. The pay is less than I make per hour at Waldameer Park and Water World (7.70 vs. 7.75). Housing conditions terrify me. In addition, I have yet to hear a truely positive experience with management. I really want to be a part of Cedar Point, but I'm questioning the value of a Cedar Point job experience when looking into the future career opportunities. Do the benefits outweigh the many drawbacks?

Last year was my first year, I worked the train and loved every minute of it. Housing is really just what you make of it. if you live with nasty roommates who don't clean up after themselves and leave food everywhere then you will probably have bed bugs. but that is not cedar points fault. in my opinion housing is fine and the only reason that they are raising prices this year is so that they can renovate the next year. i had no bad experiences with management last year. if you are a trouble maker then you might have some problems with them.

ajf5291 said:
I was recently accepted in rides department Area 3 on Maverick Crew. However, my excitment wore off in less than 24 hours. The pay is less than I make per hour at Waldameer Park and Water World (7.70 vs. 7.75). Housing conditions terrify me. In addition, I have yet to hear a truely positive experience with management. I really want to be a part of Cedar Point, but I'm questioning the value of a Cedar Point job experience when looking into the future career opportunities. Do the benefits outweigh the many drawbacks?

I can tell you from my personal experience, the pros outweigh the cons! And I really mean that. Yes housing is not the most appealing place, but to my understanding that's where people have the most fun. (Ive never lived in housing) And even with the raised prices, realistically speaking, its cheaper than living any where else! As far as pay goes, yes it's kinda low, but I guarantee you will be getting enough hours to make up for it. And being on the Maverick crew, you will get more hours than most of the park. Your ride (normally) has early entry so you get an extra hour in the morning and it's definitely one of the more popular rides so you will close later than most rides. I worked at Disney and Universal and I got paid more at both, but I love Cedar Point! The experience is so much more enjoyable. Your crew becomes your family. Even working is tons of fun! Really! Of course there are people that are going to have run ins with management, but who's to say you will be one of those people? There always going to be people who don't agree with their way of doing things and the best thing for you to do is just know they have a reason for what they do. Their job is not easy!! I personally have never had a problem with them.On another note, you team leader and assistant team leader are both really awesome people. I guarantee you will love them!

plus you get to meet amazing people from all over the world!

Will it help me in a future within the amusement industry in terms of mangement or marketing?

Is it true, employees are not paid during downtime for maintenance or weather?

I feel as though any job at an amusement park will help you a ton in the future. If any future employer sees Cedar Point on that resume, they will view it as a positive. Working at what is considered by many to be the top amusement park in the world should helpa ton when it comes to working in the amusement industry in the future. Plus your experiences at Waldameer should help as well.

And to answer the second question, we DO get paid during downtime because even though the ride is down, we will still be talking to the guests or cleaning. There is always something for us to do at work.

ajf5291 said:
Will it help me in a future within the amusement industry in terms of mangement or marketing?

Is it true, employees are not paid during downtime for maintenance or weather?

What?! Of course you are paid.
If working in Amusement parks is what you want to do, the experience will definitely help you in the future. You can even consider trying to work up in our company. Maybe become a team leader next season. Getting as much experience as possible is always good.

Hi, I am the TL of Maverick and I would love it if you came to Cedar Point this summer and were apart of a great experience that is the best Amusement Park in the world. my name is nathan turner and the atl is eric murfield please add us on facebook and we can talk more about what your experience would be like this summer so you can get a true perspective on how it is to work at Cedar Point and the Maverick crew 2012

Next, 17 hour workdays 6 days a week? Seems somewhat extreme, and I'm a serious workaholic but 17 hours each day for 6 days a week sounds rediculous. I want hours, but I want to be physically functional.

ajf5291 said:
I was recently accepted in rides department Area 3 on Maverick Crew. However, my excitment wore off in less than 24 hours. The pay is less than I make per hour at Waldameer Park and Water World (7.70 vs. 7.75). Housing conditions terrify me. In addition, I have yet to hear a truely positive experience with management. I really want to be a part of Cedar Point, but I'm questioning the value of a Cedar Point job experience when looking into the future career opportunities. Do the benefits outweigh the many drawbacks?

Hi ajf5291,

My name is Eric Murfield and I am the Assistant Team Leader on Maverick for the 2012 season. Now I know you may have some doubts because of the pay or some horror stories you may have read about peoples summers. The fact of the matter is that yeah while the pay is minimum wage working at Cedar Point you will have many hours, on average I have always had 55-70 hours a week. With this many hours you make some really good money even though its only minimum wage. But most people do not work at Cedar Point year after year for the money, we work there because it truly is the best summer job out there. My best friends all work at Cedar Point, this is where I have meet them, they are my family, I go insane during the off-season not being with them all the time. You will make some amazing friends and memories at Cedar Point that will last a lifetime.

As for the experience, I myself am a marketing Major and ultimately want to work within the amusement industry in a park marketing department, and the experience of working at Cedar Point is probably some of the best experience you can get, not only are you working at the number one amusement park in the world, but you have the chance to meet more people to network with to get your name in the right places.

When it come to housing, like stated before it all matters on who your roommates are, find roommates before the season starts, use pointbuzz or facebook there are many cedar point employee groups to meet people before the season starts. I have honestly never had a problem with housing, yeah its not the Hilton, but you are rarely ever in your room, you are working, or hanging out with friends, or going out for a night on the town, planing trips to other parks, whatever it may be, your normally in your room to sleep, eat, get ready for work.

Feel free to add me on Facebook (Eric Murfield) and if you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to ask me! I know me and your TL Nate both would hate to see you turn down this opportunity. Welcome to Maverick Crew 2012!! :D

P.S. Ashley is right, I here that your TL and ATL are pretty awesome! :D lol

17 hour workdays are honestly very rare, they are normally on average about 10 hours, but even when you do get a open to close shift the 17 hour work days are not as bad as you think. Time really does fly when your having fun, and trust me you will have lots of fun at work at Cedar Point! :)

I have never heard of someone working 17 hr shifts 6 days in a row. the most i have worked in a day is 16 and for maybe 2 consecutive days. On average you will work 10 to 12 hours a day depending on the size of your crew.

I have worked like one 17 hour day before and that was for like Coaster Mania....maybe! You will get lots of hours but it will never be that extreme. The worst of it is at the end of regular season, right before halloweekends because a lot of people leave for school. You may work a few open to close shifts, but only for a short time I can assure you!

You will O-C, there is no doubt about that, but with the way staffing is (last year atleast), we only O-Ced maybe once a week. Besides, time goes by so fast. With the way breaks go for somebody who is O-Cing, For Example, you work for 5 hours, go on your break, work 4 hours, go on break, work for 4 hours, go on your last break, and then you only have 3 hours left of work. Like I said, time FLIES by so quick when you're doing something you really enjoy with your awesome crew. Most of the time you will be a split (Open-1:30;6-close), O-8, O-6, 11:30-C, 1:30-C...(sometimes 11:30-6 or 1:30-8). I don't want to confuse you, but I do support working at Cedar Point. It was an awesome experience for me. Guests are going to envy your job too, because Maverick is such a cool ride to work...and of course ride.

Honestly in may you might have some OC's but by time june hits OC's are no existent till the end of august, as long as staffing stays the way it has been in the past, I think i may have honestly only OC'ed about 10 times all of last year until halloweekends.

definitely do it! you will not regret it. everybody else already said everything else - but just wanted to say its worth it :)

^I worked in rides. Every day was open to close, but Waldameer's hours were from either 11:30am to 10:00pm or 12:30pm-10:00pm, and 10:00 pm was set in stone because the park followed a "hard-close" procedure due to lower crowds. To add to it, we staffed rides very differently than CP would. Major coasters such as Ravine Flyer II (#6 woodie in the world) ran with whopping total of 3 attendants.Any other ride had one attendant/operator.

However, the main issue I'm still facing is the value of "Internship" vs. operations. Thats what I need to understand myself, and for my family if I want their support for leaving town just to run a coaster. This is not only a job for fun, but a job for my future. Also, I'm not the type to quit midway through a job, so I better be able to tolerate conditions and get something valuable out of it.

The big questions are: Will this job help me in getting future jobs within the amusement industry in areas of park operations and/or marketing? Or is it just another job and an internship would be better?

^ I am in a similar situation as you. I worked at the park last year, but decided to pursue a more serious internship for this summer. The job was fun and I had a great summer, but by the end of the summer, you don't end up with much money. Between housing (which is going up) and food, you will be lucky to finish the season with $2000 saved. The only reason I did it was to have the experience of working in an amusement park, something I always wanted to do. About the housing, its tolerable if you live in common dorms, and you find responsible roommates before hand. That is what I did and it turned out fine.

In your situation, you have already been a operator at an amusement park, so another park won't help you much. A serious internship, even out of the entertainment industry, would be a better career choice. The fact is, working at an amusement park doesn't look great on a resume.

^ I have to disagree with u. I've never worked at Cedar Point, I'm hoping to in the future. I agree you won't walk away with a ton of money and it's all about the experience but the part about not looking great on a resume doesn't sound right. Working at an amusement park requires hard work and responsibility. It's a very tiring job dealing with people all the time. I think if I saw Cedar Point on a resume I'd see leadership, responsibility, people skills and committment.

Also working at another park before Cedar Point really looks good when applying for ATL/TL because you have the experience.