Magnum automated recording sucks

While I am in agreement with the "quality of autospiels", I feel it is more a sign of our times that CP has to worry about "covering their ass". People will sue for ANYTHING these days (ie Fat People suimg Fast Food Joints)

By using the auto spiels CP has PROOF the safety information is being stated, it isn't CP's job to make sure the safety information is HEARD.

When I worked at the park there were days we felt if we did the spiels in a foreign language people wouold then listen. I still feel that way about singage...Put up a sign in a foreign language and people will stop to ask What's that say.

Here is hoping SOMEDAY...SOON we can "enjoy" the REAL SPIELS and not have to have autospiels...Part of the charm of CP is the ride hosts, I don't want some robots taking care of us.

Hmmmm...I guess I'm alone, as I personally liked that Cedar Point switched over to auto-recordings (I think all the rides are slowly transforming to auto). While I can definitely see why many people would be angry with this change (personality is definitely taken away from some rides), many of the personal speeches got on my nerves.

From my countless trips to CP, I rarely understood the speeches when the workers spoke. I usually found an exhausted worker cramming a minute-long speech into about 20 seconds, "Welcatageminicedipointsmospoplaridesecuulloosearcal..." I got the feeling that the workers dreaded saying the same things, and as a result, there was annoying mumbling created from a poor sound system and rushed speech.

While sometimes there would be a fun, clear worker, I found that to be rare. I'd much prefer a distinct auto recording, as they aren't nearly as bad as a high-pitched or low-pitched mumble. Secondly, while personality is taken away from the park, professionalism is added. Cedar Point will no longer be a target for jokes about annoying mumbles that offer no ride info. In fact, I bet CP changed over to the auto-recordings because of complaints of the mumbles (not to mention cost savings, etc).

As for the "Welcome Back! How was your ride?" I'm pretty sure that was still present. I still heard the "clear" and that; but, maybe I'm connecting older ride experiences on Magnum. Regardless, TTD has an auto-recording, and they definitely asked how our ride was. I'd prefer silence altogether, but if speeches are necessary for legal reasons, I don't find the auto recordings to be such a bad thing.

Oh, and don't even get me started on Mine Ride. The yellow line is way farther away from the train than it needs to be; they've installed air gates preventing you from crossing the yellow line. Yet, I repeatedly hear "Please stay behind the yellow line at all times!" I'm picturing that person being zapped into an electronic black box (auto-recording)...ahhh, what a thought...
*** This post was edited by Ffej 8/2/2003 7:59:32 PM ***

I definitely prefer the personal spiels. I think Ffej touched on some key points though. I have noticed some of the personal spiels are very hard to understand.

Some of the ride Ops speak with broken English. In years past I never remember having that problem. Maybe CP is having trouble finding enough clear speaking truly entertaining operators to cover all of the shifts for all of the rides. Therefore, they have little choice but to go with the auto spiels at certain times, for legal purposes.

Maybe, just maybe, CP prefers the personal spiels as well.

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Stop Still Dragster 3...2...1... No !! ;)

The autospiels at Corkscrew and Magnum wouldn't be so bad if they were actually as long as the interval time so the whole spiel can be heard. When we run 3 trains, our spiel techincally should be 26 seconds long so the whole spiel can be heard. Our autospiel is about 1 minute 30 seconds long... At least half of the spiel gets cut out every train.

I love having our autospiel because before we had it, unload 1 had to speil on a corded spieler, unlock cars 1 & 2, lock them, close the air gates, check the harnesses, and press dispatch enable to bring the train into the station and to dispatch the train. Try doing that in 22 seconds. It's great...

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Justin
Corkscrew ATL 2003
Corkscrew Crew 2002
http://www.msu.edu/~kemppai8/ --- My stupid website

And Justin points out what may be the biggest problem...

The new spiels sound like they were written by a ****ing attorney who knows nothing about amusement rides. At least the ones on Millennium Force, Wicked Twister, and Dragster. Lots of useless warnings and alerts using language that most people do not understand, over a PA system that most people in the station can't hear, that NOBODY is listening to, for a spiel that runs for more time than the train spends in the station. It's about as useful as the Magnum/Raptor/Gemini lift-hill announcements that are *totally inaudible* to riders in the train, but damned annoying to people in the parking lot.

As for Blue Streak, that tape should be taken out and destroyed with extreme prejudice, then the speaker over the boarding area at Load 3 needs to be removed. The people waiting for the last two cars are assaulted by one of those wretched horn speakers at a volume just above the threshold of pain. Come on...more speakers, less volume per speaker, and it will sound a lot better. As for the recording...on Blue Streak, let's do one of two things: Either re-write the spiel so that it reflects the current design of the train, or put back the old lap bars so that the current spiel will at least be technically accurate!

"push forward, then pull back" hasn't been accurate since 1996, and the spiel doesn't say anything about "push down, then lift up" to exit!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Haha...I think it's humorous how angry the auto recordings are making some of you. They're not that bad! I personally enjoy the Millenium Force auto recording. It's an awesome, futuristic ride with great lighting, and the futuristic alien voice lady saying "Welcome to Millenium Force..." just adds to the whole atmosphere for me. If there was some squeaky college kid doing a personal spiel "WelcaMillenumForccedapoinc2ndhiyestrie.. cedapoinnotresponsibforanylossadamagewhilridingsosituprigholo ntightnenjyrideonmileniumanenjoydayatcedapoinamericarockinrollacoas..." Now THAT would make me angry (not really).

I think CP purposely does not make the ride recordings in sync with the trains, as it would just get too annoying. If a recording went off every 25 seconds, it would be rushed, unclear, and not any better than the personal spiels. Odds are, you're going to be waiting in a line. Therefore, you should be able to hear all the precautions and instructions all the way through several times. If a person doesn't know to lift up on their bar and unbuckle the seatbelt to exit the train...well, that's just sad...no..funny...very funny. It all should be common sense, but like many have mentioned, CP has to do it.
*** This post was edited by Ffej 8/3/2003 12:15:23 AM ***

People don't read signs at parks, so why start listening to speils?

"Do you HAVE to have a partner?"
*points to a sign for the answer*
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2002/2003
KPTM

Another great move at CP.....So we all sit around and Bit%^ about it. CP reads it on this site, still won't do anything about it, and another great feature of CP goes down the drain.

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"This second hill is my favorite part of the ride. It is so Cool!"
TTD Status: "Contaminates in the system" S.K. Per my conversation
EA Sports "It's in the Game"

I agree with the others, the spiel that they ride-ops would say is what made CP one of a kind. I haven't heard the new recording yet, but when they told you that they were "Going to take you up 205 ft. and drop you down 194 ft. at a 60 degree angle" actually let you know what you were in store for, and for the GP I think that was really cool. They always seemed to make a spiel they said funny though rather it be "secure all hats, dentures, hairpieces, etc.. Or on Gemini when they said "The only coaster in the park with a kid" :). That is one of my all time favorite ones.

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2003 Statistics
Top Thrill Dragster: 9
Magnum XL-200: 44
Trips to the point: 27

See, while we certainly don't know everything about running an amusement park, it's clear that some people at the park often lack common sense entirely. I mean, how do the points we've brought up not come up when they decide to do something stupid like this?

The truth is, simple fluctuations and differences in inflection patterns of a real human being giving the spiel make you hear it, while the mechanical voice (which as Dave mentions goes on longer than the dispatch interval) is tuned out. People don't listen to radio voices, they tune them out.

I'm glad Dave brought up the lift recordings too. What genius thought of that? That wouldn't even work as a cover-your-ass measure because any enterprising ambulance chaser could in the event of a tragedy ask any one of hundreds of us regulars if they can actually hear the recording on the lift.

What happened to a good old-fashioned sign on the lift that can be found on hundreds of old wood coasters all over the country? "DO NOT STAND. KEEP ARMS AND LEGS IN THE CAR AT ALL TIMES." As is typical, the simple solution is also the best.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Of course, this isn't about helping people to hear the safety information. It is to make it easy for CP lawyers, in the event of a lawsuit, to convince a judge/jury/opposing counsel that in fact, the rider was informed of safety requirement X, because "the tape says it every time the train leaves the station." They can even play the tape in court, so that the jury understands that there was no complicated accent, it wasn't said too quickly, etc. etc. etc.

It still sucks, but there you go.

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

i remember while waiting in line for mantis a ride person quizzed us on the facts of the ride, it really made the time go by and it made me feel smart :).

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Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription... is more cowbell!

i could care less, in fact i would say recordings are better. nothing deflates me quicker than hearing some tired ride op slur the spiel, or try to say something funny and get a reaction from you.

i do think they could do a few different versions of the recording with different voice actors and scripts.

I dunno...I think it's more of a CP operational thing than a CF-wide lawyer thing.

Case in point: VF's Excalibur just switched from autospiel to a live boarding spiel two weeks ago. The exit autospiel still plays, but we're now loading to live rideops. VF, I salute you.

-'Playa

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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.
*** This post was edited by CoastaPlaya 8/4/2003 11:31:00 AM ***

---

Jeff said:

What happened to a good old-fashioned sign on the lift that can be found on hundreds of old wood coasters all over the country? "DO NOT STAND. KEEP ARMS AND LEGS IN THE CAR AT ALL TIMES." As is typical, the simple solution is also the best.

---

Because this country is filled with people that can't read or write the English language.

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Blue people fly sideways when it rains....
*** This post was edited by Travis 8/4/2003 4:20:50 PM ***

And nowhere is that more obvious than right here on this forum!

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Joking aside, I'll be there tomorrow... if it's still going, and it's as annoying as the Corkscrew one they started before (which I'm sure the answer will be a yes) maybe I'll write up a letter for people to copy/paste and email / mail in.

But I bet it's as others have said, and a lawyer thing. :(

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18 straight years of real thrills and counting...

After hearing this fabulous piece of crap for myself yesterday, I can say I hate it even more. Any life that station had is gone now. There's no longer cheering as the ops ask "how was your ride?" People just silently leave the train and go down the ramp. It's depressing to watch. The ride ops aren't any happier about it. I talked to one guy briefly about how much the new recording sucks and he said he missed doing the live spiels.

Secondly, how could this even work as a cover-your-ass measure for the park? Half the speil is said as the train rolls out of the station. It's on the lift by the time the spiel says "if you need clarification, raise your hand and a ride host will assist you." If they are worried about money hungry lawyers, this isn't going to cover their asses. All the laywer has to do is prove that at most the people only hear half of the spiel. They could argue that there was important info in the half that their client didn't hear.

Sorry about the long post, but this really ticks me off. It's not often that I say this, but CP really %*#&ed this one up.

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-Chris Woodard
"We got pop and Gatorade over here for $100 a bottle, so have your credit card ready. Seriously, the food here is so expensive, I just eat the condiments because I can't afford a meal." - MF que DJ 6/16/03

Well, since they screwed up the platform, they screwed up the gates, and they screwed up the ride controls, is it any surprise that they screwed up the recording as well?

What I can't understand is why they keep screwing around with Magnum when every time they change something they manage to screw it up?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Who thinks somebody dealing with Magnum is screwy...!

I haven't chimed in on this topic yet but I agree with most people when they say the auto spiel sucks. Frankly, I don't see why the insurance companies would care all that much. What about the people who don't speak English?

The funny thing is for decades the Jungle Cruise operators at the Disney Parks have given the spiel/narrative on the river. Even at the risk of some of them being risque they have never attempted to install an auto spiel. Safety is certainly an issue but they have not resorted to this canned information.

Bring back some of the life of the park .

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No matter where you go, there you are.