New Employee 2014

Hello! I just had a few questions about working at Cedar Point.

#1. I applied in late December. Was this the right time to apply for the summer or should I have waited for early January. I think I applied for the 2014 season, but it also had 2013 near the application and I'm confused. Also, how could are my chances of being hired?

#2. I applied for a ride host as my number 1. What exactly does a ride host do? Is that the person who talks into the microphone, or is that the person who checks the seat belts? Or do you do both? I applied for ride operations as my number 2. What exactly is the main difference between ride host and ride operation? I honestly just want to work at a roller coast ride.

#3. I'm graduating high school in early June, so I can only start working the second week in June. Will my crew accept me or not since I didn't start working right on opening day but later? Will I miss a lot of important information since I'm starting later than when the park opens, or will I be right on track?

#4. Since I'm from Michigan, I'll be living in a dorm/apartment. Which one is the best one to live in? I known one of the dorms doesn't have AC and I'm kinda worried about that. I'm also worried that my room will be too crowded too. Do you share your dorm/apartment with anyone, or do you live with some of your crew members? And where exactly are the dorms/apartments located? I read that there was a bus shuttle that could take you back and forth to Cedar Point to your dorm, but that you could also drive too?

#5. Who exactly assigns me the ride if I do get the job? Am I offered a ride, or do the managers just assign me anything?

#6. When will I find out when I got hired? Is it the end of January early February? Or is it February, March?

#7. If I become hired I heard that there will be a phone call interview. How is that? Is it decent, or is it scary? I also heard there are local interviews too. Do I have to drive down to Cedar Point and be interviews there as well in addition to the phone call interview, or are they sorta the same?

#8. Is there some new employee orientation that I will have to attend?

#9. While living in the dorms, when is the best time to shower? Is it better to shower in the morning, or at night, or does it just depend on the time.

#10. Is it hard to sleep in the dorms? Is it super busy in the morning when everyone is getting ready? What should I do so I beat the morning crowd? Is it busy when everyone comes back to the dorms at the end of the day? Is there any way for me to beat the night crowd as well?

Sorry that was super long. Also, any advice that you have would be great/ any tips or experiences that happened and think I should know please feel free to share :) Thanks!

Well ill try and answer your questions the best I can.

1. None is there until mid January so they'll get your application once they get there. And most likely youll get hired. Everyone gets hired lol

2. I wasnt a ride host but I know for the ride hosts they do the seat bells talk and all that they switch throughout your shift.

3. They will still accept you. And you wont miss anything important. Once you get there youll have training classes. One for being a new employee, one for living in housing, and one for learning the cornerstones.

4. In my opinion commons is the best, last year I lived in a dorm then moved to the apartments. Dorms can get crowded youll either have 2 others living with you or 3 others. Then youll have to share the bathrooms with the people in that hall. Which isnt that bad unless you shower in the mornings and I always got up when they cleaned them so I had to shower in the bathroom down the other hall. Dorms in commms had AC and it got pretty cold but the apartments do too but only in the living room. And you share your apartment with 10 people. 4 rooms have 2 beds and one has 3. There is a bus and its a pain but youll save on gas. But you can drive.

5. You get assigned to an area. Say in example you get area 1 you could possibly get to be a ride host for gatekeeper or something like ocean motion or kiddy kingdom. But like I said I wasnt a ride host so im not that familiar with that process.

6. I found out I got hired around mid February .

7. I went in person because im closer but since you're further away youll have a skype interview. So id create one if you don't have one. And the interview is pretty decent. They're pretty nice, at least my supervisor was. And no you wont have to drive down.

8. Like I said in my answer to #3 the training classes. But to add on to them, theyre boring but if you just pay attention and participate itll go by real fast.

9. Depends on what you want. They clean the bathrooms almost every morning around 8 ,9 or 10 am. Sometimes its different. I can remember the actual times lol

10. Theres not really that big of morning or night crowds since everyone has different schedules. If you ride the bus make sure youre out there earlier than the bus time because thats when itll get crowded. But that's mostly on days that there are parking bans (when you cant drive to work, gotta make room for guests) and its harder to sleep on weekends because alot of people like to party mostly on Sunday nights, thats when everyone went to louies (bar right by parking lot also called evc) the girls would like to sound like elephants walking down the halls. You can hear everything that goes down in those halls when your in your dorm.

Heres a tip, dont bring your whole room lol just bring essential things and you wont need that many clothes youll be in your uniform alot from working then just clothes for days you'll have off and when you are going out to louies. And if youre underage dont get caught drinking. Im not saying dont drink lol just dont get caught. And buy comfty shoes. Be prepared to work alot. Also save some of your money lol. I think thats about it. Oh and have fun. Some people say its horrible. But its horrible if you make it that way. Seriously, just have fun. Lol. :)

The best thing you can do is go into it with an open mind. You can read up as much as you want on other people's experiences, whether they are good or bad. But the time you spend in the park is going to be what you make it. If you go in thinking it's going to be bad, then it probably will. But if you go in with an attitude that you're going to have fun and just be open and learn as much as you can and you will have a great time. If you get hired and when you start, at first you're going to take in a lot of information, don't let it overwhelm you and do not be scared to ask any questions you have, in the company training class or wherever you end up working at.

Just a couple notes:
1) Log into the jobs page now & look at your status. It should say your application will be reviewed and kept for the 2014 season. If not - start over.
3) Mid June is actually a little late, so that may hurt your chances. The park opens May 10th, so the earlier that applicants are available, the better their chances.
Good luck!

1.) Managers were actually off mid-December until yesterday for the holiday season, once they get back in the groove of things, they'll dive into the hiring process, which will generally be mid-January. To keep an eye on the status of your application, just log into your JobNet application.

2. Ride hosts do everything. We ensure the safety of guests by checking seats, and make sure that the ride is operating smoothly. We spiel (the talking over the microphone) to assure that the guests know what is going on with the ride, and that they know what they're doing. And we are in charge of actually operating the ride. Dispatching trains, doing break checks, opening/closing the location, and so on. We rotate between positions. For example, a ride like Raptor has 9 crewed positions, and rotation happens every 30 minutes, whereas at a location such as Sky Ride, you rotate every 15 minutes when running maximum cabins.

Secondly, if you are not placed at your ideal location, keep in mind that it's your crew that will make your summer amazing, not your ride. I was the Co-Team Leader of Sky Ride last year, and had a blast, and probably the best summer I have had in four years (I worked Millennium Force in 2010, Raptor in 2011 and 2012). But if you do ultimately want to work a coaster, there is ample opportunity to crosstrain and work a coaster, just talk to your supervisor once you process in.

3. Absolutely! Crews are pretty accustomed to getting new crew members throughout the season, and there are a lot of people who actually come in the beginning of June to process in.

4. I definitely suggest living in the Common Dorms, because they have air conditioning. It'll be almost blissful coming in from 90 degree days to a nice and cool room. Plus living in the dorms you don't have to deal with as many roommates.

5. Your hiring manager (Debra Reinauer, John Hoiden, or Steve Voorhees) will assign you to your ride location that they think you'll fit best at. They will ask you if you prefer a fast paced ride location, prefer working with adults or children, and if you're afraid of heights to determine this. Like I said before, it's your crew that makes your summer, not the ride, and there's always an opportunity to cross train.

6. They start calls mid January, and people keep getting hired until April. If you applied early, I'd expect to hear something by the end of January/early February though.

7. When I was hired back in 2010, I had my interview with Karrah Folk, who now is the manager of ride operations at the park. It actually was one of the easiest interviews I've ever had, and the managers are pretty laid back, honestly. You'll have an over the phone interview, and then a second, Skype interview.

8. Yes - there are multiple company trainings that you'll have to go. Cornerstone Training is the first year training, and you'll get a tour of the park, and an introduction to the companies cornerstones. If it's your first job, you'll also have a training pertaining to that. There's also Policy training which is required of all employees and Housing training if you plan on living in housing. You'll also have an introduction to Ride Operations (if you get hired as a ride op) and get to watch some awesome videos from the 70's.

9. I always showered in the mornings. But it's really preference.

10. You get used to it. I'm generally an extremely light sleeper, but I found that I could completely tune out the sound of people being idiots in the hallway pretty quickly. And it really depends on where you work, being in an early entry such as Raptor, I would have to be in pretty early... which would lead to me beating the morning crowds... and then having been in leadership, people would just be waking up and starting to get ready by the time I left in the morning for work.

What is the age limit on working there, and if you didn't stay in employee housing how close do you think you would have to live to the park?

You can work at the park at the age of 14, although, the places that you can work are extremely limited. You have to be 18 to work in ride operations though.

I had a girl this year who lived in Toledo, and would commute back and forth. I honestly wouldn't suggest that though, as it would be pretty exhausting, especially after working a 16 hour shift.

If I am going vacation for a week, (June 18 - June 25) will that reduce my chances of getting hired?

It shouldn't. I have had a few week long and longer vacations throughout the years I have worked in the park. Just let them know in the application, interview, and if you do get hired on your first day about it and there should be no problem. But it will all depend on your department and whether or not there are multiple people requesting the same time off, so the sooner they know the better your chances are.

I just got hired for park admissions. I process in May 5th. Is there any must things I need to get that I may not have? I want to stay at Commons dorms or commons apts first floor since I have family coming in with me that cant climb stairs.

1. If you're 21, alcohol
2. Comfy sheets, and even a thick blanket, if you're like me during the summer my AC is cranked way down, love it
3. Stuff to occupy your time on off days when you're not in the park
4. Food and stuff to get by a few weeks till your checks start clearing
5. Fridge for food possibly unless it's all dry goods, etc.
6. Alcohol if you're 21

Hello everyone I'm chelibra and I just have a few questions on somethings..

#1 Do you automatically get hired if you have a Skype interveiw?

#2 are you allow to share rooms with your spouse because my finance got hired to?

#3 do anyone knows how much you get paid a hour and are you able to pick up hours as much as you want?

I'm asking cuz I never worked for cedar point and I'm just curious...

Shower as you normally would this is not basic combat training!!!!
Bring with you some good ol brews lol and all the other stuff people mentioned.

Chelibra a.k.a Libra said:
Hello everyone I'm chelibra and I just have a few questions on somethings..

#1 Do you automatically get hired if you have a Skype interveiw?

#2 are you allow to share rooms with your spouse because my finance got hired to?

#3 do anyone knows how much you get paid a hour and are you able to pick up hours as much as you want?

I'm asking cuz I never worked for cedar point and I'm just curious...

1. Not necessarily. Like any job, just because you have an interview, does not mean you're going to get hired.

2. I've heard rumors in the past of them doing married-couple housing. I really don't know how it works, or who you need to talk to.

3. It's minimum wage, for the most part. The ability to pick up shifts depends greatly on staffing, and your department.

In the past when they had "married rooms", you had to prove that you were married.

Having a "finance" would not qualify you.

Alcohol is a must!

where does the transportation busses take you?

MillenniumSpork said:
You can work at the park at the age of 14, although, the places that you can work are extremely limited. You have to be 18 to work in ride operations though.

I had a girl this year who lived in Toledo, and would commute back and forth. I honestly wouldn't suggest that though, as it would be pretty exhausting, especially after working a 16 hour shift.

I think I knew her. If her name happened to start with a K. She was exhausted during Mondays.

How do I add work locations

IntimiJustin said:

MillenniumSpork said:
You can work at the park at the age of 14, although, the places that you can work are extremely limited. You have to be 18 to work in ride operations though.

I had a girl this year who lived in Toledo, and would commute back and forth. I honestly wouldn't suggest that though, as it would be pretty exhausting, especially after working a 16 hour shift.

I think I knew her. If her name happened to start with a K. She was exhausted during Mondays.

Negative. Her name started with a H.