Pay after Taxes

I wouldn't expect either of you to understand my point of view and I would have probably scoffed at the idea when I was a kid.

Just a few clarifications. The accidents at Geauga Lake did happen. '89 and '91 (or '90-'91...my memory is fading). Both accidents (on the Big Dipper) were late in the evening. I was the Area Manager for that part of the park at the time of the second accident and I was a first responder. That coaster at that time did NOT have much in the way of redundancies. Fortunately, nobody was killed but there were injuries.

I'm aware of the safety systems in rides...I worked nearly every type of ride through the mid 90s. I'm also aware that a death would be highly unlikely on something like the Antique Cars. But, from a regulatory point of view I don't know how you would differentiate the various types of rides and say for X type of rides you needed X hours of rest and for Y number of rides you need Y hours of rest.

I didn't say sweeps don't have demanding jobs, I said their mistakes aren't likely to kill anyone...or themselves. I think sweeps type jobs are some of the better jobs in the park. You are somewhat free to roam around, you have more guest interaction than most, and you get to work largely without someone constantly looking over your shoulder. My buddy worked Custodial at Disney when I worked in attractions and he have a far more enjoyable experience than I did.

I'm not bickering at all. I'm just sharing my opinion as a former employee and a current guest and father of two who might one day be on your ride after you worked an O-C...closed Louie's at 2am, and are starting your second O-C of hell week.

Honestly... Ride operators are smart. Esoecially the ones who work at Cedar Point. If they worked amd o-c and have another the next day... Ou won't see them at Louie's. Most ride operators plan ahead and work with their crews on scheduling louie nights. They may ask for an 1130-close on the next day.

I would like to give my two sense. I worked on Top Thrill Dragster las year and I will be there again this year i know that ride like the back of my hand. I also know the safety systems that are in place on that ride. It is next to impossible for someone to die on that ride due to an Operator or System Error. If there is and operator error that person is sent to entrance or crowd for the rest of the day. If there is a safety error we will get an error light and the situation will be fixed. And believe me we get error lights for many different things. Also, there are E-Stop buttons if there were anything to go drastically wrong.

Also, you worked a completely different park in the late 80s/early 90s, Cedar Point is very different from the other Cedar Fair parks, and it is over two decades later. I no doubt know that you have knowledge of how the park runs, but it is different from park to park. The managers, supervisors, and ride ops know what they are doing. They have been trained very well and there is no reason to doubt what they do.

Amen sister

The only exception to someone getting sent to crowd or entrance for an operational would be if 3 people had an operational in 1 day. Or 2 people at a ride with no entrance. In that case, the person gets to stay in rotation, therefore still pushing buttons. Obvs this doesn't happen all the time, but I have seen it happen a few times. However, I still have yet to see anyone get hurt because of an employee error.

Rider operators are smart and would not subject themselves to Louie's if they worked O-C one day and had to follow up with an O-C the next day?

I stand corrected. Things HAVE really changed sice I was a ride op.

And, sending someone to entrance or crowd for the rest of the day if there was an operator error seems like that is too late. Sort of like putting up railroad crossing arms after someone gets hit by a train.

I don't doubt rides are safter than when I worked. Gosh, they better be.

Actually most of those signs and things are put up after and injury or death has happened there so they don't get sued again. But like everyone else is saying people getting hurt due to operator error is highly unlikely. You're more likely to die in a plane crash due to the pilots error then you are to get hurt from a roller coaster due to operator error.

I agree with everything a ride host has said on here and just wanted to add a few things.

One, we're young kids. Most of us are just out of high school and in college. We bounce back extremely well and are able to work long hours with little sleep and not have it affect us too much.

Two, this is Cedar Point. I don't think many people who are not Ride Ops who really know how well we are trained to operate these rides. It is drilled into us from Day 1 that safety is the most important thing.

Yup!