Question for Ride Ops

I am one of the thousands that would like to work at Cedar Point but I am to far into my current career (Broadcasting) to make the jump to CP.

When working controls, what goes on there. What is the kind of things you have to do (or push) when a train enters, unloads, loads and is dispatched from the station.

I always thought it would be neat to find a instruction manual to the rides (I'm sure they all work diffrent).

I checked past threads and couldn't find anything on this topic. Just curious to a stupid question. Thanks to all who respond :)

All of the coasters run a little differently. I've run Iron Dragon and Disaster Transport, and of course had friends run most of the others.

For Iron Dragon, the controls operator holds down the dispatch button (big one at the bottom) the whole time the train is moving through the station, otherwise it stops (both in or out). The computer releases the harnesses, but you have a manual button to unlock those too. Then you lock them, and dispatch the train again. There are all sorts of other buttons for ride setups (restarting lifts, restarting brakes, etc), and the big E(emergency)-Stop button if anything really goes wrong and the ride needs to be stopped right away. From what I remember, that's all there is to running the Iron Dragon. *Grin*

Disaster Transport is different -- there are two buttons to push to dispatch the shuttles, one the load/unload operator will hit and one for the control operator. The rest of it really isn't that much different.

For all the coasters, the computers really won't let you mess it up. It is fun, and relaxing because you get to sit down, you're not running all over the platform, etc. I love running the coasters, and I hope I get the chance again someday!
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Disaster Transport '97 Crew
Iron Dragon '98 Crew

Gemini is a bit different to run and from what I've been told, it's the hardest coaster in the park to run. Partly because of six trains giving us an extremely short interval and partly because we must manually park all of our trains when they enter the station. This can easily lead to overshoots (PERRRFECT!), or a "Flannigan", which is when you just shoot the whole train thru the station. Luckily, we had none of those this year!

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Gemini ATL 2000
9 positions in 4 1/2 hours and still keepin' both sides happy!

So if your on a train when a "flannigan" happens, you get an extra ride??

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Magnum-Just Ride It!!!

With Raptor-when a train enters the station the dispatch button has to be pushed then the control buttons (two which KILL your fingers) until the train comes to a complete stop. Then you push the button to make the floor rise, then you wait til the train clears out, then lock the harnesses and when you get the "clear" from the unload 3 person you call "clear" and push the control buttons again until the train clears the station.
(Dispatch also needs to be pushing their button for this to work)
When you hear "ready" it means the lift hill is empty and you can then send another train to the lift hill.
There you go...now you're a Raptor ride op!

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Welcome back Raptor riders-how was your flight??

on millennium force, the order to dispatch is like this. The unload person pushes their dispatch button and gives the thumbs up to load. The load person looks around for three thumbs up signals and pushes their dispatch button. The person in controls sees this and pushes two dispatch buttons, gives the CLEAR and the spiel and the computer does the rest. Also along with the dipatch buttons are your manual controls like lift jog forward and backward. These move the catch car up and down the lift. E-STOP, buttons to move trains from the waiting area to unload, unload to load and some other things as well.

Freaky,
I must tell you to stay away from Cedar Point. My illustrious summer on the Gemini has been one of the contributing factors in my alcoholism. I will agree with the Gemini Princess when she says that people say that operating the Gemini is difficult; however, I must contend that in all honesty, it is an extremely easy ride to operate and that the hearsay describing its operational toughness is unfounded. The difficulty in the job lies in the inordinate amount of hours that you are asked to work. Inasmuch as I love roller coasters, I really hated the hours. Now, use what I just told you as a model with which we can use to explain my alcoholism. The reason people drink as regards to being detrimental is for stress relief. Heretofore, I have made you cognizant of the fact that Cedar Point causes stress and now, using the model as well as the explication for stress-related drinking, I present to you the grand finale of it all. Jack Daniels. Every night. No questions asked. Yes, I am still stressed out from this summer. Unfortunately, it has carried over into school. Don't work at Cedar Point.

I would have to totally disagree with you Forensicating Geminazi on almost everything. I worked at the point this summer, and when I worked in games for the first couple of weeks we worked 80 hours a week with no day off because we were so understaffed. During the entire time we were stuck in a games box standing, not allowed to lean or sit at all. It was rough, but I made it. I ended up getting a transfer to Camp Snoopy, but just because everyone else is drinking doesn't mean you have too. I worked all summer without taking a drink or even stepping foot in Louie's. It wasn't difficult, it was just something I know I wouldn't and couldn't do. Especially because I'm 20 and I could have easily gotten served. Don't listen to the last post, Cedar point is awesome, and I met hundreds of awesome people.

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John
Camp Snoopy Ride Op 2000
MF Laps-50
www.shoewee.tripod.com

I worked at CP for three summers, each one seemingly worse than the last: fewer ESD events, longer hours, more incompetent supervisors. I, too, worked 60-70 hours each week, and what's more, I lived in Gold Dorms (on-point) with no heat, no a/c, half the time no hot water, periodic fire alarms that broke for half the day, no insulation in the walls to block the noise, and all of that. I was there with my fiance (at the time, now my husband), and we continually had opposite shifts: he'd open and I'd close, and vice versa, so we barely ever got to see one another. I was a ride op, a sweeperette, and a merchandise clerk (different times at different seasons).

Never once did I ever set foot in Louie's (though I am over 21), and never did I even have a drink. I was under as much stress as anyone else, so what did I do? I read books, took long walks at night along the empty midways, walked along the beach, etc. Working at Cedar Point does not cause drinking problems, that's just how some people choose to work on their stress, and it is their choice, not CP's fault.

I know I've made it sound like working at CP is the pits, but I'd gladly go back. The experience of being a part of a world-class amusement park, seeing the smiles on guests faces day after day as they enjoy their summer vacations, the tons of friends you make, and just to be able to go ride the rides whenever you want far outweigh the downside, for me. That may not be the case for everyone, but we are all entitled to our own opinions.

Sorry this has been so long, I'm sure you can appreciate it with the topic!

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Disaster Transport '97 Crew
Iron Dragon '98 Crew *** This post was edited by CrystalKat on 10/26/2000. ***

I would like to thank everyone for their response to my controversial rhetorical criticism. I was a little miffed that all of the responses previous to mine didn't highlight the big problem with CP. Of course, in my case, my problem stemmed from stress ex post facto. As regards to paradox, I want to work at the point again. I am too merry to type now. I'll gladly write more tomorrow. The irony of it all...

I certainly wouldnt recommend working @ CP either, but alot of my stress had to do with having a life 128 miles away from CP that I still had to maintain. I only worked weekends
and every check I recieved had 30+ hours on it.
Yes the hours are incredible and I will say here again that I have a whole new admiration for all CP employees.
As for the previous post about alcohol, I will be the 1st to admit that I took advantage of tons of parties during my 6 weeks-waking up at Bayside,
getting lost walking back to the dorm from Louies, trying to survive on 2 & 3 hours sleep and some hangovers that could kill-basically just acting like a fool, and mine had to do with something going on in my life, nothing to do with CP! NO one forced me to drink-and chances are it will be months before I touch the stuff again. So my foolishness had NOTHING to do with CP, but thats not to say that was the case for all, just for me!

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Welcome back Raptor riders-how was your flight??

Don't you guys thing that the stress factor depends on luck? I mean that some people could get the worst hours possible and have a terrible time, while others could have one of their best life experiences ever. I've heard a lot of people that worked all season quite content with their summer at CP.

Apparently CP bound you dont know what your hours scheduled are at CP. As a ride op, they are simple
"opening to closing"-opening being 1 hour before park opens and closing being after all the queue lines have been swept (on Saturdays this could take HOURS) the ride needs to be transfered (this depends on the ride-I am speaking of Raptor, I do believe the same goes for Mantis and maybe all the coasters-I dont know) So when the park closed at midnight, and the last rider rode, all the stuff was done-we were free to leave at around 1:30am-this after officially starting our day @ 9:30am. I only worked Sept and Oct weekends and was WIPED OUT. I can NOT imagine how difficult it was for the regulars during the regular season working 14-15 hour days with no day off for 2 and 3 weeks sometimes...
remember too that CP does NOT pay overtime!
Working at CP is far from anyone's "dream career" (except for maybe the silver tags) But I thought I would at least let you know about the hours the ride ops are scheduled. It is indeed stressful
how you handle that stress is up to the individual.

Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
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Mike Piazza is a BABE! I need to start watching my Mets more often!!!

Jo, during the regular season you don't work open to close every day. Just during weekends everyone's scheduled for an O-C every day. This topic has been covered before.

The shifts are all listed in THIS thread:

http://www.guidetothepoint.com/thepoint/cpplace/thread.asp?ForumID=3&TopicID=937

The hours aren't really as bad as everyone makes them out to be just as long as you anticipate them and know you'll be working 50+ hours a week. And they make this very clear to you. In fact, most of the foreigners were very upset that they DIDN'T break 60 a lot of weeks mid-season, because mid-season is when we're actually fully staffed and we don't work extremely long hours. In fact, a lot of us saw shifts more like 11:30 - 8:00 and even sometimes 11:30 - 6:00 or 1:30 - 8:00.

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Natalie
CP Ride Operations '99-'00

The answer, of course, is to work those cushy union jobs :) I worked at CP from '93-'98. As a landscaper, my normal work week was M-F, 6:30am-2:30pm. I also worked a 2:00am-10:00am shift, a 4:00am - 12noon shift, and the occasional weekend.

Advantages: Base wages were higher, paid overtime, 5-day work week (except early season), always working somewhere different in the park.

Disadvantages: No seasonal bonus, union dues, working in all weather conditions (try raking leaves in a snow/sleet mix), no promotions (i.e. only two levels: a red tag and a full-time employee). That didn't bother me, but I know colors are important to some.

Because of the hours and the fact most seasonal landscapers are locals, it was easy to stay out of the late night party scene. It also meant missing out on most ESD activities.

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Cedar Point Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com



*** This post was edited by Gemini on 10/30/2000. ***

The shifts you work also depend on what department your're in. In '97 I was in Merchandise, and they structured it like this: you were either an opener (9am - 5pm) or a closer (3pm - closing). You worked that same shift every day.

Even in Park Operations, they really do try to give you a break. I know my team leaders always tried to have you open the day before your day off and close the day after, so you had the most time off that you could. Of course, what with staffing and all, it didn't always work that way, but we tried.

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PO!NT OF VIEW - A Different Look at Roller Coasters
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/

We were so overstaffed on Raptor during July that we were working, Open-1:30pm before our day off and then 6:30pm-close the day after our day off.

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Raptor Chris 2000
BSU FOOTBALL ROCKS! 4-GAME WINNING STREAK! DAVID LETTERMAN WOULD BE PROUD!

... for many of us "Silver Tags" CP is our dream career.. and for 99.9 % of us to achieve our dream we had to put in the long hours, hot days,frustration and all the other stuff that comes with the job. We still do!!But in return we get to be part of the memories that our guests take home with them and make some memories of thier own. Almost any CP employee can tell you that they learned a heck of a lot in thier summer at CP... Patience, tolerance and what it truly means to work hard being among the top learning expereinces. Even LuvRaptor learned a few things in her short time with us.. she especially learned that our employees work their $*&#S off to give our guests the best day possible. Yes, it is hard work.. but you get out of it what you put into it. Every day I walk the midways and look for one good thing about the park that day.. it isn't hard to find!

Actually, I went out of my way to make guests miserable. I had two good reasons to do this.
1. They were always *****y and whiny. If I pissed them off enough, they would go to another ride, hence, away from me.
2. I have little doubt in my mind that once having dealt with me, a guest would be in an extremely foul mood. I envision them taking this foul mood to another ride and receiving equally poor treatment from another ride op, causing them to leave the park. Once enough guests leave the park, rides lose the need for full staffing. This leads to "cutbacks" which really make me happy.

Whoever came up with the quixotic notion concerning staff doing whatever was in the guests' best interests must be woefully misinformed. It is fitting that such propoganda comes from a silver tag. I say this because not too many silver tags liked me. Conversely, they were also the bane of my existence this summer. Furthermore, I would like dismiss the notion of learning valuable life lessons on the grounds of topicality. That's all. I can't wait to see what everyone thinks of this one. Please remember that this is all my opinion and personal attacks are unnecessary and frivolous. Thanks :-)

Obviously no silver tag liked you Forensicating Geminazi. Our whole point of working at CP was to serve guests while at work. I know Gemini was bad, and I've had to deal with a lot of people too. Try dealing parents of children who think their child is tall enough to ride the ride by themselves. Or for kids riding Red Baron the child had to be between 46 and 54 inches. If they weren't in here they couldn't ride at all, not even with a parent. I was F'ed off so many times while running that ride. Yes it was hard to keep my cool and try to sympathize with the angry guest, but it was something I had to do because it was my job, my responsibility, because I signed that contract. Think about your summer. I'm sure you had some great times while at CP, and if you intentionally made it bad for you and your guests that is your fault. We had a great time. One thing that makes working there fun is working on the mic. You can have a great time on the mic and get laughs from your guests and co workers. Just a thought

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John
Gemini Unball Games Host 2000
Camp Snoopy Ride Op 2000
MF Laps-50
www.shoewee.tripod.com