ready... ready ready

Hi, I am new to pointbuzz. I used to work in rides at a six flags park and I was wondering why the MCO's say "ready"..."Ready Ready". I am sure it has something to do with hitting intervals (which I also do not understand). And if I'm right, how do they know to say ready? Do they have a stop watch? And also... I hear you get in trouble if you aren't working quick enough. I applied for cedar point and I am really curious about how you guys do things and what I might be getting myself in to! Thank you so much!

Well, yes it is hitting interval. No there is no stop watch. More or less, when an operator says "Ready", it means you are capable of dispatching and in most cases, all the other operators should have checked their seats and returned to their "Safe zone" But some rides do things a little differently. Usually "Ready ready" means, well for lack of better words "HURRY UP!" Each ride is different. Ill use Millennium for example. When we feel the need to "ready" the operators, its usually once the train that is currently on the track is hitting the bunny hill next to the station. But that's because at that point the ride system will be ready to dispatch within a few seconds. We use positions of trains to help with timing. Some rides, the dispatch button will begin to blink. Like I said, all the rides are different. Interval is basically the time it takes to dispatch one train. The goal is to have checked you seats in time and have your area clear by the time the ride system is ready. Make sense? I wouldn't say you get in trouble for being slow, but if it's an issue you probably will be approached about it. But honestly, its not that hard. Check your seats and don't take your time talking and just generally being slow.

LOL at the person who worked at Six Flags and doesn't understand intervals. ;)

(Don't take it personally, it's a slam against SF, not you)

This explains everything that I need to know about Six Flags. It's really sad that they don't explain what an interval is to their employees.

Anyway. Ready and Ready, Ready are used as a way to make sure the rest of the crew is on schedule to hit interval. An interval is basically the time it takes between dispatches in order to keep the ride running smoothly so that trains don't stack or to prevent set ups. More so, in order for a ride to have maximum capacity it needs to hit interval every chance it gets.

For an easy example I'll use TTD. It's interval is 1:00. That means by the time you dispatch the trains to the time you dispatch the next trains it should take you one minute. Otherwise you'll start getting trains stuck out beyond the unload positions.

Finally, hopefully this doesn't confuse you too much, the interval can change based on how many units are in operation. The more units typically the shorter the interval, the less units the longer the interval.

Don't get me wrong, we tried to increase our ridership all the time. But we never used the word "interval". When I was at Carowinds this month I noticed their ride operators didn't say "ready" or anything like that. As far as i can recall I think cedar point is the only park I remember hearing that at. Is cedar fair not that worried about being on the same page at all of their parks?

I think it's a little different at some of the different parks due to the past ownership of them. I know Kings Island also does not "ready". So maybe it has to deal with how things were done before Cedar Fair took over and just keeping things the way they were. I can't speak to specifics as I have never worked at any other park than Cedar Point.

However, while visiting other Cedar Fair parks, including Kings Island I find that at Cedar Point we have a lot more freedom and responsibility as far as running the ride is concerned. I get the feeling our crews are a little more professional than other parks that I have visited. I may be biased though.

So is an interval from the time a train stops in the station until the time it is dispatched? or the the time it takes from one dispatch until another? I hope that question makes sense. Thanks for answering my questions guys, this is really interesting for me.

I believe it is measured in the time between dispatches. So if you have a 60 second interval, that means you have 60 seconds to bring in the next train, unload, reload, check and dispatch. Hitting interval consistently is usually a pretty big thing for CP crews.

While we're kind of on the subject, what was up with the goofy "visual scans" at Six Flags last year? That made "check... check... check" seem sane by comparison.

Ralph is right. The interval is the time between dispatches. For example you have Train 1 and Train 2. Train 1 has been checked and sent so interval time starts. You then have that amount of time on your interval to unload, check seats, and send. Some rides the unit has already been unloaded (Dragster, Millie, Wildcat) and some rides it hasn't.

Hitting interval on a regular basis is big deal for us because we want to get as many people through the ride every day as possible. It's definitely something that I take a lot of pride in on Wildcat.

While we're kind of on the subject, what was up with the goofy "visual scans" at Six Flags last year? That made "check... check... check" seem sane by comparison.

What was the visual scan you're talking about?

Also, ride hosts dont have to say, "check" to every seat they check do they? I remember being somewhere, I dont know if it was Cedar Point, but the staff said, "check" when they checked my lab bar.

At Six Flags, right before they dispatch the operator says visual scan and looks around. Not sure what the purpose is haha

green said:

While we're kind of on the subject, what was up with the goofy "visual scans" at Six Flags last year? That made "check... check... check" seem sane by comparison.

What was the visual scan you're talking about?

Also, ride hosts dont have to say, "check" to every seat they check do they? I remember being somewhere, I dont know if it was Cedar Point, but the staff said, "check" when they checked my lab bar.

We are trained to say check when we check the seats....not many people do though......

Visual scan is good for a lot of things. I mean IDK what six flags intended it for, but for ride hosts at Cedar Point, its good for I guess "double checking" visually. We watch for someone who may have unfastened a seat belt, or who has pulled out a camera (assuming you've already passed them and that you wouldnt say anything) or maybe someone who was hiding a bag or something has thrown it on the platform. Or even maybe a kid decides to be adventurous and jump over the gates as we are dispatching. who knows?

I can't say much about Six Flags parks and other Cedar Fair parks, but in all honesty, I have found that safety has become more priority at Cedar Point than what Ive encountered working at Disney. On most Disney attractions you check your own seat, the ride host just watches. I like that Cedar Point is cautious about checking seats. It makes our job fool proof!

Millie2k said:
We watch for someone who may have unfastened a seat belt, or who has pulled out a camera (assuming you've already passed them and that you wouldnt say anything) or maybe someone who was hiding a bag or something has thrown it on the platform.

Right, and that makes perfect sense. But that's not what they did at Six Flags. At SF they would announce "visual scan" and then everyone on the platform would put their hand above their eyes (like you would if you were shielding your eyes from the sun) and then look left and right like they were going to cross the street. It was just bizarre and seemed completely pointless.

That policy at SF, I believe was put in place after that kid jumped those 2 6ft fences under Batman: The Ride in Georgia.

And having people "scan" the station is going to prevent something like that from happening?

Yes Ralph! It is.

Thanks for the answeres guys. Hahaa