Ride cleanliness TONY PLEASE READ! :)

Is Gemini's station still completely filthy? Last year the rafters were disgusting right over your head and were COVERED in 2 inches of brown dust and cobwebs. I think it is so disheartening when something that is so visible just neglected with such an obvious and easy fix and just looks lazy. How hard is it to just aim a hose once a month up to the rafters and walls and just rinse things off? I also HATE seeing Dragsters head restraints and seats covered in scalp oils and black and grimy. Once I saw the trains and they looked like the couch scene with Soul Glo in "Coming to America" with Eddie Murphy. I mean it would literally take 1 minute per seat with a Dollar store bottle of orange cleaner and a magic eraser and a quick scrub. If I was a ride op I would demand this or just do it myself with my own supplies to have pride in my ride. The entire set of trains could be cleaned every other week for under $10. Tony I am willing to do it for free! :)

Trust me when I say that my crews always cleaned the trains. But, by the end of the day, it would sometimes look like the bugs haven't been touched all season. What they REALLY need, is some bug and tar remover. Having worked at a car wash before, Simoniz has some stuff that does wonders to the front of a car after driving through a storm of bugs. It would be great for coaster trains.

It would also help if park operations would stock their cleaning supplies a little better, and not have old used rags and half full bottles of degreaser from seasons prior. Not to mention how rare it is to get a good broom for sweeping the queues and platform.

TwistedWicker77 said:
It would also help if park operations would stock their cleaning supplies a little better....

This comes down to seasonal supervisors and management. They are fully capable of buying new stuff from the Park Services warehouse whenever they need it. I made sure all my locations were fully stocked with new gear each week. Nobody was ever out of or low on any supplies when I worked in Operations.

Well, that tells me that you took pride in your work. Sometimes it's hard to get supplies, even after nagging for days.

The sad part is how easy it is for a Supervisor to get whatever they need from Park Services. Its just getting them to actually go do it that is the problem.

Agreed about the Gemini rafters, last year it looked like cleaning was not in the vocabulary of the people taking care of that station. I haven't seen it this year, I hope they at least cleaned it before the season started.

I found it odd how some of the seats of the Dragster trains looked black and gross. There is no way that was a day or two of typical sweaty greasy people sitting in them. Also, some of the foamy pads had chunks out of them, etc and looked like they should have been replaced. Nothing terribly important looked out of the ordinary, but given the effort they go to with all of the ride units in the off season tearing them down to nothing and rebuilding them, I'd think a bit of soaking or some kind of a cleaning of the obviously "soiled" seats would be in order.

Maxair also had nasty looking restraints. But coasters diner had no forks, knives, or ketchup and took them forever to understand my meal plan yesterday. Anybody else have issues?

I have seen the seats and restraints on Maxair being all gross and dirty as well. Agreed that there is no way that disgusting black buildup is only from a few days, that is months and sometimes seasons worth of nastiness that is just neglected and makes Cedar Point in a way look terrible. I will repeat how easy it is just spray down with a cleaner and a magic eraser and that it only takes a few minutes.

Yeah, if each person on the entire crew would take a section of seats, the job would be completed in no time.

Have things changed? When I worked in Rides, we spent about 45 minutes each morning cleaning every inch of the trains on our coaster. Every employee took a car and cleaned up until we transferred on and cycled.

How does everyone here become an expert on cleaning foam ride restraints? Is it possible the color of the foam is only on the outside, and what you're seeing is wear through to the underlying foam?

Jeff this is just plain filthy and disgusting. I get the worn part on top, but there is no reason that a world class park should have seats this dirty.

MaxAir's issue is the wear and tear like Jeff said. Ten years of sweaty arms and greasy hands will take a toll on any ride. The foam just breaks down over time. I noticed it this weekend and I took a picture. I'm no germaphobe, but I definitely second guessed my decision to ride it.

Wow, people think in the morning all rides have tons of time to clean everything. You forget us decobbing the ride, the queues, trains, platform, bins, rails, etc. Then to think we still have to do our morning checklists and other necessary things to get the ride open.

Guess what, its not even mufflehead season yet..and ridiculously hot weather..wait till people start sweating and stuff

thedevariouseffect said:
You forget us decobbing the ride, the queues, trains, platform, bins, rails, etc.

The crew I worked on was able to do all that and still spend time on each car of the train for all 3 trains. All before we even transferred on and cycled the ride. Good leadership will find a way to make it work and ours did.

Jeff, exactly! The color of the seats will definitely come off with a magic eraser, resulting in the head rests fading more than they already are.

In terms of maXair head rests, I thought their original color was black already anyways.

99er, things may have changed, because crews don't have to be on platform until an hour before they open. That's not enough time to clean all 3 trains (or however units you may have at your location), decob, sweep, test cycles, AND open up on time. I don't think it has to do with leadership, rather management and their way of "cutting back" to save on money. I would much rather have everything cleaned every morning before cycling. If you don't mind me asking, what coaster did you work? And what year?

Some ride crews have more than one ride to work too 99er. Take my ride. One person in the morning still has to go over and clean Super and get it ready too. Morning staffing is the bare minimum to run. So for me on Corkscrew that year at the time was six (crowd, load, unload 1, unload 2, controls, and Super). Morning checklists if I remember:

1. Clean Queues
2. Clean Rails
3. Adjust Chains in queues
4. Sweep platform
5. Clean trains
6. Clean rails in station
7. Reset Turnstile
8. Low zone locks
9. Write up daily paperwork
10. Check maintanance sheet
11. Transfer on trains
12. Clean trains
13. Test trains, run cycles
14. Test rides
15. Do any other things needed that day(weekly/monthly cleaning--Super had to get it's tarp cleaned at one point)

All of this mind you with minimum staffing, that's it. Thankfully new positions like entrance has been added, so more people can split the work up easier. Also, don't forget that it's a job, some people call in sick, some quit, some no call/no show, or get pulled to another ride location. I remember quite a few times another ride location needed help and someone got pulled to go help them out, myself included in that a time or two.

I'm all for cleanliness in the park, it's part of the company cornerstones mind you. However, just understand, there's alot going on to even get everything done just to open the ride, it's a lot of stuff to make sure ride ops get just right. Sometimes the mark isn't met in cleanliness, it happens. Just be understanding, but trust me it'll get taken care of. We do care about our rides, trust me.

You don't have to try and justify anything to me. I spent 11 years working at the park and know what each ride has to go through for opening and how much staffing they may or may not have. I spent an entire season at MF (cause back in my day you didn't hop around to other rides). We had about an hour most days to do everything you mentioned and even more in the colder months. Not sure if they still do this but each train was covered front to back, top to bottom with large tarps that we would have to uncover. Under the train were a bunch of heaters that ran all morning to heat up the wheels. On top of that we would also have to unload a water dummy from each seat as well. So I know what you are talking about and then some.

We had good leadership who would think outside the box to make sure all was done because we were also doing this with minimum staffing. For example stuff like setting the queue chains was done the night before once the queue was empty. Any cleaning that could be done then was also taken care of to help speed up the process in the morning. It might have been 14 years ago but the operation is still the same then as it is now. That's the thing about Cedar Point, its always operated the same.

As others have mentioned though, most of the cleaning they have pointed out is build up over an entire season. Sure you might miss something here and there but to let it build up to the point of what has been mentioned is unacceptable. Management was also more than willing to schedule hours for a project of mass cleaning if we brought it to their attention. I can certainly say that the cleanliness of the park has definitely been going downhill in regards to the "little things".

I personally would not be deterred by the general dirty appearance of the foam restraints. While some of it may clean up, the majority of it is strictly from the thousands of people wearing it down day after day, just like the finish on many other high-traffic surfaces in any place you visit. They could use a stronger material that would look better for a longer duration, but lose the somewhat softer padding that the foam provides. Best case is that when the material reaches what they determine is its' useful life, it is replaced. That time frame is certainly subjective and I can't imagine it is cost effective to do.

I remember years ago when Montu switched out all their yellow over the shoulder restraints and added black restraints. While they certainly looked better for a much longer time period, I honestly missed the pop of color the yellow restraints added to the trains. Imagine if Cedar Point added black restraints and seats to every single ride. In the end, it really doesn't matter as long as the ride is good, but I feel the colors add more to the overall atmosphere, despite the worn down look as they age.

Something I would look at are the bodies of the trains... did someone drool on them, are they covered in bug guts from weeks ago, bubblegum stuck to them, or just generally dirty. Metal/Plastic/Fiberglass is all usually easier to clean than foam and I do agree if maintained will help the park stand out as taking pride in their rides. Sure, wiping the restraints is important to do and can help, but time and volume of ridership just don't help matters no matter how much cleaning they do.

Lastly, thank you to Tony for the communication, planning, and excitement he creates for all guests. While he may read these messages, I don't expect him to be responsible for addressing the cleanliness concerns as there are more appropriate channels we can take to voice our concerns and trust that the management will consider what is best for all involved.

The fact that many people responded also shows how much everyone cares that their park is the best, so I am in no way knocking this topic and think it is good to bring up!