Ride Op Efficiancy

When I went to Cedar Point this summer, ALL of the rides dispatched with iscredible efficiancy. On my last Magnum ride, there was one ride op that was just amazing. The kid that I was going to ride with didn't quite make it into his seat before one of the ride ops closed his restraint. He told this ride op that his lap bar was already closed by the time he sat down, and you could see the fear in this ride ops's eyes! He frantically jumped over the train, unlocked our lap bars, pushed it up, unbuckled the seat belt, pushed his restraint back down, buckled up his seat belt back up...all in like 5-6 seconds. I could not believe what I had just seen! A ride op that was THAT devoted to his work that was so SCARED that the trains might stack up (and almost did by a couple seconds). Now I look at what would have happened at SFMW on Boomernag (has the same style of un-locking mechanism on the trains). Most likely, the ride ops would just say "nope, you have to wait for the next train". Either that or they would take their precious time unlocking and so forth. Now I ask myself - what makes the ride ops at CP so much better than those at SFMW? Maybe pay? Maybe there is just a higher collection of coaster enthusiasts at CP? Wahtever it is, I wish we had ride ops like that at SFMW!
Does anyone know why CP ride ops stand far above all other parks?

It may be pay.. but I doubt it. I think it's more of devotion to their job, and to Cedar Point. If you like your job, and/or where you work, you're more likely to try harder to do it better.

-----------------
Joe

Suprisingly pay is pretty low, it's respect and devotion to their jobs which makes the park run so well.
-----------------
Dream viewspot at CP: The middle support on the first turn on Millennium Force.

CP ride ops make $6.25/hour plus $1.00/hour bonus which they will get ONLY if they complete their entire contract. I know I loved getting a train in and out of the station FAST. Stacking is an awful thing for us as well as our guests so we do try to keep things moving quickly. When it's that "one" guest that keeps us from clearing a train we try to really hurry to get it out. For ME working at CP is nothing short of my love for the park...period. I have a "real" job making almost 3x/hour what I make at CP, so you know I gotta love that park!!

Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
2001 Raptor Crew
Gemini 100 "Survivor"
Po!nter Girl-FOREVER! :)
-----------
Welcome back Raptor riders-how was your flight??

Certain rides at Cedar Point...and I know Magnum at least was in this category; I'm not sure if it still is...have a particular anti-stacking tactic: If the ride stacks all three trains, the computer will set up and operators have to go scurrying out to the block brakes with keys in hand to manually reset the ride. So there is an incentive there to not stack the trains.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yes Dave, Magnum is still that way.  Not only that, but we have to call it in to Park Op and our supervisor has to call us back before we can move the trains.  The whole process during a setup usually only takes a minute or so at Cedar Point, but we still try to avoid them at all costs.  This is why sometimes I might have been bordering on rudeness with people who like to get into the train very slowly and not notice that bright orange seatbelt! :)  If someone doesn't make it into the train by the time the bars are locked, its usually a judgement call as to whether to hit the pedal and let them in or not.  Most times they are noticed quickly and let in.  Other times they come marching up on "ready ready" and we have to tell them to wait.

As for the better quality of workers at CP, I believe a big part of it is that most of them are housed there.  CP recruits workers from all over the midwest and many more come from further than that (even from other countries) so they don't have to hire people off of the local streets.  It definitely isn't the pay as I am fairly sure that Six Flags pays their workers more (for doing less might I add).  In my case though, I gave everything I had to my job because I love the park and I realize that in order to be such a good park, it takes people who are willing to work hard.  I don't like going to parks and seeing the majority of the workers slacking off, so I didn't want to have a single guest catch me slacking off the whole summer.  Numbers are a big thing at CP - probably second only to safety.  If you're not moving people through the turnstiles, you'll be hearing about it and if you're moving alot of people, you'll inspire other rides to do the same (like Magnum vs. Raptor).

-----------------
-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

Its kind of a circle...

Better Ride Ops make for happier customers, happier customers make for happier workers...  But it has to start somewhere and I applaud the workers for starting it.

-----------------
Next trip to CP on August 25th - 26th!

 I used to take the ride ops work for granted, and thought they were just kind of doing thier job...  but then i went to SFWOA which has cool rides but the emloyees dont seem to care about anything.  After seeing the way things are run there (which im shure CP workers would get fired if they did) i not truely appreciate the CP staff and thier efficiency.  Good job, guys.

Couldn't have put it better my self, Matt
-------------
-Dustin-

2001-Cedar Downs crew, WildCat crew, Magnum crew, Gemini crew???

*** This post was edited by CP Dustin on 8/29/2001. ***

I have to agree with Matt. Its a hard job but when you love it you make it work. we all work as a team.

Gina

2001 Magnum