The ride op red zone

Oh, I don't know. There is nothing more entertaining to me than hearing a ride op who thinks he/she is funny and the entire crowd knowing the person is anything BUT funny.

I've never seen the "Welcome back riders, how was your ride" take anything away from any of the safety instructions.

The thing I like about the live spiels is that many CP ride ops develop a style where they sound professional and are still able make it fun. Some screwing around does happen, but it's been very minimal in my visits to the Point, which go back to the early 60's. And really, once the restraints have been checked, the common "sit upright, hold on tight, see you back here in 2 min. 15 sec." is about all the rider needs to do. Anything else is just legal BS that no one pays any attention to anyway.

Live spiels make the atmosphere more fun. When you look at any company dealing with the public, the front line people are the company to the customers. It is much better to have your front line people interacting with your customers. When guests are on the platform, the ride ops are Cedar Point to the guests. You can have a live person talking about the ride, asking guests how their ride was and even adding a personal touch like wishing someone a happy birthday. Or, you can have what sounds like a faceless corporation coming from speakers, while the ride ops stand around like mutes with no guest interaction. Which do you think makes people feel happier and better about Cedar Point?

Very well put, Pete.

This thread wasn't about spiels. It was about the red dots. There is at least one other thread already about spiels.

Yeah, but this is intelligent discussion, not whining.

Funny thing about the red dots and op... On opening day the Magnum op was hit in the face by a kid screwing around jumping on the bars. the CP op guy got blind sided by this kid and im thinking, how many times did that happen? All they get is that little V shape spot in the middle. I really agree with Jeff, they blend in the crowd to much. I think if a rider grabs at employee, they should be several warned or thrown out of the park.

VIN#1TRAIN215FT70MPH said:
thrown out of the park.

That's all that needs to be done.

I haven't been to Cedar yet or heard the old spiels..recorded or otherwise..so won't be missing anything. I like the human interaction better than recorded spiels though. The recorded ones become background noise after the third or fourth repitition. A new delivery by an op is both entertaining and jerks me back to attention. I'm a safety nut myself,so keep aware of the ride rules. Some don't or don't get belts on completely etc..I'd like to have ops in positions where they can see that even if it means a brief stop on a ride. if the dots are really behind poles,it's not smart.

Auto Spiels get really boring I like when the CP op mix it up and make it more personal and fun. The staff on Raptor, Gemini and Magnum had a a great time on Opening Day it seemed.

Fast - Remeber Louie the Lighting Bug??? SAFETY FIRST... lol I think CP is always thinking that anyways, I feel as safe as you can at 420 feet in the air.

If you're too close to the trains, you risk falling into the track; it's happened! :-X Besides, another result of standing too close to the trains is the encouragement you give to guests to slap your hands and potentially pull you in.

train...I've never really been scared of being injured on a ride..except for those swings with the chains and the rat race type rides..don't know exactly why they seem different...

I don't recall hearing the spiel on the Magnum lift.

I have; it's quite audible from the Lighthouse Point cabins. I think of it as my personal wake-up call. It's completely useless to those in the train, of course, but that's another story entirely.

I started a thread about this topic this winter and it's great to see that the Point has made the park that much more personal.

This weekend I rode the troika and the girl who was running it was not only giving her own spiel, but also was leading each color of cars in a cheering contest during the ride, as each color passed by her booth.

Three things went through my head, in this order:

1. They haven't fired her yet?

2. Sounds corny but the people seem to like it, and no one's getting hurt.

3. This is the most personable I've seen a CP ride op in years and it's making the freaking TROIKA entertaining!

I really hope this catches on. Cheers to CP for finally running their operation as an amusement park rather than just a business!

Brian Noble said:

I don't recall hearing the spiel on the Magnum lift.

I have; it's quite audible from the Lighthouse Point cabins. I think of it as my personal wake-up call. It's completely useless to those in the train, of course, but that's another story entirely.

I didn't hear it this weekend either. It's always been there in the past. Maybe they forgot to turn it on. :) Or maybe they finally realized it was worthless. I didn't hear Raptor's or Gemini's either for that matter. And I'm not sure why it was ever necessary for those rides to have the lift spiel, but no others.

White Water Landing had a lift spiel, too.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Jeff said:

I understand the logic is that the ride operators should be in places they can't get grabbed by riders on the train. I find that a bit absurd since as far as I know it hasn't happened in decades, at any park. .

When maXair was closed, and I was working on Raptor the last couple of weekends, I've had people actually try and grab onto my self and other ride ops as the train was leaving the station. It happens far more often than you may think. I'm all for the red zones.

On Magnum every so often people try and slap your "thumbs-up" hand on the way out...it happens. But one time when I was clearing the train at Unload 1 a passenger grabbed my wrist and didn't let go until I was off balance. My first instinct was to yank my arm away, which I did (and hit my hand on the faux roof they have above the train). Had I been dragged off the platform, the worst I would have suffered would have been some scrapes suffered from landing on the catwalk. But that didn't happen, so no harm no foul.

However, I was told that in 2003 a girl clearing at Load 1 was nearly dragged off the end of the platform (where there is a 20 foot drop onto concrete).

So the phenomenon of employees being dragged by guests isn't completely unfounded, but I definitely think that there can be a better solution than the V's currently utilized on the Magnum platform. I don't see why they can't stand on the opposite side (to the left) of the pillars. The employees would then be out of reach of guests exiting the station, they would have a better vantage point of seat belts, and they would be more visible to the other crew members in the event of a "hold" being called.

Hopefully management will listen to the recommendations of Magnum alum about this concern because I am in agreeance that they are sacrificing guest safety for worker safety on this matter.

The red dots at Magnum are terrible! It's bad enough that the op has to stand behind the pillar and barely get there arm stretched out past it for the thumbs-up. But, the red dot is farther back yet. If the op has to stand on it, they would need to have an arm lenth of about 4 ft!

If the people grab at you isnt there a rule on that??? I think that CP would be more incline to protectig their employees. Another thing I hate...is the people that put their thumbs up. These people had no attention from there parents. Im for the red dots to keep the employees safe, but like we said before, its kind of hard to check the train as its leaving when you 5 ft away from it.

If an guest grabbed my wrist (if I were a ride op), I would find it difficult to not beat the living snot out of them upon their return to the station. At the very least, they would have some CPPD waiting for them, if only for a very stern warning.