Understaffing at Cedar Point hits nightmarish levels...

Couple of things I have found out...

CP is currently allowing 16 year olds to work as Ride Hosts. They can do every position except for controls. I don't remember if this had been addressed in the past, but I'm not going back to re read considering the growing amount of pages this thread has accumulated in less than a week.

Wages for all employees have increased. However, IMO, it's too late. People have already left. I remember a time when people would leave before their contract was up and were blacklisted from applying. Back when CP was able to afford that.

It's so funny how much ride enthusiasts hate the bane of ride op existence...IROC. If only you knew what it was like to work as a ride op pre IROC to now. You'd be pulling your hair out...assuming nobody here is bald of course :)

A birdie has told me that TTD will be open this weekend.

^IROC is disliked because it makes things slower allegedly. Are you saying the ride ops had more stressful work before IROC? What specific factors made that happen? I imagine operations are a lot slower now, but doesn't IROC also have a lot of little things that make things more complicated?

It's also hardware, IMO, that has affected speed on some rides.. Look at Phoenix, being checked in 20-30 seconds with buzz bars and no seat belts, and it only recently got air gates (sadly.)

Then look at Blue Streak, which wasn't supposed to set up when it had skids and buzz bars, and now is basically impossible not to stack due to a combination of procedures (stand on the dot), slow airgates that completely block the left side of the train when opened, individual belts, and individual bars. Also perhaps the fin brake and control system. (Which also hurts the ride experience - even if you get a loose bar, you're still going to get the retractable belt locking against you. Damages the floating-out-of-the seat feeling that classic woodies are designed for.)

GigaG said:
^IROC is disliked because it makes things slower allegedly. Are you saying the ride ops had more stressful work before IROC? What specific factors made that happen?

Quite the opposite. I'm merely stating that I find it funny how IROC has effected you as a guest. It is equally frustrating, if not more, as a ride operator. It's a garbage program. The old style of operations was the best.

^I'd be interested in knowing more. I just DM'd you so I don't clutter up the thread with random tangents.

Matt/ Mr Potato... Thanks for the insight in IROC and it's peculiarities, been out of the game for a while!

MDOmnis said:. It seems to me that they're not allowed to run three trains being one person short - especially since they start the rotations from crowd control these days.

That's what I assumed as well. I rode Magnum about 15 minutes after opening and they had 2 at load, 2 unload and 1 at controls. 1 Ride Pride (or whatever they are called now) each at Entrance, Crowd and FL each. Long day for all I'm guessing.

Worse off was the old Arrow's and Blue Streak. Looked like only 1 at load and unload each. Must have run the crews ragged. Around peak I doubt there was a single coaster with less than an 60 minute wait.

Know it's probably not practical, but on days like this the 3rd trains on the old Arrows would be nice. I remember 50-60K days and Gemini , Mine Ride, etc would all have manageable lines since they were pumping through all trains from the start. Granted they would need to staff for those extra trains as well.

Speaking of, I find it funny in the past Mine Ride could only run 2 trains for a while, but they had all 5 trains on track and transfer. Now they upgraded to run 3 trains and now only have 2 trains total on.

Pete said:

As for parking, did you consider that a lot of people find it no big deal to drop $40 for valet parking for the convenience?

Exactly. Products like tiered parking exist because customers want them.

Hi everyone,

Our entire team is aware that for some, the experience in the park on 10/14 did not meet expectations. You should know that we're all working on it at every level. I won't go into complete detail on all the happenings behind the scenes, but we're fully committed to ensuring that future visits to the park are the best they can possibly be for our guests. Thank you for providing some feedback here.

If you were at the park on 10/14 and would like to tell us more, you can reach out to us by visiting the site - it's the best way for comments to reach their appropriate managers/divisions.

Thanks,

TC

^Thank you for interacting with your fans. That's above and beyond, especially for a massive park with so much going on like CP.

It's gonna be in the 70's and sunny all weekend which means another busy weekend. I'd drive 90 minutes, pay Turnpike tolls, gas, etc. to help out but who's gonna buy me lunch or dinner? :)

GigaG said:

^Thank you for interacting with your fans. That's above and beyond, especially for a massive park with so much going on like CP.

Above and beyond, not even. I'd say it's common practice for stand up businesses to address any large issues that come up.

This kind of response should have occurred Monday morning at the latest. I think CP's Socail Media team also needs to be more proactive in responding to customer complaints via those platforms. The days of calling/visiting Customer Service to complain are gone. The use of Facebook/Twitter/Instagram is only going to increase going forward, Millenials despise actually calling people.

I actually think that KI's Social Media team is better at responding and being proactive about getting ahead of potential issues. The old adage about one disgruntled customer telling ten of their friends reaches a new magnitude when one negative post can reach 100's of followers.

tedders55 said:

....Millenials despise actually calling people.

Probably because it requires effort.

^Not a millennial, but I hate calling people...I'm an email guy. I just don't like talking to people, especially on the phone haha

I was speaking more toward using social media to whine about stuff. Writing an email, while requiring less effort than a call, still requires more effort than bitching on Facebook.

djDaemon said:

tedders55 said:

....Millenials despise actually calling people.

Probably because it requires effort.

Exactly, that is part of the culture shift in staffing the park. The delicate Millennials would rather play video games in their mom's basement than go out and work. At the University I work at they even bring in therapy dogs during finals in case the delicate students get stressed out and can't take it anymore.

I'm old school I'm sure, but our "therapy" to get through finals was the threat of flunking. Nothing else required, except a pitcher of beer after finals. And if I were working open to close at CP, bring it on, more money in my pocket. There is a lack of motivation now to work, rather it seems to be "what can you do for me to give me a reason to come to work, make it nice enough and I'll help you out."

Pete I agree with you. Millennials do not want to work. Mom and dad have given them everything and they intend to take it for as long as they can. And half of those who would like to work can't pass the drug test required by most employers today. Just look at the "help wanted" signs in front of all business. Cedar Point can't find help, McDonald's can't find help and neither can the Ford plant down the road. Where is Cedar Point going to find the employees to pay $10, $12 and $15 an hour?

Not to turn this political but that's exactly why the young people liked Bernie Sanders. "Oh free stuff! I like this guy!"

I have a part time second job to help put my two kids through college. I was scheduled from 5-10 PM. I was done with my duties at 9:40 so I asked if it was OK to leave because I don't think it's right to get paid to stand around and not work, I'm not a millennial.

There are tons of amazing employees at Cedar Point, almost all of whom would be considered millennials. I've met a lot of them personally (and I'm sure you have too) and in many cases (especially if they operate rides that open for early entry and have a line to run out at the end of the night) they work consecutive days from about 8am to well after midnight in some cases, operating on little sleep with a smile on their face.

In addition, Sandusky and the surrounding areas have an unemployment rate well above the national average. While older generations love to complain about how lazy millennials are, I don't see a massive influx of Gen Xers jumping at the chance for temp jobs at Cedar Point while they search for something permanent either. In an area of the country where people complain so much about jobs leaving the area and how difficult it is to find work, how come there's a place that's desperate for employees that can't fill all of their positions?

To me it seems like the answer is that all of these people think they're too good for a temporary minimum wage job and would rather stay home complaining about the millennials who also think they're too good for temporary minimum wage jobs.

This is not exclusively a millennial problem. Older generations have complained about younger generations being lazy since the beginning of time. I don't really put much stock into it. There are plenty of lazy people regardless of age. On the flip side, some of the hardest working people I've ever met are millennials who work at Cedar Point, get 5 hours of sleep per night and wake up in the morning loving their jobs.

I don't even want to touch base on what this thread has turned into. However, generalizing all Millennials into one category as basically "lazy" is quite ridiculous. This will always be a constant battle with the older generation. I strongly believe the same stuff happened when you were the newest generation. You just didn't hear about it because you didn't have the communication tools we do now. I'm considered a Millennial, and I have busted my butt to be where I'm at. I also don't think it has to do with mainly generation...rather, who raised us.

Ah yes, the timeless tradition of blaming the generation currently in their teens and twenties of not being motivated. Let's ignore the fact that Baby Boomers said the exact same things about Gen X and their TVs and newfangled Atari video games.

As someone who apparently qualifies as a Millennial, I can tell you after I graduated college in 2011, I got a job in retail while my wife finished school (married at 21), worked 2 jobs (one Black Friday I worked from 11:45 PM Thursday to 7 PM Friday), got full time employment at one of the retail jobs, and now work full time at a great (non-retail) company while my wife teaches. So please, spare me this "Millennial" BS.

Gen Xers have provided this country with means to a whole lot of debt, rising interest rates, and rising costs of education, while telling us that we needed participation trophies to make us feel good about ourselves. I don't remember ever asking for one of those stupid trophies, but they got shoved down my throat every soccer season.

I worked at Cedar Point in 2010 (as I've pointed out probably one too many times here) and the day I left was my 21st birthday, working an O-C in 90 degree heat in August. Did I drink that night? Nope. Too busy packing up and sleeping because working 13 hours with ungrateful guests left me pretty exhausted. The only reason I didn't return for HW was because I had too many classes and other obligations and MSU was too far away for me to drive.

Again, I'm sure you see a lot on social media and Business Insider about how Millennials are killing the housing market, department stores, wine, beer, marriage, etc (pretty much everything in this article). And you may see a lot of younger millennials behaving the way you describe. But please, for love of all that is holy, don't label all people in a specific age group and blame them for killing your precious HalloWeekends. It just makes you seem like the one with the lazy argument.