Understaffing at Cedar Point hits nightmarish levels...

It appears all the freestyle locations are open. The refresh station at skyride is open. Sadly the gourmet cotton candy place is closed.

They must be dipping their toes into human trafficking.
/s

I saw tons of training today. Food locations were staffed with almost double the necessary amount of people as there were many shadowing the most basic of tasks.

Good! What one would consider simple is definitely something that should still be thoroughly explained and trained to them in case of those “what if” scenarios that eventually will happen.

Now if only they can get the Schooners bartenders to actually make a dang drink in efficient time, then they can finally staff Muffleheads bar and someone to clean out the dead bugs in there too.

Having 4-5 bartenders at schooners that look like they have never poured a drink in their life was mind boggling to me. There should be AT MOST 3 bartenders for that bar. If you still can’t handle it, did you really bartend before?

In conclusion, I was very disappointed with the water park this weekend

I would imagine that any bartenders who are any good in the Sandusky area work full time at places that are open all year. I guess my not waiting in alcohol lines is another bonus for me quitting drinking 2 years ago.

The best bartenders in the area are in Put in Bay, even though it is seasonal the volume and tips make it extremely worthwile. The next best set will be at The Casino at Kelly's and downtown Sandusky (Daly's, Small City Taphouse, Barrelhouse, etc.). Then the next set will be working all the chains and other restaurants along 250. CP gets whats left at that point.

I disagree. I know a lot of bartenders who apply to work as a bartender at Cedar Point. The bartenders at Surf Lounge are awesome (and a few of them are from Sandusky and Huron) I have no problems there. Schooners is the place where they all seem amateur and uncomfortable pouring while making a mixed drink.

As a previous bartender, I would much rather work at a resort than a local bar. Figure, the cost of drinks are a lot higher, therefore 20% of gratuity means bigger tips if you can make a good drink.

Can confirm. We bounced around at CP on Sunday and wound up at Surf Lounge with a bartender named Ben. He was awesome. We only had one drink in there before heading back to the beach, but we sat and talked and joked for a bit and he was really entertaining. I'm hoping he's there often this summer because that's the kind of service that should take place at an establishment like that.

When I drank at Bubbles, 3 years ago on Sundays, none of the bartenders were American. They definitely weren't using locals. The bartenders at Famous Dave's in the marina have always been great, though.

The entire bar tending staff at Surf Lounge (and Sand Bar, they rotate) is great and very experienced at making drinks. Some of the best service to be found at CP.

I agree 100%, Pete. Natalie, Ben, Sarah, Ben’s girlfriend (can’t remember her name, but she’s a cutie)...they’re all very nice, knowledgeable, and personable.

Did they get anymore Yukon Jack?? I drank it all up last weekend. I believe her name is Christine. Don't forget about Don.

Can CP get enough staff to race GEMINI finally!!

I agree with the group that the Surf Lounge bartenders are first class. Great bartenders and great people. Make our weekly visits there enjoyable.

They were racing Gemini on Memorial Day weekend when I was there. They are slowly starting to staff everything up, seems like a lot of training was happening that weekend.

Based on their employment advertising, and everyone's comments about their experiences thus far, I'd say that they are really only hurting for food service employees. In a way it's not surprising as those are always harder positions to fill.

Same goes for lifeguards too. I can’t wait until the lazy river is open

Lifeguards are in short supply in a lot of places, just not at Cedar Point. The certifications, training and responsibility isn't for everyone and you need to be selective in hiring those positions. A bad hire in a lifeguard can result in a much different result over a bad hire in food service.

And the Ellis program that they use, the head nodding as one poster commented, is much more intense of a training than the basic Red Cross certification that a lot of community pools use. There are very specific actions that have to be followed, from where stationary positions are located to the number of roaming guards to the hand off procedure for relieving a guard of duty. Also, I don't think a guard is left in one spot for more than 30 min, maybe an hour, then they become a roaming guard. It keeps the mundanity to a minimum.

DSShives said:
A bad hire in a lifeguard can result in a much different result over a bad hire in food service.

I wonder... had Chi-Chi’s restaurant hired life guards instead of kitchen staff, could I still get fried ice cream on my birthday?

With the start of HalloWeekends, so does the beginning of bad understaffing. Already so many food stands closed on Friday, especially in FrontierTown, Miss Keats was closed. I was really shocked to see Round Up closed. I'm not sure if Stockade was open but only Chick-Fil-A was open in the area. Drink stands aren't terrible as of now.