What is maintenance like?

I browsed through a couple pages here but couldn't find much on maintenance. I imagine most of that crew doesn't meander here much from those that I've met.

Has anyone worked maintenance (thinking ride safety systems, I have PLC background; or general gear-head work that I've gotten peaks at with winter chill out) or know anyone who has enough to give some insights on it?

I imagine its a different life than your traditional guest facing position and am really curious if its something I may excel at/learn something from. Or if y'all have some horror stories to warn me off with. Or general stories to add to the conversation, its been slow so a good read is always appreciated too!

Many thanks for any insights!

I don't have the best of insights, as I worked in Rides for 5 years. That said, I can tell you that there's 2 different areas of maintenance that really work on the rides. There's the Ride Maintenance guys who do the "gear-head" work as you described, dealing with the moving parts and ride units. There's also the (Electrical) Controls guys who work on the electronic parts of the ride, this is where your PLC knowledge would come into play. That's about all I can give based on my experience

That improves my terminology for my information searching and is much appreciated! Thank you!

Do you have any specific questions?

Well no honestly. I've had friends who have done ride op and other guest facing jobs so I have am idea of that more or less, not my forte. Just kind of curious what the day to day is like for mechanical, I got furloughed recently due to the virus, saw that they have openings for some maintenance positions. I've grown up wrenching and always love learning something new. And my official training is both mechanical service and electronics troubleshooting and service. Everything from hardware to software. I really was fascinated by the ride safety PLC systems at WCO and would love to get to work on those.

It's honestly all research though so any information is interesting at this point. Always want to try and learn something new if the information is available.

Ok, with a few exceptions, all maintenance positions are part of the union trades.

Ride Controls is a union IBEW shop that stays pretty busy during the season. I don't think they have any seasonal positions... They are responsible for all the PLCs (and associated stuff) that keep the rides running safely. They work in shifts to make sure the park is covered while it is open plus time before and after hours.

Ride Mechanics are a union Laborers shop that has a few seasonal positions and many year-round positions. They maintain, inspect, and repair the mechanical portions of the rides. They work a schedule of shifts when the park is open and regular 8 hour day (usually) when the park is closed.

Union associates (seasonal and otherwise) at CP are a different classification than the not-union associates. Each contract between CP and the trades are unique and have different parameters.

More questions?

I would have guessed that millwrights would be the ride mechanics. Seems odd that laborers would do this work.

That's great! Thank you!

I do have a few more if you don't mind the time.

I haven't dealt with unions at all, what do the CP unions involve?

If the opportunity arises I'm willing to re-locate and get into this full time for the time being at least. So I'm not worried about seasonal vs. full time. Ballpark what does the pay for Controls/Maintenance look like if you have the information available?

Ride controls is definitely my greater interest, what type of experience do they look for from your knowledge. I've been poking around their job listings but haven't found any controls postings. I'd be happy to start in Mechanics and switch over to controls as a position opens if that's something that is allowed?

For one thing, there are the dues, which are taken out every payday. The union rep will be there when you process in. There will be a probationary period before the benefits kick in fully. You will be at the bottom of the seniority list, which means that you will follow a senior tech around probably carrying his tools. More than likely working graveyard.

BTW I am a semi retired old school ride mechanic, been there, done that......

Awesome well I'm definitely interested. Threw an application into the pool just to see.

Thanks for all the information!

Do you have any interesting stories from your time there you think would be good for people looking/going into maintenance?

None that I can tell until a few more people pass away.....

I'll start my stopwatch and keep my eyes peeled!