Who picks up the trash in the parking lot after closing?

Just curious to know what employees pick up the trash from the parking lot after closing. I know I see a lot of people love to leave their trash sitting in the parking lot once they get to the park. The employees who clean the lot do a great job, because it is very clean when entering the park, but when leaving, not so much.

That seems like one heck of a job to do right after closing.

The seagulls clean up the trash that people leave.

The midnight crew does the cleaning. They have those miniature street zambonis and they do the parking lots and midways after closing. I'm pretty sure there's more to it though.

I believe they are called lakegulls. There is no sea in sight.

Janitors

I bet some kids on an ATV or some other vehicle go around and collect trash.

the ffej man said:
I believe they are called lakegulls. There is no sea in sight.

Tell me you're not serious.

Does CP have a couple of Garbonis? :) I remember getting out of several events at Kings Island around 1 a.m. and seeing those things in the parking lot, and I was in awe. It was pretty incredible to see them work.

Yep, CP has several Garbonis. Usually about an hour after park closing they hit the parking lot at full speed. I wouldnt be suprised if it sucked up a couple flying dogs every now and again. They also have one that roams the midway after close while people armed with leaf blowers blow out any garbage in hard to reach places to the midway.

The midnight crew does a fantastic job, after closing and the parking lot is pretty much empty, that lot is a mess, full of trash and birds! But they get it cleaned up and looks great, every day.

the ffej man said:
I believe they are called lakegulls. There is no sea in sight.

Actually, they are Bay Gulls. ;)

I know on "The World's Largest Amusement Park" they show them using street sweepers. I hate to call them anything referencing a zamboni because they aren't scraping off the top layer of ashphalt and putting a fresh layer down.

Could be either depending on which side they came from. Great call though!

Being experienced in having done the overnight trash job in 2001.... It is actually a collaboration between the maintenance department and the Park Services Trash men.

Maintenance operates the vacu-trucks and they run all night long. I believe they go all over, board walk, parking lots, and throughout the park. The people with the leaf blowers are actually the same people on those smaller vacu trucks you mentioned you saw. Each one is equipped with a broom and leaf blower to put extra debris in front. So basically person in a street sweeper vacuums the parking lots every night.

The park services crew, will drive through and grab all the trashcans, wipe them down if needed and walk through all the grassy areas, look for any loose debris. Other things as collect the recyclable materials and so on and so forth. It even goes as far as scrubbing midways down and pressure washing queue lines from time to time.

It takes about 9 hours to clean up the mess of 12-14 hours. The goal of all who works over night is "Yesterday never happened".

I would say there is a group of 100-150 people who work overnight in the park including ride maintenance. In fact those ghost stories of rides running at night are probably very true, just not ghosts, just your friendly ride maintenance teams fixing issues for the next day and taking a test drive. I must say sure did scare the crap out of me the first time I saw lights turn on at 3am, swirl around and then turn off, or the coaster that wizzed by out of nowhere.

You would be amazed at what goes on in the park in the middle of the night. Being someone who has a job that doesn't end until 3:00-4:00am, I'm often walking through the park when there aren't many people around, but in the middle of the night you can see all sorts of things.

I've almost been run over by a giant front-end loader driving mulch through the park at high speed, and then there are the random painters, maintenance people and Cedar Point Police driving through the park. The cash control and accounting departments are in full swing, and of course the Park Services people picking up trash and using the sweeping vehicles on the midways.

I've scared a few of the park services people because they aren't used to seeing someone in a shirt and tie walking through the park at 4:00am and they are afraid they are going to get in trouble for something. I walked into a restroom one night and one of the park services guys was in there and jumped when he saw me. He said "I didn't think you people (supervisors/managers/"suits") worked this late."

By about 5:30-6:00am, the landscapers are in the park planting and watering and cutting grass and by that time of the morning the park services people have usually moved on from trash collecting and are now power washing seagull crap, dropping off supplies at the restroom maintenance closets and cleaning up gum stuck to the midway. Maintenance is out doing their morning inspections of the rides at first light. I always think its fun to watch the guys climb Mean Streak when I'm driving around perimeter road early in the morning.

There really is a lot that goes on in the middle of the night that most guests never even realize happens. People think the gates close and everyone goes home, but Cedar Point really is a 24/7 operation at least 6 months out of the year.

I know what you are talking about the mean streak guy. Last year we camped right next to mean streak. I heard a bang or a knock about every 30-40 seconds right after sunrise, so I wanted to see what it was. It was a guy walking up on mean streak with a hammer, hammering down all the loose nails he found. Wow,what a job.

Reminds anyone else of that movie "The Langoliers"

JuggaLotus said:I hate to call them anything referencing a zamboni because they aren't scraping off the top layer of ashphalt and putting a fresh layer down.

Hey in the future, who knows.;)
The only reason I refer to them as "zambonis" is because when I'm changing dashers at Joe Louis Arena, I see them use those machines. Doing some research I guess they're the Tennant 7400 Rider Sweepers. But they refer to them as zambonis......for whatever reason. And I've seen similar ones at CP so I just call them.....well you know.

I give credit to all the folks who keep the place looking great.

I actually drove one of the parking lot sweepers in the summer of 1988. Tymco was the brand name of the one I drove back then, not sure if they still use the same barnd now.

Anyways, depending on the amount of trash, the job could take anywhere from 4 to 9 hours. You first fill it with water from a hydrant, then start on the side of the parking lot where the wind is coming out of. You then just drive back and forth, over and over until you make it to the opposite side. Of course you have to empty the trash out of the inside a couple of times and refill the water, but that was basically it.

I was lucky back then because that was the only vehicle that had a radio in it, so I relished the nights I got to drive it. I don't know how many times I heard "Touch of Grey" that summer. To this day, every time I hear it I picture myself in the cab of that truck, trying to stay awake with cigarettes and coffee. Good times. :)

Oh yeah, and you had to pray that the wind didn't change direction in the middle of the run. If it did, you had to start all over from the opposite side. :(

They also used two smaller ones for the trash in the park. Another crew would use them and ride along with people whose job was to sweep stuff out from under the benches for them to sweep up. They were called sweep-out crew, who would then pick up trach from the Breakers parking lot and along the beach behind the hotel.

There were also three crews to empty all of the garbage cans, including ride ques. Each crew had a truck with a train of trailers and two guys would empty the cans and one guy would bag the empties. One crew would go down bay-side midway to the frontier trail to frontier town. The other would take lake-side up Gemini midway to frontier town. The third would do kiddie land and Oceana midway (that was a single man crew).

Working nights back then was one of the best jobs I ever had, even if I was only a lowly sanitation engineer. :)

-Tambo

tambo said:
Tymco was the brand name of the one I drove back then, not sure if they still use the same brand now.

As of 2001 it was still the Tymco, Granted it has been 8 years since I did the job. I can only assume it is still the same one. Though I was the services crew.

realmadrid311 said:

Reminds anyone else of that movie "The Langoliers"

What were you referring too? The quote is gone.... Was it my Yesterday never happened statement... Either way that does kind of remind me of the Langoliers. I guess in a way the overnight crews are like the Langoliers. They eat up everything from the day before to get rid of it...:) Beware if you are in the park after midnight.... Because when you hear the sounds of ripping paper it is too late... Bwa Hahaha

The Zamboni was invented by Frank Zamboni.

http://www.zamboni.com/welcome.html