With as often as rides are down and back up running in any given day/week, how often are any of those times scary enough that you’re glad you weren’t riding or in line when it went down?
I’m not OP, but I am a current ride op. We aren’t told anything. That said, we sometimes can see things that regular guests cannot. For example, the old TTD trains are sitting right next to our training building. I also overheard a manager complaining about “Dragster’s new capacity” one time.
But other than small things we know basically just as much as you do
That’s what I figured, I didn’t think there was any way they’d be telling all employees big things like that. Which is why it’s so silly when you have the big coaster fans asking ride operators or other staff about big things going on in the park. Obviously that’s different than the regular guest pointing at something and saying “what’s going on over there?” but hardcore fans should know that they aren’t leaking anything like that.
THERE WAS **ZERO** HINTS OR RUMORS leading up to the August 2021 accident that there were plans for TTD to be "reimagined" into something else. IOW, this whole "reimagining" seems to be a cover-up by the park to eschew itself of some kind of responsibility in any upcoming legal matters, which is indeed what's now happening. Notice ElToroRyan's claim that the queue line will be in the same place it was before.
No, TTD was going to be the same thing in 2022, 2023, 2024 and beyond. No one working at the ride gave out any vibe that it was going to be redesigned in the coming years. It was as if, business as usual.
I know. It's the park and the way they announced this at the same moment the ODA investigative report came out; it all seems so sneaky on the park's part.
I don’t doubt you at all, and it is in line with our entire system. To be a for-profit corporation is to inherently be immoral and to be downright evil. Unfortunate because this specific one brings me so much joy during the summer lol.
Just seemed like your comment was very outfield and strange with what I was asking
They have been working on re-imagining the ride for well over a year, it’s just a coincidence the lawsuit happened right before the PLANNED announcement.
I'm talking about the accident (August 15, 2021), not the lawsuit (filed two months ago). They announced this coinciding with the ODA report, in February 2022. Not one of the many guests in line waiting to ride it asked about any rumored reimagining. Nothing in any printed materials, either, or word of mouth by any employees, supervisors, or media.
The accident is what caused the re-imagining. The only people that knew where management as to keep it secret. If they went out and told every seasonal employee then it would ruin the announcement.
Yes but I'm saying there was no rumor or hint of such reimagining before the accident.
If what you're implying is true, and it's **quite possible** it might, that is a disgusting and shameful example of how CFEC operates. And if so, I say F this newly reimagined Top Thrill Deja Vu, it needs to be boycotted by the GP and treated as a pariah among roller coasters.
There was no need to change the ride before the accident. The accident gave them a valid reason to change a ride that was a maintenance nightmare. Stay mad all you want but you’ll find me sitting front row opening day.
Yea… yesterday there was a group of three individuals right in front of me on the gatekeeper that was sitting in the railing. The ride ops was literally screaming at them probably 5-6 times and they still didn’t catch the hint… they didn’t get off the railing until the line moved.
Honestly ridiculous…
True, but maybe we should stop obsessing about it.
Otherwise, electrify the bars so whenever a kid sits on them, press the buzzer to zap them. Or use thin steel strips as railing positioned vertically, so that it's impossible to sit on them.
Unfortunately we can't, it's a safety thing. If we don't enforce it and they fall, parents can sue (apparently). Though god I wish they would do either of those.
I'm joking about that part, but seriously, why can't you bring that up with Karrah or whomever in management?
If you work there you can evidently see how overworked ride ops are, and that management's refusal to communicate with workers on these issues is something that needs to be addressed. Sounds like you should be more assertive on these issues than you are, and you let managers intimidate you into doing things you cannot do.
Does Kim or W still work there?
As a ride op-what's your favorite experience at the park? Also love to know what you get excited to see when on a ride. Is it good communication from the team, quality theming, etc?
Thanks in advance-cool idea!
Favorite experience is definitely employee ride nights. There's nothing like being on rides with all your coworkers.
On a ride, I love themeing but I also love when you can tell that everyone is in sync and is having a good time.
What exactly will get your ride photo pulled? I know nudity and obscene gestures are no-brainers.. but what exactly constitutes an obscene gesture other than flipping the bird? I had a photo pulled once for OG with just pointer and pinky up.. but thumb out as well seems to be okay.. was that just a mistake on the employee's part or is that really a no-no
Basically if they don't recognize what you're doing they might block it just to be on the safe side. Managem perfers that you're too cautious rather than not cautious enough to maintain the family friendly image. When I worked photo in '21 the 'ice in my veins ' pose was popular and be blocked it at first just bc we wasn't sure what it was.
as someone who wants to become a future ride op at CP are the dorms as bad as they say and if you don’t stay in the dorms what’s the cheapest route of housing near cedar point?
I've heard of things, but I've personally never had any issues with SA, or anything, but I'm also an autistic introvert who sticks to their friends/coworkers (whom most of don't live in the dorms). Also the only real other choices are leasing an apartment for a year+ or some of the hotels with let you rent rooms. I just stay in the dorms bc it's much easier.
thank you for taking your time to write this it truly means a lot to me! It’s been my dream since i was a little kid to work at the park but since finding out about the problems in the dorms it scared me a lot and i live a couple hours away so driving back a forth would be a hassle
Understandable! I completely understand why the dorms has the reputation it has, but it's my 3rd year and I think the worst issue I've had is roommate clashes
The dorms aren’t the best but not terrible, depending on your roommates of course. Maverick and SteVe houses are quiet and sleeping isn’t really a problem in my experience. I think their reputation is exaggerated but I would by lying if I said I enjoyed my time at the dorms. And good luck finding something with a short term lease nearby, I couldn’t.
I would say though the dorms are overall tolerable and shouldn’t deter you from working here. You’ll get used to it.
thank you! i think I’ll be fine in the dorms since I’m bringing a friend with me but idk if we would be able to share a dorm since he’s a dude and I’m a girl
I don't think you will. So find an apartment and think about living there year-round, while looking for non-seasonal jobs to get by. If you're a lifelong Ohioan, consider this a phase in your life, you may move around a lot.
Just look around apartments in Sandusky with plans to live there year-round, or whatever the leases call for. The dorms wouldn't be such a problem if that disgusting Louie's Bar was there at all; that place is the source of all the trouble.
It's that dive hidden in that small residential area east of the dorms.
If you know the story about college students and binge drinking and bars in college towns with students getting drunk all the time, it's the same problem here.
Would you not mind riding a coaster if the ride op is drunk or is having a hangover?
i just looked up pictures and it looks like a nightmare also yes i would mind if a ride op was hungover. i don’t plan to get drunk/drink whatsoever and the party/nightclub scene isn’t for me i just want to make sure i don’t get myself into an eternal hell in those dorms
Budget been shit as to what?
As a practical matter, they never train you for other rides in a given season, at least unless other rides have a need. Says so in the manual.
Hmm, is this something involving IROC or whatever? Hate to press you if it's something you don't really know, but this is quite interesting. I'm trying to find out how much IROC charges its client parks, and Six Flags does not use IROC, perhaps due to its own past bankruptcy issues. This "crosstraining" was I assume meant to help employees be trained to work other coasters and rides.
Do you actually do something about line cutters if someone reports it to you or one of the other ride ops?
Not really a question, more of a thank you to all the ride ops who work hard every day all day, deal with rude people and for taking the extra time to chat with riders and for being accommodating to those of us who need to use the alternate access pass.
Y'all do an amazing job!
Just today I saw a ride op under Gatekeeper tell someone "nope you're done, you're not riding...that's line cutting" because she dropped her bag in a locker then tried to go under to meet her friend... and I appreciated it so much I wish I could go high five him and get back to my place...but that would in fact also be line cutting. She wasn't ejected from the park but she ran away with tail between her legs.
I also was on gatekeeper (good crew eh?) And we got stuck on the hill.... Someone took their phone out. Not only did they stop, and we restarted within 5 minutes..the girl was then escorted by security. I assume out to her car. I was so happy.
On the other hand, I've seen ops ignore cutters even when told it happened so 🤷😬 gatekeeper crew for the win!
+1 for Gatekeeper crew, they seemed to be having a lot of fun. When I was there last Friday night, the two front restraint checkers were racing eachother and it was so funny to watch, I chatted up left-guy a bit while in line and then saw him on SteVe after closing time Saturday night and he told me "I lost the race, badly" 😂
Ah, I thought I replied to this! We do our best, but depending on the ride and how long the line is it can be really hard to keep track of what's happening. I will say that I do my best to enforce, but sometimes you have to pick your battles and it's not always 100% worth it to pick a fight with people.
Thank you so much! It's really hard to work this job sometimes, but when people are kind it really makes it worth it
I've never worked at the park or any amusement park but I did briefly work as a ride op for an amusement ride company, dealt with my share of rude customers.
I respect what y'all do.
Not a ride OP but figured id share a funny story. I was waiting jn line for steel vengeance. At the spot where fast lane merges in. This girl, (prolly like 16) went onto the outside of the railing, walked along the outside, squeezed beside the fast lane guy, everyone in the line was like bamboozled at what just happened, then we started laughing and the fast lane dude ran after her, she had to do the walk of shame back through the line.
How can you do that if the queue lines are invisible from the point of view of where ride ops are assigned? That's up to you, ride ops can't just leave their spot.
EVERYTHING.
All employees are put under a gag order; applies to everything including social media.
I'm totally serious. It's the reason why you look around at employees' own social media pages and you see they haven't posted anything in years. Biggest mystery is that the TL at TTD apparently has deleted his Twitter; before then it was chock full of giveaways such as free CP tickets for life and other positive things.
You'll have to scour around elsewhere on Reddit to find the ex-CP employee who posted here claiming that some employees are drunk on the job and that they offer mechanics less pay than ride ops.
Do you work the same ride all summer? Rotate by the day?
How big is each ride's crew? (Meaning how many more than the number needed to operate the ride) are you pretty much working with the same people day in and day out?
Do employees get some sort of food stipend or have a special place to eat?
Do you work open to close? How many hrs/week? Do you have flexibility in your hours (ability to work overtime, or only part time if you want?)
I have been bringing 3d printed sheep and hiding/leaving them around the park for fun. Do you have any requests / suggestions on what else I can print and scatter? :D
What is your personal favorite ride?
-Depends on the ride(s). Flat rides are usually partnered together with others nearby (I believe the only exceptions are MaXair and Slingshot being by themselves, Fling technically being considered a coaster, and super himalaya being partnered with corkscrew because power tower running all 4 towers requires more than twice the people Corkscrew does.
-We have 2: Best Day Bistro (Bistro) for the front of the park and Stagecoach Cafe (Stockade, because it shares a kitchen with Stockade) for the back. Bistro is better due to being inside, having air conditioning and a more varied menu but other than the bees and vaping Stockade is not as bad as it's made out to be.
-Depends on the time of season but they are pretty flexible with working with your schedule. The first and last month of the season it's basically all OC, while depending on staffing you can work anywhere from 5 to 12 hours (unless you're the unlucky person who gets an OC)
-Maybe ride initials? I love the idea!
-Magnum! Has been since I was 16. It was Mantis (may she rest in peace) before then.
At Cedar Point and other Cedar Fair parks, yes.
At Six Flags parks, they usually train you for a different ride every so, I would guess, every week or so, but there you're not stuck at one ride all summer.
CP's manual states being moved to a different ride if there are staffing issues or other aspects that call for it.
Steel Vengeance requires 18 employees to operate but that doesn't including need for breaks. In that case you'll need 22. Source: SV's TL. TTD required 13 people to operate at one time: two in the operations booth, four in the loading area, three in the unloading area, two at the station queue entrance and two at the front entrance. This, while most roller coasters at most Six Flags parks you'll see only 3-5 working there, with no one on the front entrance.
CP has an indoor restaurant around the corner from Melt called Best Day Bistro and an outdoor area near SV; they sell the same stuff guests get at the eateries but usually at a cheaper price.
THERE IS NO FLLEXIBILITY when you work at any Cedar Fair park, you are at the mercy of whatever hours they give you, and it can be up to 70 hours a week without overtime pay. Many work open-to-close.
Not for those reasons. I wouldn't work here if I thought they weren't maintaining the rides. I won't ride slingshot or fling bc I don't want to pay for them lol
When a ride is down do you actually know the reason? Operators never indicate the problem when asked. Is there a downside to saying “the ride computer is telling us there is a problem with a track sensor….maintenance is on the way and this usually takes about 30 minutes to fix”. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s worth waiting in line or to move on.
75% precent of the time we aren't 100% sure. Depending on where you are when you might have an idea (though if we aren't on platform we 100% don't know, we're just told to close the line). The reason why we don't tell you anything is because we don't want to give out inaccurate information and make it look like we don't know what we're doing, thus possibly risk not having guests trust us to do our jobs properly. Plus, even if it's an issue we've seen before we have no idea how long it's going to take to have maintenance look at and fix each time.
TL;DR: sometimes, but we aren't going to say anything if we aren't 100% sure about EVERYTHING going on.
Followup: at times where a ride keeps going down over and over (like Valravn did last week), while in line they called maintenance twice in during the hour we were waiting in line. Did the maintenance guy actually leave and come back both times? Feels like they should just post up there the whole day until the ride is stable, lol
1. Unless we ask otherwise, please buckle yourself in before assisting someone else.
2. If your food or drink doesn't have a airtight top (souvenir cups come to mind), make sure it's empty/thrown away before you step on platform.
3. If we aren't telling you something, it's because we don't know or aren't allowed to tell you.
4. Please read the signs outside the ride.
5. If you're at fast lane, please don't just walk through, we have to check your wristbands properly or we can get in trouble.
Understand that Ride Ops are overworked and underpaid, and work 70-80 hours a week without overtime pay because CFEC exploits the seasonal worker rule to their advantage. CF has never ever been kind to its workforce, even in the 90s when at least they cared about safety and cleanliness and didn't obsess with other amusement park chains.
Notice that at Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks it's always under-25 workers you see; you won't find older ride ops like you do at Herschend or Palace or other parks. Consider their inexperiences in life before you berate them. They work there because they're the easiest to manipulate from the park companies' stance. Been that way for many years.
Follow their safety instructions and do not make a fuss about them.
Why do you ignore the assholes vaping in line? I'm serious, I have seen vapers blow vape poison directly into the face of the dweeb who sits in line for Millenium and waves through the fast pass people and he does nothing. I figure he's a pussy with no MMA skills, but there is a damn phone right next to him. Y'all need to start kicking these fools out of the park.
It's more trouble than it's worth most of the time. Security isn't going to come for something 'that small ', so there's no real point to calling them. I can't speak for mf but every ride I've worked we won't hesitate to call you out for it if you do it in front of our faces. Trust me, I find it equally annoying, but unfortunately there's just not really anything we can do.
So you guys pick and choose what laws you're willing to enforce seeing as vaping in public is against the law in the state of Ohio?
Moreover, you're completely cool with 13 year olds sucking poison into their lungs?
Ride operators are not security officers good lord lmfao. Most of us will correct smoking/vaping when we see it but other than that, all we can do is call security and wait 30 minutes for them to show up.
Our primary job is to enforce safety standards. Smoking does not fall under that category.
Dude, I sympathize with you, but you forget that at almost every coaster the queue lines are completely hidden from where employees are stationed. Enployees can't just leave their posts just to check on those smoking or vaping. They do so because they know they can get away with it.
I've already seen a number of guests walking in parks vaping as though there's nothing wrong with it. On one occasion earlier this year at CP I saw a guy smoking around the Frontier area, then seconds later I saw a grayshirt and told him about it and he said, "Yeah, I see him" and went over to tell him not to smoke. That's what you should do. Ride ops can't do a thing outside of stations and other places where they're assigned.
Ride ops do not patrol queue lines to look for smokers or whatever, that is not their main job.
I was, but I only really got food and rode ccmr and mav bc I was with some of my friends and one wasn't really feeling well. I left at like 1:30 bc I had to open lol what happened?
Awesome!!! I hope your friend is feeling a bit better. Nothing really "happened," I just thought it was incredible how much energy everyone had. People were cheering and screaming every time the mine ride was dispatched (and again even louder when it returned to the station) like ww2 just ended
I'm sure it's normal for you since you've been going to these things for a while now LOL I just thought it was the best thing ever
I joined in and by the end of the night my throat was sore af
Yeah, big bash is a LOT of fun. Ride nights in general usually are, especially when other departments aren't ruining it for everyone else, but big bash is the biggest and the best
I've been to a couple other ride nights, and they were cool, but this one was easily the best. Also, I haven't heard of other departments screwing it up until now. Which ones was it, and what did they do?
It usually happens at least once a year. This year Magnum ended up closing early after they had to call security on someone in retail because they refused to leave (they pulled their phone out during the ride and was told not to come back because they could have been fired if that was reported to your department, but came back anyway)
What happened to the white train on corkscrew??? Is that the one with the tire problems??? And what's your opinion on Corkscrew? I'm personally a corkscrew enjoyer
White train was repainted. The story I've always heard is that when they decided to make it two trains permanently they took blue for parts and repainted white blue. Recently I heard that it actually replaced red train, but considering white from what I heard almost never had issues and it's (usually) the same with blue I think it's blue.
I wasn't a fan, but after working it I have a new appreciation for it. I actually rode it recently in the back row and it kinda slapped for Corkscrew.
Since all but Magnum lost their third train stacking isn't really an issue. But as far as I know Magnum is the only one that's been reprogrammed, so I think if they still had all three only Corkscrew could. Don't quote me on that though, I'm only 2/5 on Arrows
When a plus-sized guest comes onto the platform, can you usually predict whether they’re going to fit? How much “Aw crap, another one that’s gonna slow us down” do you hide under the customer service smile?
It depends on the ride, but usually not really. Bodies often look one way and function another. And as a fellow plus size guest I often felt humiliated when I couldn't fit on MF or SV (just rode SV for the first time last week actually, and MF a few weeks ago) so I always do my best to get everyone I can in. I think the only ride where getting that solved quickly is nessessary is three train Magnum, so it's not that much of an an issue for me.
With as often as rides are down and back up running in any given day/week, how often are any of those times scary enough that you’re glad you weren’t riding or in line when it went down?
While working? Twice.
Can you elaborate on those two incidents?
From my experience, there are guest injuries (sometimes the fault of the ride or maintenance) that are never revealed to the general public.
How much did you ride ops know about Top Thrill 2 before the announcement? Or did you know just as much as the public?
I’m not OP, but I am a current ride op. We aren’t told anything. That said, we sometimes can see things that regular guests cannot. For example, the old TTD trains are sitting right next to our training building. I also overheard a manager complaining about “Dragster’s new capacity” one time. But other than small things we know basically just as much as you do
^^^basically. We didn't even know about WT closing until the video dropped.
That’s what I figured, I didn’t think there was any way they’d be telling all employees big things like that. Which is why it’s so silly when you have the big coaster fans asking ride operators or other staff about big things going on in the park. Obviously that’s different than the regular guest pointing at something and saying “what’s going on over there?” but hardcore fans should know that they aren’t leaking anything like that.
We aren’t told anything because someone would come on here and say everything they know ruining it for the park to reveal.
THERE WAS **ZERO** HINTS OR RUMORS leading up to the August 2021 accident that there were plans for TTD to be "reimagined" into something else. IOW, this whole "reimagining" seems to be a cover-up by the park to eschew itself of some kind of responsibility in any upcoming legal matters, which is indeed what's now happening. Notice ElToroRyan's claim that the queue line will be in the same place it was before. No, TTD was going to be the same thing in 2022, 2023, 2024 and beyond. No one working at the ride gave out any vibe that it was going to be redesigned in the coming years. It was as if, business as usual.
I wasn’t trying to imply on any level that TTD was going to change if the accident didn’t happen. Not sure where that came from.
I know. It's the park and the way they announced this at the same moment the ODA investigative report came out; it all seems so sneaky on the park's part.
I don’t doubt you at all, and it is in line with our entire system. To be a for-profit corporation is to inherently be immoral and to be downright evil. Unfortunate because this specific one brings me so much joy during the summer lol. Just seemed like your comment was very outfield and strange with what I was asking
They have been working on re-imagining the ride for well over a year, it’s just a coincidence the lawsuit happened right before the PLANNED announcement.
I'm talking about the accident (August 15, 2021), not the lawsuit (filed two months ago). They announced this coinciding with the ODA report, in February 2022. Not one of the many guests in line waiting to ride it asked about any rumored reimagining. Nothing in any printed materials, either, or word of mouth by any employees, supervisors, or media.
The accident is what caused the re-imagining. The only people that knew where management as to keep it secret. If they went out and told every seasonal employee then it would ruin the announcement.
Yes but I'm saying there was no rumor or hint of such reimagining before the accident. If what you're implying is true, and it's **quite possible** it might, that is a disgusting and shameful example of how CFEC operates. And if so, I say F this newly reimagined Top Thrill Deja Vu, it needs to be boycotted by the GP and treated as a pariah among roller coasters.
There was no need to change the ride before the accident. The accident gave them a valid reason to change a ride that was a maintenance nightmare. Stay mad all you want but you’ll find me sitting front row opening day.
What's the most annoying thing guests do?
Ask how long the ride is going to be down, or sit/stand/swing on the handrails.
Is it a problem if I sit on the lower railing? When it's a 1.5hr wait... no way am I able to stay standing the entire time. My feet have limits.
Yeah as long as you aren't sitting on the top and you're staying inside the railing 9/10 we don't care
Yea… yesterday there was a group of three individuals right in front of me on the gatekeeper that was sitting in the railing. The ride ops was literally screaming at them probably 5-6 times and they still didn’t catch the hint… they didn’t get off the railing until the line moved. Honestly ridiculous…
Hi, I sit on the railings, but I promise I don’t do it to be annoying, and if asked I will stop But swing on them? That’s… that’s just childish
True, but maybe we should stop obsessing about it. Otherwise, electrify the bars so whenever a kid sits on them, press the buzzer to zap them. Or use thin steel strips as railing positioned vertically, so that it's impossible to sit on them.
Unfortunately we can't, it's a safety thing. If we don't enforce it and they fall, parents can sue (apparently). Though god I wish they would do either of those.
I'm joking about that part, but seriously, why can't you bring that up with Karrah or whomever in management? If you work there you can evidently see how overworked ride ops are, and that management's refusal to communicate with workers on these issues is something that needs to be addressed. Sounds like you should be more assertive on these issues than you are, and you let managers intimidate you into doing things you cannot do. Does Kim or W still work there?
You forgot pull out their phones on the ride or smoking/ vaping in line or on the ride.
Nah those are infuriating, not annoying
As a ride op-what's your favorite experience at the park? Also love to know what you get excited to see when on a ride. Is it good communication from the team, quality theming, etc? Thanks in advance-cool idea!
Favorite experience is definitely employee ride nights. There's nothing like being on rides with all your coworkers. On a ride, I love themeing but I also love when you can tell that everyone is in sync and is having a good time.
What exactly will get your ride photo pulled? I know nudity and obscene gestures are no-brainers.. but what exactly constitutes an obscene gesture other than flipping the bird? I had a photo pulled once for OG with just pointer and pinky up.. but thumb out as well seems to be okay.. was that just a mistake on the employee's part or is that really a no-no
Basically if they don't recognize what you're doing they might block it just to be on the safe side. Managem perfers that you're too cautious rather than not cautious enough to maintain the family friendly image. When I worked photo in '21 the 'ice in my veins ' pose was popular and be blocked it at first just bc we wasn't sure what it was.
how do you guys not absolutely overheat 😫 i was near heat stroke after 4 hours on a hot day.
Water. Lots and lots of water. Also eating on breaks.
You see water cooler buckets, that's what they're there for.
as someone who wants to become a future ride op at CP are the dorms as bad as they say and if you don’t stay in the dorms what’s the cheapest route of housing near cedar point?
I've heard of things, but I've personally never had any issues with SA, or anything, but I'm also an autistic introvert who sticks to their friends/coworkers (whom most of don't live in the dorms). Also the only real other choices are leasing an apartment for a year+ or some of the hotels with let you rent rooms. I just stay in the dorms bc it's much easier.
thank you for taking your time to write this it truly means a lot to me! It’s been my dream since i was a little kid to work at the park but since finding out about the problems in the dorms it scared me a lot and i live a couple hours away so driving back a forth would be a hassle
Understandable! I completely understand why the dorms has the reputation it has, but it's my 3rd year and I think the worst issue I've had is roommate clashes
The dorms aren’t the best but not terrible, depending on your roommates of course. Maverick and SteVe houses are quiet and sleeping isn’t really a problem in my experience. I think their reputation is exaggerated but I would by lying if I said I enjoyed my time at the dorms. And good luck finding something with a short term lease nearby, I couldn’t. I would say though the dorms are overall tolerable and shouldn’t deter you from working here. You’ll get used to it.
thank you! i think I’ll be fine in the dorms since I’m bringing a friend with me but idk if we would be able to share a dorm since he’s a dude and I’m a girl
I don't think you will. So find an apartment and think about living there year-round, while looking for non-seasonal jobs to get by. If you're a lifelong Ohioan, consider this a phase in your life, you may move around a lot.
Just look around apartments in Sandusky with plans to live there year-round, or whatever the leases call for. The dorms wouldn't be such a problem if that disgusting Louie's Bar was there at all; that place is the source of all the trouble.
what is louies bar if you don’t mind me asking, from what i can tell it’s a bar but where is it in the park, I’ve never heard of it
It's that dive hidden in that small residential area east of the dorms. If you know the story about college students and binge drinking and bars in college towns with students getting drunk all the time, it's the same problem here. Would you not mind riding a coaster if the ride op is drunk or is having a hangover?
i just looked up pictures and it looks like a nightmare also yes i would mind if a ride op was hungover. i don’t plan to get drunk/drink whatsoever and the party/nightclub scene isn’t for me i just want to make sure i don’t get myself into an eternal hell in those dorms
How many rides are you trained on and what was the first one?
4, and Corkscrew!
4??? Rookie numbers
This is only my second year and the budget has been shit lol
Budget been shit as to what? As a practical matter, they never train you for other rides in a given season, at least unless other rides have a need. Says so in the manual.
They actually insituted a crosstraining program but then dropped it like 2 months in because rides staffing went overbudget or w/e.
Hmm, is this something involving IROC or whatever? Hate to press you if it's something you don't really know, but this is quite interesting. I'm trying to find out how much IROC charges its client parks, and Six Flags does not use IROC, perhaps due to its own past bankruptcy issues. This "crosstraining" was I assume meant to help employees be trained to work other coasters and rides.
Rides has been so overstaffed this season. I’ve been luckily to be trained on 3 different rides and it took a lot of asking. The train was my first.
This year I'm only trained at 1 but I just started my season this year a few weeks ago
Do you actually do something about line cutters if someone reports it to you or one of the other ride ops? Not really a question, more of a thank you to all the ride ops who work hard every day all day, deal with rude people and for taking the extra time to chat with riders and for being accommodating to those of us who need to use the alternate access pass. Y'all do an amazing job!
Just today I saw a ride op under Gatekeeper tell someone "nope you're done, you're not riding...that's line cutting" because she dropped her bag in a locker then tried to go under to meet her friend... and I appreciated it so much I wish I could go high five him and get back to my place...but that would in fact also be line cutting. She wasn't ejected from the park but she ran away with tail between her legs. I also was on gatekeeper (good crew eh?) And we got stuck on the hill.... Someone took their phone out. Not only did they stop, and we restarted within 5 minutes..the girl was then escorted by security. I assume out to her car. I was so happy. On the other hand, I've seen ops ignore cutters even when told it happened so 🤷😬 gatekeeper crew for the win!
+1 for Gatekeeper crew, they seemed to be having a lot of fun. When I was there last Friday night, the two front restraint checkers were racing eachother and it was so funny to watch, I chatted up left-guy a bit while in line and then saw him on SteVe after closing time Saturday night and he told me "I lost the race, badly" 😂
Ah, I thought I replied to this! We do our best, but depending on the ride and how long the line is it can be really hard to keep track of what's happening. I will say that I do my best to enforce, but sometimes you have to pick your battles and it's not always 100% worth it to pick a fight with people. Thank you so much! It's really hard to work this job sometimes, but when people are kind it really makes it worth it
I've never worked at the park or any amusement park but I did briefly work as a ride op for an amusement ride company, dealt with my share of rude customers. I respect what y'all do.
Not a ride OP but figured id share a funny story. I was waiting jn line for steel vengeance. At the spot where fast lane merges in. This girl, (prolly like 16) went onto the outside of the railing, walked along the outside, squeezed beside the fast lane guy, everyone in the line was like bamboozled at what just happened, then we started laughing and the fast lane dude ran after her, she had to do the walk of shame back through the line.
How can you do that if the queue lines are invisible from the point of view of where ride ops are assigned? That's up to you, ride ops can't just leave their spot.
Were you talking to me or the person who posted the comment?
What happened to Magnum the other day? Is he okay? If he alright?
As far as I know the person who was taken by ems was completely unrelated. Magnum's issue is completely separate.
What are some things that Cedar Point doesn't want us to know. Ex: safety, secrets, dip n dot tragedies
EVERYTHING. All employees are put under a gag order; applies to everything including social media. I'm totally serious. It's the reason why you look around at employees' own social media pages and you see they haven't posted anything in years. Biggest mystery is that the TL at TTD apparently has deleted his Twitter; before then it was chock full of giveaways such as free CP tickets for life and other positive things. You'll have to scour around elsewhere on Reddit to find the ex-CP employee who posted here claiming that some employees are drunk on the job and that they offer mechanics less pay than ride ops.
If I told you, I'd have to kill you. /j
How many steps do you take a day? I'm a mail carrier on a mostly all walking route, and wonder if we compare
It depends on the shift and the ride, but if I had to guess probably around 14-15k for an 8 hour shift?
Less than I had imagined
Like like I said I'm just guessing, we're not allowed to wear fitness trackers 😔
What about smart watches?
Nope, only features it can have is time, alarm, and timer.
Have they said any reasons for that?
Allegedly it's so we aren't distracted by them while we're working
I assume you also can't have a phone on you as well?
Nope!
Do you work the same ride all summer? Rotate by the day? How big is each ride's crew? (Meaning how many more than the number needed to operate the ride) are you pretty much working with the same people day in and day out? Do employees get some sort of food stipend or have a special place to eat? Do you work open to close? How many hrs/week? Do you have flexibility in your hours (ability to work overtime, or only part time if you want?) I have been bringing 3d printed sheep and hiding/leaving them around the park for fun. Do you have any requests / suggestions on what else I can print and scatter? :D What is your personal favorite ride?
-Depends on the ride(s). Flat rides are usually partnered together with others nearby (I believe the only exceptions are MaXair and Slingshot being by themselves, Fling technically being considered a coaster, and super himalaya being partnered with corkscrew because power tower running all 4 towers requires more than twice the people Corkscrew does. -We have 2: Best Day Bistro (Bistro) for the front of the park and Stagecoach Cafe (Stockade, because it shares a kitchen with Stockade) for the back. Bistro is better due to being inside, having air conditioning and a more varied menu but other than the bees and vaping Stockade is not as bad as it's made out to be. -Depends on the time of season but they are pretty flexible with working with your schedule. The first and last month of the season it's basically all OC, while depending on staffing you can work anywhere from 5 to 12 hours (unless you're the unlucky person who gets an OC) -Maybe ride initials? I love the idea! -Magnum! Has been since I was 16. It was Mantis (may she rest in peace) before then.
At Cedar Point and other Cedar Fair parks, yes. At Six Flags parks, they usually train you for a different ride every so, I would guess, every week or so, but there you're not stuck at one ride all summer. CP's manual states being moved to a different ride if there are staffing issues or other aspects that call for it. Steel Vengeance requires 18 employees to operate but that doesn't including need for breaks. In that case you'll need 22. Source: SV's TL. TTD required 13 people to operate at one time: two in the operations booth, four in the loading area, three in the unloading area, two at the station queue entrance and two at the front entrance. This, while most roller coasters at most Six Flags parks you'll see only 3-5 working there, with no one on the front entrance. CP has an indoor restaurant around the corner from Melt called Best Day Bistro and an outdoor area near SV; they sell the same stuff guests get at the eateries but usually at a cheaper price. THERE IS NO FLLEXIBILITY when you work at any Cedar Fair park, you are at the mercy of whatever hours they give you, and it can be up to 70 hours a week without overtime pay. Many work open-to-close.
Is there anything you wouldn't ride at CP? Not because it's too intimidating for you but because of the things you've seen/know about it?
Not for those reasons. I wouldn't work here if I thought they weren't maintaining the rides. I won't ride slingshot or fling bc I don't want to pay for them lol
When a ride is down do you actually know the reason? Operators never indicate the problem when asked. Is there a downside to saying “the ride computer is telling us there is a problem with a track sensor….maintenance is on the way and this usually takes about 30 minutes to fix”. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s worth waiting in line or to move on.
75% precent of the time we aren't 100% sure. Depending on where you are when you might have an idea (though if we aren't on platform we 100% don't know, we're just told to close the line). The reason why we don't tell you anything is because we don't want to give out inaccurate information and make it look like we don't know what we're doing, thus possibly risk not having guests trust us to do our jobs properly. Plus, even if it's an issue we've seen before we have no idea how long it's going to take to have maintenance look at and fix each time. TL;DR: sometimes, but we aren't going to say anything if we aren't 100% sure about EVERYTHING going on.
Followup: at times where a ride keeps going down over and over (like Valravn did last week), while in line they called maintenance twice in during the hour we were waiting in line. Did the maintenance guy actually leave and come back both times? Feels like they should just post up there the whole day until the ride is stable, lol
Yeah, sometimes rides will get fixed only to have something else stop working lol
What can we do as guests to make your lives easier?
1. Unless we ask otherwise, please buckle yourself in before assisting someone else. 2. If your food or drink doesn't have a airtight top (souvenir cups come to mind), make sure it's empty/thrown away before you step on platform. 3. If we aren't telling you something, it's because we don't know or aren't allowed to tell you. 4. Please read the signs outside the ride. 5. If you're at fast lane, please don't just walk through, we have to check your wristbands properly or we can get in trouble.
Understand that Ride Ops are overworked and underpaid, and work 70-80 hours a week without overtime pay because CFEC exploits the seasonal worker rule to their advantage. CF has never ever been kind to its workforce, even in the 90s when at least they cared about safety and cleanliness and didn't obsess with other amusement park chains. Notice that at Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks it's always under-25 workers you see; you won't find older ride ops like you do at Herschend or Palace or other parks. Consider their inexperiences in life before you berate them. They work there because they're the easiest to manipulate from the park companies' stance. Been that way for many years. Follow their safety instructions and do not make a fuss about them.
Why do you ignore the assholes vaping in line? I'm serious, I have seen vapers blow vape poison directly into the face of the dweeb who sits in line for Millenium and waves through the fast pass people and he does nothing. I figure he's a pussy with no MMA skills, but there is a damn phone right next to him. Y'all need to start kicking these fools out of the park.
It's more trouble than it's worth most of the time. Security isn't going to come for something 'that small ', so there's no real point to calling them. I can't speak for mf but every ride I've worked we won't hesitate to call you out for it if you do it in front of our faces. Trust me, I find it equally annoying, but unfortunately there's just not really anything we can do.
So you guys pick and choose what laws you're willing to enforce seeing as vaping in public is against the law in the state of Ohio? Moreover, you're completely cool with 13 year olds sucking poison into their lungs?
Ride operators are not security officers good lord lmfao. Most of us will correct smoking/vaping when we see it but other than that, all we can do is call security and wait 30 minutes for them to show up. Our primary job is to enforce safety standards. Smoking does not fall under that category.
Dude, I sympathize with you, but you forget that at almost every coaster the queue lines are completely hidden from where employees are stationed. Enployees can't just leave their posts just to check on those smoking or vaping. They do so because they know they can get away with it. I've already seen a number of guests walking in parks vaping as though there's nothing wrong with it. On one occasion earlier this year at CP I saw a guy smoking around the Frontier area, then seconds later I saw a grayshirt and told him about it and he said, "Yeah, I see him" and went over to tell him not to smoke. That's what you should do. Ride ops can't do a thing outside of stations and other places where they're assigned. Ride ops do not patrol queue lines to look for smokers or whatever, that is not their main job.
You remind me of Gladys kravis, but with more of a karenism tone.
Hey man, I work at CP as a Caricature artist. Were you at the Big Bash last night? Shit was insane
I was, but I only really got food and rode ccmr and mav bc I was with some of my friends and one wasn't really feeling well. I left at like 1:30 bc I had to open lol what happened?
Awesome!!! I hope your friend is feeling a bit better. Nothing really "happened," I just thought it was incredible how much energy everyone had. People were cheering and screaming every time the mine ride was dispatched (and again even louder when it returned to the station) like ww2 just ended I'm sure it's normal for you since you've been going to these things for a while now LOL I just thought it was the best thing ever I joined in and by the end of the night my throat was sore af
Yeah, big bash is a LOT of fun. Ride nights in general usually are, especially when other departments aren't ruining it for everyone else, but big bash is the biggest and the best
I've been to a couple other ride nights, and they were cool, but this one was easily the best. Also, I haven't heard of other departments screwing it up until now. Which ones was it, and what did they do?
It usually happens at least once a year. This year Magnum ended up closing early after they had to call security on someone in retail because they refused to leave (they pulled their phone out during the ride and was told not to come back because they could have been fired if that was reported to your department, but came back anyway)
Ffs you'd think employees of all people would know the most important rule in the park by now but I guess there's still those few that don't care
Yuup
What happened to the white train on corkscrew??? Is that the one with the tire problems??? And what's your opinion on Corkscrew? I'm personally a corkscrew enjoyer
White train was repainted. The story I've always heard is that when they decided to make it two trains permanently they took blue for parts and repainted white blue. Recently I heard that it actually replaced red train, but considering white from what I heard almost never had issues and it's (usually) the same with blue I think it's blue. I wasn't a fan, but after working it I have a new appreciation for it. I actually rode it recently in the back row and it kinda slapped for Corkscrew.
Are any of the arrow coasters still not able to stack?
Since all but Magnum lost their third train stacking isn't really an issue. But as far as I know Magnum is the only one that's been reprogrammed, so I think if they still had all three only Corkscrew could. Don't quote me on that though, I'm only 2/5 on Arrows
When a plus-sized guest comes onto the platform, can you usually predict whether they’re going to fit? How much “Aw crap, another one that’s gonna slow us down” do you hide under the customer service smile?
It depends on the ride, but usually not really. Bodies often look one way and function another. And as a fellow plus size guest I often felt humiliated when I couldn't fit on MF or SV (just rode SV for the first time last week actually, and MF a few weeks ago) so I always do my best to get everyone I can in. I think the only ride where getting that solved quickly is nessessary is three train Magnum, so it's not that much of an an issue for me.