Friendly Staff

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In my opinion, ride ops at Cedar Point are so concerned about not getting themselves fired that they forget to be courteous while doing their job. You don't understand the number of guests who will simply not listen to a ride op who tells them they can't do something or that they can't bring something into line. Trust me, the ride ops are just as annoyed with the loose article policies as you are--probably much more so.

You think your day is ruined by a ride op who gets a little snippy? How about that ride op running into hundreds of people a day who treat them like dirt? If only some of you could see the other side you might understand. Now I can't justify the actions of a certain op at MF earlier this year, or the attitude of the whole Mantis crew for that matter (don't get me started on the Mantis crew), but throughout the day you see hundreds upon hundreds of employees and you happen to come upon one of them who has less than a happy attitude? Well its going to happen by sheer chance alone. Cedar Point isn't a park with a mere few hundred employees, the place is its own city and people will be in bad moods from time to time.

Would you like the days of care-free, happy employees to come back? I would too, but with the implementation of such lawyerized policies as autospiels and and strict loose article policies, it's evident that those days are over. With every new overly-anal policy handed down through park operations they take a little more fun out of the workplace. Without a fun working environment, how do you think the employees will present themselves to the public?--as boring and mindless as those abominations known as autospiels. There might as well be one of those at Dragster's entrance saying what can and can't be taken into line so that the ride ops don't have to bark orders repeatedly over the entire midway.

Compare how operations are handled between the friendly parks like Holiday World and Dollywood against how operations are handled at Cedar Point and you will find the answer to your problem. Unfortunately they seem to purposely be going in the opposite direction of being held in regard as a "friendly" park.

My experience with Knoebels staff is that they are indifferent about the guests. Go the ticket counters and your greeted with someone upset you are interupting them reading the newspaper.

The coaster ops all huddle near the control booth and talk until the train comes into the station, they then check the restraints quickly and get back to their conversation.

I havent had a bad experience at either park with the employees.

DollyWoods got my Vote for best staff and service as well as food...
( and to think that i laughed when i was asked if i wanted to go there... i thought: Dollywood??? is that a joke???) the joke was on me... Can't wait for next year or maybe Xmas there this year... might be real pretty... or/uh, should that read: Purr-ty...

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+Danny said:

I'll keep you deep inside =p

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Please tell me we're not still talking about the dildo....

lata, jeremy

--crossing the line of good taste since March 2000

I think CPGenius hit the nail on the head. When I first visited Cedar Point in 2001, the employees seemed to be having fun with their jobs. There weren't many rides with autospiels and their loose article policy wasn't as anal back then. Let's also not forget that the seatbelts on Millenium Force were a lot longer back then, too.

All of these policies have caused conflict between the guests and the staff. The autospiels have made relations between the guests and staff more stiff and formal, and less fun. The staff is having less fun because they can't get across the safety spiels in a fun and entertaining manner.

The loose article policy has caused a ton of people to get upset as they enter lines. I know I chewed out one employee because of it (definately misdirected anger, he had nothing to do with the policy, he was just enforcing it.) I saw hundreds of people over the three days I spent at the park this year get frustrated when they were turned away from riding to go rent a locker for a buck and then hack off at the employee like I did.

The shorter seat belts on M-Force have also caused a stir. Sure they put out a test seat, but how many people know that they shortened the belts? People that rode last year or years prior don't know that. They get to the front of the line and they don't fit and hack off at the employees loading the ride because they can't ride. I saw SEVERAL pissed off people walking down the exit of Millenium Force during my visit for that very reason.

In further defense of the park's employees, most of the employees we ran into last week were extremely friendly and helpful. Several of the employees struck up conversations with me and seemed very nice. That includes ride employees. I noticed on a few rides that there was an aloof attitude, especially on Mantis, but for the most part, all the employees were helpful, understanding, and did everything to make sure I had a good experience. I had problems fitting into three of the rides in the park, MF, WT, and Dragster. I managed to squeeze into all three, and on all three rides, the employees not only were patient with me while I tried to squeeze in, but they gave helpful tips to fit in better the next time. In fact, on MF, after my first ride, I had no problem getting two or three inches of slack on the belt after the tips they gave me.

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the tips they gave me

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which were...?

Take the extra packets of gravy out of your pockets and leave them in a locker?? ;)

+Danny

LOL, Danny. Actually, for those of us guests that took a few too many trips to the gravy buffet, there are a few things you can do to fit into the belts on MF and Dragster. The first thing is to pull your shirt up over the belt. Don't pull your shirt up all the way, so as to scare all the women and a lot of the men in the station. The belt has a natural inclination to go over your belly instead of your waist. For those of us, like myself, who could use a little Cortislim to get rid of that stubborn belly fat, make sure the belt is going around your belt line and not your tummy. For me that virtually assured that I would get the belt buckled.

Then you have to get that covetted inch of slack in the belt. Pulling straight on the belt won't do it. I don't care if you're 98 pounds and trying to pull the belt tight all the way, it probably won't budge. I saw a lot of riders getting off because they'd tug at the belt a few times and someone would tell them they couldn't ride. One of the girls working Dragster told me to wiggle the belt back and forth and pull at the same time. I got two to three inches of slack no problem using that method.

If you still get on, try Atkins or the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet(thanks Playa). It took me two years to find the right diet and lose enough weight to ride Wicked Twister. Nothing like something you love to do to motivate you to lose weight.

That would have been hilarious if you were with us this weekend Bob. Kristin, Dawn, and I went south for a Dollywood/SFOG weekend and we stayed at this place in Chattanooga. Well, the next morning we went down for the continental breakfast and they were serving all the usual stuff including bagels, donuts, cereal, etc. plus waffles and biscuits and gravy. They had a waffle iron there so you could make your own waffles, which was really cool and they had the batter to the left of the maker. Well, to the right of it was the biscuits and gravy.

Anyways, this lady comes up and is kind of confused at first then takes the gravy and starts pouring it into the waffle iron(!!). We were like, "Uhhh, that's not the waffle batter." She's like, "Is that enough?" and starts pouring more gravy onto the waffle iron! We're like, "That's the gravy!" and point out that the waffle batter it to the left. While we're all biting our tongues ready to L-Our-AO, the manager comes up to the lady and is like, "What do you think you're doing? I just cleaned this thing this morning!" She starts laughing and we all leave because we're uncontrollably ROFL. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the witnessing of the world's first gravy waffle. Where will the World go next? ;)

+Danny

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+Danny said:

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the witnessing of the world's first gravy waffle. Where will the World go next?

+Danny

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Holy crap! People here at work are looking at me really strange becasue I cannot stop laughing! You're right. I should've been with you guys! I'm never one to miss out on a gravy buffet! Or gravy waffles for that matter!

We gave a COOOONNNDOOOOORRRR shout-out for you on Superman, so we thought about you. ;)

+Danny

I'd say I bend over every time I walk by Foghorn Leghorn at Moosejaw Lodge, but then I'd be lying... Still think of you though when I see him :)

Wow, you 2 have never heard of Gravy Waffels? I didn't know that was just a country thing...

They're actually pretty good, Bob, but thats just me:).

Wow, I clicked on this thread to see why a thread about a friendly staff was *so* long, and I find one of the funniest threads on here today.

Thanks Guys!

The *length* of a thread like this could only mean one thing...

You've been THREADJACK'D. :)

+Danny

Oh-My-God....too funny, Danny...

Danny - What does a thread's girth mean?

mOOSH

Moosh, see comments about 'alternate riders' on previous page...