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Coney Island (Cincinnati) ride operator
I work at Hersheypark as a ride op. I am paid $6.70 an hour and i get 50 cents more to run the kiddie rides. I am in my third year so i make more than someone just starting out.
Ride operations red tags at Cedar Point make $6.25 per hour no matter which ride they work, be it Camp Bus or Millennium Force. Blue tags make a bit more. Everyone gets a $1 bonus for every hour they work if they fufill their contract.
As for the job, crews at CP have quite a bit of responsibility as compared to a lot of other parks. In the morning the TL or ATL gets the ride keys from park operations and from that point forward, the ride is in the hands of the crew. The crew performs all opening duties such as track and tunnel walks (changing locks and making sure the ride area is clear), transferring trains in some cases, block checks, and test riding. Maintenance will come by to inspect the ride at various points throughout the day and the crew can also call them if they notice something wrong (bad wheel, etc). During the day, ops rotate positions that on a coaster would include load or unload positions, spiels, controls, turnstyles, or entrance. Ops rotate from ride to ride in an area such as Camp Snoopy. At the end of the night, the crew is responsible for closing down the ride, cleaning the queues, transferring off a train in some cases, doing all paperwork (daily operational report, night maintenance log, etc). At this point, the keys are brought back to park operations and the lost and found articles are brought to lost and found. Breaks depend on the shift you work, but for an open to close shift (long day!) you get two 45 minute breaks. For an O-8, you get a 45 and a 30 and for an O-6, you get a 45 and a 15 and so on.
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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
*** This post was edited by MDOmnis on 8/4/2002. ***
I work at SFNE as a merchandise person. Its my first year but I get paid $6.85 and hour. Kind of high I guess compared to other people. What I do is basically cash register work. Its easy I work in a shop, pick up fallen stuff, cash people out, and help with peoples questions. Its alright but it gets insanly boring believe it or not. Theres days where i spend about 7 or 8 hours at a register. I am also required to get a bank at the beginning of the day and return it at the end. The job has its perks and fun points but theres a lot of walking required in it and the people get really mean and start argueing with you about prices (when we don't even make the prices). This explains why the employees at SFNE can seem rude, some just are but some are just sick of getting argued with. We also get a 40 minute break but no rides are allowed. We go to a behind the scenes resturaunt. For all the people who have eaten at SF and knows it costs like 10 something for a meal, if I get a coke and chicken fingers with fries we get it for $2.75 and its almost the same. All in all its my first job and Im glad i work here my only complaint is it gets boring and some times tedious.
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"Standing in line to see the show tonight and there's a light on, heavy glow, by the way I tried to say I'd be there."-The Red Hot Chili Peppers
At SFOG, the starting pay is $6/hour for ride attendents. Assistant foremen are paid around $7.40 an hour, and foremen are paid $7.50/hour. The highest paying job in the rides department is a railroad fireman/engineer, at $8.50 an hour.
Other departments generally start off at higher pay rates.
Matt -
Your post brought up a question for me, and hopefully you'll check up on this thread -
I'd been considering taking a job at CP one summer, just for fun, and, of course I'd love to op. a coaster. I even have experience operating motion simulators ;)
Anyway, I am *deathly* afraid of heights, so I couldn't possibly be counted on to walk the track of coasters. Would this automatically prohibit me from running a coaster?
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~~~ Maddy ~~~
Chernabog, I will answer the question for you. You will have to be able to climb the steps of the lift in order to opperate a coasterat Cedar Piont. 200 feet is pretty darned high with nothing holding you but some alluminum steps. Plus the rides sway and is very noticable. When you are training on a coaster, climbing the lift is part of your your checklist. When I trained people on Woodstocks Express, a few people had a very hard time even with that rides lift, but they got used to it.
The reason a ride opp must be able to do this is so if the ride stops on the lift, you can run up it to calm the riders down and entertain them while the ride is being fixed.
Some people have a hard time climbing the lifts but you wont have to do it like every day in order to work at a coaster. You would have to climb it when training and only when the ride breaks down while the train is on the lift, and sometimes the ride opps who like to go will jump at the chance to climb it so you won't have to.
I have climbed the lifts of WE, Magnum, Mantis, and the second lift of Mine Ride (a strange story exists where one day I rode MR 3 and a half times while in uniform). I have been at the top of Ripsaw Falls and Jurrasic Park River Adventures big drops at IOA(and stared T-Rex straight in the face), among some other high and exciteing places on other rides.
I personally like it. I find the views exhilarating. The top of Mantis has been my by favorite journey. Deep in the middle of CP and so high up; the wind a little stronger and the air a little thinner, with nothing around you but the sky. When you look down and all around, you can see the whole park. It's great.
Chernabog, If you think the hights will bother you, maybe you should look into working at Camp Snoopy. It's a lot of fun, especially if you like kids. Woodstocks Express is a really fun ride ro opperate. You can see the whole ride and watch it through out its entire cycle. The kids and adults scream and laugh all the way down the exit ramp. Plus you get to opperate some really cute flat rides. Camp Snoopy is not a "kiddy area" like some say, but a family area. The rides are a little on the exciting side so test rideing is great.
CP is a great place to work, as Matt has already commented on. I will add to his reply. Employee ride nights are super, especially for people like us. they also throw a few employee parties with free food ( and sometimes Dick kenzel himself is serving the food-What a great guy!!!). They also have bus trips to fun places (just be sure to ask for that day off), discounts at various business throughout Sandusky, and more. They seem to genuinely care for their employees, even if they are just seasonal. They also give you a few comp tickets for your family and friends once per year. The "cafe", as they call it, was very cheap and the food tasted pretty good.
The liveing arrangements at CP can be hard on some people but are reasonally priced. You can bunk with 1 or 2 more people in a dorm, or you can bunk with 16 people in an appartment. The price varies depending on how nice of a place you require. My advice is to get a friend to go to work at CP with you so you can live with someone you know and LIKE.
It was verrrrry hard work but fun as well. Working at CP will turn a boy into a MAN.
IOA was good also but the pay stinks. IOA paid $6.15 an hour. No bonuses were offered like at CP. Also, in my case, it was sometimes hard to reach 40 hours a week because of overstaffing issues. The 2 employee food "Grills", as they call them, were very delicious and time effeciant but the prices where just a little high for such a service. It did seem that they where trying a little to take advantage of employees by chargeing too much to eat. Of course employees could enjoy all the park had to offer when not working and they even gave out comp tickets every 3 months for your friends and family, but most Universal employees just "trade" Disney employees comp tickets so they can each visit a different park.
Okay...so this post is a little long. I had a lot to say. I'll stop now
*** This post was edited by dexter on 8/4/2002. ***
SFNE said:
I work at SFNE as a merchandise person. Its my first year but I get paid $6.85 and hour. Kind of high I guess compared to other people. What I do is basically cash register work. Its easy I work in a shop, pick up fallen stuff, cash people out, and help with peoples questions. Its alright but it gets insanly boring believe it or not. Theres days where i spend about 7 or 8 hours at a register. I am also required to get a bank at the beginning of the day and return it at the end. The job has its perks and fun points but theres a lot of walking required in it and the people get really mean and start argueing with you about prices (when we don't even make the prices). This explains why the employees at SFNE can seem rude, some just are but some are just sick of getting argued with. We also get a 40 minute break but no rides are allowed. We go to a behind the scenes resturaunt. For all the people who have eaten at SF and knows it costs like 10 something for a meal, if I get a coke and chicken fingers with fries we get it for $2.75 and its almost the same. All in all its my first job and Im glad i work here my only complaint is it gets boring and some times tedious.
You get payed so much because minimum wage in MA is $6.50. It's the highest in the country.
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Dexter - thank you :)
See, I have two semi-debilitating fears. Heights and large bodies of water ;)
I think I could pretty successfully climb the lifts of everything except Magnum and MF, but those two would be too much - both because of their height and proximity to water.
When you climb the lift, is their a safety line, or are you on your own? ;)
I was really concerned more with having to walk the track; that is, the parts without a walkway. That would be far too much for me to handle.
I'm also very happy to learn that you can choose your own roommates :) I had just assumed it was the luck of the draw, like college :)
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~~~ Maddy ~~~
I work at a water park call water country and get paid 6.75 but im a second year and if you were a first year you would get 6.35. my job is a loader and i work on the screamer side. The screamer side includes the shoot and screamer, thunder falls and wild canyon, pirates lagoon, and the tahiti tree house. I load the shoot and screamer and the thunder falls and wild canyon and hawk at the bottom of those two slides. Hawking is tell people what tubes to use, if they should wear a life jacket and other questions. You can also give lunches which last 1/2 hour long,stack chairs, and gather life vests. One time i got to push tubes up on the conveyor(thunder falls and wild canyon are the slides and are family raft rides so they have big tubes) and I loaded the tree house. I almost forgot u could also help push tubes in the water on the thunder falls and wild canyon. If anyone wants any more info u can e-mail me at Coasterwill@aol.com
Chernabog,
You do not use a safety line when climbing lifts. I'm not sure about the actual track, if you have to walk it. I see people on TV wearing harneses, but I'm sure this is done for the camera to make the park look very safety-conscious (not that they aren't to begin with). However most parks I'm familiar with do not require trackwalkers to use a harness, only that the ride be locked out before entering track areas other than the lift.
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-Kyle Brylczyk
KoRn - Untouchables, June 11th, 2002
Chernabog said:I think I could pretty successfully climb the lifts of everything except Magnum and MF, but those two would be too much - both because of their height and proximity to water.
When you climb the lift, is their a safety line, or are you on your own?
I was really concerned more with having to walk the track; that is, the parts without a walkway. That would be far too much for me to handle.
You don't have to walk the track! What I meant by track walk was basically in the morning, we had to walk all the way out to the pretzle (on the ground) and change the locks on the gates and make sure the ride area was clear of people, debris, etc. We also had to do track walks during the day to look for lost articles and again at night to change the locks back. The only parts of Magnum's track that are walkable are the lift, from the station out to the lift, the station to the transfer table, and also there's stairs and a walkway at the safety brakes and a walkway in the third tunnel.
As for walking the lift, you are pretty much on your own - no harness or anything, but there is a railing and unless you physically leap over the track (to the side with no railing), there is no way you can fall through the stairs or through the railing or anything like that. When you're at the top, you can fell it swaying a bit, but I loved every second of it! Like Dexter said, you do need to be able to handle walking the lift to work a coaster because it might be necessary to go up there and calm guests or walk guests down or something and that would be difficult if you couldn't handle it yourself. There are tons of places to work at CP though where you wouldn't be required to ascend to great heights by yourself.
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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
*** This post was edited by MDOmnis on 8/4/2002. ***
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800,000 years in 7 seconds: Time Machine the movie or next S&S creation?
Meangene, I am in total agreement.
RCMuzik, it depends where you work. If you can show you're responsible and mature, you may be able to become an operator within your first year at some ride, but it may not be at a coaster as many parks tend to start new folks off at minor rides and you work your way up from there.
Who knows, though. It depends on the park and its policies.
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Excalibur Team Lead 2002
RCmuzikGuY said:
"Is it possible that the first year of working at a park you can be a ride-op?-----------------
800,000 years in 7 seconds: Time Machine the movie or next S&S creation?"
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