Prayer for The Parks

sounds fun, it's just a shame that i am not old enough nor do i live close enough to a theme park for this shiz to happen, for those here who are ride operators in england, for future reference, which park would you recommend for working at?

[jayman]

and most important , if sff is your boss kiss his ass or he will find some way to seriptitiously screw you
to be fair these rules dont seem too anal, i wouldn't be able to handle it, but i paid my dues in the navy..
and that last rule is priceless!!!

wow, this is some of the best information ive heard for anything ever. i cant get a job at CP this year, but next year when i do(or at least thats when i hope i can), i will definitely remember all these tips. thanks for taking the time to type this all up. :]

SFF, excellent wording there! A lot of your advice reminds me of the advice my dad gave me.

If I may.. I have something to say to sort of add on.

They will teach you that you have to almost swallow anything a guest tells you, good or bad, espescially bad.
But.. you don't have to take ALL the BS a guest might give you. There IS a way to put someone in their place and doing it NICELY! I'm serious. When someone treats you horribly, and you curse them out (not only will you be out of a job) You'll give them what they wanted.. But you'd throw a curve ball at them if you were kind to them in return to their nasty remarks! They would be completely speechless, and best of all they'd have no grounds for reporting you.

HANDRAILS:

A lot of guests will try to stand or sit on Handrails. Tell them to get down. Say please the first time, but do not say it a second time. "GET DOWN FROM THE HANDRAILS.". If you're in Dispatch (The area where usually you control the ride) don't be afraid to 'call out' a guest. "Hey lady with the grey dress on! Please get off the handrails.." They will feel embarrassed.. but since it's a matter of SAFETY... Go for it! (But be nice about it.)



-- As long as a guest gets what they want, they are happy, and you're a wonderful person. But if there are rules that have to be enforced... it's "not fair".. it's "Stupid".. "pointless" and yada yada. They all have that attitude.. Even something as stupid as "You must wear shoes!" can start something.

But yeah. Safety safety SAFETY. That's what it all boils down to.


GROUPING: Sometimes, a ride might require a grouper, people who tell riders where to sit. When you ask people how many are in your party you WILL get retarded answers. "Uhh.. I don't know.. D:" or "See us all?" and they point to three or four of themselves, when there's really ten. Try to group people with their groups. DO NOT intentionally seperate them, unless they want to be separated so one or a few can have a seat. It can be a traumatic experience if you're forced to sit with some fat old slobbering stinky man with a tank top on when your group is on another train.. or boat.. or what have you.

If a guest complains that there are empty seats, remember this. You wouldn't want to be separated from your group to fill in an empty seat, so why should you make someone else do it just to satisfy some hissy fit? It isn't worth it..


Oh yeah, don't expect to start out working all the best rides, all the coasters and things because chances are, unless you've been there and are a rehire you're NOT getting them.. They'll put you at small, sometimes unimportant rides that require you to be in the hot sun, with sunburns, sweating up a storm.. but don't cry( complain) about the ride you're at, just stick with it, and in time, if they like what you do and they think you can handle it (Yes.. it doesn't matter what YOU think, it's all about what THEY think.) they might consider cross-training you. If a new guy that hired in after you gets moved to a big ride before you, there's obviously a reason. Weather it's attitude or performance, there's a reason. You want to move that badly? PROVE IT. Have the best attitude and do your best job.


Last but not least.. It can be MUCH fun but it IS a job, most likely for minimum wage. Be on time!! Even a little early! And for Togo's sake, do not use that cell phone!!! Your friend with news about that metallica concert can wait until your break or lunch, seriously. It's not worth a human life, is it?

Now onto the more fun part. SPIELS!!

Like SFF said, stick to them and make it a little fun. If it's a flat ride make your guests SCREAM! You can actually make their (and yours) SO much more exciting. And also, it's all in the TONE, baby! Who would want to re-ride some ride (I'm going to talk about Flats, since, as a rule there is more operator freedom there.) if you're all monotone sounding, like you are bored out of your mind.. tired, whatever.. Who would? Not me! Make your spiels sound exciting. Practice in front of a mirror. Record yourself and play it back. This may get to be a bit awkward, but get used to it. YOU WILL BE WORKING IN ENVIRONMENTS WHERE YOU WILL HEAR YOUR OWN VOICE AMPLIFIED OVER LOUDSPEAKERS. It can get pretty weird, but you can do it.
If your attraction has theming, play with words!

For example.. At Knott's Riptide, I belt out "Welcome to the Riptide! Please keep your heads back against the headrests.. For your safety, do not extend your fins or flippers. (Everyone laughs at this point, you just made them feel less agitated). Now hang on for dear life, and enjoy your ride.[:D] (Crack a HUGE smile as I'm doing this, that lets guests know they're in for it!) Don't be afraid to say "Hang on for dear life".. It scares people messless.

Hope that helps.. I hope I haven't repeated too much of what SFF said.



[:)]

[gouldy]

http://www.coastercrazy.com/forum/topic ... C_ID=15122

and if a train is resting on the top of the lift hill and requires evac, don't do it from the back of the train!

[hyyyper]

^or at least lock the train onto the track

haha yea

rofl, is being a ride attendant really this much fun?

Originally posted by SixFlagsFiesta

You don't ever unload trains from the top of lift, it is a carnal sin. You will burn in amusement park hell forever. The proper method is to fix the issue, if it cannot be fixed within 30 minutes you use a jog setup (by passing the PLC ) or use a pull winch on the return chain and thus making the train continue its course onto the next setup equipped for unload.

As for the handrails, I use to tell people to get off once, if they didn't I would make everyone point and laugh at them.

"For your safety please do not sit or stand on the handrails"

< Game Show Voice >

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls are you ready to play Americas favorite game? Well lets begin! I spy someone <description> on the handrails, first one to push them off wins 50 points. Im just kidding, but if you happen to see someone sitting on the handrails today please take a moment now to stop and point at them, go ahead point. Now laugh at them as hard as you can, because they don't know that they have paint/rust/stains over the bottom of there shorts.

nice, funny but gets the point out.
lol

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by Adrenaguy

rofl, is being a ride attendant really this much fun?

It is not. Days are long, people are either stupid or annoying and for some reason never read or understand the safety board in front of the queue. If you do not operate a coaster the day will be really boring.

quote:
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Originally posted by Adrenaguy

rofl, is being a ride attendant really this much fun?


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It is not. Days are long, people are either stupid or annoying and for some reason never read or understand the safety board in front of the queue. If you do not operate a coaster the day will be really boring.

I actually like it! Wild Cat is down for a couple weeks, but I am trained on Wild Cat, Demon Drop, Wicked Twister, Gemini, Millennium Force (I am on Millennium Force all week... Look for David from Univ of Akron!)

hey coasterdave, where were you opening day???
i noticed that wild cat was down too.

[hyyyper]

^^Maybe i've not been that clear. I absolutely love the job, it's probably the best that ever happened to me (yet). It's just that like any other job, it has it fun sides, but also downsides. It's not all flowers and rainbows.

Unless you work at a decent rollercoaster, which Toverland only has 2 of [:(]

[hyyyper]

^Both, Toverland doesn't put you on 1 ride for a season. You get to work 3 different rides per day. So some days are joyfull, others are less joyfull and are boring.

I know nothing nor am I aloud to say anything about Wild Cat. It will be down for a couple weeks.

Opening Day I was directing traffic for 13 hrs! They were short handed.

MF - This weekend! Be there!

must... be...ride attendant when older!