Amusement Park Pet Peeves

^ Oh... lol.

Guests that take out their phones on the rides. Yesterday morning while I was working at Wild Thing, we had to stop the train on the lift five times in less than an hour for people taking out cell phones. Is it really that hard to go without your phone for a few minutes?

[slosprint]

I hate it when there is a wasp in my soda and they still charge $5. Guess which park.

I'd guess Carowinds because that would be the best Fury marketing/merchandise ever.

[Coasterkidmwm]

slosprint wrote:

I hate it when there is a wasp in my soda and they still charge $5. Guess which park.

CP

[slosprint]

SFNE. They were nearly out of the syrup in the fountain too so it was basically sugar water.

[Mikey]

Getting older and have a new set of pet peeves .

Seat Belts - Every car and airplane has one, 35 States (including this one!) mandate their use. If you can't figure out how to buckle it by the time I get to your seat I will rip it out from under you and slam it the socket and be on to the next seat quicker then you can read my borrowed ops name tag and ask me to hold your cell phone. Seriously, it's on the auto spieler that covers the 1/4 a mile of queue line you have been in for the last 30 minutes, is spieled every cycle by an actual human, and you got a front row seat at the load gate to watch as we loaded up train after train before you. Yet you are still sitting on your seat belt when it's your turn.

The official Mikey ground rules on seat belts:

If you remove your seat belt anytime outside of the home position, you are responsible for rechecking it. Remember it's always a good idea to test ones self preservation instinct halfway down the first drop.
If you remove your seat belt after I check it and it's exclusive safety function is a measuring device I will not stop the ride no matter how much you scream.
If you remove your double position seat belt and it hits you in the face halfway through the ride I will laugh at you when you get back into the station.
When choosing seatbelt snugness, please be advised that for your safety some seat belts were installed to prevent you from getting racked in the nuts.
When choosing seatbelt snugness, please be advised that for your safety some seat belts were installed to prevent you from traveling through the air unassisted.

Selfie Sticks - Everytime I confiscate one from a rider halfway up the lift I lose more respect for the new generation of park goers. It's not that climbing that many stairs makes me winded, it's the amount of paperwork I have to fill out in security later for why I had you thrown out of the park.

Lost articles - There are no lost articles to be found at this ride because there are no loose articles permitted on this ride. If you tell me about something you lost during the course of your ride and it's not a necessity for keeping you alive, then I am going to remind you that you could not possibly have lost your phone on the ride because it was in the free locker we gave you up front and told you about at the entrance of the ride, and on the back of your ticket, and on the park map.................

Chewing Gum - Last year I had two guest choke on chewing gum during the course of a ride. This year its happened three times. I am starting to considering an upcharge for me to dislodge it from your throat before your turn purple and then first aid gets here. Don't chew gum on rides unless you really want to be that friend everyone knows who was given the darwinism award posthumously.

Sandals - Burning hot concrete, sticky substances of questionable origin, rides without floors, sharp metal objects, fat people stepping on your toes. I can think of about 100 reasons why wearing sandals to a theme park is a bad idea. However, for the love of all that is holy there is never a time when you should take your sandals off at a ride. You must wear them to ride and you can't leave them here. Maybe you should have put more thought into wearing proper footwear.

Mikey wrote:

Sandals - Burning hot concrete, sticky substances of questionable origin, rides without floors, sharp metal objects, fat people stepping on your toes. I can think of about 100 reasons why wearing sandals to a theme park is a bad idea. However, for the love of all that is holy there is never a time when you should take your sandals off at a ride. You must wear them to ride and you can't leave them here. Maybe you should have put more thought into wearing proper footwear.

I do that all the time and never thought anything of it, and never had any fat people step on my toes. I never found any reason to want to take them off at rides since they stay on better than flip flops. I don't think it would be any fun to wear socks and shoes on log flumes or white water rapids-type rides.

-Speaking of which, that's another pet peeve. Wanting to ride a log flume but I only have regular shoes to wear. Wet socks and shoes are no fun if walking in heavy rain without boots is anything to go by.
-People who are disappointed in a new ride announcement, even if it looks fun for the general public. You haven't been on it yet, so how do you know?
-Climbing up hundreds of steps just to get on the tallest waterslide. Seriously impacts the rerideability
-Not having enough time to ride all the rides I want to ride, and yes, this can even happen in smaller parks
-Taking out a ride to replace it with a smoking area. That's even worse than replacing it with nothing.
-Ride announcement videos that were recorded at 10fps and with very noticeable windowboxing
-'No single riders' policy when no one else in my party wants to ride

[Paradox]

SkyArrow wrote:

-'No single riders' policy when no one else in my party wants to ride

OH MY GOD this gets me so pissed. I hate waiting in a long line alone when I could have gotten at least 2-3 rides in that time I have been waiting. I get so mad when I see an empty seat on a train because the park could have a single rider line and fill up all of those single seats. It infuriates me when a park has no single rider lines at all (SFMM!)

[Coasterkidmwm]

Mikey wrote:

Getting older and have a new set of pet peeves .
When choosing seatbelt snugness, please be advised that for your safety some seat belts were installed to prevent you from getting racked in the nuts.

Magnum XL 200 lol.

Mikey wrote:

Selfie Sticks - Everytime I confiscate one from a rider halfway up the lift I lose more respect for the new generation of park goers. It's not that climbing that many stairs makes me winded, it's the amount of paperwork I have to fill out in security later for why I had you thrown out of the park.

I'd like to add the various sticks other idiotic methods of filming with a Go-Pro to that list.

Paradox wrote:

OH MY GOD this gets me so pissed. I hate waiting in a long line alone when I could have gotten at least 2-3 rides in that time I have been waiting.

I wonder if they ever pair 2 single riders together.

Coaster ride ops that wait until everyone leaves the exit platform before opening the gates. Unless there is a policy that requires them hold the gates that long, it does nothing but waste time.

VF15 wrote:

Guests that take out their phones on the rides.

When I was sitting on the brake-run for Nighthawk on Sunday, the three girls next to me all pulled out their phones and started snapchatting. I really wanted them to drop their phones on their faces when we began moving towards the station again.

[Paradox]

Being charged $4 for a cup of water at SFNE when law requires that they give cups of water for free.

From my ride operator perspective, when grown adults ask me "Am I tall enough?" or duck next to the height stick. Gets annoying fast.

[Mikey]

VF15 wrote:

From my ride operator perspective, when grown adults ask me "Am I tall enough?" or duck next to the height stick. Gets annoying fast.

Correct responses:

Ask your (wife / girlfriend / husband / boyfriend).

Physically yes, mentally no.

^^ What's your take when the opposite "Am I (too) small?" happens?

Xcelerator not having a double station

OBVIOUSLY TUNNEL TEST FAILED!

[Coasterkidmwm]

VF15 wrote:

From my ride operator perspective, when grown adults ask me "Am I tall enough?" or duck next to the height stick. Gets annoying fast.

Yes hearing that once every 10 minutes from the group's designated "I think I'm clever" person gets old fast. I'd always coldly ignore them.

Going to a park with a GP group and getting that one a*****e stuck with you that goes "wait I need to see what it does first" pointing to the electric lime green roller coaster fully laid out in front of them before ANYONE in their scan range can get in line.

Which they continue to do for every freaking ride in the park.

The "read the description" story!

PEOPLE WHO COMPLETELY DISREGARD THE F*CKING HEIGHT STICK.

I hate to bore you all to death with story time, but, story time!

So I was at Knott???s waiting to ride GhostRider this summer and there was this dude with like 4 other people in his party, one including his daughter. He and his party, taking up like 3 rows already, were the first people in line ahead of me. So they enter the ride and this super chill teenage ride-op comes over and asks to measure the little girl. So they do, and, surprise surprise, she???s too short. So they ask the guy to either have one person in their party take the girl out of the ride, or have the entire party leave. But this dude just gets super pissed off instead, and starts literally shouting at the ride-op. The convo between the two went along the lines of this:

???Sir, she can???t ride. She???s too short???
???What????
???She can???t ride.???
???No I heard you the first time. That???s bullsh*t???
???Sir, she???s 46 inches, not 48.???
???That???s some serious BS right there kid, we were at the doctor yesterday for her check-up and got her measured there. She???s 49 inches.???
???She???s not, sir.???
???Are you sure that f*cking thing is even exactly 48 inches????
???I???m 100% positive. Now one member of your group can take her through the exit and wait for her to ride, or your whole party can leave. Also, I???m going to ask you to stop swearing, as we do not allow profanity in the park.???

This is where he gets super pissed.

???No no no, I did not come here all the way from San F*CKING Diego to be kicked off the ride by some shorta** kid. Let ALL of us ride or I???m calling your manager.???
???My manager would only enforce the rule, sir. It's nothing against you, it's a safety measure.???
???Well fine then. I want a front of line pass for any other attraction in the park, no matter what it is, in addition to the rest of my party riding this ride.???
???Hmm, okay let me check with the manager if that???s okay??????

He walks off in the other direction for a second and then turns around

???NO. Sir, there is a sign out front by the entrance, perfectly visible, detailing the minimum height requirement of this here attraction. Now let me ask you this, did you even bother to measure your daughter????
???Why is that even a question, I already told you we went to the doctor!???
???Did you measure her, sir????

???

???Did you????
???No??????
???NO. Exactly! There will not be any line cuts issued to anybody in your family and for the amount of the park???s time you have just wasted, I am not offering anyone in your party a ride on this attraction. It???s your fault and SOLELY your fault that you brought your daughter in line for an attraction she is clearly not tall enough to ride. Good day sir.???

After the whole, like, 2 minute ordeal, he walked to the exit platform. Now I dunno if he said some other things under his breath or something, but whatever. The ride-op was extremely cool about the situation and did not once shout back at the arrogant guest. People like that make me sick.

[Dirk_Ermen]

I would seriously applaud at a ride-opp like that.

At my visit to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure, there were so many damn things they set me off. California Screamin' for example, no one would pay attention to the ops in the station who ensure each train is full, just to keep the line down. I was using the single riders line as the queue randomly jumped to 90 minutes, and no one would pay attention to the ride op, who ended up thanking me for being the only person who paid attention. Another thing on all of the attractions were people constantly cutting in line to get back with their parties, and those who ignored the high check sign as Xander stated, than arguing about it. The biggest thing was on endless chain rides. I understand they have to stop or slow down for disabled and handicapped passengers to board, but sometimes Its just people being stupid. On the Little Mermaid Ride, it stopped right after we got off the ride due to the guy behind us who was playing with his phone and taking selfies (blinding me in the dark ride with his flash) dropping his phone onto the chain, luckily it was moving with us as it fell on the chain's cover, but people do the dumbest things in parks.