Reality15

*sigh* the LAST Find the Ducky Game, huh? Hopefully that means less ducks and more hot chicks! Oh, and 2 ducks, please.

Yet the world's first B&M giga is being installed there in 2012. I don't think there's any reason to cry. Some parks go almost a decade without a new coaster.

That is the Hersheypark Wildcat concept art that they released in 1995. Someone just slapped a Canada's Wonderland logo and some kind of emblem on it. Definitely fake. EDIT: It's in the Hersheypark "Sweetness of Success" book if anyone doubts it.

Locked. I missed last week and almost this week too, but I will go with 5 duckies this week, and won't be disappointed when that's wrong either.

Nice photos, Dave. I was really hoping to join everyone on the tour this time, but life got in the way and I had to back-out last minute. Too bad, looks like you guys got to see some interesting stuff!

Dang that Mikestry card! We thought we had the Busch Gardens Tampa one for sure, if only they hadn't have moved that mummy tight up against the wall! In my opinion, I've still won the biggest prize of them all. I got to ride my favorite roller coaster in the world with the Big man himself. No better prize than that!

I agree with all of those, but the one on top of the sign isn't the same duck, and we were supposed to be finding the sand pail duck.

Well, there looks to be one decoy duck in there, so I'm going to go with FOUR as my final answer.

Locked. I should probably get in on this one and say SEVEN.

Thanks for the shout-out Big Mike! The link up there isn't working for some reason, it's: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22EJWVNHQ6K And someone lock me in for three duckies.

Oh noes! Almost missed this week's ducky game! Someone lock me in for four ducks!

Locked, locked aaaaaaaaaaaand locked. As for me, I'm going to say seven ducks.

Like this. Good to see you back, big man. Let me know if you decide to make the trek to Michigan this year. Oh, and I guess 4 duckies. Someone lock me in.

As someone with five years of operations management experience, that's the last thing you want. If I were to put all of my best employees on the star rides, what happens to the capacity on smaller rides, and especially children's attractions? Nine times out of ten if I respond to a complaint call about an employee moving too slow, it's going to be on a single-operator attraction like a kids ride or a smaller flat ride. When I do hiring, my focus isn't on speeding up my star attractions, you have to put them where they're going to fit best. A teenage guy who thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread would probably be best on an attraction like some go-karts, while a college student looking for an education degree would be best in the kids area. When you put them where they fit best, they'll have a better work ethic and, as a result, move faster. I know a lot of other parks that do this as well, like Cedar Point, the Disney parks and even Universal (to an extent). You usually don't hear about capacity problems from any of those.

Does anyone have the wooden coaster car CTR that Gadget made a couple years ago? His website is long gone, and I haven't been able to find the download anywhere.

Maverick's line is going to be about the same all day, but will be longer in the first three hours of the day. Top Thrill Dragster and Millennium Force's lines get shorter the later at night you ride. Magnum XL-200 has such a high capacity that it really doesn't matter when you ride it. I've been able to get on it within 10 minutes on a busy day before. Best plan of attack is start over by Magnum, loop up around Frontiertown, over by Wicked Twiter, then back up the other side. A giant figure-8. This plan keeps you away from the main crowd if you pace it out throughout the entire day, with the exception of Millennium Force and Mantis, which you should save for as late as possible.

Right now I'm in my sixth year of majoring in Hospitality and Tourism Management with an emphasis in tourism and marketing, as well as a second major of Computer Science with an emphasis in media development, and a minor in Advertising and Public Relations. Should all go according to plan, though, I'll graduate in April and won't have to go back. *whew*

I knew it! I thought I saw you yesterday right before the park closed. I was up at Zoomer doing some training and thought I saw you down by Mini Enterprise, but was too busy to go down and say hi. Oh well, I'm sure I'll catch you again sometime this summer!

^ no, actually. I just had my first trip to Canada's Wonderland a earlier this month, and actually thought that Minebuster was the best coaster there. Behemoth just wan't that great, in my opinion, as it had a nasty rattle and is trimmed to death. Behemoth came in at the very low ranking of #31 on my steel list, whereas Minebuster was a great definition of what a wooden coaster should be and came in at #14 for woodies. Canada's Wonderland just seemed like a park that has probably one of the best flat-ride collections out there, but needs a few non-cookie-cutter coasters to make it a great park. Cedar Fair will keep working wonders for this place, since it's one of the big attendance and money-makers of the chain.

The only logical reasoning behind the train slowing is that the crew is being efficient and sending the train at (or in this case it sounds like below) interval. The biggest example of this can be found on the Beast at Kings Island. The train moves slowly up the first lift until the second lift is cleared. I can't remember what coaster it was that did it the other way, where if the train reaches 2/3 of the way up the lift and the block isn't clear, it slows down to allow the other train the time to pass. Again, this is just a guess. While I'm not familiar with how Viper operates or the mechanics behind that specific ride, I've worked a lot of different wooden coasters out there and know their maintenance procedures and quirks. If the lift motor is slowing the train down at the top of the hill sporadically, that's a maintenance problem and sounds like it's time to bring in a replacement motor.

To answer those questions, I would talk to various parks' managers in different departments and see what they have to say. Some like to see hospitality degrees, some prefer marketing degrees, others recreation... it really depends on the park and the department. Talk to your GM at Coney, see what they have to say. Talk to the folks up at Kings Island, too, I'm sure they could help steer you in the right direction.

We've got quite a bit slated for this year, at least for someone with a summer job on a college budget. We already did a trip to Orlando to hit up the big not-Disney parks of SeaWorld Orlando, Islands of Adventure, Busch Gardens Tampa and Universal Studios Florida. Next on the list is a two-day Canada's Wonderland, Centreville, Kokomo's run, followed by a four-day Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Jungle Jack's run. After that it's just a bunch of day trips to Cedar Point, Waldameer, Indiana Beach and Michigan's Adventure. Still trying to convince the woman that a weekend honeymoon to Hersheypark would be great, but she doesn't seem too convinced yet.

For some people (like myself), the option of working at a year-round park isn't there yet, because we do have school during the fall, winter and spring. If getting into management quick is what someone wants to do, yes, you should move to Florida and start at a year-round park. My advice was for those of us still in college (or even high school), getting a job at a seasonal park is definitely the way to go, as it starts to build the necessary experience to move up, helps pay for college, and still lets you get experience in the industry. I would definitely look into hospitality, as the spectrum of what you can do with it ranges from hotels, restaurants, sports venues, amusement parks, spas, state parks... it really is a huge field, with amusement parks being a part of it. I definitely understand your situation, as I too graduated in 2006. I spent three years jumping around majors (communications, marketing, computer science...), but once I found hospitality I loved it and stuck with it, hopefully graduating in December. I'd definitely recommend the hospitality majors. Again, I'd still recommend finishing college, and in the meantime continue to work seasonally. If Coney isn't going anywhere, make the transfer up to Cedar Point or Kings Island. That way you can get some experience with a park that is a little more recognizable to future employers as well as gets you experience in a larger, busier park.

I'll put my two cents in here as I feel it's relevant. First off, if you want to get into operations/management side of the amusement industry rather than the engineering side, the biggest advice I can give is to get into it as early as possible. The parks I'm familiar with hire from within for management and even supervision roles, so it's a case of working your way up. Now, from my experience, it's easier to work your way up at a smaller park, but really all it entails is "when is this position going to open up?" and how good of a worker you are. For example, I started in 2007 at Cedar Point, and a lot of the supervisors in the rides department are still the same except for maybe one or two that were moved up in recent years, but they both have spent more than five years working for the park. Meanwhile, I transferred up to Michigan's Adventure, got promoted to being a team leader my first year there, and now, my four year working for them, I'm already a supervisor. It really depends on the park. Even if it your home park is only a seasonal park, if working in amusement parks is what you really want to do, then starting seasonal is what you'll probably have to do to make it happen. Plus, it's a great way to make money during the summer if you're still in school. On the education side, I luckily go to a college that has a quickly growing "Hospitality and Tourism Management" major available, which after my first summer working in an amusement park was the way I started to go. While if your heart is set on it, UCF's program is definitely the way to go, there are several schools out there that have programs like this. Most of them are aimed at hotel/lodging and food and beverage management, but the same basic principles apply to amusement parks. Other ways to go include a general business, recreation or even movement science majors.

Save $3 at Michigan's Adventure?!? Well, I might just have to go check that place out this year. I may have to use the $2 off Midway Market coupon, though. I've been going to the park since 1992 and still have yet to eat there.