southpuddle

^ Mantis being rough doesn't have anything to do with pain in *those* regions of the body. Most of the complaints about Mantis come from the ride's head-banging second half, and from those people who STILL don't know how to properly ride a stand-up coaster and position the seat too high. Mantis is a very intense, fun, smooth coaster... until the second half, IMO.

Whenever the fog is working, which it was surprisingly often last summer (2008). The day that they turned on the fog that summer, it looked like there was a freakin' BONFIRE inside the tunnel lol! The fog was BILLOWING out of the tunnel, and we had guests telling us very time they came back that the tunnel was on fire... I got to the point where I was incorporating it into my spiel: "You're going to experience seven amazing points of airtime and three way-cool tunnels - the third of which IS NOT ON FIRE! But thanks for your concern!" The thing is, that in order for the starfield effect to work, it also has to be sunny... and the sun has to be shining through the holes in the tunnel just right lol.

I have a bunch more for you... this is really one of my favorite parts of working at parks - snapping pics that most people can't get! And one last one... again not really a behind the scenes pic, but you'd find it very hard to get a picture like this of you if you weren't an employee! Yep that's me Not a park behind-the-scenes pic, but definitely an employee area - this was my room at Commons dorms employee housing at CP. Not so bad if you keep it tidy This sign is posted inside Magnum's electrical room. Dragster from inside the infield. Probably the cutest screensaver of any ride control panel - maXair! The hideous Disaster Transport is even uglier from the employees only areas. From inside the first tunnel looking up at the third hill - sweet sweet floajector airtime! GEEK SHOT!!! Magnum's lift motor assembly. One more of the third tunnel. Another tunnel pic - third tunnel and the "star-field" effect that the holes in the tunnel give when the fog is working. A pretty sweet one of the train zooming at 72 amazing miles per hour right overhead! I'll start off with more Magnum - this is under the station.

I have a bunch from Cedar Point - mostly of Magnum since I have worked there for the past two summers. Yes, all of these were taken "legally" - I didn't break any rules to get any of these. And my last one - a kinda creepy one of Wicked Twister. The train was out on the brake run when we got there in the morning. The power to the ride was shut off, so it was safe to cross the platform to get to our lockers, but it was still very nerve racking being on the load platform with the train out there like that, so I had to get a pic! Iron Dragon from a break area. And one last behind-the-scenes picture of Magnum - my tunnel walking buddy inside the first tunnel. We hardly ever go in the first two tunnels, so when we do, we find a LOT! I swear some of the hats look like they have been in there since 1989! One of my favorites - from inside the first tunnel - rail view of the second drop. Simple yet cool shot from a lift walk early in the morning. And one more from inside the second tunnel looking out onto the layout. Another from inside the second tunnel looking at the pretzel. One taken on a tunnel walk from inside the second tunnel. Taken on a lift walk looking at the super-cool 1980s scifi movie themed station. Another from inside Magnum's pretzel low zone. It takes about 45 minutes to do a track walk in the middle of the day. We're allowed in all of the low zones except one while the ride is in operation. The most common lost article? Cell phones. About 20 a day! Inside Magnum's pretzel low zone looking up.

^ No, dude. That's how it is for every park. Even Disney is not going to hire a person and place them at a location if there is a different location that is in more desperate need of an additional employee. That's just how it is. No park is going to trade being short-staffed at a location just to satisfy a NEW employee. The only thing that I agree with is how CP should not put a specific ride on someone's contract. In my experience, only 1 out of the 3 summers that I worked there I actually got placed at the ride that was on my contract right away. It's not the best first impression to give a new employee, I'll admit that. 2006 I was contracted to Raptor, got Wicked Twister. No big deal. Ended up absolutely loving it at WT. 2007 I was contracted to maXair and was placed there upon arrival. 2008 I was contracted to Magnum, and was placed at Corkscrew for five days before I was put back at Magnum. Again, no big deal, and I actually had a lot of fun at Corkscrew.

^^ It's true that working at a park is not a "requirement" to being an enthusiast, but I don't know of very many people in which employment at a park has completely obliterated their love of parks and coasters. Even the people that I've seen quit in a blazing glory of hatred for their job I often see right back at the park as a guest a few weeks later! Again, if anything, I like coasters and parks even more now just for the fact that I now have one more level of appreciation for everything that goes on at one of these places. Being able to visit other parks from an employee perspective is pretty cool.

I've worked at Cedar Point for the past three summers, and I'm considering going back for a fourth. I'm a Commercial Recreation Administration student at Fresno State in California, so I guess working at parks is somewhat relevant to what I'm going to school for. I've thoroughly enjoyed myself in my three summers of employment there. I don't think that it has "ruined" my love for Cedar Point or amusement parks in general in the least. If anything, it has given me a new, interesting perspective when I visit other parks. It's always fun to compare how other parks are run once you get an intimate knowledge of the park you work at. -- True, the housing is less-than desirable, but considering how much you pay to live there, and how much time you actually spend in your room, it's never really bothered me. You'll start to refer to it as home - everyone does. It's a very fun atmosphere. Like college without the classes. --True, they'll work you A LOT. Especially at the beginning and end of the season. In my three summers there, I probably averaged a good 60-plus hours a week. The most I ever worked was 75 hours in one week. The least I ever worked was around 45. You'll get one day off a week - don't expect or ask for any more than that. You can always ask for additional contracted time off, and if there aren't already a lot of people on your crew that have asked for those days off, you're most likely to get it. --True, don't get your heart set on a ride location that is printed on your contract. There's a line right there on your contract that says they have the right to move you wherever they see fit once you arrive (within your contracted department, of course). On the other hand, make it known to your supervisor that you are interested in moving whenever it is possible, and they are pretty good at making accommodations. Just don't sound winey. Talk to them in a professional manner and they'll treat you the same. It's a business like any other - it's not a summer camp where your supervisors are there to make sure you're having the best time ever at all times. I think that supervisors and managers are pretty good at noticing when an employee is going a great job, and the better you are doing your job and the more professional you act, the more likely you are to be taken seriously and get your way... because trust me, there are plenty of employees there that don't take their job seriously. You'll get moved to different ride locations some days. Nobody works one ride all season. But overall, it's the crew - not the ride - that will make or break your summer. I think that the supervisors and managers at CP are great. Just don't expect to get your way all the time, because sometimes it's out of their hands as well. You'll gain great teamwork skills, and it's a GREAT way to work on your people skills. It's my personal belief that working as a ride operator is the best way to gain customer service experience that there is. You're going to come in contact with thousands of guests a day of all races, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds. You're going to have awesome guest interactions and terrible ones. You're very likely to be yelled at by a guest damn near every day that you work. But that goes for pretty much any park. I know that other jobs I've applied for during the offseason when I go back to school have always been very interested and impressed with my employment at CP. Any job interview question you get asked you will easily be able to relate back to your experience at CP. Overall, the quality of your summer is going to depend a lot on the people you work with - your crew members. Some of the best friends I've ever made, I met at CP. And of course, it's hard to beat being able to go to CP for free whenever you want because you live five minutes away. Like it was said above, there's nothing else to do in Sandusky, but a very large portion of the ride ops at CP are coaster enthusiasts, so you can bet on getting a group together and going to Kennywood, KI, Waldameer, Geauga La.... oops nevermind... on your days off if you want. That said, I also did a Disney College Program last year. I worked at Rock n Roller Coaster. Better pay, better supervisors, and an overall better company to work for, but I genuinely had much more fun working at Cedar Point. Go figure. I worked at Busch Gardens Williamsburg a LONG time ago... 2004... without the employee housing component it just wasn't anything like working at either CP or WDW. Personally going to have to put that at the bottom. ALL of the rides that I worked at in my three summers at CP in order of most to least time spent there: Cedar Point 2006: Wicked Twister, Skyride, Millennium Force Cedar Point 2007: maXair, Magnum XL-200, Skyride, Disaster Transport and Camp Snoopy Cedar Point 2008: Magnum XL-200 and Corkscrew

Kumba is AMAZING. It's shocking how three coasters that are essentially the same (Kumba, Medusa and Scream) are so different in the quality of ride. Kumba is one of the most intense coasters I've ever been on - basically Batman the Ride intensity in a sitdown design... while Medusa and Scream are so watered down that I could fall asleep. I really wish B&M hadn't abandoned their intensity in favor of overly-engineered designs... wonder why they chose that route anyway... I'm sure maintenance costs had something to do with it.

Q1) Male Q2) 22 y.o. Q3) I'll ride anything a park has, but my all-time favorite ride is a wooden coaster. Second all-time favorite is steel (Magnum XL-200). Q4) Sit-down lap-bar trains. Q5) Voyage at Holiday World. Q6) Getting pulled over the top of a steep hill when sitting in the backseat. Q7) Height is what usually scares me the most. Q8) Yes. First ride is usually the best, too. It's the rides that get better and better every time you ride them that are the true classics. Q9) Could be interesting. I'd have to be shown a more detailed concept to let you know if I'm really interested, though. Q10) Very. Even a dull ride can be amazing with proper theming (i.e. Expedition Everest). Q11) Either can be good, but I like watching coasters in general, so it's always nice to have something to look at when waiting in line. However, hiding the ride from view while you're queueing to go along with the theming can be neat, too. Q12) Long ride/long queue, I guess. Although with high capacity, even a very long ride can still have a very short wait, so the question is a little off. Q13) More coasters with ejector air. Most newer coasters nowadays - even the new hypers - have wussy floater air that really does nothing for me.[/i]

DejaVu has always had a God-aweful crew every time I visit. Eight-minute dispatches are mind-boggling to think about after three summers working at Cedar Point. Add the fact that you can't choose where you sit and the number of empty seats per train... it easily gets my vote for the consistently worst ride crew I've ever witnessed. That said, I'm looking forward to my trip to the park (I'll be going after Fright Fest - I really don't like Halloween events at parks and prefer to visit during "normal" operation). Hopefully things are as good during my visit as you are reporting now.

^ The train that dropped off the lift wouldn't be able to drop off the lift unless there was a block brake between that train and the one sitting outside the station... I believe Corkscrew has three block brakes on that ending brake run.

Nice pictures! Hope you got your fill of short lines, because it's about to get CRAZY!

Ooh, I have an idea! Like signs in the stand-by queues claiming that the line is currently "45 MINUTES FROM THIS POINT" when it is more like 10, and then have an ad for Flashpass right below it!... Oh, wait... every Six Flags park already uses this misleading, sneaky tactic to sell more Flashpasses. After working at Disney World at Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, I know perfectly well that there is a optimal crowd level in the park to where a Fastpass system works its best. If the park is completely dead, then a Fastpass system is pointless because the stand-by line is just as long. If the park is super-crowded, then the Fastpasses either "sell out" in the first hour the park is open (if it's Disney) or there are an insane number of people using the system to the point where you're still waiting a good 45 minutes in the Fastpass line and the stand-by line simply doesn't move at all. Yes, a queue management system is fantastic (usually) for those patrons using the system, but it does nothing but piss off the people who don't want to fork over the extra money - or those patrons like me, who refuse to use it simply because they're morally against it.

Rule #1: Never, ever, for any reason, enter a coaster's restricted area. Rule #2: If you decide to break Rule #1, please at least BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS! You'd think that this guy would have orchestrated this little act of stupidity a LITTLE better. Coaster train passes, and THEN enter the path that the train will take. At least that's how I would have done it, if, I decided to break Rule #1 lol.

Disney - it's free for everyone, they don't give out too many, and because of their merge points, nobody is blatantly "stealing" your seat. The worst is Six Flags. LoQ/Flashpass is horrible. First off, you have to pay for it, which is BS, and I'm not sure if they will actually stop selling them as long as there are still people willing to buy them. The way they merge at some rides is God-awful, and sometimes even the rides under one-train operation are STILL using Flashpass, making a standby line with only 50 people in it a half hour long. I'm really not a big fan of any type of Fastpass system, however. I feel that the best way to queue people up is to just have everyone use standby and focus more on putting everyone through as quickly as possible, which is why I love Cedar Point.

Of the stand-ups I've been on: Riddler, Mantis, Scorcher, Iron Wolf, Vortex Carowinds, Vortex CGA and Shockwave, Mantis is my second favorite after Riddler. I absolutely love the first half of the ride pre-MCBR. It's so intense and smooth - it's that second half of the ride that people complain about roughness, plus the second half is just plain boring. If you're lucky enough to catch a ride where the trim on the first drop is off, the intensity of the ride will blow your mind - especially in the incline loop - WOW!

I work at CP, guys. At Magnum. I don't care what the website says, as it also still states that alcohol is not permitted in line, which is another policy change from last year. We no longer close the ride for plain ole rain. There's even a TR on this site with photos of coasters operating in the rain this season here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43741 In light precipitation, we'll go down to two train operation, and in heavy rain, unfortunately, we'll go down to one train. Also, we no longer have to cycle five times per train before we can load it after the rain has stopped. We only have to cycle once. As for other rides, I'm not as familiar. This is what I know. So please, stop all of your "OMFG THEY"RE RIDEZ GO DOWNZ WHEN IT SPRINKLEZ!!! WORST PARK EVAR!" bullcrap.

CEDAR POINT HAS CHANGED THEIR RAIN POLICIES!!! Jesus, people. I swear... the park did something last year that got all of your panties in a twist and you still can't stop going on about it even though that policy now no longer exists... I'm sorry that rain ruined all of your guys' trips last year on the Midwest tour, but the park did what it did and they learned from their mistake. Get over it. Coasters remain open in the rain now (except the ones that closed for rain before last year's idiotic policies). You really can't expect to ask this question on this site and get an unbiased answer. Half of everyone here has some strange anti-CP thing going on. If you asked the same question over at Pointbuzz, it would be the complete opposite. Try to ignore what everyone here has said and just go where you want to go the most.

Hey guys, Cedar Point runs coasters in rain now, if you haven't heard (thank God), albeit with fewer than maximum trains on the track. They realized that it pissed everyone off and learned from their mistake. So cork it. As for me, Deja Vu at SFMM pisses me off more than any other coasters' operations. Setting my stopwatch, it was more than eight minutes between dispatches on my trip last Friday. Plus they don't let you sit where you want. Me and my friend were the third group to be let in the station, and I asked politely if we could go to the back row. The girl said "No. Please go to row three." and pointed. There was nobody in the last row. It's not like I would be hanging around to wait another cycle, so what is the problem? Anyone with more than three brain cells can coordinate guests and still allow those who have a row preference to sit where they want. I know, I've done it thousands of times. What pisses me off even more is that I think that this is the standard, required answer. Every time I have asked, I get a "There is no preferred seating. Go to row __." On top of all that, in eight minutes, they still couldn't fill every seat, and there was absolutely no attempt to look for single riders. Bullcrap. I filled every seat for a half hour straight while working at Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, and we were dispatching trains every 48 seconds...

Who'd-a-thunk that rides might encounter downtime after being on ice (literally) for six months... And look for changes from last year in rain policy.

Thought this was a good topic. Here's a link so you can make your own: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php

Seriously, would the fact that there are more people excited to ride it make YOU any less excited to ride it? Leave that to the emos. I'll be making the trip to Waldameer this summer for sure. Just a short trip from Sandusky! DROOOOOOOLLLL DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL

Why? MM has been doing some amazing things, but I was extremely disappointed with their decision to remove FIVE of their flat rides this past year... Freefall, Spinout, Circus Wheel, Granny Grand Prix and Sierra Twist were all good rides enjoyed by families... In a park that now has only 16 non-coaster rides. SIXTEEN! They have 15 coasters and 16 non-coaster rides! Does anyone else see anything wrong with this or is it just me? Minus the water rides (5 of them), the pay-per-rides (3 of them) and the transport ride Sky Tower, and you have seven traditional flat rides plus the Bugs Bunny World kiddie rides. I just cannot see the new management's reasons behind the removal of those five flats. They say that they want to attract more families, but families don't go to parks that have nothing to offer other than high-thrill coasters. It's that simple. Other than that, the park is looking amazing and I'm really looking forward to my second trip of the year in the next few weeks!

^^ I love Apollo's Chariot at BGE. It's not quite in my Top 10, but it's close. Nitro did nothing for me. I stopped by SFDGAd really quick last summer and only was able to get one ride in on Nitro, so I went for the back most row, which I prefer on hypers. I don't know... maybe it was just my summer of working at Magnum XL-200 and being used to abrupt ejector air that left me disappointed, but it really just felt like I was sitting in the seat with a high-powered fan blowing on me.

True. It's also cold outside. But it also doesn't help that B&M puts a trim going up every hill and designs the ride to float over the hills in the first place. Hopefully Behemoth will be better than Nitro. Most overrated B&M there is, in my opinion. Snoooooooooooze... I'm also hoping that the longer train is gong to create an awesome whipping effect over that first drop (which it looks like it is!)