JRice92

Those were some really amazing photos! Glad you had a great time in the park!

Our shift is 5:30AM-1:30AM, we're all so crazy here I believe there's 7 other people sharing that shift with me. Not necessarily the same rides but we're all working t both ERT's. Insane? Yes. Fun? Most definitely!

Thank you so much! We all love working for the park. It's literally the best job I've ever had! For those attending Coastermanaia I'll be working Valravn for the morning ERT through 8PM then I'll be making a guest appearance working Top Thrill Dragster for the 10:30pm-12:30am ERT!

31/62 in North America! 50% Halfway down, plenty more to go!

Thank you so much for the compliments, Bill! This season so far Valravn has over 200,000 riders already and we're the second most ridden roller coaster in the park behind Gatekeeper! The screen in Valravn's station has 2 good uses. Like the post before mine, it shows seat status. It makes it a little easier than say Gatekeeper since the hosts on the platform can look themselves and see if all their seats are lowered enough. The timer is a great training tool for new associates. Our goal is to try and have the controls person say "All Clear" when the timer hits 50 seconds. That makes it easy to train when the associates can see the timer in the corner. That timer starts when the train parks, before the floor comes up so the harnesses don't unlock until 8-9 seconds on the timer (on Valravn they don't all unlock at once they unlock in 6 sets taking 2 seconds for the whole train to unlock) giving us about 41-42 seconds to unload a train, load a train, check the restraints, and dispatch it. That's a pretty hard interval to hit, right now about 50%-60% of the time we hit that 50 seconds but I definitely want us to be more consistent as we get into the busy season Millennium Force doesn't need a timer. Since they're no MCBR on Millennium there's an easier interval there, once the crew gets used to the ride they'll have their train all checked and ready to go before the ride is ready to send another train.

They're training new employees and testing the rides. Today was Friends & Family day at the park. All the full time Staff members received tickets to give to their friends & family for today's invite only event for a select bunch of rides from 1pm-6pm. The coasters open today were Raptor, Gatekeeper, Valravn, Millennium Force, Iron Dragon, Dragster & Maverick. However I don't think dragster opened at all today because trains kept rolling back. The park also has Camp Snoopy, Lake Erie Eagles, Monster, & I believe Kiddy Kiddy kingdom was open too.

I always stay at the Quality Inn in Cookstown, NJ when I visit Great Adventure. It's about a 15 minute drive away from the park. Nothing fancy, but I've stayed there 3 times in the past year with no problems! http://www.qualityinnmcguire.com/ I also recommend Wawa for getting food after park closing. Whenever I'm in a state with a Wawa nearby I always get food from there!

After recalling yesterday, I have to say Mystic Timbers is a fantastic addition to the park. My group & I all felt like this coaster feels like it has always belonged here. From the placement on the midway, the awesome queue, and fun ride experience. Kings Island has a real winner on their hands. Since opening day crowds at KI are always huge we splurged for FL+ in advance and got 8 rides on Mystic Timbers waiting no longer than 10-15 minutes each time. On one of our rides, the train was dispatched and after the first 3 rows were out the train stopped and the ride broke down. It was around a 10 minute delay and I was able to have a conversation with one of the rides supervisors while we waited for maintenance to get us going again. On a separate occasion, our train left the station and when we got to the lift, the chain wasn't running so we stopped at the base of the lift and were there for around another 10 minute delay. While the ride wasn't running perfectly whenever there was a delay they seemed to get it back up and going pretty quickly. I got to see all 3 shows that perform in the shed and more or less they're the same thing with a different animal. I think the music playing in the shed is a fun addition to the end of the ride to keep the guests entertained! It's a lot more fun than just sitting in the break run. I also loved the Son of Beast reference in the shed! This ride is a ton of fun and a great addition. Go ride it!

Mystic Timbers is fantastic! Showed up early this morning to beat the crowds and only ended up waiting 15 minutes for Mystic Timbers. This is a solid addition to the park. Lots of directional changes and tons of airtime! Had a blast!

It's just the lighting in the photo. I was in the park working today and can confirm Maverick has not gotten painted.

I can agree with this. Bins kill capacity, when Magnum had the bins taken away in 2014 the actual hourly numbers raised by 300-400 riders per hour.

There's a healthy crowd here getting ready for opening! You can't miss me in my blue Millennium Force Crew Hoodie

I'll be there on Saturday, I'm looking forward to visiting the park again!

I love American Eagle & Viper! I love the laterals on Viper's turns. American eagle is just a ton of fun, both of these are must rides on every visit for me.

Disclaimer: This is just what I heard, this is not 100% fact as I'm not in corporate to know what goes on. From my understanding the Cedar Fair parks choose what they want, put in a request to corporate where it then gets approved or denied. So most additions are ideas from within the specific parks management but ultimately corporate gives the final OK. I don't know how budgets are allocated. I would assume for Patriot at WOF they put in a request and made a good argument why they should get the budget for the ride.

These "limits" are for the most part a marketing ploy and serve as a call to action. If there is indeed a limit, it's so absurdly high that hitting it is never (or almost never) a real concern. I know for sure on 1 Haunt weekend CP sold out of Fast Lane. And there was possibly a second time in 2016. In 2015 two Haunt Saturday's sold out.

The excitement is building! Plans are set, I'll be at the park opening day and the first few hours of the day on that Sunday!

36/100, a good start! I'll be looking forward to adding on more this year!

1. What is the farthest distance you've traveled to specifically visit a theme park? By land, 509 miles to Six Flags Great Adventure from Sandusky, OH By Air, Cleveland, OH to Orlando, FL 2. Your favorite coaster in the state you live in? Maverick 3. Would you rather wait in line for a boomerang (at any park) or a VR coaster @ a Six Flags? I will gladly ride the boomerang 4. Have u ever been the only person in a train during a coaster ride? Yes! on Ravine Flyer II, I305, Nitro, Batman @ sfgadv, Maverick, Raptor, & while working Millennium Force! 5. What is your favorite thing to do at your home park that does not involve riding something? Operating the rides! 6. Better time for ERT: Early morning or late night? Night! 7. Name some theme park food that *sounds* gross, yet is oh-so-delicious? Blue Ice Cream 8. Name your top three "bucketlist" coasters you have yet to ride. Taron, Skyrush, Lightning Rod 9. Have you ever been E-Vac'd? Did you receive anything if you did? I've been E'Vac'd from Valravn and no I did not receive anything. 10. What is the longest length of time you've waited for a coaster? 4.5 hours for Gatekeeper on opening day. 11. Worst flat ride ever. Name it. Don't have one 12. Your favorite SWEET treat at a park that is NOT your home park. Don't eat enough sweets to know. 13. Congratulations! After aggressively gambling on the Plinko game you finally won a front of the line pass. Which ride do you use it on? Maverick 14. If you could have a lifetime fast pass to ONE attraction what would it be? El Toro 15. Have you ever been next to someone that puked on a coaster? Nope 16. Your home park is getting a new B&M and YOU get to pick what type. Do you want an invert/hyper/dive/floorless/flyer/wing/standup? All of the above is not an option. Flying 17. Name your favorite Vekoma. Expedition Everest 18. What water ride delivers the most unacceptable amount of wetness? I don't really ride the water rides so I'm not sure. 19. If you were able to help design a coaster would you want it to focus on airtime or inversions/positive G's? Both? I305 as an example. 20. Most comfortable trains/seats for a coaster are... Intamin T-Bars & RMC Trains 21. Choose one: Unlimited front-of-the-line access to your favorite coaster at your home park for one season OR $1,000 cash? Unlimited front of the line access 22. You just got drowned by a flume/rapids/chute-the-chutes. Do you pay the $$ for the dryer machine or do you continue on with your day trudging around like soggy dog? Trudge around soggy 23. What is the worst food you've had at your home park? I've been lucky to not get anything bad so far. 24. You're at Cedar Point. You have a one hour ERT session on ONE coaster of your choice. You choose... Maverick 25. Favorite (non-clone) dark ride? Pirate's Cove @ Waldameer 26. What was your favorite park you visited in 2016? Six Flags Great Adventure, So many awesome coasters!!! 27. What's your current credit count? Don't be shy. 130 28. Winner winner chicken dinner! You just won a trip with hotel and airfare included. The catch is its only good for Six Flags America or Mt Olympus. Which do you choose? Well I've already been to Mt. Olympus so I'll pick the park with the Intamin Hyper 29. What is the best Intamin coaster you have ridden? Intimidator 305! 30. Your home park has to remove one coaster and one flat for an expansion. Which two rides would you be OK with losing? Corkscrew & Super Himalaya 31. Song/music you've heard playing at a park that absolutely has not business being played in a theme park? Teenybopper pop music. 32. There's 5 minutes before the park closes. You choose to: Reride your favorite coaster in the park, OR get the new kiddie/junior coaster credit? Reride favorite caoster. 33. Do you visit the waterpark if it's connected to the amusement park? Nope, gotta ride MOAR COASTERS! 34. What 2017 addition are you most looking forward to? Mystic Timbers 35. What was the most disappointing addition to your home park in the past 10 years? I really don't think CP has had a disappointing addition in the past 10 years. 36. The most overrated coaster ever is... I don't usually spend time hating on rides, I just try to enjoy them! 37. What ride makes you wanna vomit? None 38. What is the best consolation prize you've won at a games booth? I don't ever play games in a park. 39. And the worst? N/A 40. End this questionnaire by posting a picture of your favorite light package (coaster/flat).

Thanks! I can't wait to start working again!

I asked for something new. I love and will always love working Millennium Force, but it was time for me to move onto something new. Time to learn a whole new control system, something faster paced, something with new technological goodies. I'm stoked to be the Supervisor of Valravn this season!

Nope, I'll be at Valravn this season! CP always lets us know this early. Hiring for the season (note: this all applies to the rides department, I can't speak for the others.) begins in mid January. They start with hiring our Area Supervisors, then go to specific Ride Supervisors, Team Leaders, and Crew Members in that order. For everybody who worked the previous season and is returning, the rides managers call us and offer us a position on a specific ride, so you know what ride you're on before you even begin hiring paperwork. If we accept our Job offer then we go onto the hiring process. If you're brand new to Cedar Point you'll get a Skype Interview and if you're hired they'll tell you what ride you're placed on before the call is over. Me and the other employees get so hyped for what we call "Placement Time" to find out where everybody gets placed throughout the park, There's an employees only group we post our placement news and even a website for us to see who all is hired and where they're placed. There's already over 100 ride ops hired for the 2017 season so far. We're a big department though total there's going to be around 600 people hired for rides this season and lots more people to be placed!

Congratulations! You're going to have a blast working there! One of the special things about working that ride is the guests are always excited. When you get to say "Welcome back riders, how was your ride?" Every single train, every single time always cheers in excitement! That doesn't happen at other rides. It makes for a great working atmosphere!

I'm jealous you all have such a short off season, I'm currently considering an early April trip. Not for sure yet but we'll see how it all unfolds.