How to get a foot in the door?

[Homer]

There are two types of workers in the world. Those who work for the money and don't care or those who work with a passion and willing to slave for the satisfaction of hard work.

 

Right now, I'm at a point in life where I have too many pathways to choose from. I see a lot of my friends already have chosen a path and going off to a four-year university next year. Others, like me on the other hand, are undecided and are just going to a community college hoping to find something. I have had a few thoughts floating around my head about what I want to do. One of those thoughts was the obligatory young enthusiast thought, "I wanna work in a theme park! I bet its going to be fun!"

 

One of my dreams is to become a manager at a theme park. I know for sure that the road to becoming a manager is long and hard, but is there a good way to get a foot in the door and get a job in the theme park industry? I don't mean, "just fill out an application and become a ride operator" type job, although that is a start, but any way to just kind of "get a foot in the door?"

 

Thanks in advance to those who answer,

-Homer

[IceDragon]

i guess the best way is to get work experience shadowing the manager of a near-by small(ish) park.

 

 

Phone up, look on the website, send a letter, etc...

[SharkTums]

From what I've seen both firsthand and through others is that you basically NEED to start at the bottom at a theme park and work your way up. No matter how smart you are, where you went to school, how much you know about parks, who you know, etc. Those factors will help you move up quicker, but you pretty much need to start at the bottom.

[larrygator]

Fill out an application

[Jew]

...and become a ride operator.

 

Seriously. There's no better advice to give than that. I'm sure if they took a survey of theme park managers, I'm guessing at least 60% of them would have either worked their way up within their company or had experience with other parks before landing their current jobs.

 

If nothing else, you'll find out if that's what you really want to do. Because I guarantee you it's completely different than what you imagine it to be, for better and for worse.

[RCoasterny]

Basically, start off as a ride operator with kiddie rides, move up to the bigger rides, eventually become a ride lead, then an area lead, then ride supervisor, and keep going up until you land in the office, swim around in it for a while, then voila, you end up being a theme park manager. Oh, and yes, work your butt off, be nicer than a Disney CM, and do a lot of butt kissing. A few years in college in business management would help too..

 

Good luck!