Has This Ever Happened To You?

[gnewton34]

A few years back I went to King's Island and was on the Zephyr, I guess that's what it's still called. It's the swing ride next to the entrance for Flight of Fear. Well anyway, if you've ever been to King's Island and seen this ride you know that it's right across from a huge area were there a lot of midway-type games. Well the ride operator that was running the swings was, for the lack of a better term, a bit different. You could tell she was very anti-establishment. She was very emo. Every time before she would start the ride, she would make her safety statements and what not and she would add this spiel into it "Welcome to King's Island ladies and gentlemen. I would like to focus your attention to the games next to this ride. Do not play these games, these games are all rigged. This is my public service announcement of the day." Then at the end of the ride she would add. "Remember ladies and gentlemen, do not play the games. Thank you and enjoy the park." We waited through a couple turns and she did it both times. I was just like I thought it was really weird BUT funny and thought maybe she was trying to get fired or something. I kept looking around for supervisors or managers to head her way. Has anyone else experienced anything like this or had any weird experiences with amusement park workers?

[CycloneMan]

Never had that happen. But I've known ride-ops who'd E-Stop a ride out of bordem. I actually was on BTR at SFGAv once when my friend did that!

 

-Dainan " " Rafferty

[PKI Jizzman]

wow! Never heard that on the Zepher! But...hmm....that's really odd and the games aren't rigged...just require skill. LOL.

[coastercrazed49]

Ha Ha thats messed. I thought you were suppose to promote the game.

 

 

The only thing that has happend to me was the ride op didnt check the harness one time, he must of forgot, because he did it every other time.

[Swimace]

I was at Six Flags America and the Roar operator was making the Timmy sounds from South Park over the microphone, I thought that was kind of odd. I think that was the stangest ride op I've encountered

[M_Force_4_ever]

hmmm thats interesting...when I worked at SFGAm I probablly would have been punished very heavily had I spoken like that of the games...

[snuggles]

Round-up operator:"yeah, do whatever, just don't walk around when it goes up, k?"

me: "so... i can ride with my back on the floor and my legs up against the back part"

op: "yes..."

 

That was by far the scariest ride I have ever had. EVER. Thank god for safety being at the bottom of the list!

[FLIPDUDE]

My worst case scenario mustve been when I was on Nitro, sitting in aseat that had duct tape over the lap restraint. While sitting htere I was wondering if osmehtings wrong iwth it, but figuring the ride ops would tell me if it was. they didnt say anything for a while. at some point I got scared so I asek done of htem abotu that and they were all "oh yeah, dont sit there" or osmehting of the sorts. I still dont know if they wouldve dispatched the ride like that, and if so, what owuldve happened.

 

But on one case I actually RELIED on a park emplyee to be un-trust worthy. When I knew there was only a rumor of a rollercoaster being built at SFMM, and speculations were flying, I simply went up to a booth operator, knowing full well the park doesnt want anyone to know what theyre building yet, asked her about the new coaster, and she said: "Oh yeah, it's uhm, some sort of flying coaster".

 

However, I also stumbled across my fair share of awsome ride ops. for example, Ride ops on The Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood knew what to do the second the coaster broke down. they started a trivia, and for every right answer they would hand out a cupon for a free drink or meal. I got two . They kept us very well entertained, even though at some point I decided ot leave and come back.

 

The ride op at Iron Dragon at CP was cool too, he told jokes.

[easytoremember]

However, I also stumbled across my fair share of awsome ride ops. for example, Ride ops on The Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood knew what to do the second the coaster broke down. they started a trivia, and for every right answer they would hand out a cupon for a free drink or meal. I got two . They kept us very well entertained, even though at some point I decided ot leave and come back.

 

The ride op at Iron Dragon at CP was cool too, he told jokes.

The ride ops at SFOG are pretty good at this, especially at GASM and Mind Bender, although I have never been handed out free coupons(I doubt Six Flags has such a thing ). Also I had another great experience during Goliath's opening day. It was raining that day, so they had to delay the opening an hour. The people who were standing in the station were entertained by one ride op that put on a little dance competition for the people waiting at the top of the stairs in the station.

[scruffy]

Last year I was in line for the log flume at Kings Island we a guy running Run a way Reptar starting weird nosies on the mic. till the train got to the lift. Then he yelled over the mic this coaster is going to crash. As I looked over I saw two supervisors running over to the ride.

[benzo41190]

^ HA!

 

I don't think a op should get in trouble for saying stuff. I mean, unless its offending people. It just makes the day more fun and the ride lines go a little faster.

 

I like this one Op that was on S:UF at SFGAm.

 

in the most mono tone voice...

"its a bird, its a plane, no it you on Superman"

It was so mono tone and slow...it was pathetic! Me and my friend were just laughing our asses off!

[kidcoaster]

My only problem was with a carny that ran the Musik Express at a local fair. I sat down and locked my self in. A few minutes later he came by and unlocked my seat and said no single riders. I had riddin a couple times already and there were other single riders on and he did not say anything to them. I told him I refuse to leave and asked him to show me a sign that said no single riders and he told me it was one of the rules of the ride. and I said no it is not and I refuse to leave and I sat back down and locked my self in. He looks at me and starts the ride. I was going to report him but I was ready to go home.

[socalMAN123]

In 2006, Antonio and I were at KBF in line for Xcelerator and this ride op absolutley sucked. He was singing over the speaker and was quoting Family Guy. Although some of the quotes he used were quite funny, the dispatch was 15 MINUTES! Sure it may be funny, but a 15 minute dispatch was seriously the worst thing I've ever seen.

---Brent

[WillMontu]

The Dueling Dragons ride ops are among the best out there. On one visit, the op at the control panel announced on the PA that one of the other operators would do a cartwheel, and he did.

[RollerC]

However, I also stumbled across my fair share of awsome ride ops. for example, Ride ops on The Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood knew what to do the second the coaster broke down. they started a trivia, and for every right answer they would hand out a cupon for a free drink or meal. I got two . They kept us very well entertained, even though at some point I decided ot leave and come back.

 

The ride op at Iron Dragon at CP was cool too, he told jokes.

The ride ops at XFIG are pretty good at this, especially at GASM and Mind Bender, although I have never been handed out free coupons(I doubt Six Flags has such a thing ). Also I had another great experience during Goliath's opening day. It was raining that day, so they had to delay the opening an hour. The people who were standing in the station were entertained by one ride op that put on a little dance competition for the people waiting at the top of the stairs in the station.

I don't think Six FLags will ever be doing the free promotions anymore...especially at XFIG...

 

 

I never had a bad experience like you guys did. I do remember that ride ops on Gemini were really enthuestactic and I think one of them had a fake fro on and was dancing and singing trying to get everyone pepped up.

[Top Thrill Dragster]

In 2006, Antonio and I were at KBF in line for Xcelerator and this ride op absolutley sucked. He was singing over the speaker and was quoting Family Guy. Although some of the quotes he used were quite funny, the dispatch was 15 MINUTES! Sure it may be funny, but a 15 minute dispatch was seriously the worst thing I've ever seen.

 

Wow! 15mins a train! Thats worse than when it first opened! Are you sure it wasn't a brake down.

 

When I go to Knotts I usually find the Xcelerator ride ops funny. I like when the train is about to launch they say "enjoy your ride on Jaguar..... MEOW!"

 

The ride ops I hate are the Silver Bullet ride ops. They spend way too much time talking on the microphone. As a result they stack trains every cycle.

[snuggles]

This wasn't an op trying to lose their job, but doing a damn good job. The crew on Mamba@ WOF on the last day of the season in 2006 was probably the best crew I've ever seen. They were friendly, funny, and gave out candy!

Whenever they disptached a train, they would say over the mic "sit down and don't hold on tight, mamba is about to strike" My friends sister got her first ride ever on it, and they even said over the mic "oooh, we have a first time rider here!".

 

Another funny op at WOF was on detonator, and he would say "hm... the ride has been loading slow all day, we might need to bring you down" (we were just ready to launch) and then, after they say "yeah, we have to bring you down", they launched it.

 

The coaster operator at Joyland, (this is probably my favorite ride op ever) would let you re-ride over and over if nobody else wanted your seat. Even if they did, all you had to do was get another. He even let us ride from the unload station to the loading station.

[philipdimartino]

When i was at formally SF Darien Lake last season 2006 the ride op on the lasso said Thank and have a great 45th aniversary at SFDL no the park is not 45 years old not very funny.

[307]

A few years back I went to King's Island and was on the Zephyr, I guess that's what it's still called. It's the swing ride next to the entrance for Flight of Fear. Well anyway, if you've ever been to King's Island and seen this ride you know that it's right across from a huge area were there a lot of midway-type games. Well the ride operator that was running the swings was, for the lack of a better term, a bit different. You could tell she was very anti-establishment. She was very emo. Every time before she would start the ride, she would make her safety statements and what not and she would add this spiel into it "Welcome to King's Island ladies and gentlemen. I would like to focus your attention to the games next to this ride. Do not play these games, these games are all rigged. This is my public service announcement of the day." Then at the end of the ride she would add. "Remember ladies and gentlemen, do not play the games. Thank you and enjoy the park." We waited through a couple turns and she did it both times. I was just like I thought it was really weird BUT funny and thought maybe she was trying to get fired or something. I kept looking around for supervisors or managers to head her way. Has anyone else experienced anything like this or had any weird experiences with amusement park workers?

Ya know, emo is very "in" these days, so I think it's fallen out of the category of "anti-establishment".

 

And if I worked as a ride op, after a couple of months I would probably start pulling that crap, too.

 

One time at Canada's Wonderland, on the Nightmares ride [Huss UFO or something like that], the ride op referred to it solely as the "Green Cheese Coaster" and went on a long spiel about the origins of the ride. Not sure if he did this for every ride, but he did repeatedly refer to it as the Green Cheese Coaster.

 

When I worked at Wonderland, I was talking to a guy who was an ex-ride-op, and apparently he got "busted down" to a store cashier because he would randomly go off on tangents about whatever was bugging him during his ride-op spiel. Little did they know, working in a boring, unbusy air conditioned store is a way better gig than working in a hot, boring ride environment dealing with the morons that are the general public.

[carolinacaniac]

I recall onceat the Mantis, the guy in the control booth said something to the extent of "Thank you for riding Dominator, and enjoy the rest of your day here at Geauga Lake!"

 

I was probably the only person in the station other than the other ride hosts that laughed

[djdeeds]

In Australia during the peak periods of summer,when in my opinion the parks should be displaying their greatest attributes,given the massive crowds from all over the world.I was watching an operator uh...no...that is...I was watching an IDIOT making use of the microphone by directing sexual jokes and comments toward anything with a skirt on.Now,each to their own,but when on duty and as part of your position,you represent the park and your presentation and appearance reflect that of the entire company.What happened in this case is the park (Dreamworld) thought it would be a great idea to hire inexperienced teenagers because, hey,they're cheap! Little thought went into the fact that many many people were completely put off.Parents of children with little girls in tow were subjected to wet T-Shirt comments,I can see your undies comments and I was very tempted to take time out of my day to report it.Which I did later by mail.Believe me I'm no prude, I just get disapointed when a family may never have been to a park and their first experience is not one it should be. Yeah, I can see that a lot of staff at parks get really sick of the day in day out routine, but it's kind of like performing,it doesn't matter it's fake, it really does make a HUGE difference when the operators and the staff are displaying enthusiasm,let's face it, I'd swap my crappy job any day to properly operate a ride,wouldn't we all!!

[FLIPDUDE]

^Not to be rude or anything, but have you heard of the "enter" key? I can't even begin to try and read that.

 

^^How sad is it that the dominator joke made me giggle. The part about you being the only one in the station who laughed is also funny

[IceDragon]

I went to Adventure Island a few weeks back, I asked if I could film the ride from the floor. I explained I'd lay the camera lens facing up and not ride, so they allowed me. I exited via the exit (makes sense, doesn't it?) and waited. They lowered the restraints and done the check, then yelled at me. They asked if I wanted to start the ride. I was sooo over the moon about being asked, it was the shock of my life!

 

After the ride had finished, they announced over the mic system (or whatever) to congratulate me for doing starting the ride without flaw (it was fairly complex for some reason) ans I got a round of applause. It made me feel really really special. They even let me unlock the restraints when it had finished!

 

So, after people saw what I had done, they all demanded they do it. Stupid, huh? Did they not see the 'publicity/advertiser' tag around my neck? It was big, white and rectangular with my information on it. They then demanded the ride-op gave them one, but they didn't. I felt really bad about the situation, but they said Security would come and ban them.

 

 

I felt like God! It was the best thing ever!

 

 

 

 

 

another one: I went to Thorpe Park a few days ago and decided to go on The Samurai, my favourite flat ride there. They were having technical problems all day, so I got my seat on the end of the arm right next to the ride-ops booth. They closed all the restraints except for ours and completely ignored it for some reason.

 

All the ops returned to the booth and gave the 'all-clear'. The op pressed the button and the ride shuddered into life, our restraints still open. The whole row was bricking it, screaming at the ops.

 

What actually happened was their radio was giving feedback and they were getting pissed off by it, so they basically turned them off. The ops operating the restraints were called back for their opinion. The shudder was just a gust of wind that hit the weighted arm at the top. The ride had never started.

[calcajun]

By the way, you can win the games. You just have to know how to play them. It helps when you know someone or work at a park and can practice for free.

[exmouse]

Books like this also help you to win the games

http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Amusement-Games-Revealed-Third/dp/0966965922/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-3707166-6400763?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178466163&sr=1-1