TPR Members Working At Parks

[Hercules]

That is very admirable. I mean, if it is kind of like "your dream" thing to do just once, then I totally get it. I mean, my days of being able to do something that I want to do are far past, and I never got to do anything like that (let alone figured out what I would have wanted to do). Well, maybe you can find something next year and be able to do it.

[Swimace]

Wow, it sounds like you had a rough week, I'm sorry Cedar Point didn't work out for you. That's a long trip up to Ohio just to get let down like that, I guess you're handling it remarkably well. Did your brother quit too?

 

Screw Ohio! Come work at a Florida park!

[Hercules]

^ That is what I was going to say. Just apply to Busch or Universal for next summer, find a few people to go with, and rent a place and split the rent.

[tsalas08]

Well i just found out my application for an apartment was approved in Waukegan. I already applied for Six Flags in March and got the job, but didn't qualify for their housing. So they left me to find my own, and i did- so now I'm moving 2 hrs away in June and I start work at SFGAm very shortly before.

 

my commute:

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=12585780056204252325,42.367881,-87.925481&saddr=542+N+Route+21,+Gurnee,+IL+60031&daddr=kathe+lane,+waukegan,+il&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=42.371555,-87.909492&sspn=0.03291,0.068493&ie=UTF8&ll=42.363681,-87.9041&spn=0.032914,0.068493&t=h&z=14

[Hercules]

Nice job! Not a bad little drive at all. That is about how far I used to live from Dorney.

[Hercules]

Did your brother quit too?

Yeah, we were in it together. And he got Mantis, and he did not want to work a stand up coaster. They are hard enough for the GP to ride, and it must be more stressful for the employees. Plus, he wasn't very pleased with how the management treated us.

 

Screw Ohio! Come work at a Florida park!

I totally would love to work at a park in Florida, but no parks offer a Summer College Program. Anyone near Orlando want to let me pay $31.30 a week to crash at their house to work at Universal?

 

Do you need a summer college program though? Just apply as seasonal, get some friends together ahead of time, and find somewhere to rent. That could be a lot of fun for you guys. I'm not sure how much money you would make, but like you said, you just wanted to do the ride thing and have some fun.

[Swimace]

^If you were to look into that in the future, I'd say your best bet would be to look for a sub-lease from a UCF student; I'm sure there are plenty available during the summer.

[SharkTums]

^Or you could take the advice I gave you MONTHS ago...don't mix business and pleasure! You saw what they did to you at CP, I guarantee the other parks won't be much better!

 

It's always fun to work at a park for a day or two...then you realize it's a job! And not that great of one!

[Red]

^Or you could take the advice I gave you MONTHS ago...don't mix business and pleasure! You saw what they did to you at CP, I guarantee the other parks won't be much better!

 

It's always fun to work at a park for a day or two...then you realize it's a job! And not that great of one!

 

While I agree with your advice, I would apply it to any job, not just in the amusement industry. I have worked at a park for two summers (Geauga Lake in '04 and '05), it was my first paying job. I felt that it was an excellent opportunity to not only gain basic work experience, but also discipline, teamwork, leadership, and so on. These are the fundamentals that will help you in future careers.

 

About the park not telling about the change of where you'll work, they're able to do that. You were hired to accomplish tasks and goals set forth by the organization, not your own personal ones (working the ride that you wanted). They will put you where they need you, and don't think it's just parks that do it, I've experienced it working at General Motors, and have seen workers with years of seniority get moved from their original location. The point is, understand the meaning of a job, in that it's not all about you.

 

My advice to the person who quit after one day is to get a reality check. You think Alabama is that far from Ohio when compared to the European or Asian countries where many CP employees come from? Just think about how much they've risked in coming there to work. Your unwillingness to accept challenges, naive attitude, and lack of maturity will really work against you.

[robbalvey]

My advice to the person who quit after one day is to get a reality check. You think Alabama is that far from Ohio when compared to the European or Asian countries where many CP employees come from? Just think about how much they've risked in coming there to work. Your unwillingness to accept challenges, naive attitude, and lack of maturity will really work against you.

RUDE!!!

 

I've worked at parks and in the park business for 21 years. I've seen parks screw people over. This is not an un-common thing.

 

Personally, I'm happy to see someone walk in, not take their crap, and give them the big ol' finger.

 

That takes balls.

 

They risked nothing by bringing him through the employee processing other than some paper work and admin time. If I had been given a contract to work a postion that I gave up another job for and when I got there they told me I'd be doing something different that I thought I wouldn't enjoy, I would have been out of there also.

 

They are used to dealing with teenagers and college kids who don't care and could either be working at Cedar Point or the Sandusky mall. Most of them are just there to collect a summer check and get laid as much as possible in the dorms. The sad part is they just turned away someone who would really CARE about the park.

 

I actually commend him for not caving and telling the corporate machine where to stick it.

 

--Robb

[Red]

...Personally, I'm happy to see someone walk in, not take their crap, and give them the big ol' finger.

 

That takes balls....

 

...I actually commend him for not caving and telling the corporate machine where to stick it.

 

--Robb

 

That's definitely true, and I completely agree, but, how far is that going to get him or anyone else who does the same? What message does it send to a potential employer? From the way I see it, it says give me something to do that I like or I'll quit. Unfortunately, things don't work that way. We all put up with doing things that we don't necessarily like to do, and we all have different reasons for doing so. Just saying "I quit" without even trying sends a negative message, I think.

[UberBeavis]

Good for you Tyler.

 

I had a similiar situation with Knott's Berry Farm- you can get employers like that in any field, though.

 

I've been very happily employed at Universal Studios Hollywood for the last 6 1/2 years now.

[RIP Psyclone]

get laid as much as possible in the dorms.

 

Very, very important. I think that ranks #1 out of all concerns of students, and students doing a work experience thing.

[Scaparri]

That's definitely true, and I completely agree, but, how far is that going to get him or anyone else who does the same? What message does it send to a potential employer? From the way I see it, it says give me something to do that I like or I'll quit. Unfortunately, things don't work that way. We all put up with doing things that we don't necessarily like to do, and we all have different reasons for doing so. Just saying "I quit" without even trying sends a negative message, I think.

 

1) Why would he put a job that he "worked" for two hours down on his resume?

 

2) How is it fair for CP to feel they are exempt from holding true to their contracts? They are well aware of what they are doing. I've known quite a few people who have gone to work at CP in the last few years after being contracted to a 'good' ride, only to be stuck with a crappy one. I have no doubt they are doing that on purpose, because they know how badly the job blows and, given how short-staffed they were last year, they are desperate to get people in.

 

As has been said, if that's going to be the way they work, then they need to just hire people into "ride operations" instead of creating false excitement. CP's management is very dirty and corrupt and this is just one part of it.

[Chrissie]

^ Yeah, I agree. I definitely agree that it was the right thing to do. I would do the same thing! If you know your not going to be happy then I don't see the point.

 

I think it all depends on what you want to do. I really wanted to work for Disney and even though I did not get my first choice of job (5th in fact!) I still went for it because I wanted the whole experience, not just job experience. Tyler wanted job experience and he didn't get that, so I say good on him!

 

Unfortunately, due to job issues, I can't go back to WDW this Summer I hope to get back after I graduate.

[robbalvey]

That's definitely true, and I completely agree, but, how far is that going to get him or anyone else who does the same? What message does it send to a potential employer? From the way I see it, it says give me something to do that I like or I'll quit. Unfortunately, things don't work that way. We all put up with doing things that we don't necessarily like to do, and we all have different reasons for doing so. Just saying "I quit" without even trying sends a negative message, I think.

 

Hopefully, any future potential employers won't change my contract that I agreed to and signed without my permission first. I agreed to work there according to the contract, and when they changed it on me, that was a bad first step.

 

And I did try. I didn't just quit after finding out my ride placement. I talked to my hiring manager and my supervisor about it. Once they were stubborn about it, then I quit. Remember, I was here for the experience, not for the money.

 

I agree with you 100% as both a current manager who personally employs the members of my development team AND someone who works within the amusement business.

 

If we offered someone a job of doing 3D character modeling and they came in for their first day and we said "Yeah, sorry we don't need you to do 3D characters we need you to do animation clean-up instead" I wouldn't blame them if they said "Sorry, that's 1. not what I was hired to do, and 2. not what I left my old job and home to do..."

 

Red, why isn't this clear to you?

 

--Robb

[Erik Johnson]

You totally did the right thing Tyler.

[Swimace]

^I don't have any experience working in theme parks, but you have to buy your uniform? So what, now you just have a Cedar Point uniform that you've never really worn? I guess that could give you something to work with for some sort of themed party or whatever, but I can't think of many other uses for a uniform that I bought and never used.

[Swimace]

^Well in that case did you at least make out with a free CP uniform?

[Red]

 

...Red, why isn't this clear to you?

 

--Robb

 

Because it's a seasonal position. Knowing the staffing issues that occur in such environments (parks, hotels restaurants, etc.), I don't believe that the park would absolutely 100% guarantee anyone of getting any ride they choose. If they do, then they seriously need to rework the wording of the contract. These positions are often being filled by people who obviously could care less, which you mentioned earlier, which is why something like this would happen.

 

Would he put CP on his resume? Absolutely not, not only because he didn't really do anything, but because he's not obligated to include anything in there that he does not want to. But, a question such as "Describe a time where you were treated unfairly on the job, how did you go about resolving that issue?" could always be brought up in an interview. If the scenario about CP is used, that's the end of that interview.

 

He has/had every right to turn CP down. And, because he's happy and confident about the decision he made, so am I. Hopefully everything will work out well for him, and he'll land a job that he really enjoys.

[vekoma_fan]

I'm leaving 15th of july to work at Epcot for a year...

[Erik Johnson]

^^ Cool! You will join a long line of international TPR members who have worked at Epcot. Good chance you will get to meet a lot of members while you are at work. Be sure to let everyone know what area you will be working and we will all stop by and say "Hello!"

[ginzo]

Well, I was supposed to work at a theme park this summer until Cedar Point screwed me over. Good ole Cedar Fair!

 

So after driving 12 hours from Alabama to Ohio, I spent 2 nights in the Breakers Express, which had horrible service. The toilet could only flush once every 20 minutes, their Wifi which was only available in the lobby was down, and the staff seemed apathetic about it all. I spent a day at the park and was not impressed with it at all with the exception of Maverick and Wicked Twister. However, I figured the park would grow on me as I worked there.

 

Well the next morning I began processing in around 8:30 am. Several hours later (after checking into housing, going to wardrobe, and doing a drug test), we had our park operations meeting. We watched 3 safety videos (which were hilarious) then the supervisor handed out booklets on our attractions we would be working. Despite my contract and ID saying I would be at ride 354 (Top Thrill Dragster), my booklet said Camp Snoopy. I figured it was a mistake and talked to my supervisor after the meeting. He said due to staffing I would be at Camp Snoopy until further notice.

 

Not a good start. My brother's ride was also changed from Raptor to Mantis. Now, I came to Cedar Point mainly for the experience. I was making a $1 more/hour back home and did not have to pay for housing or food. The reason I sacrificed so much to go there, was to get the experience of working a major coaster. I went back and talked with my hiring manager. She told me that if every employee had the mentality of me, they would not be able to run the park. Granted, but not every employee is sacrficing everything to work there including driving 12 hours from home! I explained that when I agreed to my contract and signed it, that I was agreeing to work Top Thrill Dragster, not Camp Snoopy. She said if I waited until June 1, I might get on a ride like Magnum XL-200. I asked her if it was a guarantee or a gamble, and she said it was a gamble. So I said I was not the risk taking type, and did not want to realize 2 months down the road that I was still at Camp Snoopy with few friends, being far from home, and possibly loosing money (not to mention my housing only had 3 lockers for 4 roomates and I would have to live out of my suitcase).

 

So what did I do? I quit. I apoligized for wasting their time, and filled out my paperwork to quit that same day. Then I had to process out returning my uniforms, and checking out of housing. On my way out I got one ride on Demon Drop (the best ride in the park) and left. Today, I just got back from my first day back at the good old Chick-Fil-A. But at least I'm working for great management with friends and getting paid more. My summer may suck more, but I still have the Behemoth and East Coast trips to look forward to!

 

But on the brightside, I hit up Holiday World for my first time on the trip back home. Look for a Photo and Video TR sometime this week.

 

So a final warning, be careful with Cedar Point. It's a good thing everyone is not picky like me, but I feel that they should have called me to notify me of my contract change and gotten my permission first. If the ride is going to change, why even put it on the contract? Why not do what Disney does and just say you got Ride Op? Why get my hopes up? If they would not have told me my ride, or told me I got a ride that I did not want to work, I never would have agreed to the contract and never wasted all the gas to go to the Crap Point.

 

Rant done!

 

Dude, my hat goes off to you for not taking their crap. I'm quite impressed that someone of your age has the cojones to stand up to a big company and tell them where to stick their lies. I'm kind of puzzled as to why they would write up a *contract* that they have no intent of following and then giving you some BS about them not being able to run the park. Are we to expect to believe that when CP signs a contract with a company they don't expect that company to live up to the terms as stated in the contract? This sounds like a scam where they put the names of big rides on everyone's contract to con them into working for them and then sticking them with whatever crap job once you get there under the assumption that young people are dumb and can be pushed around.

 

Again, GREAT JOB!!!!

[hyyyper]

CTU, I totaly get your point. When I started working at Toverland 2 years ago, they clearly told me that they don't assign people attractions. Perhaps one day you'll be at the Boosterbike, the next day you'll be working teacups. And usually you'll be operating different attractions on a single day.

I think Cedar Point is being incredibly rude is letting people know they can operate a cool ride, and letting the know the second they've walked into the park that they've got to go to some small kiddie area.

Even more am I amazed my how much employees just take the crap and switch rides, assuming yours is not the only case.

[vekoma_fan]

Be sure to let everyone know what area you will be working and we will all stop by and say "Hello!"

 

I'll be working in the norwegian pavilion, at attractions

 

Now you know