Hey I came across the opportunity to possibly become a ride lead at Six Flags Great Adventure this year, and am debating whether I should follow through on the offer. Anybody here have comments/suggestions from your experiences as a ride op? I mean I love coasters and I don't mind responsibility, but the pay isn't that great and it would involve a hefty commute, so I'm debating whether I should do it or not. Any thoughts would be great!

I'm not a rides lead, but I am an admissions lead. I worked at a few rides last year, but hey, if you can become a lead, go for it. Its a great experence.

__________________

I will be starting as a "true" lead in April but I have had some experiences last year as a temp. I really enjoyed it but you get a lot of crap from the guests and even some higher ups.

__________________
~~~Proud HersheyPark Rides Department employee (4years)~~~ 2006 Ride Lead
http://www.hersheypa.com/attractions/hersheypark/

thats funny how yall call them "leads" at kennywood we have ride managers. at least 2 on each crew. Head manager and assistant managers. the managers do everything that us regular red shirts do excpt, the head manager makes our weekly schedules thats basically it. and every once in a while the Supervisors call a meeting with all of the managers to talk about park issues or problems or other things that need to be brought up. But our ride "leads" or as we call them, managers are no different they just get paid a litte more, And have to deal with too much drama. i would wanna be a manager but if i never become one i wouldnt care cause they have to put up with too much.

__________________
Kennywood Team Member 2004 Kiddieland
2005 Racer/Jack Rabbit Crew
2006 Racer/Skycoaster/Paddle Boats Crew
2007 Thunderbolt/Turtle/Gold Rusher Crew

It was a cool job. You get to make a difference. Some coaster enthusiasts make the worst leads, but I got nice compliments FROM GUESTS on my crews.

You can train people the right way. It takes an hour to train an attendant and two hours for an operator. You can help employees learn anything from the history of the ride to the fastest and safest way to dispatch a train. You can hold crew meetings to get feedback and take suggestions on what works and what doesn't makle sense. You can quiz new hires on the closest place a guest can purchase an asprin to which stands sell a churro. If you get to keep the same crew throughout the year you can delegate others to help.

Be aware of politics. Every job has them. At that place I sure experienced some doozies. From being written up for clocking out at the same time as the rest of the employees in my section to being written up for cleaning to being written after being verbally attacked by guests while the supervisor stood by and watched. When you're the lead, you get all the blame while the supervisors take all the credit. Well, those supervisors have since been canned.

You can take a crew with a bad reputation and turn them around to the best in the park. You can take a "downtrodden" ride and increase its throughput by over 15% from the previous year. You can take a graffittt-laden ride and make it a shinning star.

__________________
SFGADV, DP, IB, SFSTL, W.Dells, SFGAM, PKI, HW, SFKK, HHNJ, SFA, Clementon, SFNE & LC in '05

Disneyland, California Adventure, Knotts, SFMM, Dollywood, Rye & Coney Island in '06

Lots of parks have different names for their leads.
At some, it's as simple as "a ride operator" or "head op" and at some, it's as different as "ride ammbassador (WoF)."

__________________

If you have the opportunity to be a lead you should go for it. Like any other jobs it has its ups and downs, but you will get a lot of experience that you wouldn't get as a regular ride op.

__________________
Joined the ranks of the Overworked and Underpaid 2003-7
Park Ops, Food and Merchandise Certified
I've tried other jobs.. but they say i'm too committed to the park to work for them.. heh