How much fun is it actually working at a theme park? I'm not interested in working at a park, but I want to hear how the good/bad experiences affected (effected? haha) your outlook on parks all together.
Sorry if this was already posted.

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Hi

Ihave pretty much work at theme park my entire career and i love. I really don't see myself working anywhere else.

i worked at carowinds for a long time before going to Disney World & Universal in 2006.

If anything i'd say it maked me like the park that much more. heck what days i do get off i do spend parts of that day at the park playing with friends.

I plan to be at Disney for a really long time now. I have found my home.

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2009 Carolina Cobra Crew
Go Panthers! 4-6: Week 12 @ New York Jets

#6 North Carolina Tarheels 4-1

I met a lot of my best friends working at Canada's Wonderland. We still get together and go on different trips together (like a yearly Cedar Point Halloweekend Cabin weekend). I even met my current girlfriend of over three years working at the park.

The worst part of any park is the 'politics.' I've seen so many decisions made based on who a manager likes or who can fill the position right away instead of who deserves the job. I also found first hand that complaining about a manager to HR never works and only makes it worse for you.

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ThrillNetwork Moderator
The user formerly known as WildeFyre
UOIT Mechanical Engineering Student

^I agree 100%!
I met a lot of people as a ride operator and have made a lot of friends that I still keep in contact with today. The worst part was definitely the politics. I would say that If you are willing to just do what you are told and not always voice your opinion about topics...then go ahead. I saw a lot of things that really pissed me off (other employees making mistakes that could potentially kill guests and not get in trouble, but I seemed to get in trouble when I was a few minutes late because of a blizzard...or seeing a really bad employee getting to work a "large" attraction time after time when you are stuck working the worst ride in the park). I was crapped on a lot too. I'm the type of person that doesn't sit too well with being crapped on and taken advantage of so I had my hard times.
I actually moved to a different department and I absolutely love what I am doing now. You just have to find what is right for you I guess.

Moving this to the Employee section of the forums.


I have spent a summer working at a park, here is my stance:


PROS

-- Unlimited/unrestricted access to your park.

-- Free daily parking and admission to the parks in your chain.

-- Meeting with your co-staff and working with them. You can make quite a few really quality friendships.

-- Employee ride nights! Hours or even days allocated for employees to actually enjoy the park they help operate.

-- Getting my paycheck every Friday night (needless to list).

-- (If you're in the rides department) This is the best part of the job by far -- impacting the majority of the guests' visit/day. Interacting with guests curious or even fascinated with your operation of the ride, lighting up the children's faces and moods. I always take pride in guests giving me compliments or thank-you's after I give them their ride and keeps me going emotionally.

-- I love it that sometimes you have the power to really scare and frighten the guests as they nervously look up when boarding anticipating what they are looking ahead to. I would try to downplay the height to heighten their anticipation. I like to make innocent replies to the riders that doesn't sound so comforting to them ("It's not that high, you're only going to be 255 feet in the air").


CONS

-- Customer excuses/complaints when they disagree with the park policies or with the ride operator. This can at times be the most irritating downside of representing a park.

-- Long, grueling hours and work. But depending on how you look at it, this might be an advantage if you cherish a real physical workout on the job. On a typical summer Saturday shift of 15 hours (9 AM to Midnight), I have walked about an equivalent to 41 miles in a single day. You will be extremely tired/exhausted at the end of your night. If you work in the Texas parks, you're going to be looking at working under conditions of 95-105 degrees (105-110 heat index) every day.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!

I haven't gotten my first job yet, but I probably would love working at a park. However, the closest one to me is Canobie and that's an hour away. For some reason I don't think an hour commute each day is the best choice for a first time job.

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28 parks
21 wood coasters
59 steel coasters
80 total coasters

I would say no. Maybe one day though. I think every coaster enthusiast should atleast work one season at a theme/amusement park just to get a general idea of how things work.

Plus the perks are amazing depending on the park & chain.

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2009 Carolina Cobra Crew
Go Panthers! 4-6: Week 12 @ New York Jets

#6 North Carolina Tarheels 4-1

^^^See, at Adventureland, I got none of those pros and all of those cons. The paycheck? Not much to speak of when you're only getting $6.00 an hour. Plus everyone over 50 there treated me like an idiot, the breaks were way too short, the food was disgusting, and the training was frighteningly minimal.

I am much happier at Barnes & Noble.

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I'd sday the ony problem i had working at Carowinds was they only had one break area and working at Afterburn thats a long walk with only a 45 min lunch.

I tossed the idea around for years about adding a 2nd employee break area behind Afterburn for everyone working in County Fair & Nick Central.

It never happened.

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2009 Carolina Cobra Crew
Go Panthers! 4-6: Week 12 @ New York Jets

#6 North Carolina Tarheels 4-1

Oh yes, it's the same with Adventureland. You get a thirty-minute break, unless you work in Outlaw Gulch, in which case it's forty minutes. Thing is, Main Street is just as far away from the break room, so if you're at North Sky, Splash Over, Galleon, Carrousel, Der Flinger, or Inverter, you barely get any break at all (not that there is anything to do on break).

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Dang just one break area? I can't even count how many Cedar Point has. There's at least 7 or 8. 2 of which serve hot food like burgers and grilled chicken.

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"foolish earthlings, cower before the awesome techno onslaught of nine-hundred-and-nine robots dancing in unison"

At Dollywood, most of the major attractions have their own break area. Of course, there is the main Host Lounge down in Rivertown Junction that serves hot meals, or you can just purchase food from one of the park's food vendors at a discount.

Any job is only as good as you make it, sure, your employer and their atitutde toward their employees makes a big difference, but if you enjoy your job, you will be happy anywhere...

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2008 - Tennessee Tornado Crew

Happy 10th Anniversary to the coaster that started it all- Tennessee Tornado!

Yep. It's pretty sad but with a park the size of Carowinds i can see why but about half the park employees have to suffer from one break area. They could atleast put another one near TG for all the employees in the CF & NC areas.

Disney has a break area like every 20 ft it seems. Universal has 3 that i counted. It could be more. I only used 3 of them.

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2009 Carolina Cobra Crew
Go Panthers! 4-6: Week 12 @ New York Jets

#6 North Carolina Tarheels 4-1

I really want to be a ride-op.
CW is 30 minutes away on a good day, but the real problem is gas prices.
Maybe if I have an electric car or some kind of public transit from Barrie to Vaughn were available, I could work there.
Problem is, 55% chance says I'm moving next year.
I can only hope. :P

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And god said, "Let there be, Behemoth!".

Carowinds pays for milage depending on how far you have to drive to and from work. Since CW is the same company i would think they might do the same. Next time your at the park just head back to the employment areas and ask someone.

Of course this was all under Paramount so not really 100% sure if Cedar Fair also does this. My last year at Carowinds was 2006 just before CF took over.

You can always call the employment offices as well.

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2009 Carolina Cobra Crew
Go Panthers! 4-6: Week 12 @ New York Jets

#6 North Carolina Tarheels 4-1

Canada's Wonderland will not pay you for gas money. I used to have to take a 25-30min subway ride plus a 30min GO Bus to get to work and home every night. Transit ate up a lot of my paycheck....about $20/week for subway (I didn't qualify for student fare since I wasn't a student in Toronto) and about $20-$30/week on GO Bus. It added up.

The only thing that CW did offer was discounted GO Bus tickets (about $1 off) for the York Mills-Yorkdale-Wonderland bus.

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ThrillNetwork Moderator
The user formerly known as WildeFyre
UOIT Mechanical Engineering Student

I can't believe Carrowinds pays for that,
is it an out of the way park, cause then I could understand why they would do that. :P

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And god said, "Let there be, Behemoth!".

No. Its not really out of the way i guess. Its 10-15 min from Uptown Charlotte & the same distance from Rock Hill, SC. Two major cities with millions of people.

Some years though they had workers who had to travel more than 30 miles to get to work and if i remeber correctly it was more than 30 they paid for your gas.

Now i don't remeber if they paid all of it or 50% of it. Either is really good.

I can't quite remeber all the details. Its been over 2 years since i quit working at Carowinds.

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2009 Carolina Cobra Crew
Go Panthers! 4-6: Week 12 @ New York Jets

#6 North Carolina Tarheels 4-1

My Resume: 2 years at Cedar Point - rides - Mean Streak, Power Tower, Dragster; 1 year SFGAm - rides - Superman: Ultimate Flight

Working in rides is generally a lot of fun, and is rather simple; yet it is a massive responsibility and sometimes utterly complex and exhausting. You take into account that the ride will "usually" function just fine, the guests will "usually" behave, and things will always go wrong.

Lesson 1: Assume the guests could each be the dumbest, most irresponsible moron you have ever met; however, treat them with the utmost respect like you would your parents.

Lesson 2: Always put your job responsibilities before your personal enjoyment while working. Clever spiels earn brownie points, a missed seatbelt or article severely hurts your job standing.

Lesson 3: Crew Drama; avoid it always, even when it's tempting because you're having a boring week, DO NOT involve yourself. It's just as bad as missing a seatbelt, except this time it's your own, get it?

Lesson 4: Your Supervisor is your BEST FRIEND, even though he or she will amost certainly not be. As far as they know, you love them, they are funny, so amazing, so creative, so . . so . . so RIGHT all of the time.
Even when your crew suffers because of them, do not PANCHO VILLA it! Activists never succeed in these kinds of jobs.

Lesson 5:If you have to work under a contract ( a la Cedar Point), make sure you get a proper end date (last day of work for the summer) that works for you BEFORE you get to the park to process in. Otherwise, you may find yourself commuting 200+ miles several weekends in the Fall to work, all the while your consumed by college work. Or, you will be screwed out of bonus pay, perhaps a few hundred dollars or more.

Lesson 6:Be yourself. (Especially if you work at CP and live on site) Be honest with your crew, don't lie to them, don't fabricate a personality for the season-- these people break down after a month and get tattoos in regretful places and get depressed, and then get fired. If you're over 21, don't be conned into buying alcohol for crew members that are underaged, even though they'll be your good friends. Furnishing alcohol for minors in Sandusky costs $275 after you go to court and if you want that misdemeanor expunged from your record, it will cost about another $100.

Lesson 7: Be part of the park: It sounds stupid, but REALLY, you are a very important part of making a guest's visit a memorable one. You will (almost) be well-trained how to perform this, but there is a lot of ad lib, too, you need to figure out how you yourself can best improve a guest's visit. My talent was funny spiels, games I played over the mic w/ the guests when Dragster broke down (TTD Baseball Fan Challenge - cheer your favorite team to represent when I call out their name), and I also took the time to help scared guests deal with getting on the ride, a personal one-on-one whenever they needed it. And NONE of this was forced, it was my choice to go above and beyond. I was pleased to do it and I got satisfaction from seeing how excited and mezmerized guests were after riding. If your personality doesn't seem to work like this, a theme park job might not be for you. You must be prepared to contribute and learn and be understanding of the unique things you will see, best way I can put it, it's like a very hands-on college Psychology/Sociology class; and a handfull fail it every year.

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Thank you for riding Reaper! Drop Ride to Doom, and remember to desecrate a sanctuary today.

I really think being a ride op sounds like oodles of fun,
but I know I'm probably not going to be able to get one until university,
right now I live too far away for an everyday summer commute.

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And god said, "Let there be, Behemoth!".

For the most part, I believe the posts before me have it right. Let me put my spin on this.

Im in my second year at Michigan's Adventure. Last season, I worked at Zach's Zoomer - the kids rides, and after a failed attempt at learning something technical in park maintenance, I was taken back in rides on the Tilt-a-Whirl crew.

The most important thing to learn about being a ride operator is learn how to treat the guests correctly and properly. Sometimes, its laying down the law of the land exactly how it is straight and simple. Other times, its making kids laugh with goofy jokes or asking them questions about where they are from, how their day is going, etc. I always try to be personal with the guests. There are too many impersonal people in this world, and these people pay a lot of money to come to the park so it is my responsibility to give the best day I can give them.

However, you have to make sure not to get TOO personal with guests. Talking too long, saying things you shouldnt, and general dilly dallying wont work. Also, don't be too honest with guests. You are going to have good days and bad days, its the lay of the land. Don't tell guests why you are having a tough time that day, just tell them that you are doing their best for them. Thats what I do. I am not going to lie and say im doing swimmingly when 38 parents yell at you because you didnt let their child ride after waiting in line, but I am not going to tell the story to anyone.

Also, probably most importantly, SAFETY is most important. Mainly it is height checking, and I believe that it is the most important thing. I try to be as strict as I can be over it, but I am not out to not let people on rides either. Do your best to get the kids on the rides, but do not break the rules. No exceptions. Put up with the crap. I think the Cedar Fair guidelines put it right: Analyze and Empathize. Even if you want to laugh in the face of a guest who is making a huge scene or you want to bite the head off of the guest, you can't. It is all about restraint. Trust me.

The best thing you can do is just clock in at the beginning of the day, do the best job you can and clock out at the end of the day. Don't be too personal with everyone on the clock. Thats not to say that you cant be friendly, or be personal off the clock. Does that make sense? I could go on. I love it, it is certainly not a career choice, but it has given me amazing lifeskills and built my work ethic up a great deal. Of course, it is just like any other job and there will be things and people that you don't like, but if its for you, its for you.

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What kind of jobs do they offer to 15 year olds?
The cf park would be Valley fair.
and what is the min. time and max. time you have to wirk?

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1st ride on Renegade for the 2009 season.

What kind of Roller coaster are you?

Carowinds doesn't pay extra for employees who live far away. They pay extra for employees who go to college far away. I live 76 miles from Carowinds, and didn't get paid extra during the summer because of how far away I lived. However, I went to college over 120 miles away in Pembroke. I got paid extra during the school year. This was 2005-2006 under the rules of Paramount Parks not Cedar Fair. I drove an 1 hour and half during the summer, and 3 hours during the school year. Both of those are only one way too.

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2005-2006 Season: Carowinds Rides - Hurler/Drop Zone
2007 Season: Emerald Pointe Grounds - Sweep/Breaker