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Hardest Ride at KI to Operate


benred23
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Not Being privileged enough to have ever been a Ride operator, I have to wander what Is the Hardest ride, from a control standpoint, to operate in the park? I can assume that rides like the Scrambler and alot of the rollercoasters run on a program and all the Ride op has to do in Initiate it, but when it comes to rides like Monster with all the Levers that have to be Used and the preciseness of having to stop the cars on the right spot, which exactly is the Hardest one to operate? I may be way off on the whole "Program" Idea, But please everyone, Eliighten Me! I'm Very Curious!

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I believe that you are pretty much spot on. Most of the rides have programs. In the case of the flats, most of the rides simply require a start button to be pressed (sometimes in unison in the case of rides like the Zephyr and Scrambler. From there, the ride will run until the timer runs out and the ride stops. Granted, the ride operators have access to the infamous big red button, aka "E-Stop." The Monster is more of a manually operated ride. Monster also has to be balanced, in terms of loading arms opposite of each other.

I can`t speak from too much experience at KI, as I have never been a ride op there. But I can speak about Coney`s rides. At Coney, most of the rides have "dead man" switches. In other words, the operator has to physically hold down a button the entire time the ride is running. If they let go of the button for any reason, the ride stops. There are some exceptions where all the ride operator has to do is hit a button once, and the ride will take care of itself the rest of the way (RIver Runner, Frog Hopper, Scream Machine, Dodgems and Python). THe two hardest rides to operate at Coney are Rock O Planes and the Ferris Wheel. Of those two, the more difficult to operate is the Ferris Wheel. Balancing of the ride is a must, otherwise "Bad Thing Happen." One must pay attention to not just the cars being loaded but the weight being loaded into each car. Ie, a solo rider who is just 49" tall would not balance well with a car on the other side that has two full size adults in it. And the Ferris Wheel is one ride where the weather can play a role in how sensitive the controls are. I`ve worked the ride where the controls went from being really loose, to extremely tight, and then back to loose again, all within a few hours!

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Not to take away from the original question, but I would also like to know what ride is the most FUN to operate? Maybe it's just an outsider looking in but I imagine The Beast would be fun just being in the atmosphere of one of the most prestigious coasters in the world, as well as seeing the "cult following" as Wikipedia describes it's riders. Also Diamondback seems amusing purely because it's one of the features of the park, and with the new technology I imagine it's not one of the most difficult (not to mention getting to see one of my hero's an average of 2,000+ times a season). Again, just an envious outsider looking in.

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Not Being privileged enough to have ever been a Ride operator, I have to wander what Is the Hardest ride, from a control standpoint, to operate in the park? I can assume that rides like the Scrambler and alot of the rollercoasters run on a program and all the Ride op has to do in Initiate it, but when it comes to rides like Monster with all the Levers that have to be Used and the preciseness of having to stop the cars on the right spot, which exactly is the Hardest one to operate? I may be way off on the whole "Program" Idea, But please everyone, Eliighten Me! I'm Very Curious!

Monster is probably the one ride that you really have the most control over as a ride op. I would definatley put it at the top of the list as one of the more difficult rides to operate.

The Train, not as hard as the CP&LE but still harder then any other ride.

DISCLAIMER: this is from an observational stand point, I have never worked in Ride Operations.

The train(s) is/are not actually operated by ride operators.

Not to take away from the original question, but I would also like to know what ride is the most FUN to operate? Maybe it's just an outsider looking in but I imagine The Beast would be fun just being in the atmosphere of one of the most prestigious coasters in the world, as well as seeing the "cult following" as Wikipedia describes it's riders. Also Diamondback seems amusing purely because it's one of the features of the park, and with the new technology I imagine it's not one of the most difficult (not to mention getting to see one of my hero's an average of 2,000+ times a season). Again, just an envious outsider looking in.

This is where your personal preference would kick in. I was never a fan of working The Beast or Racer. However, I did enojy working FOF, F/O (or Invertigo), Top Gun (Flight Deck). All have their own unique qualities. I did like working higher capacity rides, so working at AE was perfect for me where we worked to unload, load, and dispatch a train within one minute and ten seconds (and that was with one bar checker on each side with 3 trains operating; not the 4 bar checkers under 2 trains like what CF has in place now).

Skyflyer is the most demanding. It also requires the most responsibility.

I did forget about Skyflyer, this would probably be at the top followed by Monster

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From experience, being in Controls at White Water Canyon is by far one of the most demanding spots in the park, especially when it comes to down time. In a downtime situation, the boats do not stop in brakes like a coaster would. Instead, the boats are free to float in the water, most often in one of 2 areas (bottom of the lift and by the tower where the employees can drench you). Hardest ride to operate?? Probably not, but it is by far extremely demanding when there are all 22 boats in the trough.

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Joe Cool's Dodgem School is clearly the most difficult ...

While the Planet Snoopy rides may not be the hardest to actually operate, I'm guessing that having to deal with the kids (and parents) may make them one of the hardest places to be a ride op.

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Today I would have to say Sky Flyer because of all of the points the opperators have to check not to mention checking the riders state of mind....I remember the days when the drivers on The Racer were not allowed to talk when driving, because they had to concentrate on when to pull the BRAKE levers.

OK fixed.......and no more typing without my glasses!!!!

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I wonder how difficult the Monster is to run compared to an Eli Bridge cable driven Ferris Wheel.

A very good friend of mine is an expert operator of either. He LOVES running the cable driven Ferris Wheel, and dreads running a Spider, which is in essence a smaller (and more difficult to operate) Monster, made by the same company that makes the Monster...

And with a name like Parks...who is better suited to do either?

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I honestly don't believe the kids that run these monstrous machines get enough credit for what they do. They have many lives in their hands to an extent, for minimal earnings. People get paid a lot more to do a lot less in this world. Not to mention the disrespect that they receive from unruly guests who don't know their place in the park. I have respect for those ride ops and what they do. I'm sure it is not as easy as it often looks and their hard work is taken for granted.

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