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TombRaiderFTW

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Everything posted by TombRaiderFTW

  1. Is this your first job? Unfortunately being a guest and working it are two different things. Don't throw in the towel just yet. Working it is very tough, I will agree with you there. Give it a chance and don't let the public get you down. There are putzes everywhere-focus on the others. There are guests out there who don't act the way they should, and just like in any other job, you're gonna have that. Stick it out-you know what to expect now. LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE. I really can't stress this enough. Please do NOT let the public or an unenthusiastic supervisor ruin your experience. By chance (and no, I wasn't fired once ), I've had several jobs within the past couple years. No one ever told me this going into any of them, so I'm going to say it here for everyone: Every last one of them has had its own quirks that I've enjoyed a lot and frustrations that have driven me insane, both of which have been related to the customers. To enjoy them, you're going to have to learn to deal with people who will take things so seriously or who have had a bad day/week/life that they're going to try to make you feel bad about it. It's going to seem especially bad at the beginning, especially if it's your first job, but it will get better. Don't take insults personally, and don't get down on yourself if you can't please everyone all the time. You'll learn how to let those sorts of things slide. Just do the best job you know how to do and be content with your work when you're done, because, outside of the actual job requirements, that's the only responsibility you have. For every few grumpy people you deal with, there will be a handful more people who will make your work worth it. (And if you're ever not sure of what you're supposed to be doing, ask! You're not the first one to ask, and you won't be the last.) I don't mean to sound like I'm coming down on you or telling you to get over your frustrations. You're perfectly allowed to be frustrated. I'm just suggesting to keep trying, because really, you've still got a job where there's a huge amount of room for creativity that simply doesn't exist elsewhere. I'm actually a little jealous, to be honest! On a side note, might I suggest taking advantage of everyone's preoccupation with the lasers? Let them get so interested in them that they don't see or hear you quietly sneaking up behind them... Just an idea! (Granted, I haven't been to Haunt yet... I don't know how NA is set up, so this sort of suggestion may very well be useless. Not to mention that I've never worked as a scareactor! It's just an idea.)
  2. Maybe (read: probably) I'm missing something, but what Cyclone is being referenced? Psyclone? I can't think of any Cyclone that's been torn down that CF might be referencing...
  3. ^ Oh, I thought he meant Villain... though, now that I reread it, I should have paid more attention to the "re-opened" bit.
  4. ^ Cedar Fair swore you'd never ride it again, either.
  5. Just saw a couple Halloweekends commercials tonight. I gotta say that, even though I've usually liked the CF Haunt commercials, the new Halloweekends ones are really stinking cool. They're much more centered on featuring the pluses of Cedar Point specifically, rather than recycling the same old KBF footage they've been using the past few years. To be specific, they actually showed some creepy shots of an old swamp shack to advertise Blood on the Bayou. I like it! Now, if only they'd rename Worlds of Fun's Haunt... I couldn't really take their commercials seriously. There's just something too lighthearted about "Halloween Haunt at Worlds of Fun! All you fear is here." (Why not call it Worlds of Fear?)
  6. I can partially see CoastersRZ's point, because it does seem like doing this sort of thing saps the personality of each park. On the other hand, it's cool that Cedar Fair is trying to unify the parks. My only issue is that they're trying to unify all the parks... by giving us all the same upcharge? Granted, WindSeekers are also being installed chainwide, but the upcharge being spread around seems kinda... I don't know, cheap. Maybe I don't know business, but it seems less tacky to just install a cool, cheap ride at all the parks. If Dorney needed the group sales, then they should have been the first to get DA, in my opinion. If any of the other parks needed it, then they should have gotten it, too... which is why I'm a little confused/irritated that DA's coming to Cedar Point, because I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck in line with 5.8 million schoolkids wearing the same shirt. (Same for KI this year, but that could also be related to our DA.) It seems more logical to add this to the smaller parks of the chain (Valleyfair, Dorney, Worlds of Fun, etc.) to boost profits, rather than make it a chainwide addition. But that's just me.
  7. The only reason I'm going then instead of this weekend is because I've got to work. Still, I CAN'T WAIT for it to get here! Someone better post a first weekend PTR/TR. 1. RingMaster 2. TombRaiderFTW
  8. Disclaimer: Unless otherwise noted, I based this entirely off where I've been. I can't say good things about places I haven't experienced. Best Amusement Park Kennywood Best Theme Park Kings Dominion Best Value Park (New for 2011!) Holiday World or Kennywood Best Wood Coaster(s) 1. The Voyage, Holiday World 2. Thunderbolt, Kennywood 3. The Legend, Holiday World 4. The Raven, Holiday World 5. Jack Rabbit, Kennywood Best Steel Coaster(s) 1. Intimidator 305, Kings Dominion 2. Storm Runner, Hersheypark 3. Magnum XL-200, Cedar Point 4. Millennium Force, Cedar Point 5. Great Bear, Hersheypark Best Flatride The Crypt at Kings Dominion or Ghostwood Estates at Kennywood. (Does GE count?) Best "New" Ride Either Storm Runner at Hersheypark or Thunderbolt or Ghostwood Estates at Kennywood. I can't choose. Best New Ride (Haven't ridden any new-for-2011 coasters, but if I had to guess...) Cheetah Hunt at BGT, Green Lantern: First Flight at SFMM, or Wooden Warrior at Quassy. Best Park Food Kennywood Most Beautiful Park Kennywood or Holiday World Best Water Ride Wildebeest, Splashin' Safari Best Waterpark Splashin' Safari Best Park Staff Holiday World Best Kids Area Planet Snoopy, Kings Island Best Park Show Honestly, I haven't watched any shows in years. I've got no vote. Cleanest Park Kennywood or Kings Dominion Best Halloween Event I've only been to KI's Haunt, so...
  9. What about the part where half the people on this forum read the thread name and get all excited about a potential new TR, huh?
  10. ^^^ Actually, funny story about that... I used to passionately hate Mean Streak's overbanks, but they've done some recent work on them or something. When I was at CP a few weeks ago, I actually enjoyed my ride on MS, even though it was heavily trimmed. Instead of smacking between the two rails, there were actually laterals, particularly on the second overbank. There was even some light airtime in the second half of the course! The bottoms of the hills still jackhammer pretty bad, but now I can say that I actually like more than one of CP's woodies. It was a very refreshing change.
  11. ^ I agree totally about the classification bit. I wonder, though, how people will/do classify wooden coasters that get Rocky Mountain Construction's topper track. After all, the track is then made of both steel and wood... (If you're not familiar: Wooden coaster track is usually made of seven or eight layers of wood stacked on top of each other, the top two or three of which are wider and are what the train actually travels on. Topper track is prefabricated steel that takes the places of those two or three top layers. It's different from the Iron Horse track used on The New Texas Giant and has been installed on at least SFFT's Rattler and SFNE's Cyclone, with positive results. I've heard rumors that Holiday World will be installing some on Voyage next year to accompany the new Timberliners.) One other thing... The perfectionist engineer in me has to point out that there's zero guarantee that Son of Beast, had it been designed with steel supports, would have been safer. If you read the accident report from 2006, the problem was not with the ride's wood. The problem was in the design, which did not account for certain loads. I don't know why the problem didn't present itself sooner, but something about the way the trains shuffled that day caused extra lateral loading to the outside of the helix. The loading was transferred to the bent, which was unprepared for that amount of stress and therefore sheared itself essentially in half vertically along some of the outside beams. Even more, a lot of the wood in that bent was new; the design was just flawed. I'm willing to bet that RCCA could have just as easily made a mistake with steel... You simply have to account for all forces under any circumstance in which the ride (or any machine, for that matter) will operate. It's a bit short-sighted to just say that steel would solve the problem.
  12. ^ I second this... I've never known Tombstone Terror-tory to have a short line. Ever. It's always one of the longest lines of the Haunts, but it's usually worth it, in my opinion. (Just make sure you try it at the beginning of the season, because it always seems to suffer a lack of scareactors [or a lack of trying scareactors] the soonest.) On a side note, it just hit me that Haunt will be here next week. I am officially so pumped.
  13. jcgoble3, I'm notorious for being the jumpiest person alive at Haunt amongst my friends. This is probably because, prior to the Haunt 2008 season, the scariest thing I'd done was watching the movie Premonition with Sandra Bullock. Before that? Phantom Theater. The idea of being intentionally frightened did not interest me in the least. Then a friend dragged me along with her to that Haunt... and I was pleasantly surprised to find I had a blast. Will you get scared? Sure. But the entertainment factor for me is when I go with someone who can laugh off the scares with me. If you're like me, you'll find yourself (nervously) laughing along when a scareactor gets creative with how they scare you. If the person you go with is in front, you might enjoy it if you notice the scareactor before they do--the anticipation for the person you're with becomes entertainment when the actor goes in for the scare. The actors will add their own personal touches that make Haunt fun; once, the rule spieler at Cornstalkers noticed my friend looked nervous. He walked up and politely asked, "Aw, are you scared? It'll okay. What's your name?" (We'll call her Anna.) When she told him, he turned to the trail and proceeded to bellow, "HEYYY! EVERYBODY! ANNAAAA'S COMIIIIN'!" We laughed, but when we went through the course, the actors scared her by name. We got to the other side, and she was like, "Holy crap. I am NEVER talking to strangers EVER. AGAIN." You've just got to find your own entertainment value, and once you do, you'll have a blast. Oh, and one other thing to note: contrary to what it may seem, the roamers at Haunt that have no assigned trail or house are not as common as the internet would make them seem. That's not a criticism of the Haunt; it's just fact. The only times a roamer has scared me in three seasons of Haunting has been while was entering the park at the beginning of the first night (after the monsters rush the crowd) in 2009 and when a slider snuck up on me on IS in 2008. I don't know how the whole roamer thing will work this year with the addition of fear zones, but it's just what I've noticed in the past. Should you occasionally check over your shoulder if you don't want to be caught off guard? I would (and do), but it's not something you have to do all the time. EDIT: One other thing... Since going to the '08 Haunt, I've done a legitimate 45-minute trail (as opposed to the 5-minute ones at KI). I did not enjoy it the same way I enjoy Halloween Haunt. (Actually... I didn't enjoy it at all. Too much emphasis on the scares and not as much on the having fun for me.) Just thought that says something for Haunt.
  14. Truthfully, I don't entirely get the love for IB. Until this summer, I could kinda see the "classic" view of the place. Then I went to Kennywood, who manages to be clearly "classic" without being a bit dumpy. Not to mention Kennywood's employees were able to send more than one train per year on their wooden coasters, which is more than IB could say when I visited last summer. And from what I collect from other people, I'm not the only person who experienced that. So really, when I hear "Indiana Beach closed early this year," I think, "Big surprise." Still, if the place were to close down, I gotta admit that I'd miss LoCoSuMo and Steel Hawg pretty badly.
  15. ^^ Not to speak for Terp, but Bats aren't rodents...
  16. ^^^Touche, except I don't think CS is the only Intamin with the capability of a train running every 30 or so seconds. And surely, if there is one, wouldn't we have heard of track replacements on it if it were absolutely necessary? And even if there isn't, wouldn't older loopers show similar wear? They may not have the frequency, but they've been doing it longer, which counts just as much.
  17. I also wonder why they feel the need to replace the loop so often. I might suspect fatigue, but I'd imagine it's not going to set in as quickly as it would have to on CS for that to be true, unless either the loop is made of exceptionally weak steel or if the forces are exceptionally strong... And given my experiences on Intamin loopers (read: Maverick, Fahrenheit, and Storm Runner), the forces aren't exceptionally strong. Especially when compared to Sooperdooperlooper, and that's allegedly one of the weaker Schwarzkopfs! Then again, according to Westcoaster, Disney does their darndest to keep California Screamin' running quietly (including having special supports on the loop), so maybe it's related to that.
  18. What nerve! Would she prefer her dog have died in the car?! They didn't break in there for giggles! Until they find the dog, I'm going to imagine it's living a happier life with someone who's got more sense than to leave the dog in a hot car...
  19. At least one poster here knows that guy and would like to apologize in his stead...
  20. ^ Yup, Urgent Scare was new for 2008. EDIT: On a side note, KIC's 2008 promo still creeps me out a bit. US was just so stinking good, and the video really captured it, in my opinion. <iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qZ8R6R2HNPE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  21. Curious... Very curious. I'm willing to bet that, if there's any "research" being done, it's across a couple different manufacturers. I've gotten the impression Holiday World's been a little put out with Intamin since Pilgrim's Plunge was built. Then again, the choice of ride is almost certainly coincidental... Still, I'd be more than willing to help with that research.
  22. Okay, I've got another question about this forum update... Is there some way to create a personal list of your posts that have been liked? My number on my profile keeps growing, but I have no idea what post people keep liking. It would be cool to be able to see who's liking what.
  23. $75 that doesn't include admission? Ouch! I understand the incentive to keep the price high so not everyone is using it, but that's a bit much...
  24. I still like Eliza Thornberry the best, to be honest.
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