A man robbed the Castles and Coasters amusement park at gunpoint Friday afternoon and then fled, leading police to set up a perimeter around Metrocenter mall, authorities said. The man, believed to be in his late 20s, robbed the Phoenix facility of an undetermined amount of money and then made off west across the street to hide out in the mall, which is off Interstate 17 and Peoria Avenue, said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman.

No one was harmed during the robbery, Crump said....

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/03/19/20100319castles-and-coasters-robbed-abrk19-ON.html

Kind of scary. Details about what exactly he robbed in the park weren`t evident in the article. Ie, was it a food stand, a ticket booth, merchandise shop, etc.

Having worked in an amusement park in the operations department, I have personally had to handle money before. The thought about getting robbed has crossed my mine a couple of times through the years. It is one of the things that is always in the back of your mind, and that you hope you will never have to encounter first hand.

And Castles N Coasters is a full sized park, not just a family entertainment center:

http://www.castlesncoasters.com/

Amusement park robberies are thankfully very rare, which has always surprised me...particularly given the huge amounts of money that were often on hand in the days before credit/debit cards...

Yep. Castles N Coasters is home to the only major coasters in the entire state of Arizona! Still kind of boggles my mind that a park hasn`t sprouted up in the state with a coaster besides Castles N Coasters. But, I suppose it is just too hot for most people to spend their day in an amusement park in Arizona in the summer months.

Yes, I can attest to the fact that there can still be large sums of money involved in amusement parks. Not insane amounts, but a large amount of money nonetheless. Especially when most of the times it is teenagers or college kids that are handling this money, and taking in more money in a day than they will likely earn in a year.

Or, in the case of Six Flags' parking attendants, taking in from one car more than the attendant makes in two hours (at most Six Flags parks)...

That is kind of sad.

Wasn`t there a story a while back about a park employee pocketing some of the money they were taking in at a park food stand or parking tolls? It may even have been at Kings Island. I don`t remember the exact park or details, I just know that the person, I believe it was a she, was caught, arrested and charged.

That is very scary. I have always thought off what I would do but never really thought it would happen to me. I'm always just having fun at work, never thinking someone will point a gun at me. It is even scarier thinking that I am outside the gates before the metal detectors.