Interesting Things Ride-Ops Do

[Coney Islander]

Last time I went to Kings Island we rode Adventure Express right before the park closed. Half way up the final chain lift, the ride op stopped the ride for 10 seconds or so and talked to the riders in an evil voice, ending his message with "MWAHAHAHAHA".

Now that I look back, that was the best Adventure Express ride I've had.

That is awesome! I'm suprised they're allowed to do that (Are they???). Anyways that sound like an awesome experience! Oh, you just reminded me of one! Way back, when I was 7ish, I was riding Phantom Theater and the ride-op stopped the ride mid-course. Then suddenly the animatronic in front of us (I think it was the Houdini one) turned his head and said "It looks like you won't be going anywhere anytime soon! Muahaha!". Now that was awesome!

Not only that, but if I remember correctly (my memory is patchy for that trip), he also turned all the lights off in the tunnel so it was pitch black. It was sweet.

That brought back a lot of memories of PT. Thanks for sharing.

[PKIbabe89]

Monster speil "Enjoy your ride on the monster, it goes under water ..or does it??....WHOOOOP!!"

Racer speil "Enjoy your ride on The Racer it goes upside down not once, not twice, actaully none at all!"

[Brandon]

But also to turn the tables, if you were at Michigan's Adventure and someone there was saying 'Ohio State sucks' continually, how would you react. Always need to see the opposite side of the coin.

I wouldn't care, just like they don't care when we say they suck. It's just part of the great Ohio-Michigan bond we have

[Oldiesmann]

Monster speil "Enjoy your ride on the monster, it goes under water ..or does it??....WHOOOOP!!"

Racer speil "Enjoy your ride on The Racer it goes upside down not once, not twice, actaully none at all!"

I remember hearing that when I was there this past Sunday. Hilarious

As for what happened at AE - there was likely a good reason for them stopping the train on the final hill. Ride ops would never stop a ride just because they wanted to, and park management likely wouldn't find such a situation very funny.

[touchdown62]

The drop on DB is 230 ft.

Close but no Cigar.. (This was not Captain Nemo.)

Do they not have the stats posted in the control booth?

Diamondback is 230 feet tall. The (first) drop is 215 feet.

[KingCobra]

But also to turn the tables, if you were at Michigan's Adventure and someone there was saying 'Ohio State sucks' continually, how would you react. Always need to see the opposite side of the coin.

I wouldn't care, just like they don't care when we say they suck. It's just part of the great Ohio-Michigan bond we have

I understand where you are coming from. Myself I am currently an Ohio State student, but the point that is brought up and as well I agree with is that the time and place to say something like that about Ohio State-Michigan is not the place for a employee of an amusement park to do. I can see where someone who is from Michigan could find it offensive.

Something that I have heard while at Cedar Point before, which takes it into a better more comical light is where ride ops will ask people what state they are from, where most of them are from Ohio there will be a those that are also from Pennslyvania, Indiana and Michigan and the op will respond with something like "But you had to come to Ohio to have fun".

[violakat03]

"If you are currently stuck in The Beast, push down and pull up on your lapbar."

On El Toro, the seatbelts are fixed position (rather than retractable) and buckle in the middle. One of the ride ops said "Welcome back riders! As the train comes to a complete stop please lift up on your lapbar. After that you may want to unbuckle your seatbelt and move it out of the way before you stand up, because it's pretty funny when someone forgets and get stuck by it!" The same ride op had a great Mickey Mouse impression and would use that voice to say "train clear."

As to the Michigan-Ohio State thing. I'm a huge Ohio State fan and a student, and if I was in Michigan (or anywhere really) and someone said Ohio State sucks, I'd probably say "we're not the ones that can't win a game!" I wouldn't take it personally or take offense to it. That's the nature of a rivalry.

[The Interpreter]

But, not everyone who goes to a park is a sports fan or even knows about rivalries between sports teams or cares....and someone might well take it personally. A park really wants its ride ops offending customers? I think not.

Similarly, back in 2008, I actually heard a ride op on Son of Beast making fun of one of the two presidential candidates...and it continued for several minutes. Several of the guests around me were very upset. I wouldn't be surprised if Guest Relations got numerous complaints about him. I do know I did not see that ride op again during my return visits.

[auge.dog]

While it would not and does not bother me when someone says a school s__ks. I'm glad my 7-yr old was not there to hear it. It was the word choice and audience I have a problem with. If it's a bunch of adults at a sports bar, it's one thing - at a family amusement park, by a park employee, it's another. He could still poke fun at Michigan, and in fact be more creative without using that verbiage.

[cassie_KY]

A joke we still have is this: we were getting on the Viking ship and the skies were cloudy with a few sprinkles. Right as the ride cycle begins, it POURS! The ride op says "Enjoy your water ride!" (As she stood in her covered area) We didn't care we were getting soaked as we were laughing too hard.

[KI41002]

The ride ops at The Beast... Well they are really nice and crazy man! I mean like, they make the ride alot more fun than what it ALREADY is!

I know this story isn't about a ride OP when i was 5 (i think) we went to KingsIsland and it was like really hot so we walk over to this dip-n-dots place and i turn around and one of the people who control the water gun things were you squirt it in the clowns mouth, squirt me and every one in my family/group. Man it was legend, and we ended up playing that game like 10 times before mom got ****ed b/c we were wasting her money.

[Reclaimer]

There were so many things I've done. Wicked Twister practically begs for fun (safe) jokes. A couple of my favorites from Wicked Twister:

Once every week or two at Cedar Point, one ride stays open for employees to ride for an hour or two. The ride crews come up with a theme and dress and decorate the station/queue accordingly....usually. Last year, our crew at WT couldn't decide on a single theme, much to my disappointment. We ended up deciding last minute to just have an Intamin identity crisis theme and rotated our station music between TTD, MF, and our own. It was a lame theme, but it ended up being kind of funny in the end. While I was in controls, I spieled the ride as Top Thrill Twister Force. It got a few chuckles.

We also had a girl on our crew last summer that would play games with the train if loading was taking a bit of time for some reason. I can't tell you how many times I heard "If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet" (think about it...Inverted coaster)

At Space Mountain, it was a bit more difficult to have too much fun with the guests simply because we ran 13 trains on each side. The unload station can only hold 4 trains, and there are only 21 seconds between each train. Once 4 trains are sitting in unload, the 5th train will shut the ride down essentially, causing us to have to reset everything, which takes 15-20 minutes. Anyway, we could have a bit of quick fun at unload, so long as we weren't backed up, and were willing to risk it. Sometimes as a train would come in, I could advance inhibit the train so that it wouldn't move all the way to the position it needed to be to unlock the lapbars. At that point, I would welcome everyone back and tell them they could unlock their lapbars by reaching to the side of the train and pushing the blue button. There was no blue button. A couple seconds later, I'd lift up my inhibit and allow the train to fully park.

Other times, if I felt the person in the front seat to be a good candidate for a good-natured scare, I would allow the train to pull all the way up to where it needs to be while at the same time acting freaked out and telling the guest in the front row to "HIT THE BRAKES, HIT THE BRAKES!" (the trains stopped on a dime on their own once they reached the correct position) Usually the guest would start hitting the 'invisible brake' with their foot and say "WHERE IS IT?!?" Once they stopped, they laughed, I laughed, and their friends laughed.

Sometimes, it was something simple like "Welcome back! Please exit to your right past the yellow line. Thanks for riding Soarin' and enjoy the rest of your day here at Animal Kingdom!" Most of the time, the guests would either ignore us or say "Thanks! You too!" Hardly anyone caught on.

Good times...

[XGatorHead 8904]

I was quite soured at Diamondback when the ride op with the wireless mic was repeating, 'Michigan sucks' So what if you go to Ohio State? King's Island is a family establishment and although I realize it's 2009 and Diamondback isn't geared towards younger children (who are less likely to be in line hearing words like 'sucks'), I was VERY put off by an employee being comfortable using language that is a gateway to worse four letter words.

But "sucks" is a five letter word! (I'm just messin' with ya! )

But seriously, I agree that's not appropriate for a ride op to say over the mic (as much as I agree with that ride op's statement ). As the father of a 4 year old, we try not to use that word around her, and cringe when someone does (I know, I know, there are much worse words out there... some of which have slipped out of my mouth in front of her). Not that my 4 year old would be in the DB line anyway, but as others have said there are people who could be offended or unaware of the rivalry. The ride op probably wasn't thinking about what he was saying, or who may be possibly offended by it. Not that that's an excuse...

[KIfan1980]

A couple from today:

- Beast: the two ride ops at the front of the train this evening were doing a "seat belt, lap bar" dance (hysterical) to try and help folks get the idea of buckling the seat belt first. They even threatened to have a rider dance along if they screwed it up (one person did, but I think he actually volunteered). They were having fun, especially the one on the mic who was interacting with people all the time.

- Diamondback: while not necessarily funny, during my first ride today, the ride op on the mic was trying to get people to help ensure faster releases. He would start with the 35 second countdown and would keep encouragin people to move faster. Reason I liked it - it was working well.

[markhudson17]

A couple from today:

- Beast: the two ride ops at the front of the train this evening were doing a "seat belt, lap bar" dance (hysterical) to try and help folks get the idea of buckling the seat belt first. They even threatened to have a rider dance along if they screwed it up (one person did, but I think he actually volunteered). They were having fun, especially the one on the mic who was interacting with people all the time.

- Diamondback: while not necessarily funny, during my first ride today, the ride op on the mic was trying to get people to help ensure faster releases. He would start with the 35 second countdown and would keep encouragin people to move faster. Reason I liked it - it was working well.

I experienced both of those today as well, kinda funny.

Yay, made it to 200 posts!!!!

[BavarianBeatle]

"If you are currently stuck in The Beast, push down and pull up on your lapbar."

On El Toro, the seatbelts are fixed position (rather than retractable) and buckle in the middle. One of the ride ops said "Welcome back riders! As the train comes to a complete stop please lift up on your lapbar. After that you may want to unbuckle your seatbelt and move it out of the way before you stand up, because it's pretty funny when someone forgets and get stuck by it!" The same ride op had a great Mickey Mouse impression and would use that voice to say "train clear."

As to the Michigan-Ohio State thing. I'm a huge Ohio State fan and a student, and if I was in Michigan (or anywhere really) and someone said Ohio State sucks, I'd probably say "we're not the ones that can't win a game!" I wouldn't take it personally or take offense to it. That's the nature of a rivalry.

I graduated from the University of Toledo, so I no longer need to rely upon being a Buckeye fan to trash Michigan........LOL!!!

Edit: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/foo...an-toledo_N.htm

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

So yesterday on AE the ride op was talking in an intimidating force "Adventure Express will take you through four tunnels. Raise you up 65 feet, and send you down the hill at speeds up to 35 MPH. " I thought it was great that he was trying to make AE sound like it was just as good as Son of Beast or Diamondback

[The Interpreter]

A spiel from Great Adventure (you knew I would):

"When the floor drops down, don't frown, because Batman is about to turn your world upside-down!"

[Cory Butcher]

"Whether you're in the front of the train or in the caboose, The Beast is out on the loose!"

^^The one you write about The Beast is said by my brother who is also a member on here.

Hahaha, not so fast Sam...That is a collaboration of sorts between two friends! The original version is at Diamondback and goes: "That all clear means you're rolling out of here, whether you're in the front or towards the caboose, time to hang on tight, we're letting Diamondback loose!"

[Diamondback FOF]

^I personally like the one about The Beast better as is sounds chatchier (is that a word?).

Anyways, when I was in line for The Beast, the ride op said, "And make some noise if you're excited to ride The Beast!...*makes noise* Alright, we'll see you back here in four minutes and fifty seconds!"

My favorite one was also while in line for The Beast. Just before they dispatched a train, the ride op with the microphone said, "Enjoy your ride. Also, be mindful of those brakes." I guess even the ride ops don't like the brakes on The Beast.

[derek9312]

Some of the more dumber things but yet it still gets people to laugh.

1) The older man that usually works either the carousel or the Tower most of the time, I believe his name is Mike. Every day he works the tower and is the actual driver of the elevator, when there is a good sized crowd inside he will go over the rules, facts, etc then he will put his back to everybody in the elevator, take the mic, and make a farting noise into the mic to try to make people laugh while going up.

2) The second one is also from the Tower but a different guy driving, he was trying to fit 3 more people into the elevator so when trying to get everybody to scoot back he says, "Ok, I need everybody to step towards the back of the elevator, don't be afraid to squish the person behind you and no pull my finger jokes."

The second one actually got a little chuckle out of me as I would most likely be the one to say something like that if I was the employee.

I just thought of another one, a couple years back, me and my cousin were back at the viewing area of WWC, before they installed the new cannons that guests can shoot, one lady whose name slips my mind loved to have fun with the guests viewing and the guests inside the boats.

Anytime a boat would come she would look at the number and say "Hi boat number (insert number here)" If they started talking to her she would just talk back but if there was a boat that didn't say anything to her, she would fire the cannon at least 5 times and would get everybody absolutely DRENCHED!! After getting done soaking people from one boat she suddenly said, "I love my job, its a very good stress reliever because I get to come in and press a button that says cannon and soak people"

[SOB_TOM]

Ahh I remember being at Tower 3. Good times. In fact, I still remember how to get the far cannon to shoot a stream of water that would not "break" at the top, so it was just one snake like looking stream of water (think massive garden hose.) It would normally drench two people, and the looks were hysterical...

Oh and Mike is a good guy. I was wondering if he still worked up there.

[I_heart_pki]

I was in line for Adventure Express on Tuesday and the ride op was talking about how much she loved Adventure Express. She said it was her favorite because it was a great ride for all ages and that it is always awesome when you can ride with Grandma!! I laughed for quite a while.

[buckeyemaniac]

Ahh I remember being at Tower 3. Good times. In fact, I still remember how to get the far cannon to shoot a stream of water that would not "break" at the top, so it was just one snake like looking stream of water (think massive garden hose.) It would normally drench two people, and the looks were hysterical...

Oh and Mike is a good guy. I was wondering if he still worked up there.

I wish tower 3 was still fun. Tower 2 is still amazing though.

[Touchdown]

Welcome back Millennium Force Riders how was your ride? (WOOOO!)

And how was the bugs (mix of boo/woo!)

[DropZone99]

Yesterday on Drop Zone I stayed on for a whole lot of rides, and The Ride Opts. Were talking to me and I told them I'm going to be riding DZ for a while, but once I got off the answer my phone real quick someone came up to my seat and one of the ride opts. (Forget her name) Said "Your not allowed to sit there, that's Nick's Seat!" Which I thought was kind of cool cause I got my favorite seat on the ride and they let me keep it for along time til' I took a break and rode Son of Beast.

[Rollercoast19]

I was in line for Adventure Express on Tuesday and the ride op was talking about how much she loved Adventure Express. She said it was her favorite because it was a great ride for all ages and that it is always awesome when you can ride with Grandma!! I laughed for quite a while.

I would have to agree with the ride op. I love Adventure Express because it was the one roller coaster my mom would actually ride. She hated drops (ever since her first ride on KCKC when she was younger) and heights (she would close her eyes on the way up the lift), but since AE has a turning drop she enjoyed the ride. I always enjoyed riding with her.

[pcc]

On The Racer today, the ride op said "Enjoy your ride on The Racer. It has speeds in excess of 65 mph and 6 loops"

The poor little kids in front of me looked horrified as we left the station. All I could do is laugh

[violakat03]

I was in line for Adventure Express on Tuesday and the ride op was talking about how much she loved Adventure Express. She said it was her favorite because it was a great ride for all ages and that it is always awesome when you can ride with Grandma!! I laughed for quite a while.

I would have to agree with the ride op. I love Adventure Express because it was the one roller coaster my mom would actually ride. She hated drops (ever since her first ride on KCKC when she was younger) and heights (she would close her eyes on the way up the lift), but since AE has a turning drop she enjoyed the ride. I always enjoyed riding with her.

That's a great memory to have of your mom.

My mom loves Adventure Express too. When she goes to the park (she hasn't been since Paramount days), that's one of the few dry rides she rides! She adores the water rides though. I'll never figure out why she'll ride Congo Falls and not Racer, which she has never been on! My goal is to get her on it at least once. After all, she's ridden the Screechin' Eagle, Coney's Shooting Star and even the very first Flying Turns at Lakeside Park!! A.K.A. three coasters that I never had a chance to but are coaster legends!

[The Interpreter]

Did she ride the Lakeside Cyclone?

Terpy, who for many years revered that ride as his then favorite wooden coaster....