It’s been 11 days since our last blog. We’re sorry we haven’t been able to post more frequently. We’re still having to come to McDonald’s for the free Wifi since they don’t have it at the dorms in which we’re staying. Hopefully we will have better connectivity soon as we’re looking into renting an apartment for the remaining 3 months we’re here! We found a place that is only a little more expensive than staying at the dorms and we’d have our own bathroom and it would be quiet. It also will not smell like feet, have a roommate we don’t know that steals our flip flops and uses them to shower with, and have red goo bleeding from the ceiling! Haha!

Coming to McDonald’s to post also wouldn’t be a big issue if we had more time to do so. Given the level of staffing right now we have been working every day but Sundays for 9 to 16 hours a day! It will be really nice when we get our paychecks but it’s pretty exhausting! Our days tend to consist of waking up, working, eating, and going back to bed. Supposedly things are going to get better when we have some international workers come to help with staffing. Currently Power Tower has the biggest crew in the park and last year during the peak of the season they had twice the number of people they do right now. Similarly, Dragster will be getting some new workers in June to help Micah’s crew out since they have people from different areas of the park coming to help them right now.

The past week and a half has had a lot of ups and downs, which you would expect working at the best amusement park in the world. We’ve had quite a few days where we just weren’t feeling it. We’ve been feeling sick and have still had to stand in 50 degree rainy weather either checking seats or telling people the ride is closed due to inclement weather a billion times.

We would both agree though that the positives in our experience far outweigh the negatives. We still can’t believe we’re actually here! After getting the jobs, driving here, processing in, going to classes, learning our rides, and moving in we still feel like we made a good decision to come here. We have decided to keep a tally of all the rides we ride and will update it when we update the blog! It’s crazy how many rides we already have! We even rode the rides we were (thankfully) transferred from, Iron Dragon and Paddlewheel Excursions. It can’t be emphasized enough how thankful we are to have been moved!

We can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer holds for us! Last night we rode rides with a few people from our crews and it was a blast. Even riding the Mean Streak in the front row with all the bugs flying in my face was entertaining. The picture for that ride was priceless! Should have bought it! And we ended the night riding Dragster which was incredible!

Needless to say, we have met some pretty “out there” people while working here. Among the most out there were the ACE (America’s Coaster Enthusiasts) riders. One of the most famous ACE members is an old man called Single Rider Bob. Bob’s home ride is Millennium Force. After each season he makes a shirt which details how many times he has ridden Millennium Force. As of this season, he holds the record of over 1300 rides. Sean got the opportunity to ride next to Bob this week! He said that Bob was a very nice, enthusiastic and energetic person. What else would one want to do on their retirement except ride roller coasters?



Next on the list is a woman who we (we being every employee at Cedar Point) call Snow White. Snow White looks to be in her late 50’s, but we don’t actually know how old she is. She wears a white Snow White sweatshirt, with pink pajama bottoms and flip-flops. She carries around her Snow White dolls and insists on riding with them. She was at Cedar Point for the first 6 days! She waited in line for Dragster for a whole 12 hours while it was down due to the rain. Unfortunately we don’t have a picture of her, but trust us, it is better off that way.

Now for a subject we know everyone wants to hear about—dealing with guests who are too large to fit inside the rides. Most of the time larger guests will try out the test seat before actually entering the line. We offer them some help, but there are some guests who are just too large. Surprisingly it isn’t too difficult to deal with those who don’t fit. We do have to be conscious of our wording however. When asking a guest to try the test seat, we must use the word “buckle” instead of “fasten” because “fasten” sounds too much like “fat” and can potentially upset the guest. There are some who are in denial and will not try out the test seat, determined to fit when they get to the station, and end up having to take the walk of shame down the exit ramp. There have been a few miracles however. There are some guests who just have the will to fit, and surprisingly they do! It is probably because of their “pudginess” so to speak. The squishier their belly is, the more likely they will fit.

Over all the experience here has been great. It will be even greater when we get our first paycheck! Getting to talk to the vistomers and giving riders a good ride is worth it. Also, when it isn’t raining the weather here is great! We look forward to the feedback and will try to answer any questions you guys may have! We love and miss everyone!

With Love,
Sean and Micah

The Long Process In!

Hey everyone! We haven't had a chance to post since we have been here due to Wifi connections at the dorms, so here is a pretty long post of the events that have occurred over the past 3 days! Enjoy and don't forget to comment! We will write back!!!



DAY 1
What a long 3 days it has been! With all of the paperwork, company policy classes, and training videos, probably the smoothest part of the whole experience getting to this point was the six-hour drive. Interestingly enough, that was also the quickest part of getting here! We just finished waiting 4 ½ hours to get our uniforms!

The waiting began on Monday morning around 8:40am. The alarm went off around 7:30 at the Hampton Inn down the road from the park and once we actually got up around 8, got cleaned up and headed to Human Resources where our 15-hour day began. The first step to processing in was to confirm your eligibility to work. It was in this first step that we hit our first snag in processing in.

Upon reaching the desk after waiting an hour, Micah was informed that he needed an actual social security card as opposed to the copy of it that he had. It was frustrating that we had to go to the social security office and get a new one, but it was only about a mile away and printing up the verification required would only take a couple minutes at most.

That is under normal circumstances. It would just work out that the minute Micah sits down to get his new card printed, the social security computer system for the entire United States would break…for an indefinite period of time.

We returned to the park to see what could be done since it was beyond our control and the answer was: nothing. Unless he has the verification he needed, he could not process in. While this wasn’t what we were hoping to hear, it is understandable since it’s required by law and we can’t down the park for something they legally have to do.

By the time we returned to the social security office at 11, the computers were still down. BUT they had estimated that the system would be good to go at 1! We took the scenic route (got lost and had to use the gps to find out where we were) and ended up back at the office right on time after grabbing some Fazoli’s. We were just in time to wait an additional 40 minutes for the system to FINALLY come back up.

Within ten minutes we were out of the office and in the car back to the point. We returned to HR to find a shorter line for our first stop and crazy long line for the second stop. We both received our papers and joined a line that would take us 4 hours to wait in before having the papers checked so that we could get our ID cards. Thankfully there were couches we could sit on around the 2-hour mark as well as drinks available to make the wait more bearable.

Checking papers took only a few minutes and we were grouped to get our pictures taken. This wait was considerably shorter at an hour long. And our final stop for the night was even shorter than that. In this step we were assigned times for classes which we took yesterday (Tuesday) that would acquaint us with company policy.

We were processed in!!! What a relief as we headed to housing so we could get some sleep. Unsurprisingly, housing was extremely crowded and we had to park in a lot across the street. But we got a room and put our stuff down and realized a Meijer run was in order to retrieve some air fresheners and snacks. Too bad it was already Midnight.

This was our very long first day at the park.

DAY 2
Day two began at 11 and was much less stressful and busy than the first day. We had three classes on day two, two of which discussed the park and the cornerstones of Cedar Fair, one about living in CP housing. These took quite a while, from 1:30 to 6:45 but they really helped establish what Cedar Point is all about: courtesy, cleanliness, service, safety, and integrity.

We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, which was delicious. Upon returning to the dorms we watched Micah’s favorite shows "Fat Club" and V! Ask him all about V whenever you get the chance. He just loves V and the intricate plot lines. V is awesome. V.

DAY 3
Today has been quite a day. We both would agree it has been the best day we’ve had so far. We had to be at the park operations office at 8 for some department training videos (videos from the 80s discussing how to handle disgruntled guests) and paperwork. It was during this first meeting of the day we found out some exciting news: we were both transferred to different rides!

Sean was transferred from Paddlewheel Excursions (the boat ride with cheesy jokes) to Power Tower, a set of four vertical launch towers connected as one superstructure topping out at 300 feet. Riders have the choice of being shot skyward or plummeted 240 feet at 50 mph. Quite a different ride than he anticipated operating!



Micah was transferred from Iron Dragon (a mediocre roller coaster for elementary school children) to the world’s first stratacoaster, Top Thrill Dragster! Dragster launches riders from 0 to 120 mph in less than 4 seconds and up a 420 foot tower at a 90 degree angle, only to freefall 400 feet vertically down a 270 degree spiral. All within a 15 second time frame.



Needless to say, we were both extremely happy about our transfers! We were excited to be here before but even more so now that we both love our rides! (Picture of both of them below)



We had a good 5 hours to process this as we waited for our beautimous uniforms. Pictures will be posted soon (maybe). To be sure to see us in our uniforms, come visit!

That’s all folks! We will update as often as possible, but are limited by the wifi access in the dorms. We are currently updating from McDonald’s. Yum.

With love,
Micah and Sean

Bon Voyage!

Yep! It's time for us to leave for the best summer ever (aside from missing everyone)! Sean and I will both return for a week at the end of june/early july. Above is the counter for how many days until our return!

We will update the blog with our dorm pictures as soon as we get moved in! Also, look forward to both of our recollections of our first day on the job on Saturday!

Pray for us to have a safe trip there! We will update the blog and let you know when we get there!

With Love,
Micah and Sean

Cedar Point 2010!

Hello Everyone! This blog will be used as a journal of Sean and Micah's experiences while working at Cedar Point this summer. We will try to update the blog on a weekly basis to keep everyone updated! Feel free to comment and ask questions! Don't forget to subscribe to the blog so that you can get our weekly updates!

For our first post we decided to write a little bit about Cedar Point and about which rides we will be operating. Cedar Point is located in Sandusky Ohio on a Peninsula in lake Erie. Cedar Point is America's Greatest, and in our opinion World's Greatest, Amusement Park. With a whopping 17 record-breaking roller coasters and more than 75 other rides and attractions, it is easy to see that you will have a full day (or two) of excitement and relaxation in the park. The park has been dubbed "America's Roller Coast", because of it's coaster dominated theming, but don't let this scare you away! There is something in the park for everyone! Among these is the ride that Sean will be operating, Paddle Wheel Excursions.



Located next to Camp Snoopy, Paddlewheel Excursions carries its guests on a relaxing voyage around Cedar Point’s lagoons past scenes depicting early Americana. The scenes are described in a narration given by the Captain of each boat, who often helps crack a smile with quick-witted(often cheesy) jokes regarding each scene.

Since it opened in 1964, Paddlewheel Excursions has given nearly 45 million rides through the peaceful lagoons. (Originally called the Western Cruise, it was renamed in 1986.)

Feel free to watch the ride below!


The next ride, a roller coaster, that Micah will be operating is called the Iron Dragon.



Iron Dragon takes you up not once, but twice - and then sends you on a unique ride, swinging and swaying its riders during the ride.

Looking for an intermediate coaster? Iron Dragon is the perfect "middle ground" coaster for all ages. Video Point of View below!



We hope to have a fun and event filled summer! We will miss everyone so make sure you stop by and pay us a visit! Don't forget to subscribe to the blog and check back for updates!

Check out this awesome video of the entire park!


With Love,
Sean and Micah