Working in a theme park?

[LadyVader]

Some years ago I wanted to work in Disneyland Paris in my summer vacations (2 months), but I never really get through.
Especially because of the fact that I would have to speak excellent French, but I only know basics in communication. So I rejected the idea.

Have you ever worked in a theme park?
What were your task?
Did you like it?

[Neon Cactus]

I worked at Six Flags Magic Mountain for two summers, 1984 and 1985. It was my first job and I took it because I wanted to work at Walley World. When I interviewed they were hiring for food service, so I got a job there and I worked as a cashier in one of the fast food restaurants and several carts hawking nachos, Icees, cotton candy, ice cream, and popcorn.

It was a fun job, I was 17 and 18 when I was there, and I liked it because before and/or after my shift, I could go into the park and enjoy the rides. I usually volunteered to work the carts because my area was right by the dance pavilion, so it was nice to be outdoors during the summer and listen to music. If I wasn't working I could see the concerts they had for free. It didn't pay a lot, but it was a fun summer job.

The only drawbacks to me were that it was about a 30 minute commute and to this day I really don't like cotton candy. I would come out of that booth wearing cotton candy everywhere. But I enjoyed the experience overall. The funny thing is that I was in my high school's marching band, and I got a job there with two of my friends, but by the end of the summer, we had over 10 people from my school working there because they saw how much fun we were having.

I would much rather have worked for Disneyland, but we lived about an hour away, so that didn't work out.

[LadyVader]

Originally Posted by Neon Cactus

I would much rather have worked for Disneyland, but we lived about an hour away, so that didn't work out.

Well... it takes me 13 hours to get to (Disneyland) Paris *lol*
But I had the chance to get a kind of company flat there.

Thanks for your information!

[wrs28220]

I work at SFMM in the Entertainment Dept. I do everything relating to shows. Love the job, Love the people, Hate the heat.

[melmel]

I drive 30 minutes to work at Disneyland every day, but despite the setbacks (and my current sabbatical), I love my job, it's so much fun, and now some of my best friends work at the park. I've worked there for 18 months now. For the record, I'm a waitress in table service restaurants but I started out as a hostess.

[mrcoaster]

Spent over six years working at WDW and worked 2 years each at Six Flags Over Georgia and Dollywood.

Working at a theme park is a lot of fun sometimes, but it can also be pretty repetitious and dull. Depends on where you're working, who your co-workers are and how much of a butt-hole your area manager is.

[xfkirsten]

I've worked in a couple of parks!

My first one was as a WDW Merchandise College Program in 2002. I worked in Adventureland/Pirates/Glow merch. Glow was a blast! I basically got paid to play with the light-up toys and watch parades and shows.

In 2003, I moved over to characters and did a second CP there. I absolutely fell in love with it! I'd never had any performance experience before that, but that job made me fall in love with stuff like theater and dance (and consequently made me regret not doing them when I was growing up). The heat was pretty bad, but you get used to it after a couple of weeks. And the joy you see on the faces of little kids when they get to meet their heroes makes it all worth it!

When I got back to CA, I started working at SeaWorld as a character, playing Shamu. Lots of fun, but it just didn't have the same Disney magic. I ended up moving over to Lighting and Stage, and worked as a techie there for awhile. I did the Pets Rule show, worked spotlight for the night shows, and drove the patrol barge during/after fireworks... but my main job was as crew for Cirque de la Mer, which was awesome. That rivaled WDW characters for the best job I've ever had. I got paid to race a boat around the stadium (I still say some of the theming was put there just so I'd have a slalom course ), go swimming when the leads weren't looking, and be taught how to do Chinese Poles and Russian swing - again, when the leads weren't looking. It was HARD work putting on five shows a day, but it was well worth it!

[Jessicalover]

I worked at Hersheypark for 2 seasons during my highshool years. I worked in foods. I had a ton of fun at that job. I even got to play on my resteraunts softball team, man good times, good times.

[kickcows]

i work at universal studios hollywood. i work for the guest services dept (tickets, front gate, annual pass center, etc). i LOVE my job. i have so much fun interacting with the guests. i'm a people person so i love the work.

what i don't like about my job? probably being union. i go way above and beyond what i'm needed to do and i get no recognition for it. all because i'm in a union and they don't do stuff like that. sure, i can get "rewards" from my managers and the like, but its the pay that kills me.

ah well. can't have everything right? but it's still a great job. i've been working there for 2.5 years now.

[SoCal]

I worked at Sea World SD as a ride op at Shipwreck Rapids for about a year and a half ending directly after 9/11.

I hated it. I only worked there because it worked great with my school hours.

I had parents yelling at me all day because their child was too short to ride. I had a supervisor that was NEVER at the ride and NEVER did any work - he was busy walking around the park with his girlfriend and leaving the park to get food while not on breaks. The management there was not friendly in any way. Standing in one of the three towers watching boats go by was boring, but better than being on the platform trying to load the boats by a certain point. Coming in the park very early to spray wash and scrub the bird poop off the walkway (from the pavement change by Shamu stadium all the way down to the line past the tide pool) was ok, but wearing the old nasty boots that everybody wore was nasty.

There was a few things I liked about it -

- Walking in the trough was very cool.
- 2 cases of beer a month for free was cool - they would set up like a drive-thru in the parking lot. You drove up and told them what you wanted and they marked you off and put the beer in your trunk. Most of the time we would get beer with a born on date of 2 or even one day before.
- The 'gifts' they gave us. Totally random trinkets but they were cool.

I think if the management was good I would have had a better time working there.

[Trintara]

I also work at magic mountain. In the past I've worked main gate (which includes ticket taking, toll gate, the ticket booths and selling flash passes (which were fast lane back when I did that)) and rides (bunny world and ninja, though I was day transferred to X, De Ja Vu, Log Jammer, Roaring Rapids, the parking lot and the kennels).

Now I work in Guest Relations. I get paid more there and I get to be in the air conditioning. Ticket Will Call and stoller rental are also part of GR. I must admit that I like my coworkers here a lot which is good because you need people around that can help you remain somewhat sane in this position.

If you want something that is fun and easy, rides is actually the best as long as you adhere to all the safety rules which are mostly common sense. If you work mornings on a roller coaster you get to ride it as part of the safety tests. Main gate is cool if you don't want to deal with puke. That's actually why I worked there first; I was afraid of the puke, but then I found you can usually get other people to clean it if you're too squimish.

Overall, theme parks are fun if you like that sort of atmosphere. There's many different locations so there's bound to be one that fits what you're looking for.

edit - Oh, and in case I didn't make this clear I really enjoyed all of the things I've done here though some parts are better than others. I've actually gotten rather addicted to the place.

[eeyore'snumber1fan]

I am working at BGT for 3 years. I do serving and cashing at zagora cafe. It has those days that I love working but the over days <sat> when its a war and the gusts are inpasible. Also the beer drinker are a breed of their oun. Look for a better spot at BG, its hard to get vaction.

[PumpkinKing!]

I work Halloween Haunt at Knotts Berry Farm every October. Its alot of fun, never had any issues. Upper management seems to be pretty good, although each maze captain can be a different story. However I keep going back year after year so I guess there is something there!