I miss this blog. Been meaning to come back to it for about half a year. Got kind of obsessed with my new job that I got back in August and couldn't figure out how to nudge my thoughts back in here the "right way", but I figure it's now or never.
So, expect more of my current wild shenanigans and quasi-ancient anecdotes in the near future.
I was hit with nostalgia today when seeing a friend's FaceBook video of her and family having fun on a Disneyland ride, one that I used to work on. And I realized how much of a punk I was when working as a ride operator. With constant pressure from leaders and management to load what they'd refer to as "as many people as possible", there were times when my primary thoughts during eight hour shifts at Disneyland would be "break the record-- don't fall behind-- break the record-- don't fall behind!" I didn't know if I was going to get fired if I didn't load fast enough, but higher-ups were often ominous when talking about the importance of reaching what we'd call "counts", which were the company's ideal amount of Disneyland guests that got through every ride per hour. This is why dark rides are programmed to automatically shutdown if a car is not sent into the ride for a certain amount of seconds. Obviously, ride operating procedures aren't meant to come off as oppressive for the employee or the fun-havers (for lack of a better word), but it seemed pretty contradictory-- don't let park guests have too much fun or they'll take longer to get on and off the ride, which will annoy the other guests, who were waiting like they once were. Load them on fast, and get them off as quick as you can. Do this over and over again until the park closes.
If you know me, you know I love to be sociable (in my weird, antisocial way). I love talking to people. I did this a lot at Storybook Land, especially when waiting on the dock for boats to arrive, and in the boats when there were guests that were eager to talk... granted, some of them were a little too eager, like the young adults who asked me to give them the "naughty" Storybook tour (which I declined).
In regards to loading guests on rides, there were times where I genuinely wanted to talk to people, and there were times where all I could think was "Oh, my God-- Could you hurry up and get off? Push the restraint UP! GAH! You're killing my counts!"
Some days I can't believe I was an attractions host, operating rides I was never trained to know the way that Disneyland's maintenance staff does, while still keeping thousands safe.
Not to mention communicating with people who speak all sorts of languages and come with all sorts of attitudes, from apprehensive to overly aggressive. It was fun, of course, but hats off to every attractions host who keeps doing what they do. The pay is enough to keep them in deep poverty, yet they still keep it together every day to provide thousands of strangers new sights and sounds they won't get anywhere else.
Next time you're at a theme park, make sure to thank an attractions host. They might not acknowledge your existence, but that might be because they're having the longest, craziest day of their lives.
