Things don’t always go as planned

Of course, the theme parks never let you forget that you are working at the cutting edge of technology. Kong was especially tricky, because he actually moved “inside the envelope,” intruding into the safety radius around the tram that would normally trigger a safety fault. The temperamental ape seemed to have a mind of his own. He once knocked a fellow tram driver out of her seat, onto the floor of her tram! Fortunately, the animatronic bodies were made of giant air bags over a metal framework, so she wasn’t hurt at all.

Parts of Kong’s body frequently got stuck in awkward positions—including one memorable day when Bridge Kong decided to proudly display his middle finger to all who passed by! I’m sure that was a PR nightmare, but I had to smile. I could swear the old guy had a slight grin on his face that day.

Things may differ at other attractions, but when working with both animatronics and pyrotechnics, ride faults usually fall into three basic categories: A show stop means that the ride still functions as normal, but part or all of the animation does not. A ride stop means that the vehicles quit moving until they are reset. You will learn stall material to keep your guests happy and engaged during these times, though many ride operators resort to bad jokes in case of a lengthy delay.

An emergency stop (E-stop) is in a class all its own. It instantly turns off all power to the building, halts all movement, shuts down special effects, and plunges the attraction into darkness. It is a completely necessary safety precaution, especially at attractions with large, moving animatronics and massive explosions. But it can be terrifying when it happens to you.

Though the Kong building had several emergency lights that came on immediately after an E-stop, it was just my luck that my one and only E-stop happened when my tram was in a corner where no emergency lights were visible. There, in the inky blackness, I was charged with keeping a full tram load of people from panicking. I have no idea what I said or did, only that I was very glad when it turned out to be a false alarm and power was restored. If you find yourself in the middle of an E-stop, no amount of stall material will help. Staying calm and thinking quickly are really your only options.

I’m an urban legend!

Although the theme parks have remarkable safety records, accidents can and do occasionally occur. Most of the time, they are very minor, although for liability reasons, they are always taken extremely seriously. One example is the small accident I was involved in on the Kong loading platform. I was standing up talking to my guests, back turned to the open front of my tram, when the tram behind me overshot the unload position and tapped the rear of my tram. It was a very minor collision and no one was hurt, but naturally the supervisors and managers came running. Statements were taken, first aid was offered, and everyone on both trams got a front of the line pass for any attraction in the park.

When I returned to Kong years later, all tram drivers were required to wear a safety harness. When I asked my trainer why, her tone turned serious. “We wear these because back in 1992, there was a horrible accident. The tram at Unload rear-ended the tram at Load, where the young driver was standing up. She was thrown out of the tram and died when she hit the concrete 30 feet down in Show Scene 1!” I burst into laughter and explained what actually happened, and she just stared at me as if she had seen a ghost.

Remember this story if you are hired at the parks. It is incredibly easy and tempting to pass on gossip, urban legends, and other tidbits about those who have come before you. But before you share the latest rumor, stop and think about whether it is worthwhile. I took the rumor about myself in a lighthearted way, but someone else might really be shocked or hurt or angry to hear that they were rumored dead for nearly 10 years.

The only constant is change

If you come and go from theme park employment, as so many people do, don’t expect your job to be as you left it. Time marches on, and things change. Each time I returned to Kong, I noticed that the system was a little more streamlined, a little more corporate, a little safer, and a little more sterile. The changes were good in their own way, as they mirrored Universal’s journey from an unlikely little park to a major contender in the marketplace. But even today, I sometimes get a little nostalgic for the early days. Still, I know that what I did made a real difference.

When I went to pick up my employee ID in 2005, the girl who printed it looked at my original hire date. “Wow,” she said. “You built this park! Thank you.” In a lot of ways, she was right. What we did in the early days built the experience that was and is Universal Orlando today. And I feel honored to have been a part of that.

You might not have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a brand new theme park, but everything you do has a longer-lasting influence than you might realize. Not only are you building the guest experience each and every day, but you are also shaping the experiences of the employees who will come after you. Some days you might feel like nothing more than a cog in a giant machine, but you as an individual matter more than you realize. Keep that in mind, and it will be tough to have a truly bad day.