Employee cafeteria

All about everything else at Marriott's GREAT AMERICA
zingme
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Post by zingme »

^ Could you do that without getting in trouble if caught? I've never worked at a theme park, but I just assumed that ride accident insurance only covered guests of the park, not sneaky employees.

(I don't know why I think of these things!)
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steven
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Post by steven »

Employees were not supposed to ride any rides while working UNLESS their job responsibilities called for it. For example, members of the train crew obviously had to ride to the train to operate it and give the spiel. The tower also required having an employee aboard on every trip up and down. On Southern Cross, employees rode across and back to switch duty at the south end during the day.

Steven
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BrianPlencner
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Post by BrianPlencner »

Steven is correct on this one. The other time that an employee was allowed to ride was if they were the lead of the ride, and they were doing their test ride for their shift. This was usually done 2 times a day: Once in the morning before the ride opened to the public, and the 2nd time was sometime in the afternoon. This was done so the lead could find out if there were any problems with the ride (unusual sounds, smells, etc).
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redfishpaw
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Post by redfishpaw »

When I worked in rides in 85, yankee clipper. the lead was required go on the ride every morning before the ride opened to the public.

My other years were non costumed, green name tag.
As mentioned earlier, by 'tasod' the green name tag could simply be removed if one wanted to enter the park and blend in.

I do recall on a few slow days some people from my office would go on a ride during lunch (this was extremely rare). I only remember going on haybailler once, this ride was chosen because it was next to the employee cafe. Our supervisor was with us, so its not like we were sneaking around. This is the only time I rode a ride during lunch during my 8 year stretch. Come to think of it, that was the only time that I was ever on the Haybailer.
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ewilson
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Post by ewilson »

It was very comon for us working in the shows to go on rides on slow days between shows. Characters (in costume) would sometimes go on the rides also, even though we wen't supposed to. As characters we have rode on the Carousel, Sky Whirl, Barney Oldfield, trian, bumpercars, Eagles Flight, Tidal Wave, and occasionaly others, never a water ride that I remember. For a celebraiton of the millionth rider on the Tidal Wave, I was allowed to ride, and had to be sure to hold down the head so the head would not fly off when the wind it hit the big ears.
tasod
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Post by tasod »

Sorry that this thread became an employee riding thread... :)
I remember riding rides during commercial filming (off season park closed).

We would ride the same ride over and over (loved it on the demon, hated it on the skywhirl) also we had to "act warm" since they were normally filmed in the winter.

I'll see if I can start a ride thread...
1980 - 1989 Santa Clara - Retail Employee
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calitg8r
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Cafeteria

Post by calitg8r »

Boy -- You guys have great memories...i had forgotten all about those lunches. I remember on a few occasions when we (security) would have to drop everything to respond to some emergency in the park and come back to find our lunches were cleaned off the tables. Ugh! :cry:
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calitg8r
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Cafeteria

Post by calitg8r »

Boy -- You guys have great memories...i had forgotten all about those lunches. I remember on a few occasions when we (security) would have to drop everything to respond to some emergency in the park and come back to find our lunches were cleaned off the tables. Ugh! :cry:
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RLAiello
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Post by RLAiello »

Those cookies were awesome. I used to nuke them too... they were gooey and delicious. When they stopped serving them one year I think people were going to revolt. :-(

They re-did the lines in the cafeteria in recent years as I remember, but I can't remember exactly what they did differently. But one side was always burgers and chicken and stuff and the other was the "Special" meal of the day.

Good times... good times.
Rick Aiello
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retlawfan
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Re: Cafeteria

Post by retlawfan »

calitg8r wrote:Boy -- You guys have great memories...i had forgotten all about those lunches. I remember on a few occasions when we (security) would have to drop everything to respond to some emergency in the park and come back to find our lunches were cleaned off the tables. Ugh! :cry:
calitg8r: Yeah I remember that happening on many occasions. And, for some reason it was always just after we sat down. The hard part was (sometimes) getting back into the rotation for a lunch break. Depending on who was dispatching you could go right back, or sometimes had to wait for the next opening. By the way, when you were there, did security usually sit at the round table at the north end of the room? That was the customary location while I was there. Thinking back, I don't remember very many times eating at other tables. I guess there were a few times when we came in for lunch and (gasp!) some rides or games person was at OUR table.

Those were the days...
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redfishpaw
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Post by redfishpaw »

Now that you mention it, I do recall security people always being at a table at the north end of the cafeteria.
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Signal 6
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Post by Signal 6 »

The Employee Cafe -- or "Bedrock Cafe" as it was later known had pretty good food. Im sure my cholesterol spiked because of all of the double cheeseburgers I ate there.

I remember one year they brought in this automatic pizza machine. It was a pretty weird looking contraption. It was about 8 feet long and had a window on one side where you watched a piece of pizza crust travel down a conveyor where sauce and topping fell from overheard containers. The machine didnt stay around too long though!
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Tech Services 1
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Post by Tech Services 1 »

This is a GREAT topic.
I, too, can still smell the french fries cooking!
I, however, cannot agree with those of you who said the hamburgers were good! Many of the people I knew referred to them as "Burger Death", as in:
"Hey Fred, what did you have for lunch today?"
"I was in a hurry, so I just grabbed a Burger Death. Man, do I feel lousy".
Shortly thereafter a small creature with metal teeth would burst from his chest and scurry across the table.
No, wait . . that last part was from Alien. But the feeling was often eerily similar.
They were nasty, and I doubt I ate more than two a season. It took that long to digest them! :?

Maybe they got better after 1986??


The oily greasy french fries were OK, if you used enough ketchup!

The daily specials were often very edible, but they got redundant towards the end of the year. The soups were always good, especially the clam chowder from Captain Morgan's!

Us full-timers always knew that a new operating season wasn't far away when Bugs' Beanery opened for lunch every day. We looked forward to getting decent meals. In the off-season, we had to pack our lunches. We could supplement our brown-bags with vending machine fare down at Vendo Land, which was a break area in the Facilities building, but that got real old by the time winter was over.

It's also funny to read what others say about having "our tables" in the cafeteria. There were always certain tables occupied by the same departments all the time.
My favorite place to sit was the outside tables on a warm day. I can still hear Haybaler running behind me!

PPG
Technical Services technician
Gurnee park '81 - '86

Eegads, has it been that long?
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klemrock
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Post by klemrock »

The cheeseburgers were soooo tasty. In Gurnee, the employee cafeteria was near the Shows Wardrobe area.
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Tech Services 1
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Post by Tech Services 1 »

What's on the menu?:
http://www.greatamericaparks.com/images ... =60&pos=18

Can't wait for clam chowder on Friday! :D


PPG
Last edited by Tech Services 1 on Sat Sep 15, 2007 9:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Technical Services technician
Gurnee park '81 - '86

Eegads, has it been that long?
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