I’ve spent the last two summers of my life working in rides in an amusement park, in the kids' area, near my home town. I’ve had some of the best memories in this job, but I’m certain this will be one of the most stressful jobs I’ll ever hold, and I want to be a large animal vet. So for anyone looking at potentially working in an amusement park, let me lay out some of the pros and cons of this job.
1. Pro: Nothing beats the perks.
You get into the park for free, you get free tickets after you work a certain number of hours, you get discounts on food and merchandise, every morning all the rides have to be test ridden so you get paid to ride the ride you work at (I’ve ridden the teacups so many times, it’s lit). I spent almost every day at my job because I would come in on my days off because it was free.
2. Con: There are literally lives in your hands.
Normally one of the best parts about summer is that it’s less stressful than the school year, but when your summer job puts you in charge of people’s lives, it becomes more stressful. If you don’t check every restraint properly or you aren’t watching the ride while it runs, something could go wrong and people could get hurt. No pressure though.
3. Pro: You see so many cute kids.
One of the benefits of working in the kids' area is that you’ll see so many adorable kids, and they love you. Kids will give you high fives when you try to help them out of their seat, they’ll hug you when they leave the ride, and one time a little girl said she loved me. You get all the adorableness of small children but unlike other jobs with kids, you don’t have to be the one that punishes them if they start to act up, the parents are right there to do it.
4. Con: Parents like to yell and scream about anything and everything.
But with the parents right there, you’ve got to deal with all their complaints. If their kid isn’t tall enough to ride the ride, they will scream at you. If their kid comes up after you’ve started checking seatbelts and you’re not supposed to let anyone else on, they will scream at you to let their kid on. Anything and everything will set these parents off, and I just want to go one day without being yelled at.
5. Pro: Moving up into leadership is pretty easy.
When you work in a job that is mainly high schoolers who are working their first job, as long as you’re willing to put in the work and to step up and do what is asked of you, it’s easy to get promoted into leadership. By coming in, doing your job, and offering to be in charge when leads had to leave because they were sick, I got promoted two months into my first season working there.
6. Con: The tendency to be understaffed is awful.
To run an amusement park, you need more than 100 people to have every ride open and that doesn’t count people working in admissions and foods and merchandising. So if people don’t show up for their shift or if there aren’t enough people scheduled, then rides will get open late, or breaks will run late, or people will get off late, which is insanely stressful and makes a day suck.
7. Pro: These friendships can go almost a year without you guys talking and you’ll be just as close.
When I came back for leadership training my second year, the girl that was my co-lead my first year was my supervisor, and seeing her felt like we hadn’t gone over 6 months without seeing each other. Some of my associates from my first year came back my second year and it was so exciting to see them again. Last weekend one of my favorite associates from my first year came back and I don’t know if anything was a fun as seeing her again in the middle of a stressful day. This job might suck sometimes, but I know that the people I meet through it will be some of the best people I’ll know.
