After idolizing the amusement park life since I was tall enough to ride roller coasters, and as a current communication major at Cabrini College with precisely no idea about what I want to do with I graduate next year, I decided to take a chance and apply for an open intern position at our very own local little, Clementon Park. It was an experience, to say the least.
As many of you already know, Clementon was sold and is no longer owned by the Baker family, but is instead owned by a tiny little corporation called Adrenalife Family Entertainment. I took the job there at a very interesting time.
Anyways, I have a little collection of pictures I took over the summer because, I dont go anywhere without my camera in my pocket. I'll try my best to walk you all through my typical day in the park!
I'd pull into the parking lot each morning directly in front of the coaster, walk through the service gate and straight into the office to organize the files for the groups coming that day.
Than the table signs for each group went up, and I made sure that the pavilions all looked alright for the day.
Even though we took a lot of heat for not having the coaster opened through the first month of operation, it did make people happy to see the amazingly renovated pavilion area.
After a test ride on the coaster, or two, or three...
I'd come down from the station and get ready to open the back gate to the groups that were coming in for the day.
...Yes, that is a Chaos. I think it's still for sale if anyone is interested!
Maybe the worst part of the group sales job was that it was a rain-or-shine gig. If people were coming into the park in the rain, I wore that, and smiled.
And Oh man, did we have some rain this year.
Shortly after the groups were in the park for the day, aside from accommodating the catered groups, my focus switched to the marketing department of the park, where brilliant slogans, such as that billboard there, are created.
Under marketing, we spent a lot of time getting this new logo and the new brand out
Obviously one of our proudest moments of the summer, the rather delayed opening of Laguna Kahuna!
What I'll remember most about the Laguna is the employee party the night before it's grand opening. The water had no yet heated up and so it was frigid, yet we still jumped in the water and managed a half hour of playtime before I decided it was just too cold.
It was a lot of fun to promote Laguna. The week it opened we had several newscasters come in and report various weather and news reports.
One of the coolest projects I was able to be around for was the commercial shoot. Let me tell you, it is very cool to see something that you were a part of come up on television. It is amazing the amount of work that it takes to shoot a 30-second tv spot. After the cameras are laid out on their respective tracks and whatnot, each ride has to be sychronized to start at the same time, otherwise the shot doesn't show the full potential of the park. Shooting Laguna was the hardest part, as we had to go in and figure out the timing of the bucket drop, have the screaming kids in the right place at the right time and, get it all in one shot, otherwise eight minutes was wasted. I don't have any pictures of production and i definitely wish I took some.
Another perk of the job was that I was in charge of the coaster enthusiasts that came to visit the park. I gave the informational tours of the park and things like that. What coaster groups you ask? Theme Park Review was kind enough to stop by on their way up the coast. Getting to tour a group headed by Robb Alvey was an honor really. It was pretty cool to see him set his equipment up to get footage of Hellcat. Im fairly sure he used the footage on his DVD entitled Coasters in the Raw 2.
This was also the very same night that I got to use my rides training and attend the coaster.
Oh the perks of a job at a small park.
After a September of setting up, the first annual Halloscreams opened in the second week of October. Though my internship was over, I still was able to work in the rides department for the month, and I had a blast.
The Nightmare express was a huge success, and it got nothing but positive feedback.
Freddie made a come back as well.
Oh yeah, I was the operator for the month too
We changed the lights up a bit in order to give the ride a cooler feel.
I borrowed the idea from an old friend and former Medusa operator, but I bought a fog machine or too and tried my best to add a cool ambiance to well, the roller coaster from hell.
When all was said and done, not only did i work out of the office, I lifeguarded several times, served food once or twice, opereated the coaster and a few other rides when needed. To say the least, it was certainly a small park experience. I realize it might not be a place that I want to be employed by after I graduate, but the marketing aspect of a theme park was definitely something that I'd enjoy doing for a long time.
Topic: My summer at Clementon Park (Read 17156 times)