It’s funny reading this now!   Contrary to what I wrote 9 years ago (2003), I didn’t last long at Cedar Point.  I went down with anticipation and came back home 48 hours, embarrassed and disappointed.  I wanted another chance, and luckily, the hiring manager gave me another shot, so I tried it again a year later.  Instead of 48 hours, it took me a week before coming back home, disappointed. 

The job was fine.  I was in SWEEPS, which is considered custodial.  The people in the department seemed cool.  I love the environment (still do).    What turned me off was the housing.  

The first year I attempted to work for Cedar Point, I stayed at this complex called CEDARS, which was located right at one of the park exits.  It is the very first motel/hotel at Cedar Point.  And from the looks of it, never got remodeled since then. I can still smell the mold after all these years!  And the beds, UGH!  

The second year, I stayed at COMMONS, which was half a mile away from the park. The moldy smell wasn’t TOO bad.  The beds weren’t that bad either (from my recollection).  But it was still rundown (the bathrooms were like gas station bath rooms), and the people in my apartment were quite interesting (Cedar Point doesn’t organize housing by age).   Compare Point’s housing to Disney’s Price Management - I’ll take Price Management ANYDAY!

Looking back - I do wish I gave Cedar Point a chance.  It obviously gave me one (twice, in fact).  But then again, I’d like to think I redeemed myself for going one step further and working for the Mouse a few years afterwards (which ended up being ten times more satisfying for me).

Still, it would have been nice if I would had turned this piece I wrote for the school newspaper into something I actually did for one summer, rather than just good PR on Cedar Point’s behalf (although, had I known about the housing before writing this piece, it would be written a little differently!)

I do like how I wrote this piece.  By the time I wrote it, I had developed a style of my own.  That style has not changed much.

***

With June ready to bust out, seniors will be celebrating graduation while exhaling a big sigh of relief, starting summer classes at college to get a start on their credits, having some well earned R & R, or searching for a summer job to pack in those hours and rack up the cha-ching.  I founding a summer job that’s going to be pretty ‘amusing.'  I got 'The Point.’

As seniors gear up for Senior Skip Day (shhh), many will prepare for that massive road trip to Cedar Point.   Well, I will be working at 'The Point" a few weeks after Senior Skip Day.   As a former employee at both Showcase Sterling and AMC Forum 30, Cedar Point should be a fun way to make money.  I will be working in the Environment Service Department which is very similar to the usher position I had at the two movie theaters.

I will be walking around the main park with a broom and dustpan, sweeping the trash and meeting new people, not to mention occasionally helping other departments.  The job may not seem glamorous, but for a former usher that worked at two small multiplexes, a huge amusement part is just like 'living in paradise.’

People have asked me all sort of questions in regards to The Point’s employment.  'How did I get a job at Cedar Point?'   'Will I be driving down there everyday?'   'Do I get to ride the rides for free?'  'How much will I be making?'  

I applied during the winter months on the Cedar Point website.  Within a few weeks, I had received notice that my application was being looked at.  Before I knew it, I was hired.  It’s exciting in many ways.  I get to work at the biggest and most popular amusement park in the world.  I get to experience first hand what it’s like to be away from home, meet a lot of new people, and enjoy summer time without being bored at home!  And I get hours, something both AMC and Showcase lacked.

A lot of people don’t realize that Cedar Point provides housing for employees.  So, just like summer camp, I will be living on the campus of Cedar Point.  How cool is that?  Housing isn’t much, and is deducted from the paychecks every week.   I wish Universal Studios Florida had that same option of housing, since that’s where I really want to work (yep, I am a nerd!)

Now, since I will be working and living at Cedar Point, many may think my new employer will ban me from riding Snake River Falls when it’s a scorching 90 degrees, or feeling like I want to be free falling off the Magnum XL-200.  Unlike Showcase (with their no concession discount policy) and AMC (with their everything policy), Cedar Point gives more perks to their employees.   All I have to do is show my Cedar Point ID badge and I am in!

The ratio of pay is a little hard to explain yet easy to understand once the fundamentals are taken away.  The Point pays $6.25, plus one-dollar bonus for every hour one works.  Add 50 plus or minus hours weekly (in all reality, I can have as many hours as I want), deduct housing and taxes and I am going to be packing in some cash flow.

I’m not going to be biased, as I still don’t know what to expect until I am working there.  However, Cedar Point does seem like the best place to work during the summer, not because of the free rides, but because the aspect of meeting new people and experiencing life on my own.  I am not only talking about the customers that I will be encountering, but the Point employees themselves.  Cedar Point has people working not just from all parts of the United States, but from all over the globe. 

As the lingo reads, 'get to the point.'  Cedar Point looks like a promising venture in all summer jobs.  Since I go there every year anyway, it seems like a good opportunity.  If I look at the pros and cons of working at The Point, there’s only one real clear positive aspect - getting an awesome experience to add to my life!

***

I’ve been embarrassed by this piece for so many years.  I shouldn’t have written it, making such a big production out of working there, since, I didn’t last long (and boy was I embarrassed coming back home and getting asked by several people, why I am back home!)   Reading it now, it’s a bit ironic!  

I think I was just too young to move out at the time.  Everything happened so quickly, I was overwhelmed.  I noticed as I was working at Disney, a lot of the younger Cast Mates, having that same reaction, being away from home for the first time.   I remember even giving some of them that were home sick, advice, telling them to try to stick it out.  But who am I kidding?!?!   That same talk didn’t reassure me any when I left Cedar Point, TWICE!

The gist, you make the experience for what it is.