mayor al

The comments above were posted 4 or more years ago !. I am suprised that someone from Security, or with a knowledge of the Park Security Operations hasn't given some input to describe the work of that part of the department . Starting with the Second season... The First year we posted uniformed guards as a detterent in each of the tents and the Teepee... .....but in 1975 a squad of Security people, male and female, were recruited to do Plainclothes 'Store Detective' type of work, watching for shoplifting guests and employees who might be mis-handling cash or transactions. There was a third group of a few special officers who worked with Cash Control to insure the honesty of the transfer and accounting system within the Park. The third group got involved when Counterfeiters used the Park to spread their bad bills. The Secret Service has agents who come out with the State Police to work with the Park staff at tracking this sort of operation, and back in the 70's They actually caught some of these folks in the process of spreading the fake 'wealth' around in the Park. The Shoplifting squad were kept pretty busy, especially on summer weekends when the crowds were large and the stores with A/C were places to seek relief from the heat. The usual process when a kid was caught with something he/she 'lifted' from a store (under $100 value), they we brought to Security, and an incident card was filled out with their I.D. and photo (b/w poloroid). This card of record of the incident was kept by the department., If the kid was not alone we sent his partner out to get an adult-parent or chaparone to come in and sign for him and remove him from the Park. If he was alone, He sat in our holding room until a parent came looking for their lost kid, and took him out. In adult cases they were recorded, then escorted out of the Park. If the goods were valued over $100 (1975 prices) then Jackson P D would be notified...on weekends there might be a Jackson PD unit in Security waiting for that to happen... They would do an arrest report and/or issue a summons to appear in the city court for the shoplifting charge..meaning a second trip to Jackson for the guest from who-knows-where. The action the Jackson PD took depended heavily on the gravity of the charges against the offender. Many of the individuals resisted being detained, especially by an unarmed Security officer. Most of those who did found out that they were going to get into more serious trouble if they failed to cooperate and settled down once in the office...but not all chose that behavior and we had several outbursts by violent guests who had to be physically subdued and then handcuffed until Jackson PD could remove them. One of the better examples of shoplifting that I observed was an elderly lady, overweight, with several grandchildren dragging her around, begging for shirts, in one of the tents, One of the Plainclothes crew was nearby watching these kids passing the shirts they wanted to their grandmother...who put it on..one at a time soon she had 5 tee shirts on and a sweatshirt over all of them ($20@ tee shirts= $100 and $35 for the Sweat Shirt) and out the door she goes with her family following. The Plainclothes officer stopped her and asked for a receipt for her shirts, and she denied taking them, saying they belonged to her kids and she was just carrying the shirts for them. Lucky for us we had security video and two other witnesses to the whole scene, but thats the type of shoplifting that went on daily. When Employees could eat in the regular food service areas in the Park many found ways to get their friends in Food Service to "Give Employees 100% Discounts" when they rang up a meal cost on the register. That would have been O K ,except there were no Employee 100% Discounts for Food... they were stealing for each other and the Plainclothes Officers monitored that as well. All You all aware of how valuable some of the stuff was that was being sold in the TeePee..They had dozens of Rings and Bracelets that were priced over $3500.00 !! Now they were in glass cases, but a smash and grab was a real possibility any time during a busy day or evening...and Many nights when the Teepee shut down some little Merchendise girl would walk a cash bag full of those pieces up to Cash Control by herself. Later on the pick-up jeep from CC would include that bag in it's run, but for a couple of years it was a pretty easy mark. OK with modern technology and improved training the system must work better than it did...but That's the way it was 40 years ago. One of those original Officers is still in the Park . I don't know if he would like to comment here, or prefers to remain in the background, but I may ask him about those early days and see if he can add to my notes. al

Harry, Can you find someone in Food Service who can give us a timeline (History) for when the Commisary was taken off-line, and how they distributed food from the warehouse(s) to the foodstands after it closed---until the whole major food operation shut down and the Park converted to a contracted food vendor service. I am assuming that's what is happening today from the way the foodstands are identified.. some are run by the vendor and some by independent franchisers, including 6 Flags. I have not been there to take inventory, but I would bet that the daily count of "Sysco" System Delivery Trucks to the warehouse on typical operating days would be in the double-digit figures.

Another major contributor to the Park's appearance, who I don't see mentioned thus far on this site is BASIL HANGER. Mr Hanger was one of the original Englishmen who came in to build and operate Great Adventure. His specialty was in Landscape design and maintainance. He survived the purges of Management that came when 6 Flags took over and kept the Parks beautiful appearance up from Opening Day thru the every end of the season each year. His crews would be working night and day in the early Spring making sure that flowers wer open and colorful when the gates first opened, even when we were looking at frosty nights. I never really understood the "politics" of the Maint.area.. it was not as clear-cut as Operations and Foods and Games...there seemed to be a lot of overlap of responibilities and functions...but they got the jobs done, and much of the credit for that in the early years belongs to Basil Hanger and his crew of landscapers.

I wish we could get some feedback from some Food service cart people. I think--THINK-- I saw more of them in First Aid than any other job-title that I recall, due to two types of injuries. The Bee Stings were One, and the first I had every heard of "Corpal Tunnel Syndrome" was the second. The Italian Ice was much denser and harder to scoop than typical Ice Cream, and the typical cart person was a smaller than normal youngster who's wrist muscles weren't fully deveoped. Some of those kids really suffered with Popeye-like bulging wrists from scooping that Ice for hours at their carts. I wouldn't be at all suprised if they had permanent physical issues 40 years later based on the damage done back in those first seasons.

First Aid- Continued- One of the more suprising , or rather least expected incidents that began to happen on an ever-increasing basis was the number of yellow-jacket Bee Stings received by employees (and guests also), but mainly by the Italian Ice Cart Operators who scooped cups of the Ice for guests at certain locations inside the Park. At times the Bee's seemed to overpower the kids and force the carts to shut down and move to avoid serious injury to the people in the area. First Aid and Food Service both issued MSG packs to those employees to apply immediately to a Bee sting for relief--it worked-- but multiple stings could be serious and some folks had strong reactions to the the Bee Stings. We made several ambulance runs during the Summer for Bee Sting reactions...usually for a guest, but sometimes it was for an employee. The Carts would be pressure washed over night to help get rid of the ice-residue, but by noon, the Bee's would be back, at the Gingerbread end of the Park and spreading East as the day wore on.

NO- It was Not employee dining.. Food Services used a centralized food prep area as a distribution facility between the Warehouse and the individual foodstands in the park...The Comissary. It was located out next to the Water Treatment facility behind Gate 4 for those first few years, before the expansion of Strawberry Fair into the "New Rides area" in that far Northwestern corner of the Park. I don't recall if they moved it, or changed the concept of warehouse to foodstand supply--it might have happened after I left in 1978. I do know the smell from the water treatment plant made wanting to eat anything in the comissary area not very pleasant, when we had a call about fence jumpers out there.

One of the related sub-sections of the Security and Safety Department that is seldom heard from until something bad happens is the First Aid Service. It has been called the First Responders, or the EMS, or the EMTs, depending on who is doing the talking, but in the early days of G A it was the First Aid Service and it occupied part of the building where Security was located near the Games area, The Department had an M D on call, and an RN on-site with two or three EMT's doing the legwork of treating the routine cases that most People (guests or staff) presented in the Park. They used electric powered 'golf-carts' inside the park to respond to calls requiring the transporting of a person back to First Aid, There were two ambulances , one of which would be ready for service 24/7/365 to transport to Freehold Hospital or some other facility .Security would provide the driver for the ambulance should it be required for a Hospital run. The majority of the reported cases for treatment on a typical Summer day were heat related. Second would be the result of illness brought with the guest to the Park and magnified thru extensive stress. Third, and the most serious would be the result of accident, whether in the Park, on a Ride, or elsewhere on the Property. The EMT's were usually quite busy on the hot humid weekend days with the more routine issues... but the late night Concert Nights always seemed to triggered accidents in the Parking lot or on the exit road as guest tried to hurry and beat the other guests out of the Park. I don't know about the staffing of the department today... but in those days, the First Aid Folks were busy throughout their work day.

Great Buy on the Book ! I just received mine from Amazon a couple of weeks ago for $16.00+tax...

That first Fall, after Labor Day, we cut back to weekend openings and lost most of the summer crew of kids as employees. Lots of older adults hired in, and a much smaller work force was sceduled to cover the Park for the Saturday and Sundays in the Fall operating days. It "Felt" different to be working at G A that Fall. It was the first "Off-Season" for all of us, but still having guests in each week-end allowed us to test (in Security) some of the training plans that there haf been no time to develop during the chaotic Summer. The Permanet workers formed a much smaller team than the Summer force had been, and even with the smaller crowds on the weekends, they were kept running most of the 'Park-Operating Hours'. One guy covered the whole Western area until noon when a second would be added. Same at the Strawberry End. No Tent Guards and One floater on Dream Street for the Fountain and Dolphin Pool. Remember the Main Gate was by the Tents and One guy would cover all that plus the tram unloading area outside the Entrance Gates. With one more at the Safari entrance, and the three Gated entrances and a Motor driver, three in the office, we had roughly 15-16 people in the whole Park at Mid-day on a Fall day that first yeat....not many guys for the size of the crowds. Those were fun times though. One quick comment about that year. I have worked many jobs, in many parts of the U S A for many "types" of people" and NEVER...NOT EVER have I enjoyed a Company Spnsored and conducted CHRISTMAS PARTY like the ones that the management put on in the BEST of the WEST those first couple of years. If you haver ever heard of Parties that go to the extreme.. these would have matched or surpassed them for sure. Food, Booze, Companionship/fellowship They were amazing. I would not be surprised to find empty wine bottles while hiking around the Safari area even today. We found people sleeping in animal barns, in the warehouse, and in the First Aid treatment rooms after the Party. They were Outstanding, whether the accent was "Kings English. Texas Drawl, or a mixture" the Radio chatter those evenings was hysterical, I wish I had recorded it. al

Just a guess...but I think I read somewhere that it was a mere $100K, mainly to get the pieces of metal off the land that was being drveloped for other purposes.

Topgun, What do you do currently at K I ? Several of my kids (all in their 40's) have season passes for their families and do several visits each season. I am limited to a walker and not getting out a lot these days so I enjoy the photos and videos they share. One thing I found interesting on all the Park's websites are the job descriptions and application process that is now all on-line rather than 'mass-interview ' as it was in the Past. K I has a 4-Tier Job classification for their "Security Associates" that basically covers 1. Gate, Night Building and Parkng lot Patrol, 2 Loss Prevention/Dispatch/EMS. 3 Park Walking units and Crowd Control. 4 Certified Police(armed) Officers(Supervisors). GA has the different functions, but not in a structured personel chart ( or it didn't a few years ago.)

I have the honor to be one of the "Plank-Owners" in THE BEAST, KING'S ISLAND'S outstanding wooden Coaster, now ending it's 34th season of thrilling riders. Frank Thompsom, former Operations Director in the first team at Great Adventure went to Kings Island in a similar job when 6 Flags bought G A. I worked at a college in Indiana not far from K I and stayed in touch with Frank after his move to Ohio. In April of 1979, He invited me to attend the opening ceremony for THE BEAST, I did, and in a raffle of names drawn from a hat that April morning I was one of those visitors selected to ride in the first train dispatched after the gates were opened to the public. They loaded us into the train, shot tons of photos and video, before the Park opened, then when the gates opened, but before the guests could get there, they sent us out of the station and up that long slow climb on the first hill... WOW, WHAT A GREAT RIDE...and it still is !! When you look down the first drop at that little gopher hole in the ground your train is headed fo, it really plays mind games with you !! Yeah I am sure the ride people had tested it..but I have a Plaque identifying me as a PlankHolder on the First Public Run and that is a very special award to me.

I hope you enjoy your visit to King's Island. That's the closest Park to us and the Grandkids use it a lot. Please give us a good trip report for your visit to K I ,,,,and be sure to try some 5 way Cincinnati Chili !!

One Size Fits All. Thats what works. Drop all the favoritsm specials..all they do is create heavy duty hassles. You want to do the "make and appointment" ok that seems to work... but no fees make it part of the day.. and limit the use of that feature.

Look at Kings Dominion and Carowinds,BUT-- I would head for Dollywood because that Park has real Class... like G A did in the early days. Dollywood treats it's guests like Family, and as a result, the guests tend to act like visiting relatives rather than Cowboys coming into town.. If you haven't done a family visit to That Park you should, you'd soon understand why people think N J has a real behavior problem.

Are the SPOTLIGHTS focused on physical locations and items like rides and buildings etc? Or can they include People- (individuals or groups)? or perhaps a concept---like The Changing Map of the Property. I have often wondered what force made the decisions that controlled the placement of "THINGS" within the Park? Why was a ride here and a hot dog cart there The anchors at certain places made sense to me, but the hundreds of other things that seemed to be scattered at will, yet took planning and resources did require decisions to be made. I would like to know more about how that was done. And since we have shared the info here, apparently often those decisons were changed over the years and places were redesigned and relocated, sometimes more than once.

One of my favorites- "9 1/2 Weeks"

Daved Depressing, my friend, but true, I am afraid. What is being sold at this point is the illusion of of "fun" as remembered by those who are doing the selling. The fact is they are not making the investment in the reality of an organized approach to the Theme Park concept. Instead the outcome is a giant "Midway" Canival that can be shuttled between geographic locations to preserve the illusion of "NEW and UNIQUE" with each change of site. They are Large and Expensive, but actually no different than the typical traveling carnival ride show. I don't have a photo of it, but Let me tangent into another area now. Did you ever see the huge Catfish that hung around the lakeside of the Best of the West, begging food from the guests (and employees). Some of the fish measured at least 6 inches between the eyes.. big fish. We would take a bunch of bread or crackers and toss some off the balcony to draw the fish to the surface..they would splash and make all kinds of noise to get attention.. Guest kids would get all excited and we could count on the fish being fed well for an hour or so. There was a rumor or two floating around (no pun intended) that certain Security Guards on the late night shift did indeed catch some of these Catfish using old Hotdogs for bait, and enjoyed more than one "Fish Fry" at the Employee Chow Hall on an overnight shift.(AND that the employees griped that their FF's tasted and smelled like fish for the rest of that day, if the cook didn't change the oil in the fryer quickly).

During the early years of the Park Operation, we really looked forward to the Labor Day Weekend (and after). Operating hours were shortened, then cut to Weekends. The pressure of the long lines of traffic on I-195 and worse on 537 diminished to the point where the only time there was backup of any real length on 537 was the first weekend after Labor Day or on evenings when there were Concerts scheduled, If the weather was decent. after that 195 didn't see the traffic line til the next summer. Mondays and Tuesdays during the summer were lighter traffic days also. We would fill up. but not as quickly in the morning... and the families with little kids who came early would be leaving by 5 PM or so, and with no concerts early in the week the crowd pressure on those nights was pretty mellow. B U T add a concert and the second shift discount ticket users poured in for the evening and things would be Jumping til we flushed the last guest out at closing time.. Other than the Season Ticket Holder, we did not have any of the Line-Jumper Rage-Producing Promotional Passes.. THE GOLDEN-"I'M Better than You Lowlife's PASS" or the "I'LL FLASH My KMA Pass while You stand in line for 2 hours". I am in strong disagreement with the creation of the 'class structure' the Park Offers by encouraging the "legal Line Jumping". I do feel the appointment arrangement where you can sign up when you enter the Park (or on-line for season pass holders) for an approximate time slot on some of the big rides is reasonable. Making that 'reservation, then being there on time doesn't smack of economic exploitation the way the extra-fee passes do.

Harry, Sounds like a couple of Leads put some pressure on their area supervisor- without saying anything on the radio, so the admin would not be aware of the early shutdown. I'll bet the lights at the entry way were still on but the gates were closed and one guy got stuck standing there saying...sorry folks, we're closed... like the guard in "VACATION" I would also guess that the big boys were not present, and the on-site supervisors knew that the big-guns would not show up at 11:45PM to check things out at closing... Bob anf TC Freeman did that frequently, and encouraged the Department Directors to do it also. So did Larry Cochrane. But it appears that this generation of 2nd string leaders are more of the "Slackers" , than the "Pushers", I wonder what the Management would say if a guest filed a request for a refund based on the shorter hours.

I haven't kept up with the changes in leadership AND ownership since the Cochrane team bit the dust. I do see, on almost a daily basis, the results of the "bush-league" Park expansion efforts that failed rather miserably. In Louisville we have an urban Park that had been operating as a third-rate local theme ride center, next to the State Fair Grounds and Freedom Hall (think Basketball), Since about the mid 1980's...6 Flags bought it in 1997, played "musical ride shuffle" in and out with rides and locations until the corporate bankruptcey in 2009. It is now operating as a joint venture by a local investment group with tax-advantages granted by the local govt. AND the State Fair Board that still owns the land the park sits on and conducts the State Fair and many other events on the property during the year. In this configuration it is in its second year of operation... unsure if it will survive as the taxpayers may pull the plug on the support from taxes soon... Kings Island is 120 miles northeast. 6 Flag Mid-America is 250 west in StLouis all others even further away. 6 Flags lost a lot more than money when they got into the small park operation... they lost the image of a "class operation" and became 'super-carnival's', nothing more.

Daved, It is over-simplified to say we took time to "Stop and smell the Roses" back in those days, because, compared to our parents, we really didn't. For us, it was rush from line to line to hit the Big Rides, with only short breaks in between... Today the Short Breaks have been built into the BIG RIDES and there is NO discussion of smelling anything but the food vendors who work the lines. Fall follage travel thru an area here in Indiana that has drawn tourists for years is down big-time again this year, not due to a lack of "COLOR", but due to changing tourist goals for folks who wnt to do "Other" things with their weekends and/or Fall vacation time. Reality, and Nature are losing priority to artifical and cyber in the minds of the leisure-seeking Americans. The question in my mind is whether 6 Flags Marketing forcasters are planning for these coming changes, or waiting to see which way things will go, and reacting to the new directions (WHOOPS,Too Late !!)

We have visited one of our kids in Wisconsin for a couple of Haloweens the past few years. They live in Baraboo, near Wisconsin Dells, and the home of Circus World. Nice town of about 15,000. To shorten the story, the community really organizes it's trick or treat nights . The residential streets near the center of town are closed to vehicles for 3 hours from 5-8pm and families parade the streets with kids running up to the doors in herds to beg for the treats. We helped with the distribution one night while our kids took the grand-daughters out to get their own stuff. The three of us grand parents passed out candy to 700+ little beggers in that three hour period It was a brisk 40 degree evening and the Packers were playing. We moved the big TV into the front window and provided Peppermint Schnapps Shooters to Dads who were pushing strollers or carrying babies while the other kids raked in the candy. Many DADS were very grateful for both the Football highlights AND a quick warm-up shot ! (We drained 3 fifths of Peppermint Schnapps that evening.) Haloween is not dead in some parts of this country.

I finished my review today. Since I have not set foot in the Park in the 21st Century, the second half of this illustrated history is quite enlightening to me. I really would like to be able to trace the expansion of the Park step-by-step over those corporate changes of ownership and the changes of "Themes" that followed when the new Bosses showed up. The first jump from Hartwicke Corp. to 6 Flags was interesting to watch, but I am glad I was a "PEON" at the time, and not in Managment worrying about Job Security. I do recall one of the original Department DIRECTORs going to lunch with some of the newly arrived 6 Flags MgmntTeam, When they returned from lunch his office had been emptied and all his personal items were boxed awaiting his 'loading and leaving' No notice or advance warning. His former staff were so nervous about their own security they waited till after hours to help load his property and join him for a 'going away' party. The takeover by 6 Flags, at the Park Level was a real "Blood-in-the-streets sort of revolution. Not many of the former 6 Flags people who had switched to Hartwicke Corp to build Great Adventure survived the changeover... The Locals (New Jersey folks) and the Englishmen seemed to fare much better. I wasn't able to tell from the "Images..." book, if the same sort of managment behavior happened with the more recent changes?? One final comment. One the Last Page I would have added some sort of a sign reading TO BE CONTINUED or WORK IN PROGRESS or maybe ANOTHER ADVENTURE COMING SOON Implying a second edition could be in the works. Overall an very nice job, Harry. You have provided an interesting look at a place I enjoyed working at very much. Thanks for the Peek into the Past.

We have not had a trick or treator kid come to the house for over four years. The rural kids here have grown to H S age and go to town to chase down their treats. There is a farm about 2 miles from us that runs a Fall Business..a Maze, Pumpkin Patch, Haunted House (Barn) and they do hayrides that come by our place in the evening... but that's our only visual contact with Halloween-- unless we head to Wally World !