by Victoria Hernandez
Introduction
This summer I had the unique opportunity to intern as a Ride Operations Assistant Supervisor at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, under the United Parks & Resorts company umbrella. The role is one that places great emphasis on front-line leadership, customer service, agility, and most importantly- safety. My primary location was The Loch Ness Monster, which is an attraction that holds a lot of significance for its history and special place in the heart of coaster enthusiasts. It is the oldest coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and is also the only operating coaster in the world with interlocking loops. This ride was also the park’s primary remodel project for 2024, which included track replacements for a smoother ride and the addition of a storyline and intricate theming elements. The opportunity to work this attraction with such a rich history and cultivate a positive culture with my ride operations team was very rewarding.
Figure 1. The Loch Ness Monster’s interlocking loops feature. (Photo from buschgardens.com/williamsburg)
Key Experiences
In addition to the front-line supervisor position doing ride operations at The Loch Ness Monster, the intern program hosted seminars, events, and activities to cultivate opportunities to develop our professional skills. This includes a group project where at the end of the summer we proposed an original concept to improve the park in any aspect of our choice. This could be anything from improved signage, a method to collect guest feedback, strategies for social media engagement, efficient queueing, and more. Our group consisted of predominantly mechanical engineers, and we chose to go above and beyond with a proposal to develop storyline and theming for the Pantheon roller coaster. The development of this project would prove to be a large feat, and truly challenge our limits as budding creative engineers in the amusement industry.
Skills and Knowledge
Firstly regarding the front-line duties of my ride operations role, I learned a lot about the intricate protocols and procedures that are essential to operating coasters safely. Even as a lifelong enthusiast of theme parks and having future career goals in the industry, the demands of a ride operator were still so much more than I would have expected until I personally experienced it. Multitasking was essential, for example, pressing all the buttons and switches at the control panel, but also spieling to guests and answering phone calls at the same time throughout that. I also learned a lot about the importance of guest service in the way that it pertains to a theme park. Guests that we interact with are spending exorbitant amounts of money to attend, and may have experienced a day full of inconveniences and frustrations before you. Maintaining a positive attitude and a sense of professionalism is vital for interacting with guests, especially in situations that are sensitive to safety. A significant amount of the skills and knowledge I gained throughout my internship experience is learning how to take charge and react quickly to unusual situations and emergencies. Whether that be a ride malfunction, ride evacuation, medical emergency, etc, I am responsible for making sure all protocol is followed, guests and ambassadors are safe, and courteous guest service is provided. This has exposed me a lot to being able to work quickly and under pressure to get situations resolved efficiently. Apart from my duties as a ride operations supervisor, the completion of the Pantheon remodel project taught me a lot of soft and technical skills applicable to any future project. It taught me a lot about taking initiative and building connections, since we networked and consulted many outside departments for advice or input on our project. In terms of hard skills, I was able to get rigorous experience with digital art on Procreate, specifically in the context of attraction concept art and landscapes. Combining artistry with engineering to create attraction concept art is highly aligned with my future endeavors, so it was gratifying to be able to practice that and motivated me to carry it on further.
Impact of OKRs
The significance of the OKRs throughout my internship was very helpful for maintaining specific goals and expectations, and giving myself clear and intentional benchmarks to achieve. The breakdown of an overall goal into some sub-tasks that would work me towards it was a helpful strategy. For example, with the Pantheon project, coming up with a “high quality design and presentation” is a vague goal, but breaking it down into the key results about who I would seek advice from, the ways I would render our concepts, and the engineering influence into our design was very useful to stay level headed.
Lessons Learned
Most of the lessons learned throughout my internship experience pertain to the soft skills; the communication skills I developed with guests, my team, my supervisors, and my project teammates all had valuable insight. I learned a lot about balancing positivity and enthusiasm with professionalism and seriousness where necessary. I experienced many occasions of having to communicate during difficult situations such as frustrated guests, anxiety-inducing ride evacuations, teammate conflicts, and more. The wide variety of lessons I learned related to communication skills can be taken with me to any future endeavor I pursue.
Future Applications
Long term, I intend to use my mechanical engineering studies and amusement industry experience to pursue a career designing/fabricating rides. My internship was my first real job in this industry, where I truly got to learn firsthand how roller coasters operate, and the inner workings of a theme park career in general. Despite all my prior experience participating in projects and competitions in the Themed Entertainment Association (“theme park club”), this internship exposed me to a much deeper level of understanding of relevant knowledge for my future career. The industry knowledge I have gained will be extremely valuable as I pursue future opportunities in the amusement industry as an engineer.
