Astroworld Memories: Preserving Our Shared History

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Working at Astroworld was a job that I had wanted for as long as I can remember. My older sister, Carol had starting working there and would come home with these fabulous stories. I spent a couple of years just dreaming about working on roller coasters and standing up on River Boats to deliver the spiel. That was my dream job!

Finally I was old enough, but transportation was an issue that needed to be worked out. I had a drivers license but no car. Fortunately I found a kindred spirit, Laurence who I went to High School with and his father worked near the park. We rode with him during the week and on weekends one of us were able to borrow one of our parents cars to make the trip.

With logistics taken care of, it was time to apply and start working on coasters! I was so excited and filled out the application and was ready to start work. 

“We are all full in Rides right now. The only position we have is Grounds.”

What?

No Roller Coasters? No driving river boats our standing on the back of the train? No loading people into any kind of seats?

It was a good lesson to learn at an early age that sometimes, things are not what you expected. I was still excited to work at Astroworld and got to business. 

I was sent to wardrobe to get my uniform and locker.

“What size pants do you wear?” I was asked by a stern women (Who I learned to love. Jaunita was a gem!)

Size? Oh my goodness. I wore what my parents bought me. I was not nearly cool enough to know what size pants I wore.

“Medium?” I offered meekly.

“Come here and let me measure you”

Turns out they measure from the outseem and not the inseam. Probably for the best as I would have been very confused.

Uniform, which included rain gear was issued along with a locker. I had to buy the tennis shoes from the company store and was told to turn in my uniform every night and get a new one for the next day.

1st day on the job and was assigned to area 3.  The picture is me on my first day.    The goofy guy who does not know how to wear a hat.

The area I was assigned was bit of the park started in Alpine Valley, through Western Junction and back to the Enchanted Land of Marvel McFey. There were basically three positions. Sweeper, where you carried a little broom and dustpan to pick up trash, Bags, Where you emptied trashcans and restrooms. So you swept, emptied trashcans or cleaned the rest rooms.

Not the glamour I expected but it was the job I needed. 

Was I good?

No.

I was dependable. I showed up on time but I was not ready for the long hot hours of cleaning the park. 

I learned. I learned to take pride in my work. I learned to move with a purpose. I learned that there are no unimportant jobs.

I also learned some crazy facts. One of my favorites involved the Juice Sippers that were sold at the park. These were in the shape of fruit but had some evil sort of liquid inside. The liquid was the color of the fruit of the container. So there was Cherry Red, Purple Grape, Yellow Lemon and you get the drift.

This liquid was very bright in color. When mixed with a child’s digestive tract it became much more vivid as was seen FREQUENTLY as this vile, colored sugar water was just consumed by kids in 100 degree heat and then shaken around on rides with predictable results. What we would call a “Signal – 40” was spewed all over the pavement.

First step is sawdust which picked up most of it, but the color was stained into the concrete. Astroworld took appearance very seriously. The park had staff that wash downed the park every night to make sure everything looked shiny and clean. We were graded on stains (or lack of them). They were not allowed. So these juice sippers course led to a few young employees scrubbing concrete with a brush and soap.

I can’t say I loved my job but I was committed. I met Craig W. and he was the hardest worker I have met in my life. He would just look at me with resignation and he was right to do so. 

I learned. 

I would find myself in situations where I would be sweeping and I would look up and there would be hundreds of empty cups on every flat surface. Like they magically appeared there. That would be right when my boss would show up as well. It was a constant job of keeping up. Once I threw away a cup that a guest had just placed down. He was not happy and proceeded to scream at me. Fortunately, a Food Supervisor happen to be walking by and took pity on me and got the man a new drink.

I was facing situations that I was not prepared for and had to learn how to react and provide good customer service.

I learned a lot.

I learned that the girls I liked all worked in “Kiddy land”. I spent (wasted) a lot of time trying to impress the girls. I was about as successful as you would expect.

It was EVERYONES responsibility to keep the park clean and if you worked at the park and walked buy a piece of trash without picking it up, you could be fired. Rumors of the park president placing trash on the ground and hiding in wait to see who would pick it up or not were whispered.  
 

So you picked up trash. I became so engrained in me that I STILL do it at parks.

The summer went by so fast. I can’t say I was the best employee.

I did learn. 

I came back in the following years and finally did the things I dreamed of.   I drove roller coasters and river boats.  I got to do fireworks shows and learned about working in theaters.  I learned at one point I had a key chain that could open every door in the park.

I will save that for another time.

That first year taught me more than I could ever imagine.