Ep. 65: Frank Gold, Roller Coaster Enthusiast

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[00:00:48] I've seen you a thousand times in the park, and I think I've confused you 999 of them.

[00:00:53] Okay.

[00:00:53] Yep. Yep. Big fan. Legend. Frank.

[00:00:59] Yeah.

[00:00:59] This is exciting. This is exciting. Coaster enthusiast.

[00:01:04] Very good.

[00:01:05] Right? Over 500 coasters?

[00:01:08] 503 now.

[00:01:12] 503. Where did your love of roller coasters come from?

[00:01:16] When I was a little Frankie.

[00:01:18] Mm-hmm. But there's got to be more than that. You didn't just say,

[00:01:22] I'm a little Frank and I'm going to ride coasters. What happened? What started your love of coasters?

[00:01:26] To get 503 in, you might have to start that. You're born and you're riding.

[00:01:30] There was a little park down the road, it's not here anymore, called Queen Kitty Land.

[00:01:35] And they had a little roller coaster there, and that just started it.

[00:01:39] And I just, I loved it.

[00:01:42] When did you start keeping count?

[00:01:43] When I joined ACE, the American Coaster Enthusiast, that's when I started counting.

[00:01:48] So 19, let's see, almost 20 years, 1996?

[00:01:56] Okay.

[00:01:57] Something like that.

[00:01:58] Okay. Okay.

[00:01:59] Frank, you inspired me to count how many coasters I've been on.

[00:02:03] I've been in the attractions industry over 20 years.

[00:02:06] I grew up riding roller coasters.

[00:02:08] I'm just over 70, like 72, I think.

[00:02:12] How do you get 503?

[00:02:17] You know the story on that.

[00:02:18] Are we on right now?

[00:02:19] Yeah.

[00:02:20] Yeah.

[00:02:21] So we're here for you.

[00:02:23] Oh, okay.

[00:02:23] I didn't know you were recording.

[00:02:25] We just go.

[00:02:27] It's way easier.

[00:02:28] No pressure.

[00:02:28] I joined ACE in 1996, right around there.

[00:02:32] I just started counting.

[00:02:33] I hit my 500 this past summer at Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay.

[00:02:39] Iron Gwazi was my 500.

[00:02:43] And we just had, I just went on a, the preservation conference with ACE last month.

[00:02:50] And that's how I got to 503 because we went to three different parks and rode a new one.

[00:02:57] Unfortunately, the one we really wanted to go on, which is called Zambezi Zinger at Kansas City, was down again.

[00:03:06] Down at Worlds of Fun?

[00:03:07] Worlds of Fun, yeah.

[00:03:08] Is that where the meetup was this year?

[00:03:10] Is that where the ACE meetup was?

[00:03:12] Oh, we went to three different parks.

[00:03:14] You did, okay.

[00:03:14] Yeah, we went Adventureland in Des Moines.

[00:03:19] Kansas City, World of Fun.

[00:03:20] And then we also hit Lost Island.

[00:03:24] Oh, how'd you like Lost Island?

[00:03:25] Oh, Lost Island is wonderful.

[00:03:27] It's a theming.

[00:03:28] Yeah.

[00:03:29] Out of this world.

[00:03:30] It looks good.

[00:03:30] They have a fantastic dark ride.

[00:03:34] Yeah?

[00:03:34] Oh, my God.

[00:03:36] Nothing else compares it.

[00:03:37] It's like Disney.

[00:03:38] Road trip?

[00:03:39] I mean, it's not far.

[00:03:41] Definitely.

[00:03:42] Definitely.

[00:03:43] Yeah, we'll have to let you know, Frank.

[00:03:45] It beats up Ghost Blasters hands down.

[00:03:46] What?

[00:03:47] There's no way there is.

[00:03:49] It can't be Ghost Blasters.

[00:03:49] Let's not disparage poor Ghost Blasters.

[00:03:52] What's the ride you said was down again?

[00:03:55] You sounded like Zambesi Zinger.

[00:03:57] So is that back on the list?

[00:03:58] Do you have that one on the calendar to go?

[00:04:00] I don't have that counted yet.

[00:04:02] We got to talk to like maintenance.

[00:04:03] Are you going to hit it?

[00:04:04] Are you going?

[00:04:05] I want to.

[00:04:05] Okay.

[00:04:06] I can't help it was down both times.

[00:04:08] Number one, it was a prototype.

[00:04:10] And we went last year, and they were testing it.

[00:04:14] It was not ready to open to the public.

[00:04:17] But we did see it run.

[00:04:18] It looks amazing.

[00:04:19] And then we were hoping this year we could have gone on it.

[00:04:24] But they said at the conference that it was down for mechanical issues.

[00:04:29] Oh.

[00:04:30] Well, we got to find a contact down there.

[00:04:32] Right, yeah.

[00:04:33] Get some maturity that Frank's got a trip planned, and we got to make sure this thing's running.

[00:04:38] Well, we know how that goes.

[00:04:39] You can't predict that maintenance sometimes.

[00:04:41] The park I looking forward to going that I want to visit but haven't is Lagoon Amusement Park.

[00:04:49] And where's that one?

[00:04:50] In Farmington, Utah.

[00:04:53] It's about.

[00:04:53] That one wasn't on my list.

[00:04:55] No.

[00:04:56] Maybe we need to make this one on our list.

[00:04:58] Why?

[00:04:58] Oh, my God.

[00:04:59] They got the coasters there.

[00:05:01] Cannibal looks amazing.

[00:05:03] Looks amazing.

[00:05:05] Cannibal.

[00:05:07] Yeah.

[00:05:07] Do they have others, too?

[00:05:08] Oh, yeah.

[00:05:09] Okay.

[00:05:09] They have like 12.

[00:05:11] Really?

[00:05:12] It's outdoors.

[00:05:12] That's more than Valley Fair.

[00:05:14] Sorry.

[00:05:14] Oh, Valley Fair.

[00:05:15] Don't even talk about Valley Fair right now.

[00:05:17] Sorry.

[00:05:17] Sorry, Raul.

[00:05:18] If they don't get something for their 50th in 2026.

[00:05:19] This podcast not brought to you.

[00:05:21] Yes.

[00:05:23] If they don't get something in 2026 for their 50th, I'm going to be disappointed.

[00:05:30] Now, check this out.

[00:05:31] Lost Island.

[00:05:33] Next year will be their fourth summer open.

[00:05:37] They are having a new coaster next year.

[00:05:40] So that gives them three coasters in four years.

[00:05:43] They're getting an RMC single rail coaster new for 2025.

[00:05:50] Podcast brought to you by Lost Island.

[00:05:51] That's right, apparently.

[00:05:52] Singing their praises for sure.

[00:05:54] It's amazing.

[00:05:55] It's a small park, but it's got potential.

[00:05:57] They're doing it right.

[00:05:58] Okay.

[00:05:59] It does need more advertising, though, because unless you hear word of mouth of it, you don't

[00:06:06] even know it exists.

[00:06:08] Honestly, I didn't even know that they had coasters.

[00:06:10] More for their water park is my familiarity with them.

[00:06:14] I try to cross from there.

[00:06:14] Right.

[00:06:14] One of the things I do in retail is every once in a while, zip codes come up.

[00:06:20] And if they say, oh, you're from Iowa, I plug Lost Island.

[00:06:26] And most of them have heard it, have heard about it.

[00:06:29] All right.

[00:06:29] I got to get that contact down there.

[00:06:32] We've got cross promotion going between Nick U and-

[00:06:34] How many times have you been to Lost Island?

[00:06:36] Been there twice.

[00:06:36] Okay.

[00:06:37] Nice.

[00:06:38] And so it ranks up there for you.

[00:06:40] Oh, my God.

[00:06:41] Yeah.

[00:06:41] All right.

[00:06:41] Yeah.

[00:06:42] They got some very, very unique rides of food.

[00:06:45] Oh, my God.

[00:06:47] For a small park, wonderful.

[00:06:50] Which leads to, do you have a ranking?

[00:06:54] Like, do you rank the coasters?

[00:06:55] Do you have a top that is your all-time favorite?

[00:06:58] Right now I do.

[00:06:59] Okay.

[00:06:59] What is that?

[00:07:01] Top.

[00:07:01] I have my favorite steel coaster was Millennium Force at Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, the roller

[00:07:09] coaster capital of America.

[00:07:11] 300 plus feet tall, right?

[00:07:13] Yeah.

[00:07:13] Yeah.

[00:07:13] That's a big one.

[00:07:14] I got blown away by going on Steel Vengeance there.

[00:07:19] Okay.

[00:07:19] Oh, my God.

[00:07:21] Okay.

[00:07:21] How long ago did you ride that last?

[00:07:25] Two or three years ago.

[00:07:26] Okay.

[00:07:27] Okay.

[00:07:28] Yep.

[00:07:28] So that's up at the top for you.

[00:07:30] Yep.

[00:07:31] And then the wooden one, there is nothing like riding the beast at night.

[00:07:37] You have them subcategorized.

[00:07:38] You have to at this point.

[00:07:39] Steel, wood.

[00:07:40] Yeah.

[00:07:40] At 500, you have to have multiple categories.

[00:07:42] No, I just have steel and wood.

[00:07:43] Okay.

[00:07:43] Okay.

[00:07:44] Good to know.

[00:07:44] The beast at Cincinnati, Kings Island.

[00:07:47] Buddy.

[00:07:48] The beast.

[00:07:49] That's my favorite.

[00:07:50] At night.

[00:07:51] At night.

[00:07:51] Oh, I haven't gone at night.

[00:07:52] See, this is a subcategory.

[00:07:54] That was the exact night time.

[00:07:56] My beast story.

[00:07:57] So I grew up in Michigan in the summers and we'd go to Cedar Point and Kings Island, two

[00:08:03] tough parks to beat.

[00:08:04] So I grew up riding coasters at both of those parks.

[00:08:07] And I was probably eight and the beast was new and I was tall enough to go.

[00:08:13] I'm a taller gentleman.

[00:08:14] And I kept shrinking like this under the sign and my dad would straighten me up.

[00:08:19] No, you're right.

[00:08:20] I was terrified, Frank.

[00:08:21] I was terrified to ride the beast, but it stands as my number one.

[00:08:25] I still have a B shirt and I need a new one.

[00:08:28] I haven't ridden that one.

[00:08:30] I haven't been back to Cedar Point since that's been there.

[00:08:32] Well, how about in general?

[00:08:33] What's your favorite?

[00:08:34] Oh, a steel coaster.

[00:08:36] Velocicoaster.

[00:08:37] I had just ridden that last year.

[00:08:39] Velocicoaster.

[00:08:39] That was good too.

[00:08:40] That's probably my top five.

[00:08:41] Oh, it's good.

[00:08:42] Good.

[00:08:42] It's really good.

[00:08:43] It's my top five.

[00:08:44] There's so many gags in that.

[00:08:46] Like it just doesn't slow down.

[00:08:48] It's so much fun.

[00:08:49] I love that one.

[00:08:51] Did you ride Hagrid's motorbike when you were there too?

[00:08:54] So I rode that with him.

[00:08:56] And it felt like I was with the coolest babysitter in the world because he was on the motorcycle

[00:09:00] side and I was in the sidecar.

[00:09:03] Our next trip down to Orlando, Chris, we'll have to switch that up.

[00:09:07] I'll be in the sidecar.

[00:09:08] What am I doing?

[00:09:09] Are you only doing it at one time?

[00:09:11] Together.

[00:09:12] Yeah.

[00:09:12] I've been one other time.

[00:09:13] I'm not sure if you've ridden again.

[00:09:14] But our first ride together, first time riding was with Chris and we laughed the entire ride.

[00:09:20] Again, looking at his face in the sidecar and you've got these motorcycle handles.

[00:09:25] Yeah, it's amazing that ride.

[00:09:26] That is something else.

[00:09:27] We did Velocicoaster back to back.

[00:09:30] We were in a situation where we were on it and they let us go again.

[00:09:33] Yes.

[00:09:34] That was fun.

[00:09:35] Yeah.

[00:09:35] Front car and back car, I believe is what we did.

[00:09:37] That's right.

[00:09:37] So that was an awesome experience.

[00:09:41] So what about favorite park?

[00:09:43] You've got, I mean, other than Nickelodeon Universe.

[00:09:46] Outside of Disney and Universal.

[00:09:50] Didn't even make the top two, Brian.

[00:09:52] Frank, I get it.

[00:09:53] I would say Cedar Point is definitely up there.

[00:09:59] It's tough to beat, especially for a coaster guy.

[00:10:02] That's coaster capital, like you say.

[00:10:03] What do they have now?

[00:10:04] Are they 18, 20?

[00:10:06] I don't think they have 20 yet.

[00:10:07] Not quite yet, but they're close.

[00:10:09] Magic Mountain.

[00:10:10] Oh, yeah.

[00:10:11] Has, I think, one or two more than they do.

[00:10:13] So another one I got to go to Chris, go with Chris, who is Magic Mountain.

[00:10:18] And I guess the downside of working while we're riding coasters is the two we went on were Green Lantern.

[00:10:26] Yep.

[00:10:26] And Superman.

[00:10:28] Mm-hmm.

[00:10:28] We didn't get to ride any of the other phenomenal coasters because we were there for work.

[00:10:33] We were checking out two rides that potentially could have fit in Nick Universe.

[00:10:36] So we literally went in.

[00:10:38] Yep.

[00:10:39] Rode two coasters.

[00:10:41] Yep.

[00:10:41] And boogied out back down to Knott's and some other parks.

[00:10:45] That's right.

[00:10:46] Mm-hmm.

[00:10:46] So a question.

[00:10:47] Have you ever done the VR headsets on a coaster?

[00:10:50] I don't, I have, I am not a fan.

[00:10:54] Thank you.

[00:10:55] That is the correct answer.

[00:10:56] I just don't tell you what the big deal is with that.

[00:10:59] It's terrible.

[00:11:00] It kills the attraction.

[00:11:02] You know, we-

[00:11:02] That was the third coaster we rode there.

[00:11:04] That was the third one we did.

[00:11:05] Yeah.

[00:11:05] Because there was talk of-

[00:11:06] Where'd you do that at?

[00:11:07] That was at Magic Mountain.

[00:11:08] I forgot.

[00:11:09] We did ride three coasters.

[00:11:10] That's right.

[00:11:11] The American Revolution.

[00:11:13] Yes.

[00:11:13] And they had the VR headsets on there.

[00:11:16] And another thing we were considering for our park to do an overlay, some type of Nickelodeon,

[00:11:21] and maybe put it on Orange Streak.

[00:11:23] And we rode it.

[00:11:24] And the only people that were cheering were the ones without headsets on.

[00:11:28] Yeah.

[00:11:28] Two little girls in the back clapping and screaming and having fun.

[00:11:32] Everyone else still sitting with their VR-

[00:11:33] Yeah, the VR headset folks were just sitting there looking confused.

[00:11:36] Again, not brought to you by VR today.

[00:11:38] Not brought to you.

[00:11:38] Sorry, folks.

[00:11:39] Speaking of the revolution-

[00:11:40] I could do better.

[00:11:41] Did you know that was in the movie Roller Coaster?

[00:11:44] I did not.

[00:11:45] The-

[00:11:45] What was it?

[00:11:46] 1977?

[00:11:48] Yeah.

[00:11:48] That's right.

[00:11:49] Yeah.

[00:11:49] I haven't seen the movie Roller Coaster.

[00:11:51] I think it's 77.

[00:11:52] I haven't.

[00:11:52] You haven't?

[00:11:53] I have it on CD.

[00:11:54] I'll have to check that one out, too.

[00:11:55] I made sure I got a copy of that because I really like that coaster.

[00:11:59] I really like that movie.

[00:12:01] That's right.

[00:12:01] That's fun.

[00:12:01] The coaster was great without headsets.

[00:12:03] Absolutely.

[00:12:04] Without VR sets.

[00:12:05] Absolutely.

[00:12:06] So, recently retired.

[00:12:09] You were here 25 years.

[00:12:10] Yes.

[00:12:11] What brought you here?

[00:12:15] Well, interesting story.

[00:12:17] When I heard that they were building a mall here with a theme park inside, I said to myself,

[00:12:24] why are they building a mall that big?

[00:12:26] I'm never going to be working out there.

[00:12:28] Well, I defied the odds.

[00:12:32] It was one of the better choices that I did.

[00:12:36] Yeah.

[00:12:36] I really had some good times here.

[00:12:39] I believe that.

[00:12:41] I've seen it over the years.

[00:12:43] I mean, I like the benefits.

[00:12:44] Phenomenal.

[00:12:45] For full-time.

[00:12:46] For full-time benefits.

[00:12:47] Did you start riding rides, Frank?

[00:12:49] I did.

[00:12:50] And you were at Valley Fair before this?

[00:12:52] I was at Valley Fair for, I started there in 1989 at Valley Fair when Excalibur was a new ride.

[00:13:00] I remember that one as a kid as well, right?

[00:13:02] That was a big deal.

[00:13:03] Yep.

[00:13:03] Huge deal, getting a new coaster.

[00:13:06] Yeah.

[00:13:07] And I liked, for the most part, I liked leadership.

[00:13:11] For the most part.

[00:13:12] Frank, you're retired.

[00:13:14] Do you want to share?

[00:13:15] What?

[00:13:16] No.

[00:13:17] Just kidding.

[00:13:18] Just kidding.

[00:13:19] Yeah, you're done now.

[00:13:20] Tell us everything.

[00:13:21] No, no.

[00:13:23] But what was it then for you?

[00:13:25] Was it really just to be closer to coasters and be a part of that?

[00:13:29] Yes.

[00:13:29] Since you loved it from when you were a kid?

[00:13:31] Yep.

[00:13:31] It just expanded my interest in it.

[00:13:34] Well, Frank, you probably don't remember, A, because I am one of our worst ride operators we have.

[00:13:41] They don't allow me to ride or run rides very often, right?

[00:13:45] But you trained me on Orange Streak.

[00:13:47] Oh, God forbid.

[00:13:48] Do you remember that?

[00:13:48] No, I don't.

[00:13:49] God forbid.

[00:13:50] It was probably 17 years ago.

[00:13:52] See, I wasn't allowed on there very long.

[00:13:54] I had so much training.

[00:13:55] I don't remember everybody.

[00:13:56] Frank has trained very, yeah, yeah.

[00:14:00] Thousands of people over the years, I'm sure.

[00:14:02] But I was one of them on Orange Streak.

[00:14:03] I thought, I think that's one ride I could still go down there and run due to your training.

[00:14:07] It wasn't due to my skills.

[00:14:09] But yes, you trained me on Orange Streak.

[00:14:11] And I still have a good recollection of that ride.

[00:14:14] I remember some people that I trained, but don't remember that one.

[00:14:17] Sorry, Brian.

[00:14:18] I don't blame you.

[00:14:19] I don't blame you.

[00:14:20] I'm easily to forget enough.

[00:14:21] I don't know.

[00:14:22] Were you the only one in that training group?

[00:14:24] No, no, no.

[00:14:26] I was not even in a special group or anything.

[00:14:28] I had started as retail working at the general store and making fudge and selling candles and angels and trinkets.

[00:14:36] And then I got transferred by Mr. Frazier over to the rides manager.

[00:14:41] So I knew nothing about rides and attractions.

[00:14:43] And I figured they said, well, someone's got to train this guy.

[00:14:47] He doesn't know anything.

[00:14:48] And that was you.

[00:14:49] And I got the honor.

[00:14:50] You got the honor or the short straw.

[00:14:52] Or the short straw.

[00:14:54] That's probably more.

[00:14:54] Did I do a good job?

[00:14:55] You did a phenomenal job.

[00:14:57] Thank you.

[00:14:57] Like I say.

[00:14:58] Did you do a good job?

[00:14:59] I passed.

[00:15:00] I passed, I think, due to Frank's training.

[00:15:02] So there's probably three rides in my certification file, and that's one of them.

[00:15:07] So I probably need to be re-certed at this point.

[00:15:09] It's been a while.

[00:15:10] That should be your final act.

[00:15:12] Retrain Brian on Orange Streak just one more time.

[00:15:15] See if you still got it.

[00:15:16] We want you to ease and glide into retirement.

[00:15:18] We don't want this task at the end here.

[00:15:21] So what are you looking forward to in retirement?

[00:15:25] Well, I'm just not going to sit home and do nothing.

[00:15:29] Of course.

[00:15:29] I just had a hard time with that when COVID was around.

[00:15:32] I'm looking at some volunteering work.

[00:15:36] And I've already started the process on ushering.

[00:15:40] I was going to say, you don't mean coming back to Orgway or the Orgview.

[00:15:44] Yeah, that would be great.

[00:15:45] That would be great.

[00:15:46] Not coming back for training.

[00:15:48] Because I was going to say we could still use trainers here, but that's not what you had in mind.

[00:15:53] No, I need to retire, Brian.

[00:15:55] No offense.

[00:15:58] I've been really thinking about this since March.

[00:16:00] Everybody was saying, are you sure you want to go through with this?

[00:16:05] Are you sure you're ready to hang it up?

[00:16:06] And I said, yeah.

[00:16:09] Because last year I had a kidney transplant.

[00:16:13] And I had to go from full-time down to part-time.

[00:16:17] And thank God everything went good with that transplant.

[00:16:20] I would not want to do it again, though.

[00:16:23] Yeah, I can imagine.

[00:16:25] And I waited four years from the time I got diagnosed with the disease until I actually got the kidney in.

[00:16:32] The first time I was in the hospital for 17 days.

[00:16:37] That's awful.

[00:16:38] And then when I went in, I was in the hospital for five days, and then I had three months of recovery.

[00:16:43] Okay.

[00:16:44] It's not good for rollercoaster riding either.

[00:16:46] Kidney transplants.

[00:16:47] But now I can.

[00:16:48] I got the all clear.

[00:16:50] I don't do anything without what my doctor tells you.

[00:16:53] That's good.

[00:16:54] So are there any other parks you're looking forward to getting to right now?

[00:16:58] Overseas.

[00:16:59] Overseas.

[00:17:00] I want to go to Alton Towers and ride Nemesis.

[00:17:03] That's on my bucket list.

[00:17:03] Yeah, that looks amazing.

[00:17:04] That looks amazing.

[00:17:06] Nobody wants to go overseas.

[00:17:07] I'm not going to go by myself on that.

[00:17:09] Sure.

[00:17:10] Europa Park.

[00:17:11] Oh, Europa Park.

[00:17:12] Yeah.

[00:17:14] Yeah.

[00:17:14] Europa Park.

[00:17:16] Oh.

[00:17:17] Chris and I might even have some contacts over there, so you'll have to let us know if you're going.

[00:17:21] We might be able to make some calls.

[00:17:24] So let us know.

[00:17:25] Or if you need two guys to go with you, we'll just have you talk to Rich after this is done here.

[00:17:30] Okay.

[00:17:30] Sounds good.

[00:17:32] What's the furthest you've traveled for a rollercoaster?

[00:17:36] What's the furthest you've traveled to ride a rollercoaster?

[00:17:40] Not overseas.

[00:17:42] Canada.

[00:17:43] Canada's Wonderland.

[00:17:44] Mm-hmm.

[00:17:45] Okay.

[00:17:46] We went to Mexico for a wedding, but we were 275 miles away from Mexico City,

[00:17:54] and I wanted to go to Six Flags Mexico, but it just didn't pan out.

[00:17:58] Yeah.

[00:18:00] And how was Canada Wonderland?

[00:18:03] Beautiful park.

[00:18:04] Yeah.

[00:18:05] Beautiful park.

[00:18:06] That always ranks up there as one of the top parks.

[00:18:08] Yeah.

[00:18:09] And the Cedar Fair Six Flags system, definitely.

[00:18:13] Beautiful park.

[00:18:15] Nice.

[00:18:16] Do you have any favorite memories from your time being here?

[00:18:19] I mean, over 25 years, you've worked with a lot of folks, a lot of guests.

[00:18:24] I'm sure a lot of your friends from-

[00:18:25] Well, I might as well tell you about a celebrity that I had on my ride.

[00:18:28] Might as well.

[00:18:29] It's not training me at Orange Street, so let's move on to celebrity encounters.

[00:18:33] This was very memorable to me.

[00:18:35] Okay.

[00:18:35] And it's going to make you laugh from what I did because the celebrity was Donny Osmond.

[00:18:44] Donny Osmond was here at Mystic Lake performing.

[00:18:48] He came to the park beforehand with one of his sons.

[00:18:53] Okay?

[00:18:54] So he just got through riding Orange Street.

[00:18:57] Peggy, who should be at the-

[00:18:59] Oh, yeah.

[00:19:00] She was the one that called me, and I answered the phone.

[00:19:04] I said, this is Carousel Frank here.

[00:19:06] It says, guess who we just had on my ride?

[00:19:08] I had Donny Osmond on my ride.

[00:19:10] And I said, yeah, I see him in my queue line right now.

[00:19:14] And it was not a very busy day during the week.

[00:19:19] So I start scanning him in.

[00:19:22] Okay, no problem.

[00:19:23] You're going to ride with yours because the son needed a chaperone.

[00:19:27] He said, remember, you stand next to him.

[00:19:31] He's on the figure.

[00:19:32] Safety first, man.

[00:19:33] I don't care if you're Donny Osmond or not.

[00:19:35] You're getting the rules.

[00:19:36] I love it.

[00:19:36] Okay.

[00:19:37] So everything was fine.

[00:19:38] Went around, checked the ride.

[00:19:40] Everything was still good.

[00:19:41] When I started the ride, Donny started misbehaving.

[00:19:47] See?

[00:19:47] And I had to call him out on that.

[00:19:50] Normally you're not supposed-

[00:19:51] Over the microphone.

[00:19:52] You did your spiel.

[00:19:53] Normally you're not supposed to do that, but I had to.

[00:19:58] He took his child off the figure and holding him.

[00:20:01] First time-

[00:20:02] So now he's surfing on the carousel basically, not riding a figure.

[00:20:07] Okay.

[00:20:07] So I-

[00:20:09] First couple of times it goes around, I don't say anything.

[00:20:11] The third time I said, okay.

[00:20:13] I said, without going on the microphone, I said, could you put your child back on the figure?

[00:20:18] Still would not do it.

[00:20:20] Okay.

[00:20:22] Two more times, he's still holding him.

[00:20:24] I go on the microphone and I pan him out.

[00:20:27] I say, could you please put your child back on the figure, Mr. Donny Osmond?

[00:20:35] He heard-

[00:20:35] He heard that?

[00:20:37] He heard that.

[00:20:37] And then you put it back on, but the ride was almost done anyway.

[00:20:41] Oh yeah.

[00:20:41] He didn't want to make the front news, right?

[00:20:43] The front page of the paper.

[00:20:45] Rule breaker, Donny Osmond.

[00:20:46] I open the gate and I go around and sweep the ride.

[00:20:51] Well, I beat him around to the exit gate.

[00:20:57] And I said, what'd you think of the ride?

[00:21:00] You know what he said?

[00:21:02] I really enjoyed your ride, Mr. Frank.

[00:21:07] Perfect.

[00:21:08] He had your name tag, now he dimed you out, huh?

[00:21:10] Yeah.

[00:21:11] That's awesome.

[00:21:13] That's probably the memory we're going to have the most and the Diamond Service Award that

[00:21:19] I got nominated for.

[00:21:20] Oh, I remember that one.

[00:21:21] Yeah.

[00:21:22] Tell us about that.

[00:21:23] Huh?

[00:21:23] Tell us about that.

[00:21:24] Well, I didn't win, but I got nominated for the Diamond Service Award.

[00:21:29] I don't remember how many years ago.

[00:21:30] It was at the Radisson South, which is called something else now.

[00:21:36] And-

[00:21:37] It was probably six, seven years ago, right?

[00:21:41] No, it might be longer than that.

[00:21:43] You had an entourage.

[00:21:44] Got nominated for that.

[00:21:46] Yep.

[00:21:46] And I could invite 10 people with me, which I did.

[00:21:52] We had a table.

[00:21:54] One of the hotshots, I forgot his name.

[00:21:58] Spielman?

[00:21:59] No.

[00:21:59] No, no, no.

[00:22:00] The other guy, he arranged to have a limo pick us up at my friend Dietz's place.

[00:22:06] So we took a limo from her place to the Radisson, and then on the way back, we also got it.

[00:22:12] Yeah.

[00:22:12] I remember that.

[00:22:13] I remember me pulling up in my dirty truck, and here comes Frank in a Hummer limo, if I

[00:22:18] remember.

[00:22:19] Yeah, it was a big one.

[00:22:20] It was a stretch limo, yeah.

[00:22:21] People keep getting out of this thing, right?

[00:22:23] You got 10 people with you, as you should have.

[00:22:25] That was phenomenal.

[00:22:26] Yeah.

[00:22:26] One of my sisters went.

[00:22:28] Dietz went.

[00:22:29] John went.

[00:22:30] That's awesome.

[00:22:30] Yeah.

[00:22:31] It is a really cool thing, yeah, that they do the Diamond Service Awards.

[00:22:34] And the celebrity, they always have a celebrity there.

[00:22:37] We saw Louis Anderson.

[00:22:39] Yes, I remember that.

[00:22:40] He was the guest speaker.

[00:22:43] But it was very, very memorable, very, very nice.

[00:22:46] That's pretty cool.

[00:22:47] To be nominated for that.

[00:22:49] Well, you deserved every bit of it, Frank.

[00:22:51] Absolutely.

[00:22:51] And we only joke and tease with you, at least from my standpoint, because I'm going to miss

[00:22:55] you.

[00:22:56] We're going to miss you here for sure.

[00:22:58] And happy that you're going to move on and travel and do some volunteering and get overseas.

[00:23:04] If you can take Chris and I with you, you should.

[00:23:08] What's that, though?

[00:23:09] You have to pay for yourself.

[00:23:11] I'm not taking care of it.

[00:23:11] Of course.

[00:23:12] Of course.

[00:23:13] There's always that.

[00:23:14] Yeah.

[00:23:15] No, but Brian's right.

[00:23:17] We appreciate you.

[00:23:18] You know, you've always been a shining figure in the park.

[00:23:21] I'll miss seeing you around there.

[00:23:23] And, you know, it's a lot of knowledge to be leaving with you after 25 years and just

[00:23:27] your passion and enthusiasm for the coasters as well.

[00:23:30] I know the park really, really well.

[00:23:31] You sure do.

[00:23:32] So if they don't, like I'm selling tickets and they want to go to the orange streak and

[00:23:36] they don't know how to get to it, I tell them exactly, okay, this is where you got to

[00:23:41] go.

[00:23:41] You probably know how many steps it is from gear store.

[00:23:44] Basically, yeah.

[00:23:47] Take 200 paces and go to your left.

[00:23:49] Yeah.

[00:23:50] And if they're baseball fans, I tell them about Harman Killebush chair, home plate.

[00:23:55] I ask them, you know, about the 50-yard line for the Viking Stadium?

[00:24:01] Chris put that coin there.

[00:24:02] Dan and I put that in there before Super Bowl because there was no football representation

[00:24:07] or baseball.

[00:24:09] That's a fun one.

[00:24:10] Yeah.

[00:24:12] But, yeah, we appreciate your passion and enthusiasm and just wanted to say thank you

[00:24:16] for 25 years of being a great advocate.

[00:24:20] And although Nickelodeon Universe didn't make your top two, hopefully we can make our way

[00:24:26] up your ladder.

[00:24:27] I've got to get a better coaster in here somehow, Frank.

[00:24:30] You know, I get demerits on our part.

[00:24:33] Yeah.

[00:24:33] What happened to the one we're going to have?

[00:24:34] Tough to beat Disney and Universal.

[00:24:35] Tough to beat Disney and Universal.

[00:24:37] Well, keep working hard, Frank.

[00:24:38] Yeah.

[00:24:38] I'll keep working on that coaster too, Chris and I got it.

[00:24:41] How about the water park?

[00:24:42] I'll work on that as well.

[00:24:42] And that's all the time we have.

[00:24:44] Thank you for joining us on this episode of So Much More.

[00:24:47] People are asking about that up at South Mall.

[00:24:51] Wow.

[00:24:52] That's good.

[00:24:53] Keep their excitement going.

[00:24:54] Yeah, a couple people actually bought some stuff.

[00:24:55] I was going to say, is there any merch left up there?

[00:24:57] Oh, there's plenty.

[00:24:58] It's good looking branding.

[00:24:59] But they come around and says, what's Mystic Cove?

[00:25:03] And I tell them.

[00:25:04] You say it's Mystery Cove.

[00:25:05] Usually I tell them it's going to be a water park when it gets done.

[00:25:08] Yeah.

[00:25:09] And they say, why do you have merchandise?

[00:25:11] And I just explained the story that you told me about that.

[00:25:15] What did I tell you?

[00:25:16] Oh, boy.

[00:25:16] It could have been anything.

[00:25:18] In order to secure the copyright to the water park, you had to buy some merchandise.

[00:25:23] That's why we do it.

[00:25:24] That's fair.

[00:25:24] We got to keep that trademark, right?

[00:25:27] That's right.

[00:25:28] Yeah.

[00:25:29] Ooh, big drink.

[00:25:30] Frank, you're the best.

[00:25:30] What do you got in the bottle there?

[00:25:34] I got thirsty all of a sudden.

[00:25:35] I'm like, oh, stop.

[00:25:36] Tell me.

[00:25:37] My mouth is kind of dry with all my gum.

[00:25:39] Oh, boy.

[00:25:40] That's awesome, Frank.

[00:25:42] Love that you share some of that story.

[00:25:44] Who took you to your first park then?

[00:25:46] What?

[00:25:46] The park that was here.

[00:25:47] I'd never heard of that park.

[00:25:48] Did you?

[00:25:49] The theme park you said.

[00:25:50] Oh, Queen and Kitty Land?

[00:25:51] Yeah.

[00:25:51] Who took you there?

[00:25:52] My parents.

[00:25:53] They would just bring you down.

[00:25:54] It's down.

[00:25:55] It's not there anymore.

[00:25:56] Was it similar to like a Como Town or what?

[00:25:59] Yeah.

[00:25:59] Was it really?

[00:26:00] Yeah.

[00:26:00] That's awesome.

[00:26:01] I worked at Como Town too.

[00:26:02] Yeah?

[00:26:03] Oh, yeah.

[00:26:04] Yeah, there's probably more places you've been than haven't at this point if you've done

[00:26:09] 500, 3D coasters.

[00:26:10] Yeah, Queen and Kitty Land was.

[00:26:10] This is a small little park.

[00:26:12] It was on 494 and 100.

[00:26:14] And for him to mention the theme park that you were most looking for wherever, Utah, that

[00:26:20] means you're getting down the list in my mind.

[00:26:22] Yep.

[00:26:23] Yep.

[00:26:24] You got to go to Utah.

[00:26:24] Not a lot left.

[00:26:26] Not a lot left.

[00:26:28] Yeah.

[00:26:28] That's awesome.

[00:26:30] All right.

[00:26:31] Always enjoy visiting, buddy.

[00:26:32] Well, thank you, Frank.

[00:26:34] And enjoy your retirement.

[00:26:35] Thank you.

[00:26:36] And your volunteering.

[00:26:36] And thanks for joining us on this episode of So Much More.

[00:26:40] For myself and Brian Spielman, thanks for joining us.

[00:26:43] Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of So Much More.

[00:26:47] If you want to hear more, be sure to subscribe to our podcast wherever you find your favorites,

[00:26:52] including Spotify, Apple, or Google Podcasts.

[00:26:55] And you can also watch a videocast on YouTube.

[00:26:58] Go to podcast.mallofamerica.com to leave a review, ask a question, or give us an idea

[00:27:04] for the show.

[00:27:05] Until next time, thanks for listening.

[00:27:07] So Much More is presented by the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau, the official

[00:27:12] destination marketing organization for the city of Bloomington, Minnesota.

[00:27:15] Before your next trip to Mall of America, visit bloomingtomn.org for answers to all your travel

[00:27:22] questions, deals, and packages for hotel stays, and so much more.