Sean Strauss surpassed the height requirement for the biggest thrill rides at Oaks Amusement Park many years ago, but the excitement hasn’t worn off for him at all.

He actually made it part of his job.

Strauss, 50, works as a ride foreman, meaning he supervises staff and inspects rides.

But he also loves the thrill of a good ride.

“I think I’ve let my fear go,” said Strauss. “The more experience we have with something that makes us nervous or afraid, with a safe result, we can let go of fear a little bit at a time.

“I think that’s a really wonderful human thing to do.”

On a hot summer morning, Strauss was sporting rosy heart-shaped glasses and a yellow Oaks Park polo. It was preschool day at the park, families and clusters of little ones milled around. Strauss walked to the beat of Disney movie soundtracks as he approached the rides he was inspecting.

The rides are inspected three times before they open for riders each day. Once at 5 a.m. by ride mechanics, once at 10 a.m. by a ride foreman and once right as the park opens, by the ride operator.

‘Like a conventional dryer’

Strauss spent the last five summer seasons as a ride operator and last year he became a ride foreman.

Strauss begins his inspection at the Zero Gravity ride.

“I don’t know if it’s just me,” said Strauss, “But I think everyone has that curiosity of what it’s like to be inside of a large machine. This is like a conventional dryer.”

That’s really the best way to describe it — riders are strapped to the inside wall of the contraption and spun so quickly they become practically plastered to the inside wall. Then, the spinner rises into the air and rotates to display the people inside the spinner to the people standing on the ground.

Strauss said it’s one of his favorite rides — he loves the way it lights up at night. go-to rides.

He walks into the underbelly of this giant red machine and walks a routine path, tracing the ride’s metal exterior to check for any missing parts. Then, he walks up onto the platform of the ride and pulls on every lap-belt to make sure they’re secure.

After he inspects the rides, Strauss preps for the morning staff meeting, calling for participants in a daily stretching routine. He says it really helps to loosen up before ride operators stand at their assigned rides all day. Then, at 11, the team gathers in front of Strauss and Kinely Basham, another ride foreman.

Strauss reminds the crowd of 30-or-so ride operators — mostly teenagers and young adults — to drink lots of water and to remember to apply sunscreen.

The ride operators lined up in front of Strauss to get their assigned radio — the walkie talkie that corresponds with the ride they’ll be operating that day. They walk up, tell him the ride they were assigned to, and Strauss hands them their radio and responds with a nickname.

Strauss has nicknames for most of the crew — one guy, named Cooper, he calls Agent Cooper.

AtmosFear as favorite ride

Agent Cooper is operating The AtmosFear ride today. It’s the same AtmosFear that made headlines last summer when it got stuck and suspended riders upside down 50 feet in the air for 25 minutes.

Emily McKay, the marketing and events director for Oaks Park, said “the occurrence was not the result of equipment failure or operator error, but rather a rare, one-in-a-million act of physics.”

Despite this, it’s still Strauss’ favorite ride.

“There’s a moment, when I’m suspended on the AtmosFear, I’m at absolute peace,” said Strauss. He says this even as riders scream in terror and excitement before him as they swing on the giant pendulum.

Strauss has had a lot of jobs. He’s been a personal assistant, a nighttime cab driver, has worked at a restaurant, and has done video production since he was 16.

Working at Oaks Park, he says, he feels at home.

“I think I found my place,” said Strauss. “Oaks Park gave me what I was looking for in terms of a place to really celebrate who I am, while being in the presence of others who are celebrating their lives and their existence.”

He says that not only the people, but the place itself has given him that space to celebrate who he is.

“There’s color, motion, families, diversity, it is queer-friendly,” said Strauss. “It’s a combination of things that were important to me as a contributor to this city, this life.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/07/at-work-with-oaks-park-ride-inspector/