ShowScene5

You're welcome! Most of us loved that attraction dearly and felt privileged to bring Jaws to life for millions of guests every year.

My favorite was this large African American woman who was sitting closest to where the shark came up. She FLIPPED OUT. She was easily pushing 300lbs but did this backward craw/flail across the laps of her entire family to get to the other side of the boat while screaming "Oooo Jesus!!! Awww lawdy!!"

I had to turn my mic off I was laughing so hard.

That'd be a terrible time in the show to propose as the boat rocks back and forth violently and the sound of the sharks "roar" and the mortars make it very loud and impossible to hear anything, even the skipper when shouting over the microphone.

That said, Jaws was a favorite place to propose at Universal and it happened on occasion. I never got to have a proposal on my boat, unfortunately. I planned for one, but the couple no-showed.

What we'd do it is work with the guy who wanted to propose. We'd plan it before hand. Usually it was someone who was a huge fan of the ride and/or movie. The spot most people would propose would be right after the explosion and the fire on the water goes out. The skipper would drop the boat of auto-mode and then ad-lib something about how we all might die and should say what we needed to say to our loved ones. Then the would-be groom proposes. Again, I never got to witness one, but i happened and we were glad to help make it happen.

I was gonna propose to my wife on the ride, but I felt like that would have been too predictable, so I did it on one of the resort yachts in the middle of Portofino bay. Magic. :)

It was an amazing Job. The pay was very low, just a bit over minimum wage, but I may have paid THEM for the job if I had to.

It is hard to label one of the stories I have as the "best" or MOST embarrassing. I've had/seen a lot of awesome/embarrassing things.

One story that sticks out to me is this: I was working as the Team Lead one particular day and was not on boat. Basically my job was to make sure everything was running well, plan rotations and breaks, and help out everywhere. I get a call to the unload dock as a boat comes around the corner. Strangely, I didn't hear the usual "Call off the Marine, we're coming hooooome!!!". The boat was full of guests, but the skipper was missing. Just as I was about to hit the E-stop, I see the skipper rise from the floor with a bloody face.

Apparently during the final scene (show scene 5) where the skipper vanquishes the great white with a combination of electrocution and grenades shot from a 50mm grenade launcher, she managed to hit herself in the head with the barrel of the weapon and knock herself silly and bloody her face.

These grenade launchers were, of course, props. They were made of wood and metal. The barrel as heavy and hard as any real weapon. Comparable to a shotgun. The grenade launcher is used throughout the ride as we timed our shots with pre-timed water mortars that shoot water in the air. The trick to making it look really good is in how you mimic the recoil of an actual weapon.

I had done some training with her and a few other recently hired skippers on how a real firearm reacts when fired. Well, apparently she took this training to heart and over-acted the last shot, popped the barrel of the launcher into her head, and knocked herself nearly unconscious. The look of terror on the faces of both the skipper and her audience was priceless.

She was ok, but was off-boat for a day or two to recover. I don't think she required stitches. She kept her bloody uniform as a souvenir, and if she ever does an AMA, I'm sure it'll be her proof.

I don't have the traditional "dun-un dun-un" Jaws sound in my head. It's mostly the unload music that stays with me. Fortunately, It's happier music.

Absolutely brutal. The fireball in show scene 4 was very real and very large. And the heat so intense, that we regularly had people complain about how it burnt their skin. This was usually British tourists who already had significant sun burns, so the heat from the explosion was likely a hellish feeling. I never saw a single real heat-related injury. And having had that thing explode in my face 20k times, I can vouch for its safety.

Summers on the ride could be very hot. But I was young and in shape and drank a bottle of water or sports drink every 3 shows or so to keep hydrated. The spray from the water-effects also kept me pretty cool. The heat from that scene was only a momentary discomfort compared to 95 degrees and 90 percent humidity. But it was very hot none-the-less.

In winter though, it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

thanks for the extra context, now I remember! you were out on your feet for a alot of the ride, right? congrats, you're now reddit famous!