I have my first amusement park shop later this week. What are some good tips for taking notes and keeping track of people and interactions over the entire day there? I will be bringing a video camera with extra tapes and a back up battery. I doubt I will get every interaction on video, such as a concession purchase or a store purchase.

I will be interested to hear how it goes, I've seen these shops before but it just seemed like a lot of work just for a reimbursement that you don't get to fully enjoy. I'm not sure that a video camera is going to help much unless it is a video shop, I guess you could always pretend to interview all the employees for a fake documentary you are working on. Otherwise when I have a bunch of interactions I need to keep track of I just use my cell phone. It has a program I can use to make notes and it just looks like I am texting, or you could call yourself and leave yourself voicemails.

Yeah I know, this will be a test to see if I will do this type of shop again in the future. I'm bringing a partner along with me to help at least and I figured we can pretend we are from out of town and this is our first time there so we are video taping all of it. I figure it will be helpful to use video to jog our memory of interactions when we get home to start entering the report. It is strictly a reimbursement only shop and will be hard to fully enjoy being a job at a place with limited hours also.

It's a lot of work and detail. Hopefully whoever comes with you has a good time. I like to put all of my items onto note cards and be able to tuck the completed ones away. I think video taping may make for a very long report. You plan on reviewing the video in order to get details? I still use note cards and a pen. Works for me!

There are a few of these in my area and I'd love to do them, but they seem very detailed and kind of draining. The reimbursement is really tempting and some of these pay on top a few extra dollars. Please let us know how it goes. So curious!

I figured the video will be good for back up in case I forget a detail after a long day. I'll have some note cards or a small notebook so I can find a discrete place in the park and write down everything. I'll be on a bus for part of the time also, which should be a good time for jotting down some notes, though I'll need to pay attention to what's going on the bus too. I'm nervous about getting it all right. It's a lovely place to spend a day at least.

I have found texting myself is good for reminders. You also get the time stamp with each of them.

I've done lots of these, as that way my daughter can enjoy an outing I can rarely afford. Sometimes we can bring one of her friends along. She helps me by reading nametags and remembering descriptions, sometimes texting them to me.

I use notecards for these usually. The actual report is more time-consuming than difficult, especially when you've spend most of the day traipsing thru an amusement park. I like reimbursement shops as I'm not taxed on the income and the reward is usually greater than a fee would be.

Last time I did an amusement park it was a long time ago. I used a digital voice recorder to record the conversations (legal in our state) and made notes in a corner somewhere after each concession stand interaction. For rides, I got the descriptions of everyone while waiting in line so all I had to do was look for a name and write what was discussed.

Like someone else mentioned, I use my cell phone and text the information now. My cell allows me to write a text and not send it but it'll save. So what I do for my restaurant shops is write in the pertinent information needed. Then I plug in times, names descriptions, and so on as needed.

For descriptions, I have a system. I note the race, age, height, weight, hair color, length, and style, glasses or not, facial hair or not. I always note it in the same order so I'm in the habit and don't forget. For taking notes, I use a type of shorthand: CM,23,511,190,scbr,g,nf. You can probably figure it out but that would mean a Caucasian male, aged 23, 5'11" tall, about 190 lbs, with short, curly brown hair, wearing glasses, and no facial hair. The first is a lot quicker, which is important when time and being inconspicuous are important.

Hope that helps.

Well today was the big day and what a day it was! Here in So Cal it rained and it rained hard. So my day was a wet soggy day at an amusement park with lots of things closed down and employees wearing jackets that covered up name tags. It made for a very difficult time of it. I used a video camera for some of it and my cell to take notes til it died plus my guest used her cell too. I was supposed to get an interaction at a food cart but they were all closed. I had to improvise and need to contact my scheduler about that. I'm not very thrilled with the MSC and the lack of a response when I emailed this morning before I left to go out and get soaked on a cold wet day.

The shop did not allow me to take anyone under the age of 18 which was a bummer for my kids. I have a 16 year old that would have loved going and would not have been a distraction and we could have gone on a warmer dry day if I could have taken a kid with me. I had to plan to go on the only day of the week I had no kids and it turned out to be a rainy day. Ugh!

OMG, you got the one rainy day in Southern Cal so far. Usually they will let you reschedule if there's rain in the forecast, as so many things will be shut down. Try to reschedule next time. And --WHAT?-- no kids under 18? It's an amusement park!!! What a ridiculous requirement. I'd've passed since the reimbursement for the tickets is the main incentive.

Well I got a 10 on the shop very much to my surprise! I never did hear back from my scheduler about my original attempt to reschedule to not go on a rainy day. They specifically state no rescheduling allowed, so I'm glad I didn't flake even on a wet cold rainy day. The no one under 18 has me baffled as yes it is a family amusement park with lots of things kids enjoy. I would consider doing it again if it's summer time and the weather is likely to be nicer and the hours of the park are longer. As it was, they rain kept me from getting there at a decent time and the park closed a 5, so it was a short wet cold So Cal day at an amusement park. Oh well at least I know I will get my reimbursements. Such a relief.

Great news!

I've done several of these in So Cal but must be a different company since my company actually prefers you bring children (mine are too old so i only do ones where it is not required). They seem flexible about closing of places in my experience. You can never tell what is going on. I would pay attention to arriving early however if you do another as I found some close down by 5 PM and those that do often do not have any "shows" if it is that type of place past noon or 1 PM so you will need to make sure you hit every place you need to early on.
As for the pain in the neck quotient....i have done several different ones. The first one I did on a summer day...never again. It was so crowded I could not see ahead to find some of the small stations I had to visit. I spent the entire time running back and forth over the same territory looking for some of the movable displays, some of which I finally concluded were not out that day. I will leave those with moveable displays to someone else. The ones where everything is stationary are much easier. I would definitely recommend these tho but do not go alone with young kids as you will never get the job done. Better to bring another adult along or a child who can fend for themselves part of the time while you are attending to details. As far as notes are concerned. There is usually a bench somewhere close by and totally out of view of where you have just been where you can sit down and jot down notes. These places are huge and you get swallowed up by the size of the place. They will never see you making notes. Just dont be obvious...use a hand written cheat sheet with only a few words to jog your memory in case your last target walks by on their break.

I've done the zoo several times. I had to shop four different concessionbs. I made notes on the back of receipts and took covert pictures of the service people for my decsriptions. It was really easy.