Monkey's Plight

My parents could hear screams from Tower of Terror from their office space. Every year growing up, we bought a different Florida resident annual pass to one of the numerous theme parks twenty minutes from my house. I now supervise an Upper Lot attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Theme parks were my playgrounds growing up. Partially because they kept building the actual playgrounds next to lakes, which increased the alligator risk factor. And as someone whose sense of humor comes from the NBC workplace sitcoms of the late 2000's, such a TV show placed in an amusement park is ripe with comedic conflict.

This pilot is "30 Rock" meets "Adventureland," with just a smidge of Florida Man flare to round it off.

One of Orlando's hottest theme parks is Emerald City, where there's no place like here! Reagan and his friends practically own the yellow brick road, but these Floridiots aren't exactly annual pass-holders. Rather, these co-workers will make you take off the rose-colored lenses about the glamor of running an amusement park, as they navigate a headlining attraction, Monkey's Flight.

Reagan may be letting his UCF Communications degree gather dust, but he's the best damn ride operator for this indoor roller coaster. Because of this, he's a natural leader for his team. His closest work friend is Valeria, a character who's constantly poised to run a vehicle off of I-4. The team also includes Cheryl the eternal optimist, who's clinging to the pixie dust with white knuckles; keeping these large personalities in check is the token straight, white millennial, Jackson.

However, we meet these characters on the day that their new manager is coming in. Silas is a New England type who plans to run this attraction his way. Though he's making positive changes, Reagan doesn't like how the new guy is threatening his power over the other ride ops. The two bicker throughout the pilot, all culminating in Reagan and Silas accidentally pinning another employee between two ride vehicles. If Reagan truly cares about his team, he's going to have to keep his attraction in good standing and put his own ego in check.

For the overall arc of the series, these 20-year-olds will eventually find a purpose and drive beyond the corporate-mandated one that sells turnstile tickets. Reagan and Silas will obviously get together, for I'm a sucker for an enemies to lovers arc. And the series will eventually end with Monkey's Flight being replaced with something newer and better: so it goes in the theme park industry. And yet, all these characters will be in a position where they've outgrown the attraction anyways.

Example episodes include: the chaotic chain reaction that ensues when front-of-line passes sell out for the day, Reagan having to do damage control for the very liberal way he's described his job responsibilities to his parents, and the Monkey's Flight gang feuding with a new attraction's entitled ride ops.

The interesting reality of central Florida is that despite being the vacation destination of the world, most of the people born and raised there stay in Orlando. In case you cannot tell yet, I am a theme park nerd. And we often admire the new technology or ideas that come from innovative attractions. But quite overlooked, in my opinion, are the people running these rides and enhancing the experience day to day. The locals who do so complain about their job like anyone else, but are still passionate enough about their home to invest in it and keep making it better.