LoneRider92

^^ Hey now, Wisconsin is pretty sweet. We're all friendly up here and you guys are more than welcome to visit any time. In addition, we have cheese, we have snow, we have cows, we have snow, we have beer, we have snow... What more incentive could you possibly want? And back to Hades, the roll is looking very cool and has me hoping that the weather stays nice enough so they can finish the ride in the near future. It should definitely be a unique experience and I am excited. And does anyone want to make the trip up to try it out when it opens? Anyone??? Come on, being the LoneRider all the time gets kinda tiresome! A riding partner would be nice.

Sorry to everyone who had to endure sailing on this Klassy vessel, but some of my favorite moments on TPR is when people are suffering. Some of the absolute funniest moments here IMO have come from other people's attempts to survive horrid coasters, disturbing food, and general shenanigans. I love all of you guys and I wouldn't wish ill on any of you, but things like this are one of the reasons I absolutely love this site. Good thing I'm done with class today. Time to re-read this epic report! (Chock me up on the list of 'Never setting foot on a Carnival Cruise o' Doom')

Hello there TPR. Sorry, I know these things must get annoying, but I just want to maximize my visit in about a month (May 27-31), so here it goes: *First time visitor, going with maybe just my mother. We both enjoy coasters but she has two artificial knees, so I was wondering if that would be a problem navigating the park. Any notes on where to ride in the train or where to avoid? *What are things we must do, things we can skip, and any other tips. *Are there any ways to get reduced price tickets? I saw something’s a while ago on this thread about getting tickets nearby for a cheaper price (because boy is Hershey sure pricey...) and I know my family would be happy to hear that. From what I've read previously, the plan is to go to the back of the park and work forward. Is this the right idea, or should it be handled another way? Thanks again, LoneRider Hooray, I get to experience Skyrush for the first time and also ride my first Boomerang .

Hello wise and insightful TPR members, LoneRider here. Surprisingly, my family decided to actually invest some money this year in a vacation to Pennsylvania, a place we have wanted to go for a while. Aside from visiting several historical sites and railway museums, we are planning on hitting some theme parks. One that is almost certain is Hersheypark, and while my parents were a little skeptical, I assured them that making the trek to Knoebels would be well worth it. I decided that it was in my best interests, however, to consult the knowledgeable members of this site and see what they had to say; on where to go, where not to go, or anything else important. We've never been out in this area before, so everything will be a first-time experience. (Should make a note; I am obviously the coaster nut, and while my mom and sister like them too, Dad does not, Sis has become a stick in the mud, and Mom is 14.25 in leap years and rocking two artificial knees, so it could not become just a credit hunt) We'd be driving east from Bloomington, IL to as far east as Strasburg, PA going through Columbus, OH and returning from Greenbank, WV on the same path. I saw that since we're driving past Pittsburgh and plan to arrive a day before Hershey and Knoebels open for the summer season (May 22) and Mom wants to visit a cousin there, I could try to get the family to detour into Pittsburgh. That way I could try a Primanti Bros sandwich (yay? nay?) and perhaps hit Kennywood. The trip is planned from about May 19th to around May 28-29th. Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated. And there would be a trip report with culture, coasters, and cuisine, and I know you all want to see that! Thanks again from the LoneRider. Note - yes, I'm calling it the Pennsyvania trip. Mom wrote the name wrong under the trip planning software, so it's been adopted as the new official trip title.

I'm a native Cheesehead. Speaks for itself.

A little under two weeks until Bioshock Infinite comes out. Huzzah! Anyone have any pre-release thoughts about the game?

Awesome! I am very excited to hear and see everything there is about Outlaw Run. Can't wait for that TPR-quality POV!

The Sea Dragon sounds like it will be a perfect fit for the park. With the success Zippin Pippin has had and seeing the boom Fun Spot is experiencing, it doesn't sound *too* impossible that Bay Beach could expand a little more. It would be very cool for this fun little park, but I'm not expecting a B&M Giga or AQUATRAX!!!1!!11! anytime soon. We'll see what the future brings.

It's really interesting to watch this small park that I knew very little about before this year expanding so dramatically. I'll have to keep an eye on this place to see what the next few years bring. I would love to be able to make a trip back down to Florida and Fun Spot is looking more and more like a required stop.

I understand that a majority of people on here really don't care for Mt. Olympus or Hades over the past few years (and I know that the park could be VASTLY improved), but I for one am excited to give Hades a spin this summer. It's still one of my all-time favorite rides and with the tweaking it's receiving now it might be even better. Worst case scenario is that the rest of the ride is still a bit of a spine-buster; hopefully the Timberliners and (maybe) some TLC towards the ending of the ride could boost the ride back up to its full potential, but who knows. And, since I care about the great people on this site, I will gladly volunteer to test the ride for TPR and see if it checks out. Just curious, would anyone representing TPR make the trip up and cover the ride like with NTAG or X-Flight or any other new ride/revamp? I would love to be part of it.

Thanks to the awesome winter storm rolling through the midwest, campus is closed for me tomorrow, meaning that one final is rescheduled until Friday and the other final (which I really wanted/needed to take) is completely cancelled. *sigh* What a cruddy first semester; I have to retake one class, maybe two, and I generally underperformed the whole time.

'Aggressive' usually makes me think of a ride that takes a bit of a toll on your body (Hades in an excellent example, but we'll see if that changes after the modifications...). They might not even have the strongest forces; they are just the kind of rides that are almost more of a challenge to ride. 'Intense' brings to mind rides like I305 and the Edmonton Mindbender, rides that have a strong mix of speed and forces and have very few (or no) breaks in pacing. I'd probably prefer 'intense' rides over 'aggressive' rides because (usually) there is a little less pain involved.

As a Badger fan, this was a pretty trying season, so of course I wasn't expecting much in the Big Ten Championship. Our offensive coordinator didn't seem to have one working neuron in his brain, our offensive line was unbearable to watch, and our quarterback situation was looking pretty dire. What happens? Canada delves deep into the back of the playbook for whatever crazy plays he can find, our offensive line finally played like a Badger line should, and I had the most fun watching a Badger game I've had in a while. And while people say how awful the Badgers were this year and that they're embarrassed to have a 5 loss team in the Rose Bowl, as bad as the Badgers looked (and boy at times did they look putrid), every loss was a very close game to a good team. If Canada keeps rolling out the wide variety of plays he did in the Big Ten Championship and our defense holds strong, the Badgers seem to have a very good shot of bringing home a Rose Bowl Victory and capping off a very strange year. Now if we could find a coach... Oh, and Melvin Gordon. Get to know that name. Most likely you'll be hearing it more and more over the next couple of years.

So the Packers lose another player due to injury. The injuries seriously need to stop, it's getting insane. They seem to happen so quickly they may not be able to field a full team if it keeps happening at this rate. Sure, the last time they had a hysterical amount of injuries it worked out pretty well, but that season didn't exactly go smoothly. One can only hope for a similar result...

I can't believe it took me a while to start watching Rosario Vampire. Yes it can be a little naughty at times (or a lot), but it's pretty dang funny. I'm also watching Green Green, which I'll hopefully finish soon, and I just got done watching School Days. Thank the Lord I finished it so I don't have to watch it ever again. Some of these animes are just *so* wrong. I thought Elfen Lied was pretty tough to watch at times (and it is, oh it is), but I at least really enjoyed it. School Days was just so... so... Eeep.

It's such a horrible thing to happen to the zoo and anyone who had to witness the event. As for the net comment, the zoo should not be held responsible because the net is not designed to catch people, just loose objects. I'm sure the zoo didn't anticipate having to build a net to catch a person falling into an exhibit because they thought (or hoped) that no one would be so stupid as to do something like this. It's very unfortunate that it seems no matter what safety precautions are put in place in any situation, people find a way around them/blatantly ignore them, resulting in complaints that things aren't safe enough. Edit; ^much like DougMJr said.

What are some of the areas in wooden coaster design that have the most potential, whether it's building bigger, crafting more extreme elements, new building processes/construction styles, or something else?

I guess that they did do quite a good job then making the ride seem bigger/more expansive than it actually is. Oh how it pains me to be a poor college student and too strapped for cash to join TPR on their epic journies. *sigh* Oh well. Guess it's never too early to start putting money away for a future TPR trip, huh?

I really admire the job that Disney and Vekoma did on Big Grizzly. The entire ride has the Disney touch and is set up perfectly to provide a unique family-friendly experience. Each time I've seen the ride I find it hard to believe just how big of an area (or what it seems like) it all encompasses.

There, THAT looks more like the Packers I know. They just like to make things interesting on occasion.

The NFL just made enemies with all of Dairyland. This is the highest level of football? Pathetic.

Not trying to get into any fights due to poor judgment at the time, but like Tennessee? And, for anyone who didn't see it... Hmm... Since when did Seattle start wearing white?

^ You may be happy, but the mood around here would best be described as ''irate''. In fact, a HUGE amount of people and athletes, not just in the NFL, are exceptionally unhappy. It wasn't that the officiating was bad; it was putrid. The calls on that last drive went from awful to horrendous to vomit-inducing. You can't look me in the eye and say that the refs got even one thing right on that last play. The NFL's image seems to be tanking fast and after tonight, I hope there are some serious ramifications. Enough of this crap. Just disgraceful. No sleep for me tonight I guess.

I have seen the future and it is AWESOME!

I've gotten 5 pages both times I've played Slender so far. The second time however I had 5 for like 15 minutes while I wandered around the same structures over and over. (Whoever added fog to the game is a seriously evil and twisted person) It's definitely the most uncomfortable I've been playing a video game, but I haven't been horribly scared. Now, my sister on the other hand...