Homer

Wait, wasn't Hulk originally going to be a Silver Surfer themed coaster, but the paint would have been too shiny? Also gray looks dull and uncharacteristic for a colorful section like Super Hero Island. I call this rumor bull.

A sign that the end of the year is coming has always been one tradition at my school for the past 35 years. None other than to cart a bus full of rowdy high school seniors to Magic Kingdom for Grad Nite. Most of the night, I chilled with my friends and most of the pics I got were of my friends. But, I snapped some stupid, dorky shots too. So, on to the boring text part! First ride of the night was BTMR. I have not ridden this Arrow masterpiece since I was 8 and so this ride felt like a new credit to me. Also, two of my friends were complete wusses and I couldn't convince them to ride, but at least one of them rode with me, and at least she liked it. Lets just say this ride feels like its never going to end at some points, really well themed, and some pops of airtime to go with it. BTMR gets my "favorite Mine Train coaster" award until I finally get around to riding Everest... Score: 8/10 So, since half of my group went down to Main Street to shop while my friend and I were at BTMR. We had a hard time trying to find them and ended up in Tomorrowland. First things I see were a very ugly MILF and Stitch. My friend wanted to see Stitch, so we went over there, since we had nothing better to do. To sum up Stitch's Great Escape... it sucked. I see how Disney was trying to go with the overall family audience, but this ride seemed too cheesy to be at Disney. The only props this ride gets is how great looking the Stitch animatronic is. Other than that, PTS! Score: 2/10 After that, we headed over to Buzz Lightyears to only a walk-on wait. I still kind of prefer MIB, maybe because the guns at MIB are not as bulky. However, Buzz remains one of my favorite rides at Magic Kingdom because of its fun factor. Score: 8/10 Following Buzz, we finally found the other half of my group and we decided to hit up rides in Fantazy *ahem* Fantasy Land. So, lets briefly review rides in Fantasy Land. its a small world- "OH GOD MAKE IT STOP!" 1/10. Peter Pan's Flight- All this and a trip to Neverland Ranch... 3/10 Snow White- Witches and Bitches... 3/10 Carousel- Its like every other darn carousel. 6/10 Mad Tea Party- One word: awesome. Not Red Dawn Awesome, but close enough. 8/10 After that, we stepped in to Tomorrowland for a ride on Indy Speedway. A special note here, the ops were especially nice tonight on this ride, it seemed random that at the end the CM gave us all stickers. Okay, I guess, but free stuff is awesome. Score: 7/10 Then, we ate at Cosmic Ray's and headed over to Adventureland to ride the newly revamped Pirates. Let me just say that Pirates' renovation was well done with adding movie elements and still keeping the old charms that made us all like the ride in the first place. One question... where's Keira Knightley? Score: 7.5/10 (would have been an 8 if I saw some Keira ) After that, my friends wanted to shop around Main Street and I was dragged along. Thats about it for that part... yep... Following that, we re-rode a few of the rides earlier (Buzz still had a 5 minute wait). After that, we waited 45 minutes for The Fray concert, which really was not that amazing and I don't know why my friends even like them. I'm in to Alternative, but The Fray is just mediocre. Also, there was a big crowd in front of the castle that the concert was standing room only with no room to move whatsoever. Annoyed the crap out of me, but I still had a good time with friends. In the middle of The Fray concert, we left for our bus and said later to the Magic Kingdom. It was an awesome Grad Nite, even though we never got to hit Splash, Space, and Haunted Mansion due to wait times. Also, Barnstormer was closed due to ToonTown Fair being closed. But I didn't care, the next time I head back up to Disney (which will be like another 5 years or so ), I can geek out as much as I want. Other things of note: Closed attractions were TTA, Carousel of Progress, Hall of Presidents, ToonTown, and any other dark ride where teens could do it. Space Mountain was still running old school, no "upgrades" to ROCKIT! or any of that shizzle. I still laugh at MILF, even though I never went on it. Stitch should be PTS'd, I'm pretty sure I pissed off some of you Stitch fans here. And to make this TR educational, CHEMISTRY CLASS! Thanks for reading and/or looking at my horrible pictures! Bad shot of a nice banner Disney hung out for us. I feel special. Castle and Statue, me likey... Obligatory mascot shot! Oh, theres the castle... OMG NINJA CASTLE! (also, failed attempt at Castle Crushing) Hay, TPR, this is proof I was with a girl last night. Does that make me cool now? YAAGH! MAKE IT STOP! MILF! MILF! *Beavis and Butthead laugh* BTMR's wait for me, we ended up getting a train to ourselves!

So wait, Year Zero to NIN is the same as American Idiot was to Green Day. God, I hate protest-y albums...

^No prob, DC. Thanks for another nice update of Blue Man Theater. Looks like Universal did a good job of redoing Nick Studios. Although, is the theater bigger in real life? It looks kinda small in the pictures you have taken.

What is Pokemon? Back in 1998, Nintendo distributed kiddie crack to schoolkids aged 3-12 called Pokemon Red and Blue. The games then spawned off into a plethora of merchandising and quickly became one of the biggest franchises Nintendo has. The concept of Pokemon is "Gotta Catch Em All!" as in collecting all 150 monsters (now like what, 500?) by trading with your friends. The games manage to become Nintendo's biggest seller on their handheld systems. And there is a reason why, this RPG series is pretty deep in things you can do in a game, kind of like Animal Crossing, but with action instead of a damn animal going "Collect the lilly pads!" And this Sunday (in America), Diamond and Pearl will be released and probably end up becoming the best in the series. Why do you ask? One thing this franchise was fit for since day one... ONLINE BATTLING AND TRADING! No more "lets meet up at this place to trade our pokeymans with our cable!" So in this thread, discuss Diamond and Pearl, post your reviews and post your friend codes. And remember, ALL friend codes will work, no matter what verison you have. Guideline for Friend Codes TPR Username: Version Owned: Friend Code: Friend Codes for Pokemon Diamond Homer (3093 3549 7667) Friend Codes for Pokemon Pearl And if your one of those "Pokeman games r 4 kiddehz..." people, give D&P a chance, the main games in the series are really well-done RPGs (Role-Playing Games) kinda like Animal Crossing, but with ACTION!

Butt... Great TR of Sea World, Will! I *REALLY* have been meaning to go back to that place since I have not been there in nearly 10 years!

^True, just wearing pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. vHad a sandwich for lunch today.

Voted, some of these entries surpassed my controversial 9/11 entry. Great job everybody!

For every post saying "SoCal or Florida?" I have this saying: If you want quality, go to Florida. If you want quantity (credit whore), go to SoCal.

I don't usually play favorites with rides at BGT, but usually Kumba is my favorite and Kumba is smooth as a baby's bottom. As for the other rides, Montu is clearly one of the world's best inverted coasters, Gwazi is a rough wooden coaster, Cheetah Chase is your so-so Wild Mouse, Scorpion is an awesome Schwarzkopf, and SheiKra is a fun little ride with nice air.

^Wow, looks awesome, part-RnRc and part-ROTM! Thanks for the find, Jarvis!

Great update of SFNE. This park is always one of the nicest looking in the SF chain. Crime Wave looks *exactly* like the one at SFOG, then again, its Six Flags. But, I give them props on tying in DC Comics to their rides. Wiggles World looks nice too!

Quoted for the truth. Although that TTD Blubber pic comes close...

There are two types of workers in the world. Those who work for the money and don't care or those who work with a passion and willing to slave for the satisfaction of hard work. Right now, I'm at a point in life where I have too many pathways to choose from. I see a lot of my friends already have chosen a path and going off to a four-year university next year. Others, like me on the other hand, are undecided and are just going to a community college hoping to find something. I have had a few thoughts floating around my head about what I want to do. One of those thoughts was the obligatory young enthusiast thought, "I wanna work in a theme park! I bet its going to be fun!" One of my dreams is to become a manager at a theme park. I know for sure that the road to becoming a manager is long and hard, but is there a good way to get a foot in the door and get a job in the theme park industry? I don't mean, "just fill out an application and become a ride operator" type job, although that is a start, but any way to just kind of "get a foot in the door?" Thanks in advance to those who answer, -Homer

My opinion on the Employee cellphone/drink thing is this. I hate employees who text/talk on their cellphones while at work. Although I don't mind if they check their phone for the time like I see many people do. However, cellphones should remain out of sight. However, as for food and drink. No food while at the panel. However, they should be allowed to carry a bottle of water. Again folks, the ops sit there at the panel for hours on end and add the hot summer days as another variable and thats why I think employees should be allowed to drink water (and only water) in the station.

Starting this topic is a nerdy coaster joke in itself.

Alright, new photo happy fun time. This one I title... "What the Fork?" SRSLY? lulz.

Yeah well, I kind of want it cheaper. I was hoping to find it in cheapo bargain bins by now since its 1 1/2 years old.

Dear lord, please let it be wand removal. Its in the Future World section, yet in the future, do I expect big wands to pop up saying "2000" or "Epcot"? No, I expect a bunch of cheesy technology.

There will not be a definite cost until it is closer to the trips (due to fuel prices). Whatever I can say, I assume that the East Coast trip might cost the same as the Midwest trip (~ $2000 or so), the Europe trip might be a tiny bit more expensive (~ $2500+). Again, don't forget to also consider air travel, stupid souviners, and your own food and drink when you're not binging on gravy buffets at parks. So, for those factors, add about another $600 or so. ($300 for air tickets, the rest for "cost of living")

^Elitch's is small in general because its crammed right in the middle of downtown Denver. Theres a lot to do at the park, but it seems crammed overall.

http://www.godarienlake.com/ Looks like something is finally up after the sale was completed yesterday. And a cheesy new park logo at that too! It looks like its only a temporary thing though, but at least its something. Brand new cheesy looking Darien Lake logo. Woo, Buffalo...

You know, this huge blip of news went unnoticed yesterday, but the sale of those SF parks has been completed to PARC and now PARC is in control and adding rides! So whats new for Elitch Gardens? And, a new Elitch Gardens website has opened! http://www.elitchgardens.com/ (still a work in progress) The announcement for the new water slide is in the cheesy site intro video, that is all I can find. Also, interesting news, it looks like some SF rides are still going to be named the same such as Mind Eraser and Shipwreck Falls. However, the Looney Tunes licensing has been ditched for the kids area to go back to its original name, StarToons Studios, and I assume Batwing will now be known as Aviator (according to Screamscape). Well, thats all for now! The Elitch Gardens map, note the toilet bowl slide on the upper right hand corner of the park. Brand Spankin' new Elitch Gardens logo. Minus the Seis Flags!

Great TR Laqueefa, the line for the e-ticket processing looks crazy though.

Great TR Derek and Nicole! I especially liked Nicole's KK Finger picture!