Since today is Themeparkinsider.com's 15th birthday, I am asking everybody how did they find this site?
Back in 2003, I found them while googling "Disney World Accidents". Back then, the site was one of the few places you could find accident reports.
Well, we use to do to Vegas every year until my daughter discovered Sea World commercials; therefore I wanted to research Orlando Web Info before we went on vacation. And I found this with a simple Theme park Google search.
Now we go to Orlando every year and do not miss Vegas….
Plus living in the north east, it is an easy plane ride.
I have been here since 2006….And I am not leaving….
Now for my joke answer… I met Robert and his wife at a swingers club on line, he told me about this web site….
He said something about Plastic Hippos dressing up like real Hippos and I was hooked….
Is TH impersonating me online again?!?
My story is boring...I googled theme park reviews and tadaa!! Been hooked ever since.
Last year i was searching for disney theme parks and I found the site, than I bought the book and now I'm in the community
I'm with you Ryan my story is also boring
It's been so long since I first came across TPI that I've almost forgotten. I think that I had just gotten back from a trip to IOA with my son, and I was looking up more information about USF and IOA, and I came across TPI. Shortly after that the epic TH Creative and Kevin Baxter arguments began, and I was hooked.
It was unseasonably cold in Central Florida. I had bartered with the cab driver and was successful at knocking two bucks off the fare. The money saved (in exchange for a silver lighter) would buy me at least one stiff scotch at a seedy dive bar called "The Web." Even if I tipped the guy pouring hooch I'd still have enough change to ride Pacific Electric's trolley back to my cold water flat.
My trench coat was wrapped tight to my shoulders when I slipped past the threshold of the joint. The temperature inside was more accommodating -- although the bartender didn't speak "tab." Cash with every pour -- rule number one.
My second toss was sweet but bitter. I massaged the remaining currency in my coat pocket -- hoping that I could cover a third drink.
Out of the shadows a lean stiff with a pointed nose moved in my direction. Somewhere in my head I seemed to hear the sound of a single violin. Later that would become ironic.
"Buy ya another, pal?" he said. This guy's cadence was more than a bit dodgy. He carried himself with the timber of a man educated in the Midwest who had roots in California. A steady hand -- with fingers that could herd the keys of a typewriter or helm a raft on the Mississippi.
"Sure," I said. "Why not?"
"You look like a fella who might be willing to mix things up."
"Oh ya think so, eh?"
"Yeah. I do," he responded. "Like the kind of guy who knows exactly how to reply to anything someone else might write."
I nodded -- without taking my eyes off the flack.
"I might have a little work for you."
"Oh yeah?" I remarked. "Well I'm not interested in laying down roots in the big house --- you get that?"
"No, no," he said -- tossing his hands up in defense. In an attempt to further mollify my concerns he motioned to the bartender who poured me a fourth.
"It's nothing illegal. Just a little bit funny. I got an idea, see? I think I can do something incredible. Be as big as Jim Hill or Harold Vogel. That sort of thing."
I became agitated. "What are you talkin' about? You say: 'Jim Hill.' I reply: Who the hell is Jim Hill?"
The guy smiled. "That's exactly what I need."
I leaned back a bit. Still not so sure what was going on. I downed the fourth shot. He ordered me number five.
"Call me Robert," he said. "I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
"Okay," I muttered. "But before all that, I gotta bump off some rube named Rao."
(For Mr. Hoskins).
Where's the part when I bust through the wall and sing "two bits!"?
Fantastic TH.... I loved it... Great way to start my day with a story.....
Oh By the way, Jim Hill is Jack's brother. Ya know Jack and Jill went up a Hill.....
I remember I was doing some searching around on Google, as I was planning a "dream" theme park based on my favorite movies. I stumbled across something called "Theme Park Apprentice", and the amount of imagination and creativity pulled me in. I joined a few days later and eventually played in several rounds of TPA (and nearly won ;) ), as well as browsed the rest of the forum.
talking about TPA
when will it be?
someone knows
Can't remember exactly, but I know it was during the lead-up to the opening of WWOHP. I've been a big fan ever since!
I think it was somebody's "Web Site of the Month" and looked interesting. I didn't realize that trying it once was like the internet version of heroin- try it once and you're hooked.
Our family was planning a return to Disney World and Universal in Orlando, so Googled for info and found it, joined, and have been enjoying it ever since...
I was on the Revenge of the Mummy Wikipedia page and some link lead me to the site. I lurked around before joining for quite a bit. I joined after I discovered the forums
I honestly do not remember how I found this site. I was probably looking for either ride ratings or ride accidents and stumbled upon it through a Google search.
Just like you Anthony, I googled ride accidents in wdw and there was Theme Park Insider. From that moment in 2002, I have been a regular reader of this magical information center for my favorite place.
I found and read stories of a theme park insider and found the site from there.
I found it after a trip to Universal Studios back in 2008. I came home and was trying to find out more information on the new WWOHP Universal was building and I ran across TPI. I looked at the site from time to time after that for a few years and finally in 2011 I joined and started posting every once and a while. Now I probably check the site every weekday (a few time a day...ok 10 times a day)and every once and while on weekends. I love the site because it is the most accurate by far over other theme park websites I look at.
Thank you to everyone who has found his or her way here over the years, and I hope that you will have found the community valuable enough to recommend it to family and friends who might be theme park fans.
Been reading the boards since 2004, and finally decided to contribute yesterday with a trip review. I have several trip reviews in queue. Just going to give a few days between releasing eacho one.
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I was at Disney World the week of the monorail crash in 2009, so when I heard about it that day, I googled it when I got back to the hotel room and TPI was one of the news sites listed. I pretty much lurked around until Dec. 2010 when I registered after a Universal Orlando trip.