We were at Hershey Park last week. The "Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge" ride had a staffer outside insisting that all bags had to be left outside. She singled me out, saying it was a "new restriction." So, I stuffed my pockets and left my little camera bag outside with just a few maps and sunblock in it. As I stood on line, I was really ticked off: at least a dozen people had backpacks, changing bags, and shoulder bags with them. They went through the queue and onto the ride with no problem. I'm the only dope who complied with the new rule. I complained to the attendant outside and he claimed that the ride operators were supposed to send people off the queue if they had bags, but that's not what happened.
It's a laser-tag shooting game, not as cool as Buzz Lightyear. There's a spot in front of your feet in the car where you can put a small bag. If you can put the strap across your body and close the bag, it would be fine.
There's one section of the park - over by the mining train rollercoaster - that reeks of vomit so plan to run through there fast.
We ate at Nathans and the Texas BBQ place. Nathans was good, but no Coke, Pepsi only. (Throughout the park) The BBQ place was mediocre.
Some guy rode the bumper cars BACKWARDS the entire time, which I only noticed at the very end. I just broke out laughing when I realized what he had done. He said no one tried to bump into him and he avoided the tieups. Very clever and amusing.
If you want to drive the cars (EZPASS Lanes Available, lol), you have to have two or more people for the classic cars. They very nicely walked me over to the front of the sports car line when they found out I was a single rider.
The waterpark closes before the amusement park. The lockers and changing rooms by the wave pools close earlier than the lockers near the waterpark entrance, so if you're planning to use the lockers until park closing, there could be a problem.
The big waterpark attraction was the climbing structure with two giant dump buckets. My kids were in there for an hour. We bought sundaes at the Turkey Hill stand next to that attraction and shared them because they were so big.
The big "beach" was closed and the smaller one was really for little kids, so we didn't try that. They have this cool boogie-boarding water ride where the water flows uphill super-fast to keep you "surfing." DH said it was fun - I didn't like the thought of wiping out and hitting the wall at the top. He said it didn't hurt.
Everyone loved the Vortex water tube ride but it's speed depends on the double-tube riders' weight. Two small kids move at a good clip, but put a little kid and a big adult on the ride and it's an entirely different experience. Two big adults will fly down this thing.
Enjoy your meetup!
The meal tickets can be purchased at the Hospitality Services located inside the park.
Jennifer
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Thank you to whomever mentioned the Fuddruckers coupon. I signed up for their "Fudd's Club". I got the $7.00 meal coupon. Every bit helps! 
