Photo TR: A Jiggidy Mid-America Adventure

[Erik Johnson]

^ I still think the Prowler was a very solid ride (8 out of 10), which for me is a good ride. I gave Evel K. the same rating as well. I was just saying that, for me, it really did not seem quite as fast as intense as other GCI's I have ridden so far. After my first front seat morning ride it almost felt more like a GCI Mini-Family sized coaster, which really is not true since its stats are pretty much on par as other GCI's. I think it may be because this one has a much different layout when compared to GCI's other coasters. Prowler is more of a twisty out and back coaster compared to its normal bowl of wood design. I love terrain coasters, especially ones that goes through a bunch of woods/trees. I know that the coaster is brand new and all (which required the removal of trees for construction), but I have to admit I was disappointed to find that for most of the back half of the coaster took place in a field with a real lack of trees. That would be a real nitpick though. I did really liked the section heading back towards the station, it was almost Boulder Dash like. Also, our backseat afternoon rides were certainly much closer to the feel to other GCI's in terms of speed and intensity.

 

I do not think Worlds of Fun is terrible by any means, other than the real lack of cover for its rides queues, it is just that there really was not anything special about the place that sets it apart from other parks. It really did feel much like Cedar Fair's other corporate parks like Kings Island or Dominion.

[SharkTums]

^^I can't believe how you're calling out Erik. Erik always has the most nice, unbiased, and honest reviews of rides and parks of anyone on this site.

 

I totally believe his views of Prowler are accurate, after all it is a GCI meaning it's not going to be intense by any means at all!

[robbalvey]

^ Agreed. Ditto. Same.

[steel]

^^I can't believe how you're calling out Erik. Erik always has the most nice, unbiased, and honest reviews of rides and parks of anyone on this site.

 

I totally believe his views of Prowler are accurate, after all it is a GCI meaning it's not going to be intense by any means at all!

Wow, I'm not calling anyone out. Excuse me for disagreeing. I don't know where you got that.

 

I'm just saying that this is the only even kind of negative review I've seen of Prowler, and also that it is not accurate according to my experience with the ride, which, TBQH, is a little more extensive than Erik's, as nice and honest and unbiased as I'm sure he is.

 

I'm sorry, you run a great site, and 99% of the time, you're all wonderful, but you really can be a little cliquey sometimes. And if that means I get banned or suspended or something, so be it. I'm not sure I want to be associated with this website if it behaves that way.

 

I don't want to offend anyone or start a huge fight, I'm just saying, there's no reason to get upset.

[SharkTums]

^You should really reread your post, you come off as an obnoxious fanboy saying how disappointed you were with Erik's TR!!!!!

 

If you feel we are being 'cliquey' by defending our friend with a completely valid TR from your rude post, then maybe you're right and you shouldn't post here.

[steel]

^You should really reread your post, you come off as an obnoxious fanboy saying how disappointed you were with Erik's TR!!!!!

 

If you feel we are being 'cliquey' by defending our friend with a completely valid TR from your rude post, then maybe you're right and you shouldn't post here.

Oh yes, because I consider WoF my home park and because I really like it, I'm labeled a fanboy.

It's awesome that you are friends and everything, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but your friend got an outstanding ride on an off day, and, like it or not, the nature of this website is to believe pretty much all of what you and your group of friends say. And that is usually fine.

I don't want a huge meltdown or anything like that, please. If we need to continue this via private message, I'm fine with that.

 

I just wanted to make it clear that this is not what Prowler is at all. Read any of the other reviews of it, on this site, even, or better yet, ride it yourself. I don't want such an outstanding coaster to be labeled how it was (even if it's a pretty positive label) on a high-quality, high-traffic site like TPR. Because that just is not what Prowler is. It doesn't normally feel like a junior woodie, ask anyone who's ridden it. Please don't bite my head off for that.

[ernierocker]

AND to bring this back on topic, I wanted to say this was a great TR, Erik!

 

I really need to get to Silver Dollar City especially with its similarities to Dollywood.

[coasterking2981]

I just wanted to make it clear that this is not what Prowler is at all. Read any of the other reviews of it, on this site, even, or better yet, ride it yourself. I don't want such an outstanding coaster to be labeled how it was (even if it's a pretty positive label) on a high-quality, high-traffic site like TPR. Because that just is not what Prowler is. It doesn't normally feel like a junior woodie, ask anyone who's ridden it. Please don't bite my head off for that.

 

Prowler is just like any other coaster-its all about personnal opinion. It would be like if I said X2 was the greatest steel coaster on the planet. Now that's not entirely true, but its my personnal opinion of the ride.

 

For you, Prowler is an incredible ride, but not everyone is going to think the same, no matter how well it was running when they ride it. Erik just happens to think that there are better GCI coasters out there. Whether he's right or wrong doesnt matter, its his personnal opinion and he's entitled to it as you are to yours.

 

Besides, he never said Prowler was the worst he been ride on or anything like that. He did give it a good, unbiased and high rating.

 

Back on topic, I also wanted to add to your SDC portion Eric how often I find that its the smaller parks that go the extra mile for theming that end up being some of the best parks of any trip.

[steel]

For you, Prowler is an incredible ride, but not everyone is going to think the same, no matter how well it was running when they ride it. Erik just happens to think that there are better GCI coasters out there. Whether he's right or wrong doesn't matter, its his personal opinion and he's entitled to it as you are to yours.

 

Besides, he never said Prowler was the worst he been on or anything like that. He did give it a good, unbiased and high rating.

Okay, every coaster has its off days. All of them. I know that personally. I almost blacked out on Talon. I also had a headache for the next two days because of it. I didn't like it as much as I probably would have because it wasn't running well.

Same thing with Prowler. I'm sorry, but I just cannot believe that it was running normally if it's being called similar to "a GCI Mini-Family sized coaster." You should have heard what people were saying about it at Coaster Con: "This is the best GCI I've ever been on," "Better than Thunderhead," "That was completely amazing." It's like calling Hades a junior woodie. It's so far off from everything else that's been said about it (and it certainly isn't on par with my own experience), that I have to assume that he probably got it on an off day. WHICH IS FINE. I'm NOT saying there's anything wrong with that.

And I realize he didn't hate it or even dislike it. ALL I AM SAYING is that based on his description, I would be amazed if he didn't ride it on an off day. And that is not an unbiased rating, even if Erik was as unbiased as he could be about it.

 

In other words, I absolutely do not think that anyone is required to like or dislike any coaster, BUT, based on this review, I'm relatively sure that the coaster was running slowly the day they rode it, so the rating simply cannot be accurate. That has nothing to do with the competence of the person who rated it or with the quality of the ride to begin with. All it means is that every coaster has bad days (and I'm sure Erik would be the first to tell you that) and that Prowler is a lot more intense than what I saw in this TR.

[coasterking2981]

Well were you right next to him when he was riding it? Frankly, it could be running at top peak, and still Erik could have given it an 8/10 anyway. You cant assume a ride had a bad day based off of a review.

 

Oh and you did kinda call him out by saying that his review was mildly negative. Last I checked any rating, be it a video game, movie, roller coaster or whatever, with an 8/10 rating is nowhere near mildly negative. 8/10 always means its worth checking out yourself and worth the money.

[steel]

I encourage you to ride Prowler at its peak.

It's because Erik is generally an unbiased reviewer that I think he probably got the ride on an off day.

The fact is, this site is based in SoCal, and it has a ton of members from SoCal. There aren't many people here who know Worlds of Fun or Prowler very well. I do. I've been on Prowler probably 75 or 80 times since it opened, and the only times it's been close to what Erik described have been off rides. I have some credibility here. I know Prowler pretty darn well. It simply is not a slow ride. I have not met one person who didn't absolutely love it.

Additionally, I understand that the review wasn't a negative one. What it was was more negative than every other review that currently exists.

 

One last time. This is my personal experience talking. Prowler is bullet fast and totally relentless. You do not have any chance to catch your breath until the break run. Very rarely does a ride come a long that is as FUN to ride as Prowler. Of all the GCIs I've ridden (Prowler, Kentucky Rumbler, Evel Knievel, Lightning Racer, Wildcat, and Renegade), Prowler is easily the best. Not because it's at my home park, not because I'm biased toward it. Because it is the most fun GCI I've ridden. And I've had slow rides on it, and it does feel a lot like what Erik described on those days.

And one more time: The only reason I'm going through all this is that I don't want a false impression of this ride on such a good website. The fact is, most TPR members are more likely to listen and believe reviews from admins and close friends (*not that that is necessarily a bad thing - it makes a lot of sense given how the site needs to be run*), and this review puts the ride in a light that is not accurate according to my own experience and the experiences of countless others both on this website and off.

 

Does anybody understand what I'm saying or do I need to spell it out even more clearly?[/i]

[rollerboy]

Can we got off this Prowler debate? It seems it's going nowhere.

 

Back on topic: I loved the TR Erik! I really need to come to America to ride coasters.

[Swimace]

Let me just chime in on this one.

 

I was with Erik, Cameron, and Paul that day at WoF. We got multiple rides on Prowler and we all agreed that it is a really fun coaster. We all REALLY enjoyed it, but the general feeling was that it was just more family friendly than some of the other GCI's. It was smooth, fast, and really great. You keep throwing around the word "negative", but none of us got off the ride thinking that it was bad at all.

 

For me personally (and I think Robb and Elissa would probably agree), the reason I back up Erik isn't because we're some super-exclusive clique, it's because I've traveled with him and understand his taste in coasters and his personality. The better you know someone, the more you can get out of their opinion. I don't know you, so when you put out these posts it's impossible for me to tell whether you 1) are just a fanboy, 2) haven't ridden as many coasters, or 3) have a legitimate opinion.

 

Personally I'm shocked to see one of Erik's threads become so heated, he's one of the most laid-back people on the site. Sure, maybe we just caught it on a slow day, but I don't think his opinion of a really great ride should cause someone to get so upset.

 

Here is the list of GCI's I've ridden in order from best to worst (IMO of course):

Thunderhead

Rumbler

EK

Prowler

Lightning Racer

Wlidcat

Roar

Gwazi

[robbalvey]

We all REALLY enjoyed it, but the general feeling was that it was just more family friendly than some of the other GCI's. It was smooth, fast, and really great. You keep throwing around the word "negative", but none of us got off the ride thinking that it was bad at all.

I think most of us totally understand where you're coming from. And I read Erik's report thinking "cool, another great GCI out there." I appreciated his honest opinion, as I do yours, Andrew.

 

But it's because he didn't like it *as much* as a WoF fanboy that set him off.

 

The fact is, most TPR members are more likely to listen and believe reviews from admins and close friends (*not that that is necessarily a bad thing - it makes a lot of sense given how the site needs to be run*), and this review puts the ride in a light that is not accurate according to my own experience and the experiences of countless others both on this website and off. Does anybody understand what I'm saying or do I need to spell it out even more clearly?

I actually think you need to stop being so rude and obnoxious to someone who simply has a different opinion than you. TPR doesn't need you to stick up for your Prowler, the ride is allowed to be judged by different people and have differing opinions of the ride.

 

--Robb

[steel]

I should clarify, sorry. By "negative," I don't mean that you didn't like the ride, I mean that it's *more* negative than essentially every other review there is.

 

In response to your second paragraph - Worlds of Fun is my home park (as far as I'm concerned - I have disowned Adventureland for reasons I'm not getting into here), but it is by no means my favorite. It doesn't even make the top five. There's a lot there I really like, but I would change a lot. Secondly, as of this writing, I have ridden 193 coasters, which is a terrible place to be at the end of a season. And finally, I'm sorry, but everyone's opinion is legitimate.

 

And let me also clarify that my uneasiness is not toward Erik, but toward the response this review has received. I'm sure he is a wonderful guy and I would probably really enjoy coastering with your group. What bothers me is that because you guys are more "important" members of the site (to use that term very loosely), your opinions about rides are considered somehow more credible than others. That's not your fault, it's just something that's sort of happened, and I know you know that isn't true. All I want to do is make it clear that (from what both of you have said), it *really* sounds like you got it on a slow day, and I don't want the generally accepted opinion of such a fantastic ride to be dampened on this site because you guys got it on a slow day. Please don't read that as my accusing you of anything. You guys haven't done anything wrong, and there is obviously a chance that you just didn't like it as much. However (for the millionth time, it feels like), considering my experience with the ride and the experiences of everyone else I've ever talked to about it, that's not the Prowler I know.

 

Thanks for not screaming at me.

EDIT: Robb got in my way, lol, sorry, this was a response to the post above his.

[robbalvey]

Can we got off this Prowler debate? It seems it's going nowhere.

[dj snow]

Prowler this, Prowler that... I think Prowler's a great ride too, but I'm all Prowled out now. So, please, let's discuss the City Museum some more instead!

 

Erik, I can't believe you totally missed the Shoe Shafts! What were you thinking? And is it true that nobody visited the bar? Sacrilege!

 

City Museum > Arch, by the way.

[steel]

City Museum > Arch, by the way.

That is very true.

[Erik Johnson]

^ Shoe shafts?... Hmmm shoe shafts. I have no memory of that, but it is quite possible I have simply forgotten what those are. Cold you remind me? Yeah, none of us were really up to buying drinks at the bar. I would have to admit that even though I deal with booze on a daily basis with my job, I actually drink very little. I am not sure what excuse the other people can give you.

[dj snow]

These are the shoe shafts. Basically enormous spiral slides, which were original to the building (used to transport shoes before they were converted for human use).

 

 

 

At the bottom of the slides, I believe you end up in some caves that you can explore. And yes, that's a big pipe organ that they have in there too.

 

If you missed them, it just gives you something to look forward to for your next visit!

[Woogle]

This Prowler debate really made me smile and made me think of that song "Dontcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me".

 

I live in a country that doesn't even have a coaster season and only two real theme parks with about 6 coasters in total. You don't know how lucky you are to have choices. If you didn't have choices the world would be a boring place.

 

Thanks for the nice "cat fight". It made my day!

[Swimace]

And is it true that nobody visited the bar? Sacrilege!

This is only a rumor, please don't spread it because it's false.

 

Yeah, none of us were really up to buying drinks at the bar.

Someone wasn't paying attention!

[Team Thriller]

Your pictures are only made for Heaven. Okay, that was corny has hell.

But seriously Erik, nice pictures! I wish Mr. Freeze was open when I was there.

 

--James

[steel]

^ Shoe shafts?... Hmmm shoe shafts. I have no memory of that, but it is quite possible I have simply forgotten what those are. Cold you remind me? Yeah, none of us were really up to buying drinks at the bar. I would have to admit that even though I deal with booze on a daily basis with my job, I actually drink very little. I am not sure what excuse the other people can give you.

Best way to get to the caves. You also should have gone up to the roof. They just opened it like a month ago and I hear it's incredible.

But there's so much to do, you can't do it all in one visit.

[CorkscrewFoley]

Erik, what a fantastic TR/pics of all the parks, the City Museum, and the Arch. The slides remind me of a museum a friend of mine went to when she was still living in Newcastle. They had these enormous slides you could go down. The attraction is gone now, but I'm hoping someone from the Brit Crew knows what I'm talking about.