Hurler (roller coaster)

Hurler

Hurler's first drop at Carowinds
Carowinds
Park section Thrill Zone
Coordinates 35°06′18.88″N 80°56′37.39″W / 35.1052444°N 80.9437194°W / 35.1052444; -80.9437194
Status Operating
Opening date June 1994 (1994-06)
Kings Dominion
Park section Candy Apple Grove
Coordinates 37°50′10.81″N 77°26′44.29″W / 37.8363361°N 77.4456361°W / 37.8363361; -77.4456361
Status Closed
Opening date April 28, 1994 (1994-04-28)
Closing date November 1, 2015
General statistics
Type Wood
Manufacturer International Coasters, Inc.
Track layout Triple out and back
Lift/launch system Chain lift hill
Height 83 ft (25 m)
Drop 80 ft (24 m)
Length 3,157 ft (962 m)
Speed 50 mph (80 km/h)
Inversions 0
Duration 2:00
Capacity 1100 riders per hour
G-force 4.1
Height restriction 48 in (122 cm)
Trains 2 trains with 7 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 28 riders per train.
Fast Lane available
Hurler at RCDB
Pictures of Hurler at RCDB

Hurler is a wooden roller coaster at Cedar Fair's Carowinds park. An identical roller coaster by the same name also operated at Kings Dominion and closed at the end of the 2015 season. Both coasters opened in the same year, 1994. Built by International Coasters Inc., the coasters both have exactly the same design, with exactly the same statistics. Following the closure of Kings Dominion's Hurler, park officials have yet to release information regarding the future of the coaster.

History

The Hurler installations opened at both parks in 1994. The coasters originally borrowed their theme from the 1992 Paramount motion picture Wayne's World, whose main characters frequently used the word "hurl." Paramount sold both parks in 2006, and new owner Cedar Fair retained the name but removed references to Wayne's World.

The Kings Dominion roller coaster was closed for part of the 2006 season to be re-tracked. In 2010, a new trim brake was installed immediately after the first hill prior to the season opening. Hurler closed again for part of the 2014 season for regular maintenance. In March 2016, Kings Dominion posted a notice on their website that Hurler would be closed for the season while undergoing extensive maintenance, and that it would likely reopen in 2017.[1] However, in October 2016, Kings Dominion released a teaser video on Facebook that Hurler would re-emerge in some form for the 2018 season.[2]

Ride layout

Hurler's first drop at Kings Dominion

Riders are hoisted up a 83-foot (25 m) lift hill and make a wide turn before reaching the initial drop. During the drop, an on-ride camera automatically takes photographs of passengers. The ride continues with a wide, heavily banked, flat turn, then a series of hills and drops which jerk and shake passengers, giving the coaster a reputation of being bumpy and rickety.

The overall layout is a standard paperclip arrangement with two out-and-back style runs (in Kings Dominion this extends into the courtyard adjacent to Grizzly).

The Hurler is also a mirror image of Thunder Run at Kentucky Kingdom.

Theming

Originally, the queue wound underneath the coaster through a "hot set" on location filming scenes from Wayne's World. Upon entering the station building, park guests passed through a full-scale set of the iconic basement hideout of Wayne and Garth. Since removal of the Paramount references, the queue and station building are loosely themed with the remains of the original theming. Movie-making paraphernalia including stage lights, cameras, props and signs are scattered sparsely about. At Carowinds, some of the original props (notably baby doll pieces) were recycled into the SCarowinds Maze of Madness. Although the Wayne's World Theme has been removed from the coaster at Kings Dominion, many signs of the theme were still present until the ride's closure, including many stickers and stamps of the Wayne's World logo around the Hurler station, such as the columns by the exit.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hurler (Carowinds).
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