Hurler (roller coaster)


Hurler is a wooden roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. Built by International Coasters Inc., the ride opened to the public in 1994. An identical copy of the ride opened at Kings Dominion the same year, which was later converted into a steel roller coaster called Twisted Timbers in 2018.

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. However, in October 2016, Kings Dominion released a video on social media confirming the ride's permanent closure and teasing a new attraction in 2018.

Ride layout

Riders are hoisted up a 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. The overall layout is a standard paperclip arrangement with two out-and-back style runs.
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 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.