bill_s

What'd Hurler ever do to you? It's true, some rides do unpleasant things to people. However, some here seem to become blinded to any attributes of a ride and just give up. If you're on a park-hopping marathon, that's often the way to go, but if you're stuck mostly going to your local park I can't see giving up that easily. Fact is though, hurler even at its most vicious never hurt me much, while 4 other rides at the park have. Grizzly and Rebel Yell were terrible in 2008; I actually swore off RY for 2 months before coming back and learning what to do. I'll give 'em one thing this year though: they've been racing Rebel Yell every day, all day from what I've seen. It really is twice the coaster when they get it just right.

I was just writing that my one trip to Carowinds was 20 years ago, Thunder Road was in terrible shape even then, and also seemed really badly located. I don't think they would have bothered aligning Windseeker and 3 hills of I305 with Rebel Yell if there was any thought at all of removing the ride, and it would be a big flip-flop to do so now. It's a bit rough right where the latest retracking ends, bit in some ways it's the best ride experience it's ever been. Maybe they took out Thunder Road partially to make KD more unique. Now, the HURLER question... Back at Carowinds 20 years ago, Hurler was actually a pretty solid addition to that park. They had no Grizzly, TR was as described, Vortex was their top steel, ahem ... Hurler was just fun and it was the first time we had a chance to ride one without long lines etc. and was the one pleasant surprise all day. Just to give some proportion. Of KD's full-sized woodies, Hurler is definitely one of them, and different from the others. If that doesn't get your interest right there, no you're probably not going to be a fan. But, if you know woodies don't have to be cutting edge to be as much fun as anything, it should be of interest. I think KD's Hurler got a bad rap back in its beginning. Who wanted a wood coaster back in 1994, when so many parks were putting in amazing new steel coasters? Especially in a park already above average in the wood category? And Wayne's World wasn't brand new either, even if you still liked it you just knew the theme wasn't going to age gracefully. Of course, the park shortly after launched into becoming the launch coaster capitol of the world. I don't know if Hurler was to buy time for new developments to come along, or maybe what came later was partially to make up for Hurler. I know that after waiting over an hour to ride it the first time, it was underwhelming. I need to make a point that any judgement of the ride after 2009 is completely invalid. The trim brake, added in 2010, made the notorious jackhammer turns slightly more tolerable but killed the airtime over its beautiful bunny hops. The real problem with Hurler is maintenance, those turns just tear themselves apart, and weren't that smooth in the first place. Even with the trim, by last year it was maybe the roughest ever. Maybe they just can't handle the total woodie workload of the current park. The stated plan is essentially just take their time when needed, it's better than tearing it down. That works. Of course if they do need a big piece of land for a coaster, that works too. Or they could try to "fix" it. One possible clue is that row 1 is the best and row 2 is the worst even compared to the other wheel seats, how is that even possible with them in the same car, the trains just don't work. What seems to make sense to me is limited Topper Track, turn the roughest parts into the smoothest and leave the rest alone. Reports are that the Carowinds turn rebuild didn't result in leaving the trim brake off, which sounds like failure to me.

I think they took turf from next to I305 to use next to Delirium.

^^-- that's not been exactly agreed upon here. I'm looking forward to riding an almost-new-again Hurler but actually haven't seen any activity on it yet. I don't necessarily expect to see any for while if they have the whole year, but could be they haven't actually decided its fate and just decided (correctly) it wasn't operable as-is.

The lines are shorter for sure! And yes they're good. I do recommend some caution on Wild One's return leg, it will surprise you. Hands up are fine on the way out. I wouldn't say RoaR feels like a new ride, they redid the tracks for the 1st, 2nd and 5th washboard valleys, leaving # 3 and 4 which are elevated so not so bad, although certainly noticable. After that it slows a bit and doesn't washboard. The first 2 were pretty grueling before. As part of the VR, 2 seats per train have been removed in favor of metal boxes (surely in this age of miniaturization this seems oversize, but there isn't much spare space anyway I guess). If by some miracle it's cool or rainy, Mind Eraser can be pleasant with a thick hat or hoodie over your ears. Don't miss Renegade Rapids (although found out a solo ride tends to put you going backwards most of the time).

Yes. It would be time and money well spent on just KD alone. Do plan to go to Busch if possible as it is far more scenic park and has a *cough*better*cough* collection of rides, including a skyride if you are fanatic about those. Where BGW does really shine is the landscape, it's one of the few parks with hills, and they did make good use of that for some of the rides. It is a unique experience and yeah, for a one time visit I would choose it over KD. The ride collection is also slighly more unique in its high ratio of high-dollar coasters. But better? No. It may have been me, but I got an impression BGW is more crowded early in the year and KD more later in the year. My guess is that the BGW locals are bored with their small number of (excellent) coasters by June. Meanwhile, people get confused by KD's large but motley collection of coasters and make comments like the above. They were racing Rebel Yell last night despite the light crowds, wonderful.... BGW does have maybe 1 more top of the line coasters than KD but they are slightly mild. If you're B&M fan, no doubt. If you want biggest, baddest, meanest, no way.

^^-- yeah of course. I'm kind of curious where everyone has been experiencing ejector air. Previous to I305 I don't think I'd ever experienced it and after I305, everything I've ridden is relatively insignificant compared to its 10 spots of completely unambiguous ejector. Sometimes you do come up against the bar on many coasters, but if there was a little more room you wouldn't. Although maybe a few instants on The Wild One this last Sunday right after it rained, in the back car, were quite extreme. I actually sustained floater at least as scary as being pushed solidly against the restraints, it's freaky. However, such tightly "tuned" airtime is only highly present in a few rows, and one row, usually the back, is by far the best. That was the brilliant thing about I305 (and any predecessors I have yet to try), make the seats more the same by sustained speed and abandon all attempts at tuned air and every seat gets ejected every time. Yikes! I rode Fahrenheit the year before Skyrush and I thought I felt my thigh bone crack on that hop.

Monday of this weekend is kind of like a normal Sunday (perhaps in July not May, though). Saturday, of course, is one of the worst days of the year to go to an amusement park.

^^-- it's really a lot closer to Maverick.

The media can interest kids in anything they want by cramming it down their throats. However, they're not doing it with Looney Tunes. Something "new" is probably better for moving product, and the style is not suitable for being extremely protective or using it for liberal indoctrination (not saying that's entirely bad, but they do it). Of course, like pet food, sometimes they're really marketing to the ones with the wallets, and LT will work for that still. As to the Smurfs, they came along too late for me, and I can't remember if I never rode a Smurf ride because I stayed as far away as possible, or because I didn't go to the parks over that period.

I have to think you're kind of grading against expectations. When a little woody kicks it for you that's really cool, but when a $25M 300' behemoth doesn't you're left scratching your head. But really, even if I305 was nothing but the drop (and that lift etc.!) into a brake run, that should be a "3" ... and I have to admit I find something lacking about it's first drop and think of it as the "launch" into the main part of the ride. Or maybe you're saying it just ended up being a 3 for you but you would have to admit there's more reason there for someone to try it and judge for themselves. Maybe wasn't your time to click with it. I305 is unique and lacks some things other coasters do, but what it offers instead is not just different, but very non-trivial to accomplish.

NEWS: Backlot's fire effect timing fixed.... The problem started late last year, I'd see fire shoot up every time except when I rode it (unlike previously, when they always seemed on the verge of running out of gas). Turned out the train was gone by the time the fire went. The gas pump fire is back too now. These add a lot to the ride (and more "charm" to the park than any mushrooms, IMO ).

Science: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] RUSH: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

DoinIt: I must say you are marathoning monster... Every ride slows down in the cold except for accelerator coasters that throw trains at different speeds based on conditions or apparently Batman at Great Adventure because it just absolutely, positively doesn't have time for your sh*t but the difference on I305 wasn't noticeable to me at all, even on a half full train. When it's really noticable it's so cold it's a GOOD thing! But yeah, when all the air is ejector, you can get it in every seat in every condition. Actually the only floater-ish air is after the trims, the complainers should see them as a good thing, although brakes feel "wrong" on a coaster even when the effect is good.

The "world's worst" is irrelevant to the question. Some very good coasters are complained about; smoothness seems considered the most important aspect. Further, some of the complainers are young -- when I was that age, intensity was #1, and roughness increased it. And I'm still riding coasters they can't stand 30 years later. I might limp out of bed the next morning but I can't stop riding them.

I've ridden I305 in the cold and it slows down. Not enough to convert the constant ejector air into floater though, and definitely not enough to make the airtime go away. It's just not physically possible. I have noticed there are times when I kind of "miss" the ride, by the time I'm done with just surviving it and move into enjoying it, it's over. But the only thing I can see hard to decide about it for the coaster enthusiast is: is it the best coaster in the world or just really close to it? It may not be exactly what I wanted, but it's certainly what I always asked for. BTW, no mention of the floater air machines of KD (for 2016): Rebel Yell and Grizzly.

I saw a test run where Delirium hit max. height 10 times in a row (although it wasn't spinning). Thank god my ride wasn't that long, not that I would have ever gotten on it if it was doing that in the first place. Delirium: super smooth, variety is the spice of life, but not one tenth the size and scope of the ride previously in that location. And sickening too. Oh well.

I'll give 'em one thing this year for sure -- I never knew so many people worked on Hurler. Since that ride's been closed not only have they been staffing Grizzly and Rebel Yell better, somehow even Country Kitchen is open more often. I never realized what a drain Hurler was.

135 degrees is 90 (sideways) + 45 (halfway to completely upside down from 90). I know one thing: it's great that coasters are moving away from a specifications war because elements that go to or past 90 degrees but aren't clearly inversions can be good and wonderful. Maybe 2 near-inversions should be counted as one actual one, or at least give a pass to one or 2 more-inverted elements on a ride with lots of them. I agree an overbanked turn is less inverted feeling than some other elements, but that doesn't matter once you can be proud of your non-inverting, over 90 degrees inclined elements and other undefinable indescribables. Think about how much better, and ahead of its time, the Drachen Fire cutback could have been without the pressure to make it a countable inversion.

If you've ever felt sick on a ride, stay far, far away from Fireball ... OK actually the new cut-through path next to it is a great improvement, but don't ride it. I don't ever want to hear or see that thing again. I strongly disagree with some of these coaster parodies, but they got it spot on in this one:

Almost any change to the restraints would have been an improvement. The horse collars were tall enough to catch your jaw on and lever your neck, but not tall enough to provide support higher on your head, and were about 1 mm of hard rubber over steel. It was a miracle there wasn't many serious injuries. I usually avoided touching the restraints but once they got me and I was concerned my neck was permanently damaged. I rode it many times, not only was it good, it was like a private coaster back there most of the time. According to a netnews post which appears to have been removed from all archives, the park took X-rays of the structure and saw stress cracks that would have soon required serious work. Both Arrow and the company that did extra structural work (the small tube reinforcements of the inversions) were out of business. In view of low popularity, it was closed.

I don't know, operations have always been so hilariously, mind-numingly terrible that I never had the opportunity to re-ride despite non existent crowds. Well... except on Roar but I wouldn't re-ride Roar if you paid me. Did you ride it this season yet? Because when I went on it, it was so smooth I could ride it all day long if the operations weren't so slow (and if the stupid girl operating the ride didn't make us sit in the station for 20 minutes because they needed to call maintainence to get another stupid girl's phone from the track, when the right thing to do would be to tell her to come back at the end of the day and get it.) Seriously, that ride is my second favorite coaster in the park! Appreciate the info, need the motivation! RoaR is one of the more unique rides there, compared to KD anyway.

Looks TWISTY. Like the wooden micro-I305 KD ought to have. Of course, the creator of that video may be the one influenced by I305-profiled ejector twists.

Maybe they should have tried their first launch there. This is an experimental, new form of track and could need to be done as a "partner" with a park. Remember S&S did their first launch coaster on their own property (which they then sold to KD). Of course, "partner" doesn't mean "free" so the park would have to be interested enough. RMC shows they repaired 2 wood coasters at Silverwood. They used to have a video on their site that showed a coaster with Topper track on one turn, I think it was one of them.

^^-- yeah that's what I did. Incidently there's a commuter lot off of exit 104, 5 miles north of the park if you need to meet someone. Head west, turn right on Rt. 1 & immediate left, to the right and behind the auto parts store. Don't try to park outside the park in Doswell.