Carowinds Discussion Thread

[angryemobeaver]

I think the trim is probably a good thing. Hurler was painfully rough in April.

What!? You must of rode on a wheel seat! I rode it in April also (April 3rd) and it was very smooth and had pretty good airtime! I also rode in the front seat of the second car.

 

Wheel seats are on ALL of Hurlers train my friend. Thunder road does not have them in the "middle of the train" because each car has 3 rows. Hurler only has 2 rows per car thus preventing a "non wheel seat".

Technically, yes. But what I mean by wheel seat on a 4-seater car is that if a wheel is by your butt, thats a wheel seat. If the wheel is by your feet, thats a smooth seat.

[bgwfreak777]

Just to throw something else into the mix, I was told (and now things are fuzzy if it was a manager or not that told me) that Carowinds actually built their Hurler on an old park landfill.

 

Apparantly things like the original Thunder Road trains are buried in there.

 

But as you can imagine, a landfill shifts and sinks over time, so I can only imagine what problems with footers they've had on the coaster if this is indeed true.

 

And it wasn't the dippin dots guy or anything either, just can't remember who exactly told me.

[Capitalize]

Hurler is sinking? Hopefully that is as true as the old "Magnum is sinking" panics of the past...

 

I got out to the park over Memorial day weekend (Saturday) and had a very nice time. The park was pretty packed but the lines were moving fairly well all day. I was mostly concerned with getting the four new/missing credits since my last visit a few seasons back (Intimidator, Carolina Cobra, and the kiddie wooden and invert). Afterburn is still easily the best B&M *invert* I've been on, better than Montu, Raptor, BTR, Alpie, etc. So smooth, so fast, such awesome forces. Vortex was much worse then I remembered. Carolina Cobra was pretty fun, not sure I like the new restraints, though; but I've never had a problem with head banging on boomerangs... Nighthawk impressed me. I rode it back when it was Borg and thought it was awful. Far worse than Batwing at SFA even. After this trip though I came away enjoying it a whole lot. Felt totally out of control although a bit rough, it was awesome at night. Thunder Road gave a good ride with some airtime, certainly much better than Rebel Yell, imo.

 

Intimidator was amazing; incredibly smooth and I got great airtime in both my rides. Unfortunately I was assigned the middle both times I rode so I can only imagine how great it may have been if I got on the front/back. Still, it was great and is probably my favorite B&M hyper for now, just ahead of AC and Nitro.

 

All in all, good times.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Capitalize

[robbalvey]

Just to throw something else into the mix, I was told (and now things are fuzzy if it was a manager or not that told me) that Carowinds actually built their Hurler on an old park landfill.

 

Apparantly things like the original Thunder Road trains are buried in there.

 

But as you can imagine, a landfill shifts and sinks over time, so I can only imagine what problems with footers they've had on the coaster if this is indeed true.

 

And it wasn't the dippin dots guy or anything either, just can't remember who exactly told me.

This is an urban legend.

[cfc]

^So, Hurler isn't sinking into an enormous landfill?

 

For a moment, I had hope.

[bgwfreak777]

^So, Hurler isn't sinking into an enormous landfill?

 

For a moment, I had hope.

 

Maybe just let it sit for 10 years and see if it sinks into the ground.

[Skycoastin Steve]

I rode Hurler on Sunday with the trim on, and while the back three bunny hills still had decent enough air, the rest of them had practically none. However, it was definitely running smoother, at least.

[jray21]

I remember it being pretty rough during the trip last year, and I rode it in different seats. Too bad about losing the airtime, but if it ends up being less rough, it can be more re-rideable.

[B-RadG]

I remember it being pretty rough during the trip last year, and I rode it in different seats. Too bad about losing the airtime, but if it ends up being less rough, it can be more re-rideable.

Well as far as Kings Dominion's is concerned, it's all the roughness with none of the airtime.

[coasterbilly]

damn this is crappy news, I honestly enjoyed Carowind's Hurler a lot! I also enjoyed it's older brother Thunder Road at KK too, for some reason KD's has always been rougher. Guess we will have to see what happens with it as the summer rolls along when I get to it in July, I enjoy the layout of this ride and the airtime it gives, we will see!

[SeaWhippet]

My post/video of Carowinds' Hurler and its bottom-of-the-first-drop trims has prompted a similar discussion over at rec.roller-coaster. As I said there (and agreed with other posters), these trim brakes completely rob the minimal airtime both Hurlers once offered. Furthermore, the arrested velocity exacerbates the violent hunting the PTC trains have to endure. At least with more speed, the trains negotiated the problem areas faster. Now, they're just fighting their way around the course.

 

It's sad that these ride's have come to this. I remember attending the media days for both coasters back in the day. Though the layout and profile is a bit less than imaginative, they were at least smooth, fast and somewhat entertaining. But today ... not so much.

[robbalvey]

Though the layout and profile is a bit less than imaginative, they were at least smooth, fast and somewhat entertaining. But today ... not so much.

Agreed. It's quite sad really. There was one point that I really, REALLY liked Hurler quite a bit actually. Granted in the mid-90s my coaster count wasn't as high to make as many comparisons as I do now, but they were really enjoyable rides and it's just been a bummer to go back to those parks and see them deteriorate more and more...

 

--Robb

[bgwfreak777]

^ I totally agree. What's crazy is that back in the first two seasons, the best place was the back row. Now I'd be killed if I rode back there.

 

I also enjoyed it's older brother Thunder Road at KK too,

 

Um, that would be Thunder Run. Thunder Road is at Carowinds.

[Pufferfish]

This is quite upsetting, I just rode Hurler the first time this year and yes, all the airtime is now gone. I miss it's glory days, back wen I was able to ride about 10 times in a row with it running extremely smooth with great air. What makes the least amount of sense right now is that last year, right after the trim was added, it was still giving decent airtime over pretty much all of the hills. Anyways at least I can report one good thing. Nighthawk was running amazingly well today, didn't hurt at all.

[Skycoastin Steve]

Anyways at least I can report one good thing. Nighthawk was running amazingly well today, didn't hurt at all.

 

That's because you had the master behind the wheel.

[Pufferfish]

^ The second ride was better, and you weren't driving then.

[bgwfreak777]

I rode Hurler again tonight and like Puffer said, the ride has ZERO air now.

 

It has 2 trims at the base of the first drop, and while they don't hit hard like say Beast or Mean Streak, they are enough that it knocks it down slow enough that you don't have the speed for air time.

[jedimaster1227]

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Vehicles-broken-into-at-Carowinds-97094104.html

 

Police are looking for the person, or people who broke into several cars at Carowinds theme park on Wednesday.

 

Authorities say at least three people reported break-ins and one person said that someone tried to use a credit card that was stolen from her vehicle.

 

Carowinds security officials are reviewing the video footage from the time frame of the thefts.

[bgwfreak777]

Why in the world would you leave your credit card in your car?

 

On Intimidator, I rode it Friday morning before the masses came in (2nd train out) the 2nd trim didn't even fire and needless to say it was an amazing ride. First trim just tapped the train.

 

Hoping for many more rides this morning, as last Monday was dead at that park.

[Pufferfish]

I would just like to announce this awesome news, this past week on the 1st and the 4th we held a big competition between Behemoth, Diamondback, and us to see who could get the highest capacity. I am proud to announce that we won on Thursday, beating both rides by over 1000 guests. No official results have been released to us yet on Sunday's results, but I will inform you as soon as I hear.

[BaMiTsPaT]

^ Congrats! How did you set that up?!

[bgwfreak777]

I helped out yesterday using the single rider line.

 

Up to 90 rides so far. Not impressive I know, but it is for me.

[Cosmo_tad]

The parks set it up. At 6pm sunday when I left, for sunday alone we were 1600 riders up on Behemoth and 1100 up on Diamondback. We were on a mission sunday.

 

[bgwfreak777]

So who won overall?

[Pingu1651]

Ok, so I may be going on a trip to Wilmington, NC sometime next week and I need some info:

 

1. Will it be packed, say, on July 14th? How are the lines this time of year.

2. I'm from Cleveland, so will it be worth an extra three hours in addition to the 10 hour drive? Especially in the case of my mom?

3. I know it's near Charlotte, so how could I plan a day with Carowinds and sightseeing?