General Carowinds discussion
By Trev32
#96274
I remember riding hurler as a child and I remember the airtime being pretty wild on it. Over the years it lost that and just became actually painful to ride. I remember me and a girl I was with at the time riding it in 2011 or so and both of us felt like we needed to see a chiropractor after riding it hahaha.

Hurler's a classic but it needs a heavy upgrade, or tear it down and build a new one in it's place. Something in the realm of El Toro would be sick (A total reach, I know, but a guy can dream,right?). ET is one of the craziest rides I've ever ridden IMO. Airtime I've never felt anywhere else. It's been 8 years since my father rode that one with me and he still to this day brings up that ride whenever anyone is talking about roller coasters.

As for Vortex, I've never had a problem with it. It's old, but I've always enjoyed it. It's a good stepping-stone ride for people who are just getting into roller coasters and aren't quite ready to hit the crazy rides yet.
By uscbandfan
#96275
To me, if I was starting out, Hurler would deter me for riding more. I would get off saying "I don't want to ride any more roller coasters if they're going to feel like that".

Yes, it used to be MUCH smoother when it was new. But, age shouldn't really be a problem. Swamp Fox is more than twice as old and is probably 3 times as smooth. Love it. ... and it was hit with 130+ mph winds of hurricane Hugo back in 1989 and sustained VERY LITTLE structural damage. They fixed it and it's as good as new. No reason why they can't fix Hurler if they wanted to. I think it's like everything else. They don't build 'em like they used to.
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By redrunner97
#96285
In my view, there are three options (other than removal) for what can be done with Hurler.

Hurler stays the same:
Yeah, it's our only "big boy" woodie, but it's also the butt of lame coaster jokes. I don't see it existing in its current form a decade from now.

Hurler gets the Ghost Rider-treatment:
This is certainly possible if Cedar Fair really wants to differentiate Carowinds and KD's Hurler. But the current layout is very dull, IMO, and I'm not sure it'd be worth it to complete reconstruct this particular coaster unless CGI changes it up even more than they did with Ghost Rider.

Hurler gets RMC Hybridized:
Twisted Timber looks unbelievable and we'd be lucky to get something like that here. If they keep the first drop but mix up the elements afterwards, Carowinds could have a kick *** ride with enough differences to make it unique.

Ideally though, I'd love to see a brand-new epic CGI wooden coaster com e to the park, then an RMC Hybrid version of Hurler. It'd be the best of both worlds!
By mark40511
#96374
Back in the mid 90s when Hurler came out, I loved coasters, but I had a GP mentality about them. I didn't know manufacturers..... NO clue who made them.....I just basically knew they were roller coasters and that was it. When Hurler was first out, I just don't ever remember being blown away by it. I could have been, but I just don't remember it. I always remember preferring TR over it back then....

Ironically, the year Vortex came out, I remember thinking it was awesome.....we rode it SO MUCH.......but now that I look back, I can't imagine me liking Vortex more than Hurler......but I did back then.....
Now neither of them are great to me....just "OK". If you look at Hurler and Vortex - they have one thing in common...decent first drops, then LOW to the ground the rest of the way....which isn't always a bad thing.....but in these cases they are (at least to me)

I
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By MarkD
#96375
I'm all for bulldozing the Hurler and starting from scratch. I don't want a clone of KD but a new woody that's unique.

I am not for converting Vortex. I rode Rougarou and it hurt more as a conversion than it did before and added zero thrills, to me at least. With Vortex being so compact I don't see any benefit of a conversion.

Of course I have been trying to figure out if we would loose Vortex all together what could actually go there. I don't see another coaster going in that spot, it's just too tight.
By RollerBee
#96378
MarkD wrote:I am not for converting Vortex. I rode Rougarou and it hurt more as a conversion than it did before and added zero thrills, to me at least.

Of course I have been trying to figure out if we would loose Vortex all together what could actually go there. I don't see another coaster going in that spot, it's just too tight.

Was the overall track any smoother? Did the transitions seem different?
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By coasterbruh
#96383
I say remove vortex and build a twister wooden coaster in its spot. With the carousel going to that area, it would have a classic feel to me. As far as hurler, I really don't know if it will ever get back to its prime.
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By tarheel1231
#96384
tarheel1231 wrote: I'd be down with this too. Imagine a coaster that starts where Vortex is, flies over the canopy, and goes into the woods over the Rapids like Mystic Timbers.


Bumping my post in case any of you wonderful Carowinds higher-ups is reading the forums :wave:
By Edwardo
#96386
See I really liked the Rougarou transformation. It's definitely different from other floorless/sit down coasters as far as layout and now it's a must ride when I'm there, whereas I'd skip Mantis, Cork Screw, and Mean Streak. Honestly if they'd put new restraints on corkscrew I'd probably ride it again.
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By Jonathan
#96387
It's weird that Mark and I had such different views on Rougarou as we rode at the exact same time. I was in the back row and really enjoyed it. Didn't find it uncomfortable at all. Mantis on the other hand was one or my most hated rides.
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By Chris
#96396
I was on the same train as Jonathan and Mark, but I was in the front row. I never rode Mantis but I can see why this would be a huge improvement. Even so, I wasn't the biggest fan. For me, it was the headbanging. The ride would have been great with vest restraints (which I'm not even a huge fan of) or without the jerky transitions.
Last edited by Chris on August 21st, 2017, 12:37 am, edited 1 time in total.