Patrick Wisniewski is on the staff at Theme Park Central. You can follow their latest updates on Twitter – @ThemePrkCentral.
Hurler is a wooden roller coaster experience designed by International Coasters Inc. The ride opened in 1994 at Kings Dominion, originally themed to the 1992 film, Wayne’s World. The ride is located in the Grove section of the park.
Hurler begins by ascending up a 83 foot lift hill. The ride then takes a right turn before the very intense first drop. The ride has extreme g-forces as it travels through a banked right turn. Then, good airtime is experienced with three airtime hills before going into another hard right turn. You then go into two more hills before taking a short right turn through the ride structure. You go over one final airtime hill before going through one final hard right turn. Finally, you elevate a tiny bit before hitting the brake run and heading back into the station. The ride clocks in at around 50 miles per hour and lasts around 2 minutes. Hurler’s track length is 3,157 feet and it uses Philadelphia Toboggan Company trains.
Hurler’s first drop is very thrilling. There is also very good airtime to be had on the ride. However, the elements on the ride are very boring. The
combination is not very unique and the ride overall is a very uncomfortable, almost 
excruciating experience. Lastly, the trains are also uncomfortable, providing very little room for the rider. Final Rating – 3.0 (Bad)
Pros:
Exciting first drop
Very intense experiences and g-forces
Cons:
Unexciting layout
Uncomfortable at times
Poor trains
The Hurler is rated ‘TR’ for Traditional. It’s a 2 out of 5 on the Thrill Scale.
What’s Your Take?
Have you ridden Hurler at Kings Dominion or Carowinds? Do you agree with this review? Leave a comment below and rate it in the poll below. Images courtesy of CoasterImage.
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January 19, 2011 at 20:05
This ride is horrible, I hate this ride so much. Needs to be tore down and demolished. They need to tear it down and then use the hypersonic xlc station and make a launch coaster threw the back part of the park.
January 19, 2011 at 23:53
I actually heard my neck crack and got a bad case of whiplash on that first hard right turn. Will never ride it ever again!
January 20, 2011 at 00:57
I really don't know why there is so much hate for the two Hurler rides, they're far from perfect, but I always have fun on them and find there are far worse woodies out there. Yeah it shakes a bit much on the turns but I've also experienced good air on the camelback's, which adds points for me. I would give it a slightly above average 5.5, but maybe I'm more forgiving of it's flaws. I'd love to hear the Coaster Critic's two cents.
January 24, 2011 at 18:47
I agree. If anyone wants to rate the hurler a 3, they must have not gone to cedar point and ridden mean streak. or wildcat at hersheypark. Hurler is a little rough, but its not that bad. If anything, I'd say it has character.
where ya at on this one CC?
January 25, 2011 at 02:40
I'm with Patrick. I think a 3/ 3.5 is right about where I'd rate Hurler. I don't mind the layout so much, but the execution is terrible at this point. It makes me wonder if those Gravity Group timberliner trains would help. It's way too rough for a 5 in my opinion. A 5 would be average and it's definitely well below average.
January 20, 2011 at 01:32
When it was brand spanking new, The Hurler was smooth and a lot of fun. Like most woodies, it needs frequent maintenance. Just like it's neightbor, The Grizzly, it 's now rough to re-ride. I can take maybe three runs on The Hurler but, much as I loved the Grizzly, one ride often gives me a headache.
All of Kings Dominion's woodies would benefit from some serious retracking. (Hint, hint!)
January 25, 2011 at 02:46
Grizzly was one of my first big conquests. I need to write up a full review even though like you've said it's gotten pretty rough. Might be hard to separate the nostalgia from the actual ride these days. I'm really hoping that Gravity Group's timberliners take off and parks consider them as a cheaper alternative to re-tracking. Of course, I have no idea if they'd actually be a replacement for re-tracking all together though.
January 20, 2011 at 08:40
If the ride had better trains and was re-tracked it would probably go up a few points in my book. I just do not find the layout that exciting, that is my BIGGEST complaint.
I don't HATE the ride, there is a lot worse wooden roller coasters out there. Georgia Cyclone and Great American Scream Machine for example.
May 16, 2011 at 09:14
Georgia Cyclone? When I rode it a week ago, I found it one of the most intense woodies i've ever been on.
July 7, 2011 at 21:34
That's what she said.
January 20, 2011 at 12:51
I guese It's called the "Hurler" for a reason.
January 20, 2011 at 15:44
Are those PTC trains? PTCs make great rides bad. EXAMPLES: HADES! VOYAGE! ETCETERA!
January 21, 2011 at 03:16
I actualy realy like those trains.
January 20, 2011 at 17:27
I have only been on probably 8 wooden coasters but this was by far the worse of them all. Actually KD has two of my lease favorite coasters in Shockwave and Hurler. When I was on Hurler I thought the coaster was going to fall apart at any second. During the entire ride it seemed like the train was jumping side to side on the rails and it was rough rough rough. No one in the group I was with wanted to ride because of how bad it is so I rode by myself since I'd never been on it before. Probably the worst coaster I've ever been on. But hey at least they have Rebel Yell, Dominator, Volcano and I305 to counter balance.
January 25, 2011 at 02:43
Agreed. Shockwave and Hurler are the worst coasters at KD. For some reason I find Shockwave more offensive although they're probably both equally as bad.
Here's my Shockwave review.
January 31, 2011 at 19:32
Shockwave was definitely the most painful coaster I've ever been on. The most Pain vs. the Roughest lol
February 8, 2011 at 10:51
I still have to check Shockwave out.
February 8, 2011 at 16:35
I think that may be because of Shockwave's OTSRs.
January 20, 2011 at 18:38
There are lots of positive and negative G-Forces, but the elements are boring? That's pretty inconsistent!
February 8, 2011 at 10:50
There are positive g's on the first turn. Which I do like, however some of the positive g's combined with the roughness of the wood is just painful. While there are negative g's on the hills, I found them very boring. I should have made that clearer in the article.
January 21, 2011 at 12:05
I didn't find there were substantial negative g's (the first drop was very mild), and I rode in the front seat and then in the back seat to satisfy my curiousity.
The day I visited there was no line at all (even less popular than Anaconda) while Volcano had nearly an hour wait.
Maybe it was a decent ride when it opened but now it's just a distraction for their maintenance department. It is a shame that trees were cut down for this thing.
Rebel Yell was much more fun, probably because it doesn't have sharply banked curves that need lots of attention to keep them rideable. Hurler just seemed to be about enduring the ride until it was over. Even the mouse ride next to it was more fun.
Of course, with 305 in the park, everything else seems to be an afterthought. Dominator and Volcano are good, but 305 is extraordinary.
January 31, 2011 at 17:57
I really didn't enjoy Hurler either. There's nothing unique about it, no matter what the park tries to say. I bet the theming used to be interesting, but now all that's left is a boring gray box that serves as the station. When I rode, the park was running one train. The ride was just too painful for me to enjoy.
February 21, 2011 at 08:56
God I hate this ride. My friend and I were waiting for my sisters to get off the Ricochet so we went to check this ride out. The waiting area was a really long walk, so I guess it was pretty popular when it was first opened. When we got inside the building, there were 10 people there. We rode the first row and it was ok. Pretty boring, but ok. It was when we rode a second time in the second row that made me hate the ride. It was so rough. We both got off nearly in tears because our heads and necks were hurting so bad. We watched the ride go past in line and the people in the back row were bouncing so hard it looked painful. I can only imagine what it's like. I hate this ride.
April 28, 2011 at 13:08
Well, the first drop on this was actually pretty fun, but the immediate hard bank turn afterwards was so brutal that sitting in the right front seat, my whole body was flung over to the left and I nearly hit my head on the LEFT shoulder area of the car. I was terrified that I was going to get seriously injured on this, I hated it, and the ONLY reason I didn't vote for demolished on this was because the drop was decent. I really wish there were more good wooden coasters out there. I'll definitely stick to El Toro and Lightning Racer and some of the other decent woodies in my neck of the……well, woods. LOL
July 27, 2011 at 07:28
Wow so many people hate this ride. I actually like it. I found it to be smooth, much smoother than grizzly. It had great airtime and i think the layout was fun. It was a fun ride. I would give it a 5.5 or 6.
July 27, 2011 at 11:06
So would I. I've only been on the Carowinds Hurler, but since they're pretty much identical, I thought it should have applied for KD as well. With all of the bad scores, either I've gotten lucky and had good experiences on it or I haven't tried enough woodies.
January 29, 2012 at 03:53
cc, is the one at carowinds just as rough?
January 29, 2012 at 04:15
Pretty much. Their both rough and at the same places. If you blindfolded me I doubt I'd know which one I was on.
March 26, 2013 at 15:58
OMG! The first time Mykia , Mekeira,Milan,and me got on it we were going crazy about that ride so every time we go we get on it:):)=)=):)