Sunday, January 04, 2004

Hurler Theming Returns

Sources close to the Paramount chain of amusement parks tell ARN&R that the Hurler coasters at King's Dominion and Carowinds will have their theming returned for the 2004 season.

Opening as part of the Wayne's World section at each of the two parks, the Hurler coasters featured a preshow by Wayne and Garth, while the ride and station featured music by Queen and Joan Jett. In recent years, the television monitors have been silent, while the popular Queen hits have vanished from the lift hill. But that's all about to change.

"Visitors should expect a return to a full themed experience," says the source. "Of course, after Cat in the Hat, we certainly weren't going to invite Mike Myers back to do Wayne for the ride, so the television monitors will still not be used. However, we will return to having hard rock pumping out of the lift hill speakers, and the immersive Queen experience of the coaster will be greatly enhanced with a bunch of ride ops and maintenance workers themed as Queen guitarist Brian May. It's inexpensive for us and tons of fun for riders, a win-win situation!

The source also noted that Paramount intended to have Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury give a performance for the rollout of the revamped Hurler theming this Spring, but, for "some odd reason" had not yet managed to locate him.

--JCK