General Carowinds discussion
User avatar
By montumax
#3659
Day Two...

After surviving the Great Windstorm of 2004 the night before, it was time to head back to the park this morning for the second part of the Discovery Channel's "coaster phobics" shoot. The highlight of the day was the class that was to be led by Doctor Otto (Doc Ock, as I kept thinking.) Well, that was the highlight for some of the people there. Most of the coaster enthusiasts there just wanted one thing: a ride on Borg Assimilator. But, since it wasn't ready, we had to settle for Top Gun, which was to be the coaster that the class graduates would be using for their final exam B)

The class itself was interesting. It was strange listening to how to understand and ride coasters as the subject for a lecture. My philosophy would be just to strap the phobics in and send them up the lift hill. But, through a series of breathing and physical exercises, the phobics (and the enthusiasts) were being taught how to "ride" the coaster. (The class is hard to describe.) We did these exercises and then "rode" the coaster via videotape. Finally, it was time to ride Top Gun.

Each phobe was paired up with an enthusiast and put in the front row. I was in the next to last ride. We got to ride with two phobes who wanted to be able to ride coasters with their spouses. Needless to say, they passed the final exam with flying colours and we got to ride Top Gun :lol:

Several rides later, probably around 10 in all, we got our coaster season off to a flying start. After one last filming session with the phobics and one with the enthusiasts in seperate groups, we headed back to the VIP room to pick up our stuff. All in all, it was a very fun two days. As for when the show will air, I want to say late summer, maybe early fall. Its probably going to be on the Discovery Channel HD channel. They were using the HD cams to film.

While standing around, we talked about some of the outrageous rumours that's gone around: the park moving to Raleigh or Myrtle Beach, Smurf Island sinking, the hyper coming in 2005 (and 2006 and 2007....). My favourite: Six Flags Over Asheville. It was a great chance to get to know some of my fellow enthusiasts even better. Talk about plans for C3. Toss about ideas for possible C3 shirts (which will never ever get printed. Email me for the ones that will be rejected right off. LOL. Hint: BorgAss) I'm glad that I got to experience the whole shoot. Its definitely something that I'll never forget.
User avatar
By swampfox43
#3660
OK, Max. You didn't tell us HOW the "phobes" did. Were they genually terrified? Did they cry, scream, try to squirm out of the train while it was going through the Batwing? I'm really hoping they were genuine phobes and not just people wanting to pretend to be just so they could be on TV. Also, I hope we had a decent representation of enthusiasts at the park. You know what I mean? The last thing we need representing the park and the Carolinas are a bunch of losers with Metallica t-shirts and piercings through their noses.
By carowindsfreak13
#3670
I say good luck to the students of happy riding on coasters and congrad. them on their gruaduation.
User avatar
By montumax
#3673
Since they took up to to the station by groups, we really didn't get to see the rest of the reactions of the other phobes. The man and lady who rode with Tina and myself really seemed anxious and maybe a bit hesitant. They seemed to enjoy the ride and bought rode quite a bit more after the shooting had stopped! One lady talked to me about joining ACE and gave her all the info that she needed.

As far as the enthusiasts go, they all seemed to be normal. We all have our quirks and imperfections. (YOU RANG!) But, nobody really stood out.
By charlotteguy02
#3682
What?! Smurf Island is sinking?! I guess they can move Borg back behind the new hyper coaster, then. LOL

Oh, it was a great time, and yes, we had a good representation of enthusiasts. Actually, I think a great one. It was a pretty diverse group. As for the phobes, I'll give you an example. One of them was a student at Queens University in Charlotte. When I was talking to her I asked her why she was scared of coasters and she said, "I don't like heights, I don't like going fast, I don't like going upside down..." and the list went on. So, I thought it would definitely be interesting to see how the class helped. She loved Top Gun. Most of the phobes rode the coaster just a few times and the enthusiasts rode it about 10, like Max said. This girl rode every time that train went out of the station. She really did get over her fear. This other lady said she had only been on one roller coaster before and she almost passed out. She, also, enjoyed the ride. So, to answer your question, yes, at least some of these people were truly terrified before going through the class.
By carowindsfreak13
#3683
Well at least now carowinds will have a bettter rep. Hura for new Hyper!!! :D :o B)
User avatar
By MarkD
#3689
carowindsfreak13 wrote: Well at least now carowinds will have a bettter rep. Hura for new Hyper!!! :D :o B)

:P :unsure: :wub:
lol
User avatar
By montumax
#3690
carowindsfreak13 wrote: Well at least now carowinds will have a bettter rep. Hura for new Hyper!!! :D :o B)

Carowinds had a bad rep before this? If you read, the part about the hyper was in the outrageous rumours we talked about. The joke was about tearing down Thunder Road for the hyper. I said that there would be enthusiasts up there handcuffed to the lift hill in protest. "Hell no, it won't go...."
User avatar
By swampfox43
#3693
montumax wrote: We all have our quirks and imperfections. (YOU RANG!) But, nobody really stood out.

LMAO!!!
By Cephas
#3696
Discovery HD? That is sooo cool! I have it on digital cable and I get the HD on our HDTV. It is going to be sooooo awesome!

Has TG been repainted for 2004? or only Vortex?

Also, has anybody actually ridden the Borg *** in carowinds yet, or has the privlage been exclusively reserved for sand bags?
User avatar
By montumax
#3699
Vortex repainted. Top Gun, no.

Nobody to my knowledge (and I asked) has ridden Borg Assimilator yet. However....<weg>
By Trev32
#3702
What Is DiscoveryHD?
By ChadLP02
#3709
Trev32 wrote: What Is DiscoveryHD?

try google.com :rolleyes: - but to answer your question, it's a high definition discovery channel.
By carowindsfreak13
#3716
Will it be on regular Discovery Channel.
By Cephas
#3721
Discovery HD is awesome! comes standard with Digital Cable. My favorite channel. It's all the regular discovery programming on all their networks (discovery, travel channel, and tlc) that happens to be in HD. Not that many things are exclusively HD, I would guess that the show will be on discovery and Discovery HD Theater. Also, just to get you guys jealous, there are only commercials on discovery HD between shows. And if you want HD, just don't call Time Warner and get the channel, you can only see the HD with a special High Definition Television (HDTV).