- March 18th, 2004, 6:40 pm
#4127
The last few opening days were pretty calm, although the weather was a bit cool. Ricochet had a bit of a line at the start of the day in 2002 that thinned out some later, and last year Reptar got a fairly decent line later in the day - but of course it only has one train so doesn't move people through too well.
This year - who knows? The weather looks good, they're running more ads and promos than usual, and BORG is the first major thrill ride since Top Gun. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a number of enthusiasts from outside the local area there to check out Borg - I've seen a number of questions about visiting the park on other boards. The park opens a week before the VA parks, and several weeks before the PA / OH parks further north of those. I've run into someone who drove down from Ohio before on opening day. Since most of those enthusiasts are somewhat near X-Flight or Batwing, I'm not sure if a huge number will come to check out BORG, but some might. It might be somewhat busier than usual for an opening day, and I'm sure everyone will try to hit BORG first thing.
The other variable in this is that we have a different style of ERT than in years past. Under the old system, BORG and Top Gun would have passholder ERT and let non-passholders line up at the queue entrance, letting them on rides at 10am. They would typically have Paramount Plaza and Old World Marketplace / Nick Central open for everyone to walk through, along with the pathway to Top Gun - and in 2002 the path to Ricochet.
With the new ERT system it'll depend on how they handle entry to the park by the non-passholders. They're saying to enter at the South (Top Gun) Gate for ALL the ERT sessions, so I imagine that they WON'T be opening the Paramount Plaza area to everyone before the park opens like before. My guess is they'll have people wait at the bridge, letting them in at 10am. They may let the passholders head out of the ERT area and get in line, but we'll see. If this is how they handle it, passholders there for the ERT should be able to get on the first several trains out, and get the full hour of ERT in Animation Station. Of course I can only ride Scooby Doo so many times so that's not a big deal.
The thing to watch out for is if they don't hold everyone up at the bridge and let them into the park before 10am - then we'll want to skip most of the ERT and head over to get in line for BORG. Either way, I'm sure if you're at the park right at opening you should get on BORG relatively quickly - even if it does get busy at the park, it'll be mainly us diehard coaster fanatics there before noon, and lots of people will be tied up in season pass processing to start with. It may not be as dead as in some past years though.
KenB
