General Carowinds discussion
By Cephas
#4184
Just got back from the park and yes I rode the borg. I was in the very first train! I guess now I can say I made history!

My Experience:

As soon as I got to the park, I got my pass processed and waited for them to let us go to the Borg. After those people finished singing, I was off. Then I got in line, I was like the 5th person! Finally the people at the start of the quene let us go and we ran through the quene untill they stopped us again at the "Single Rider/Multiple Rider" signes. The guy told us about 20 times "If you have anything in your pockets, it WILL come out." After that we all ran to the station house and to my dismay, there was a ride op there telling everyone what row to go in. I was assigned the 2nd row. When we got in I got the left side (riders' left). The guy checked my harness and then we began to tilt back. Suddenly everybody began to cheer, then we were all the way back and started to move, this was when I started cheering. We moved back towards the lift. Everybody was watching us and I was SOOOOOO cool! Then the lift caught us and It was loud! When we finally got to the top we tilted back, then later than I would have expected, we fliped over and I WAS FLYING! The very comfortable seat supported me as we went down the first drop. At the bottom I felt like I was straining the harness to its limit with the positive G's. It was really cool to dive towards the water. Well anyway, we pulled back up and into the horseshoe and I got a view of the skyline to the south for a second and then we pulled back down diving back over the water again. Wow I was having fun! We then flipped back over and headed to the verticle loop. When we went through it I was a rush, the positive G's combined with the "going though it "backwards" element" made it the best part of the ride. But I wasn't allowed to dwell on that forever as we flipped back over and went over the lift. Another moment of flight and we were going by the borg sphere. Wow it was close to us! Then the corkscrews came and they were unlike any corkscrews I had ever been through before. There were really cool! Then the ride calmed down and we went into the brakes and around into the station. When we got back into the station we recieved a "hero's welcome" and everybody was cheering! It was really awesome. We all were clapping and shouting. The ride ops looked happy. The seats came back up and we got unstrapped and I left to see the "mile"-long line that I had just avoided. It was better than TG. I loved it. The Borg is now my #1 coaster and I have been to about 30 major parks (Universal, 7 six flags, Cedar Point, Busch Gardens) but I must say I have never been on a B&M flyer so I will have to check out Superman.

General Stuff about the Borg/Park in General:

1, The ride is not rough at all.
2, No gift shop or resturant opened with the ride.
3, The ride ops say that everything will fall out of your pockets, but I had on shorts with pockets with buttons and I didn't lose anything. I can't say anything about zippers though (but I would think your stuff would be safe).
4, You have a great view of the borg from Vortex and the Goldrusher
5, The new chick-fil-la is good
6, There is nothing new with the bathrooms but there are new signes
7, They did in fact renavate the theater by vortex
8, The arcade by the FSS was taken down
9, The large area of water that was destined for the riverboat sits strangly empty
10, You are going to have to go this year!

Did anybody else get to ride the Borg?

This is my longest post ever!
By ghettopastries
#4188
Yeah, I rode it and got stuck in the mile long line. It was a lot of fun and they did a good job. I like the sound effects around the area. Also, if you didn't see it, there was a sign outside the Sunset Cafe that said, "Opening Soon... CBS Television Cafe". The landscaping is a lot better this year and I'm sure we will see more changes throughout the season.
By Cephas
#4191
How slowly did the line actually move. I don't know because I got on the first train and didn't have to wait.
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By montumax
#4198
I went with the expectations of not riding the Borg because of either the line or technical probs. I was right on both accounts. (With the photo shoots, I wasn't really worried either.) Opening days aren't perfect for most parks and that was true today. Even though we didn't ride anything, I just enjoyed going, walking around the park, and taking plenty of pictures. I was just in awe of the job that the park did with the coaster. The whole area looks spectacular. I spent a lot of time talking to friends that I ran into there (ran right into CoasterBruh) and they were impressed with the whole area too. Like ghetto mentioned, I just loved the Borg speech that you could hear around the area. Really cool.

While we were standing there talking, the line creeped along. At one point, it had actually went down some but then by that time, the train was stuck on the lift hill.

Cephas, as for number 2 in your post, you can find Borg shirts at the shop on your right when you're leaving. I can't think of the name of it. They had Borg shirts, hats, and drinkware. I don't think you'll see a shop over there. Doesn't appear to be much room for one. I'm curious about the on ride photo. I'll try to find out this week.
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By MarkD
#4202
Borg....they have invaded the Carolinas!!!
That was a sweet little ride. Not fast or long but a sweet experience. I was in line early as we did not run because my daughter was getting passed by but we ended up right between Jonathan and KenB. We had about a 40-45 minute wait I guess and it was worth it to me.
I honestly thought it was going to be rough and jerky but I can say it was nothing like that at all. The track was alot more "twisty" in person than pictures showed and that made it all the better.
From the sounds to the borgish style signs around they have done a great job. You get no complaints from me at all.
By Interstate485
#4205
I was in line at around 10:15, and was stuck in he mile long line, which had about a 40 break down period. Overall was in line for Borg for 2 hrs and 15 min. Yeah it sucked it bad...

Anywho, the ride was awesome, i love the first drop as you twist, and when you fly over the green water, BUT the ride seemed mega slow and and went by SUPER fast to me. Borg was actually shut down a good 70% of the day it seemed. Im lost on why they were only running one train ALL day. After about 2pm, I dont think it was running at all. The new landscaping is awesome though, they did a great job

Still, it doesnt beat Top Gun to me, and im not sure what the deal was, but i was in line for Top Gun, and sitting in the front, for no more than 15 min at max, and started way out. Very fast. Im still a hardcore lover of Frenzoid, haha, rode it about 20 times, hahaha. NO LINES!!! ;)

In case anyone saw me, I had on a black Hard Rock Cafe shirt, with a long sleeve white shirt underneath, and mirrored sunglasses on my head...

Ill be back next sat, if not tomorrow!!! :P
By Trev32
#4210
man you guys are so lucky, i have to wait till june or july!!! :angry:, that's the only time my parents will go is in the middle of summer, IT TORTURES ME!!!!
By Cephas
#4211
Yeah, I saw the shirts in the gift shop. I got one but when I brought it home and washed it, it shrunk so much that It didn't fit.
By PoP Eye
#4217
I went aroud 3:00 and the BORG was broke. I came back about 3:45 and it still was not fixed show I braved the line for about an hour and a half but the ride was still not fixed. While I was in line the ride started up some. It made only one circut that I saw it did not get stuck on the lift hill.Also while I was in line some mechanics walked to the top of the lift hill and worked on It for about two hours. And one other thing I noticed was that about every roller coaster in the park broke down. Thunder Road broke down with me on it at about 7:00. One thing I do not like this year is that there are seatbelts on Thunder Road that get stuck about all the time and are a big big pain. :(
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By bgwfreak
#4218
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>I HAVE BEEN ASSIMILATED!!! </span>

WOW WOW WOW!!!

Ok, first off we got there at 9:30 did two rides on Scooby Doo, and in between those two rides we rode the Short Line Railroad for the heck of it. When I was getting off the train (the railroad) I about fell over. I caught a glimps of the Borg Sphere!

Wow, that things is HUGE! I was totally surprised!

I'll try and upload some pics later, but I'm about to fall asleep at the PC now as it is.

Short version of the coaster review. It was awesome, with a capital A!

I had ridden Batwing in DC, so I knew kind of what to expect, but as I said nothing preparred me for the jaw dropping Borg Sphere.

The ride (after my 2.3 hour wait) was awesome! The sucker is smooth as silk, no rattles anywhere. All inversions were just a blast to experience!

The problem all started... (you know it's bad when they say that)

We had waited about 1.5 hours, then something happened and they shut down the ride for what turned out to be 30 minutes (not quite a slite delay as they say) ;)

Anyways, when it got working again I was actually on the first train out!!! woo hoo!

So I rode, and we went on to lunch from there. About 3:00 we were back over by Borg and noticed that the train was stuck about 1/4 the way up the lift. (with passengers on).

They were manually taking people out of the train! Yikes! So needless to say I didn't get a 2nd ride, but of course I live only 30 min from the park, and I'm tempted to go out and try to ride again tomorrow.

I was so wiped out by 5:00 that we decided to call it a day. Honestly, this was the first time I had spent 8 hours at Carowinds in ages. And we had a blast!

The theming and grounds look great for Borg. Although, don't expect a lot of theming besides the Sphere.

The grounds have been cleaned up around the park, the bathrooms were clean, the Nick Cafe was great (that was a shock) couldn't believe they have flat screen tvs now for the menu! wow! And to top it off, the customer service we received was honestly the best I've ever seen at Carowinds!

I don't know what the new management did, but they have got these people acting as friendly as the folks at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (which shocked me).

The trains kept getting stuck on several coasters: Borg, Vortex, Hurler, Reptar. It was a rough start to the season as far as the coasters went, but I still rode most of the coasters (including Borg! woohoo) ;) and had a blast. Overall it was a 9.5 rating day, and would have been a 10 if Borg would have run all day, and the other coasters hadn't had so many problems!
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By coasterbruh
#4219
Well all i have to say is the turn out was great. Apparently people heard of the new coaster cause thats where the stampede went!! Being that my friend didnt have a pass, he couldnt get in the park before 10 so i just went in and waited. Took pics for like 45 mins then got in line.

I must say this is a very smooth coaster. All those people who complained how rough this coaster is should go eat crow!! :P :P I pratically could sipped tea while riding the coaster lol lol.

When it comes to those flyer post and which one is better i have to say im gonna side to vekoma, well the vekoma at carowinds lol lol. While the pretzel reigns supreme i have to say that the rest of the ride is juvenilish compared to the intensity of the vekomas. The transitions were my all out favs. And i kinda liked the shuffling thru the screws (felt like i was about ot crash for real lol lol lol). And this beauty is suck a photogentic one lol lol..........
By KenB
#4226
I've been on Batwing and Superman:Ultimate Flight, and had them about even overall - Batwing for the more complete layout, Superman for the pretzel and smoothness.

BORG is about the same, but could take over my top flyer spot with some more rides - I got my one ride today (yay!) up in the front, and this seems to be the kind of coaster where I'd prefer the back for the forces. The setting is FAR, FAR better than the other two flyers, it's a good bit smoother than Batwing was, and even without the helix I liked the overall layout better than Superman. If the intensity picks up towards the back of the train like I expect it should, I could really like this one.

I love going up the lift backwards and the flipover before the drop. I found the drop and the horsehoe to be very effective with all the water - MUCH more water than I expected there to be. The loop was good, but I figure it'll be really good in the back especially when the coaster breaks in and speeds up some. Seeing the BORG sphere was cool, I'm glad you could actually see it while on the ride. The corks were ok, hope they're a bit better in the back.

Overall though I liked the ride more than I thought I would. I could definitely tell it was a hit with the general public, and should draw quite a few people into the park. Hopefully they'll get it running reliably with both trains, and maybe they'll ease up on the assigned seating too. I thought they might be going a bit overboard on the no loose articles policy, but I've read some and apparently quite a few people had things fly out of their pockets on Stealth. I think I'd be fine with my usual fanny pack though or my cargo shorts, hopefully they'll consider those secure in the future - as well as my glasses firmly attached with a strap. I think they did have a pretty efficient setup for handling loose articles. They may want to consider lockers at the entrance, though.

Glad I got to ride it, even though I considered skipping it and riding some of the other stuff that looked to be a walkon right at opening. I would've hated hearing that it was a pretty good ride and not knowing about it firsthand. It's no Top Gun, but it's quite good.

KenB
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By coasterbruh
#4227
i think everyone here can agree that top gun is still the best coaster in the park!!!
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By montumax
#4229
Remember, we voted Top Gun "off the island." Scooby is the best coaster in the park :)
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By bgwfreak
#4245
^^ LOL ^^


Anyway, it's hard for me to pick Borg over Top Gun or the other way around. They're two different types of rides to me. I like them both equally well I think. But as I've only been on Borg once, it's hard to tell at this point. The "newness" of the coaster is still fresh in my mind, and may be messing with my judgement ;)

Overall, it's my favorite flyer. Definetley has the best theming of the ones I've been on (Batwing, Superman @ SFoG).

Looks to be a really fun summer @ Carowinds! (for a change) lol :D ;) :huh: