Busch Gardens Williamsburg Project 2023: DarKoaster (Multi-Lap Intamin Straddle Coaster)

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Griffbolten said:
I attempted to get on but got out of line since it was at a standstill for about 15 minutes and I already waited about 30 minutes. Figure it wasn't worth the wait. I'll just catch it in the AM with a smaller line
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I like this ride as a great ride for people who arent into the high thrill rides like AC, Pantheon, Griffon, etc. It does an amazing job at filling that role for people who have no interests in those rides. That said if you are into high thrill rides like those, I agree you probably dont want to wait too long for DarKoaster, it will be underwhelming. I do think the ride gets a bit of unnecessary hate though from thoosies that don't understand its simply not a ride built for them specifically and more of a general public ride.
 
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PhatPantheon said:
I do think the ride gets a bit of unnecessary hate though from thoosies that don't understand its simply not a ride built for them specifically and more of a general public ride.
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My perception is that most of the hate* for DarKoaster is rooted in the massively oversold and under-delivered story, thematics, and effects.

* Enthusiast hate
 
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I find 'enthusiast hate' on rides to be hilarious TBH. I would consider myself an enthusiast but even within this community there's even bigger 'snobs'. Personally I like to appreciate rides for what they are and what they bring. One friend of mine is what I call the "snob" type because he turns up his nose if it's max speed is under 50 or there's a lack of inversions. To him family coasters aren't "worth his time because no self respecting thoosie would admit to liking it".

Also - I'm not a fan of not talking about the ride experience separate from the operations. I love Laff Trak but it has low capacity and long waits that often aren't worth it for what the coaster is on a thrill scale. But every time I'm on Laff Trak I love the coaster, so much fun to have a thrilling family coaster that doesn't need to do anything super special to draw excitement.

I got down to DarKoaster the other week. 45 minute wait. While the wait was too long normally, I would go on DarKoaster over and over because I thought it was a blast. Sort of like riding InvadR between Alpie and Griff it offers a nice respite from the higher thrills while still being thrilling itself.
 
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horsesboy said:
Long waits and low ride capacity are the two most often heard complaints which seem ro be fair and well earned.
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Unfortunately This is true and a design of the ride itself. Since it loops the same tracks twice in a row per ride you can't run more than one car at a time, best they can do is get one started to be loaded, which I hear they have started to do now and that should help. It's also the newest thing in the Park which is resulting in higher wait times I am sure.

warfelg said:
I find 'enthusiast hate' on rides to be hilarious TBH. I would consider myself an enthusiast but even within this community there's even bigger 'snobs'. Personally I like to appreciate rides for what they are and what they bring. One friend of mine is what I call the "snob" type because he turns up his nose if it's max speed is under 50 or there's a lack of inversions. To him family coasters aren't "worth his time because no self respecting thoosie would admit to liking it".

Also - I'm not a fan of not talking about the ride experience separate from the operations. I love Laff Trak but it has low capacity and long waits that often aren't worth it for what the coaster is on a thrill scale. But every time I'm on Laff Trak I love the coaster, so much fun to have a thrilling family coaster that doesn't need to do anything super special to draw excitement.

I got down to DarKoaster the other week. 45 minute wait. While the wait was too long normally, I would go on DarKoaster over and over because I thought it was a blast. Sort of like riding InvadR between Alpie and Griff it offers a nice respite from the higher thrills while still being thrilling itself.
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Hahaha this is so true. I dont personally love the ride, but I do really love what it adds to the park for people who don't want to ride the scarier things. It fits in great and Ive personally enjoyed the ride and watched people that fit that category really love it without saying "I am never doing that again". I go to parks with someone who is not willing to ever ride the Log flume ag ain because it was too scary, and she is willing to try the DarKoaster when we have time next, that's something I can appreciate.
 
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Hey so we finally decided to make that curse of darkastle documentary, if y’all have anything that would be of use. That would be great! There’s already sooo much available about this ride’s development and that makes this so much easier but in this case, if anyone is willing to submit some footage of Darkcoaster as well that would be super helpful. Thank you!
 
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It’s pretty bad that a park with the attendance of BGW would install a ride with this low of capacity. Long wait times for a mediocre experience does not leave customers with goodwill.

The building would have been much better used for a well themed Omnimover dark ride, but SEAS has no interest in adding rides that everyone can ride these days. They are aiming at one demographic of customer now.
 
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Alright. I still haven't rode DarKoaster yet. When I went back on Memorial Day; the ride was closed all day and I haven't been back. Has the park finally solved the downtime issue this ride was having earlier this season? If so, I will consider another drive down to the park in November if the coaster lineup is worth it. I assume the park will add DarKoaster due to it being an all indoor ride. Give or take they have the available staff.
 
The times I have been there later this season it has been up and running with no issues. I will say in my own opinion I wouldn’t make a trip during the prime weekend time to ride it. I rope dropped to say I rode it, again in my own opinion I don’t not think this ride is worthy of more then a 30-40 minute wait. It’s a good ride it’s a fun ride, 2 years from now when the new has worn off I think it will be a good addition to the park and atleast some use of another wise wasted building, but right now with waits over an hour, hour and half during the weekends I wouldn’t suggest you going out of your way just for this ride.
 
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I hate being pedantic and I never want to step outside my lane, but I have to ask because this bugs me. Why it this thread still in the news section and not in the attractions section?
 
Super valid question given how wishy washy we've been over the years on the issue.

We don't really have a solid policy for when to convert threads from project threads to attraction thread. We used to do it when an attraction opened, but then we were getting attraction threads with the first 20 pages talking all about opening-related chaos. We want the attraction threads to be far more evergreen than the news threads so, in an attempt to accomplish that, we moved to a "past the opening jitters" rule of thumb. The problem, of course, is that that's not a real, definable moment in time and there's almost definitionally not an event that spurs us to convert the thread in that theoretical time window.

Now that we have the search boards on the front page indexing all of the yearly projects across the industry, we will probably move to deprecating project threads at the end of their debut year (when the previous year's search forum is removed and the next year's is created). That way we can go through and fix them all at once, there's a fixed time when it should be done, the project boards won't be directing people to depreciated threads, and there will at least be a method to the madness we can point to.

We're super not surefooted in our strategy, but that's the current thinking at the moment.
 
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I’ll point out this thread has died down pretty hard since it opened. I think our general takes have been summed up as:

-Fun Ride
-Capacity is terrible and the line is abysmal
-The original dark ride is better unless you just REALLY like roller coasters that much more than dark rides or something to say this thing is better than one of the best dark rides ever.
 
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BGW fans, I would kill to have a weather permitting attraction down here at BGT. You guys have a couple of flats and now a full circuit coaster, we only have the bumper cars. Forgive me if my take sounds ignorant but putting a weather permitting attraction in williamsburg, as opposed to the lightning capital of America in tampa seems like a slap in the face. Park guests have been crying out for ages about this down here. I know you're probably disappointed because this ride does not hold a candle to the amazing Curse of Darkastle, but I commend SEAS for doing something. Our old dark ride building takes up half of Egypt, and is painted with hideous halloween facade 365.
 
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I think everyone would agree that the fact that SWO and BGT lack indoor attractions is preposterous. Hell, you all basically don't even get shows worth watching anymore. Williamsburg is, undoubtedly, in better shape and its sister parks as far as its weather resilience goes (and has been for many, many years).

That said, though DarKoaster does boost BGW a bit further in that regard, I do think we will look back on DarKoaster for many years into the future wondering WTF BGW/SEAS was thinking. They built a comically low-capacity family coaster next to Verbolten (which has long often had the lengthiest lines in the park). They picked thematically nonsensical trains with a 48 inch height requirement when options with higher capacity and lower height requirements were available. They debuted a radically new, never before seen gimmick and did nothing of any use or worth with it—managing to almost turn it into a point of derision for the coaster—how many times have you heard "and you just go around twice 🙄" re: DarKoaster? They built a fully-indoor coaster advertised on theming and then shredded almost the entire scenic budget during construction. They claimed they themed the coaster after a beloved, iconic attraction, but then completely disregarded its lore, character, etc. and instead implemented a ghost hunting theme that is essentially not conveyed in any remotely meaningful or effective way to guests. They killed Spire and debuted a coaster designed for year-round operations the same year they decided to end year-round operations. The list goes on and on. Truly a baffling, missed opportunity of an attraction.
 
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Zachary said:
They killed Spire and debuted a coaster designed for year-round operations the same year they decided to end year-round operations. The list goes on and on. Truly a baffling, missed opportunity of an attraction.
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I'm seeing they'll be closed 2 weekends and then be back for Mardi Gras at the end of January. Whatever you might call that, you gave me a shock.
 
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