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

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CoDK was actually quite revered for being a DisUni quality product without being in Disney/Universal and up in SCPA we would talk a lot about wanting one. I think saying it never worked well because of that is a very misleading statement.

The more correct answer is more that it lost it's luster, like much of BGW, because is seems SEAS refuses to give funds to ride maintenance for set pieces. CoDK fell apart, EfP's effects barely work, Nessie's effects are come and go it seems, VB's show room is in shambles. Heck they don't even care to get Ride Ops to run lift hill music because "it annoys them".
 
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Ice said:
The pre show was very Florida-esque, and the reason I think it never worked very well was a combination of two things. 1. the screen is two low and 2. the average guest at the park isn't necessarily there for the Florida experience at least knowingly, they are there for a regional park.
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What to know a super depressing truth about the preshow?

A major reason it "never worked very well" was actually that the doors were a low maintenance priority and would often be left broken for very, very long periods of time. BGW lost all interest non-essential ride effects basically immediately following the AB-InBev sale and it just never got better. A ride like DarKastle cannot survive in a park like that.
 
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Zachary said:
What to know a super depressing truth about the preshow?

A major reason it "never worked very well" was actually that the doors were a low maintenance priority and would often be left broken for very, very long periods of time. BGW lost all interest non-essential ride effects basically immediately following the AB-InBev sale and it just never got better. A ride like DarKastle cannot survive in a park like that.
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In this case the miss was not having a longer indoors extended queue to be able to keep the room darker. That's one thing that Disney/Uni get right about video queues is the room to walk through and small hallway before hitting the screen room.
 
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Zachary said:
A major reason it "never worked very well" was actually that the doors were a low maintenance priority and would often be left broken for very, very long periods of time. BGW lost all interest non-essential ride effects basically immediately following the AB-InBev sale and it just never got better. A ride like DarKastle cannot survive in a park like that.
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This was my main point for those that missed it.
 
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minorly supporting the information there are several stacks of very large creates a couple of forklifts and a decent size assortment of other items sitting around the old cornered site today. I am not sure that they are packing up the building but it definitely looks like a strong possibility.
 

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horsesboy said:
minorly supporting the information there are several stacks of very large creates a couple of forklifts and a decent size assortment of other items sitting around the old cornered site today. I am not sure that they are packing up the building but it definitely looks like a strong possibility.
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That kind of stuff was always sitting around. Entertainment has a storage building/small prop shop back there.
 
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Zachary said:
What to know a super depressing truth about the preshow?

A major reason it "never worked very well" was actually that the doors were a low maintenance priority and would often be left broken for very, very long periods of time. BGW lost all interest non-essential ride effects basically immediately following the AB-InBev sale and it just never got better. A ride like DarKastle cannot survive in a park like that.
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The lifting wall was a huge issue. Impatient people bumping into it would trigger safety sensors and shut the door down. It would need to be reset many times in a day.
 
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Jonesta6 said:
Could mean anything, could mean nothing... But I think Sally generally does a quality job assuming the park invests in the upkeep from what I can gather
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I was at HolidayWorld a few weeks ago and rode Gobbler Getaway. I was floored that it was installed in 2006! It looked like it was brand new. But with such a short operating schedule, I guess there's a lot of down time to maintain the rides.
 
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Some Sally rides actually fault if certain effects aren’t working in the morning. It’s up to maintenance to fix these. Holiday World in a few meetings have made it known that they care about making sure everything is maintained to the best of their ability. Lake Compounce has an amazing ghost shooter as well. Probably my favorite Sally shooting dark ride. I think Sally would do an amazing job with a full scale dark ride. Even the Justice League rides look amazing for a budget dark ride… Given a proper budget Sally could make something fantastic. They have a great track record and seem to be universally liked
 
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Zachary said:
Just sayin' 👀

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Shame on you for poking the bear on this subject. Puh-leeeze. You know better than anyone BGW has no appetite for a real dark ride. They'll open a Vatican in Vegas before BGW maintains a dark ride worth a shit.
 
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It's hard to say what a good replacement would be. When rides like that are built, the building it's housed in is designed for the ride that got built. But is also depends on what Bush Gardens is willing to spend. I remember DarKastle back in 2008. Me and my buddy rode it a few times, so I'm not sure on how much space is in there for a ride.

Honestly, a fully built castle building makes the perfect location for a good maze attraction. Does the building get used for Howl-O-Scream?
 
But with the recent (unconfirmed) notices for entertainment to clear out the building for operations sometime this winter (January?), It seems reasonable to expect either a new attraction of some sort or maybe some kind of training center (though that would waste a prime location in the park).
 
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