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

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Zachary said:
I meant in the queue, preshow, load, and unload. Just all those custom light fixtures alone are worth a small fortune I'm sure. Remember, DarKastle was built with BEC money. They legitimately spared no expense.
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That and when you’re exiting the outer wall inside the building still features the original brick facade
 
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b.mac said:
So I'm just going to put this out there in simple terms because if I really get into the meat of this I'd literally need to create an hour+ long video about in on Youtube but.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg went from planning one roller coaster for either the 2019 or 2020 season, and has now expanded it to 3 coasters in the span of 2022 to potentially 2024 or 2025. They're literally having a Coaster Wars with themselves.

And with how capital additions like these have gone, either BGW is going to turn into the biggest non-Disney or Universal park in North America in the next couple of years, or they're gonna shoot themselves in the dick with a nuke.
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I for one hope SEAS builds the coasters while shooting themselves in the dick and sells BGW/BGT to Herschend. I call that a Win/Win scenario.
 
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Ice said:
I'd literally throw a tantrum if it's a spinner, that is by far the last thing I want this to be.

Only way this ends up as a success in my book is a minimum of a Rockin Roller Coaster style launch coaster with CoDK story theming all around and whatnot. Obviously, if this were to be a Hagrid's style story telling coaster but fully indoors, that would be absolutely WILD. If only that was in the realm of possibilities.
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Honestly, you could be looking more at a guardians of the Galaxy style coaster that spins you to tell a story. My dream would be DarKastle but as a coaster.

Edit: just to add, I can't confirm this is true. Just what I hope they are doing.
 
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b.mac said:
So I'm just going to put this out there in simple terms because if I really get into the meat of this I'd literally need to create an hour+ long video about in on Youtube but.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg went from planning one roller coaster for either the 2019 or 2020 season, and has now expanded it to 3 coasters in the span of 2022 to potentially 2024 or 2025. They're literally having a Coaster Wars with themselves.

And with how capital additions like these have gone, either BGW is going to turn into the biggest non-Disney or Universal park in North America in the next couple of years, or they're gonna shoot themselves in the dick with a nuke.
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Honestly, based on the 5 year plan that I was aware of at the time I left in 2019, something like this in DarKastle was always the plan. It's why they've been looking to build something for entertainment for a few years, they've needed to get out of DarKastle.

I think a lot of it is about removing any reason why someone would consider going to KD over BGW. They are going to continue to go at it hard though for a while. Don't expect drachenfire plot to stay empty for too long, either. SEAS will be resuming their CapEx goals.
 
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My initial reaction to this was excitement like everyone else I'm sure but as I've had more time to think about it I'm a little more negative on the idea now. I feel like this likely won't be very thrilling on its own as a coaster (what kind of coaster can they even get into that building, especially considering the building already exists and can't just be built around a coaster like they did with Verbolten?) but also probably won't have the level of themeing it could have had as just another traditional dark ride.

Hope the eventual article proves me wrong and we get some kind of awesome Hagrid-esque coaster with both great indoor sequences and outdoor sections, but for now I'm expecting something more like Laff Track which I think would leave most of us wishing they had just built a real dark ride in the space.
 
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BGWnut said:
Honestly, based on the 5 year plan that I was aware of at the time I left in 2019, something like this in DarKastle was always the plan. It's why they've been looking to build something for entertainment for a few years, they've needed to get out of DarKastle.

I think a lot of it is about removing any reason why someone would consider going to KD over BGW. They are going to continue to go at it hard though for a while. Don't expect drachenfire plot to stay empty for too long, either. SEAS will be resuming their CapEx goals.
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I like when SEAS has ambitious CapEx goals involving Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
 
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rswashdc said:
While it’s nice to get all these rides, if they don’t fix/improve other parts of the guest experience, much of this will be for naught. The guests who come for coasters aren’t necessarily the same ones who come for other experiences, coasters don’t necessarily provide the same up sell as other experiences, and there’s definitely going to be diminishing returns on three rides in 4/5 years.
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We don’t even know if Drachen is still happening
 
A freely spinning coaster - blah. Ragin' Cajun exists relatively nearby and does a fine job of that. A ride with intentional and controlled spinning to tell a story - now that would be a true successor to DarKastle.
 
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warfelg said:
Just for reference, DK is about 1,000 sqft smaller than Mummy’s buildings at UO and UHS. Something in the style of that would be cool.
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To put into better context. Turbulence at Adventureland Long Island would have very little trouble fitting into Darkastle's building.

EDIT: Upon further inspection and confirmation Darkastle's building is 18 feet shorter than Turbulence is, but in terms of square footage it'd still have no problem fitting a ride like Turbulence in it.
 
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I would like a story coaster, but just an indoor coaster in the dark seems redundant in the same park section as verbolten.

Based on the name is it safe to assume Darkastle will be used for the theme?
 
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