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

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The major worry I have about DarKoaster’s theming is that it will be directly compared to DarKastle’s theming. DarKastle had a lot of theming that will thankfully be reused for this attraction, but it also had a lot of beautiful theming within the ride itself which was, of course, removed. If they “cheap out” on the new theming they add, it’ll be incredibly obvious since we have our memory of DarKastle’s incredible sets, story, etc. to compare to. DarKoaster has big thematic shoes to fill.

That said, I’m remaining optimistic. I don’t know how much of what we saw in the teaser video is just a dramatization for the video and how much is a real representation of what we’ll actually get, but I want to believe it’s a somewhat accurate representation of the physical/digital sets and effects we’ll see.
 
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Fur Dozy said:
I absolutely feel like some of the other options would fit better. Motorcycles have been around for ages and could help bridge the theming gap better than a vehicle that is primarily used for recreation. Heck, just one look at the trains and I feel like you'd be like "nah, those don't really look like snowmobiles". But whoever inevitably did look into that, be in before or after the concept art was done up, I think might have been stuck with it. I'm also curious about cost options based on the existence of wavebreaker in chain and the other FLC for San Diego.

This theme sucks, is confusing, and exists from SEAS being cheap.

Overall, this project came out of nowhere(which might explain why it seems to be rushed and lack cohesion). The park is getting a ride that fills a spot in the lineup, they are adding a coaster where a non coaster ride was, and the ride itself looks to be decent. These are all great and this might be the best project for the park since Invadr depending on who you ask.

My take on all this is to just laugh. The park got backlash for pantheon. They managed to find a project for 2023 that *does* incorporate theming, is another freaking roller coaster, and fit into the budget. I fell like this project really reflects all that is wrong with the chain rn internally. There still are people that care and seem to be making every effort to better the parks, but clearly things are stopping that goal from happening. The irony of constantly adding new rides and massive capital investments while also cheaping out on them is not lost.
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This project was not hastily thrown together, the park has been working on what will relieve DarKastle since it closed. The only thing that changed is that this is now following up Pantheon because the park correctly decided that this was a more necessary project to perform.

I will say to me if the options presented, snowmobiles fit in the best with the frozen theme from CoD. If you wanted to play on that story again then it needed to be something along these lines.

Also, I will hold off on deciding SEAS is being cheap until I see the final project. They are clearly trying to create a story that ties into CoD.
 
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BGWnut said:
Also, I will hold off on deciding SEAS is being cheap until I see the final project. They are clearly trying to create a story that ties into CoD.
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They definitely seem to understand that they’re replacing one of the most well done rides in the park’s history. If they can understand that, they likely realize they need to put in a ride that is an experience, not just a ride.

Also, as someone else mentioned earlier in the thread, maybe KD doing Jungle X may have forced SEAS hand into investing more into this attraction.
 
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Sorry for the double post, but the website no longer lists a height maximum for this attraction.
 
Coasternerd said:
Sorry for the double post, but the website no longer lists a height maximum for this attraction.
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Oh, yeah, I probably shoulda posted that here yesterday. The edit was made yesterday afternoon. I updated my BGWFans article with it then but forgot to post it here.

It will be interesting to see if the height restriction was a mistake all together or if the exact height restriction simply isn't solidified yet. Pantheon's showed up very late in the process so I worry it's the latter.
 
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Zachary said:
Oh, yeah, I probably shoulda posted that here yesterday. The edit was made yesterday afternoon. I updated my BGWFans article with it then but forgot to post it here.

It will be interesting to see if the height restriction was a mistake all together or if the exact height restriction simply isn't solidified yet. Pantheon's showed up very late in the process so I worry it's the latter.
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I was wondering if it was just leftover from Pantheon on the webpage and it got missed when they posted it
 
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I’m just spitballing here, but something I read mentioned it “changing direction”. I understand the switch track, but is the programming there where it possibly reverse direction and go backwards between launch sections before moving forward again. Like, “holy crap”, the snowmobiles ran into a snowbank, back up, then raced forward again to blast through it or over it. 🤷‍♂️
 
I think this addition fills a much needed hole in BGW's lineup, so that's a big plus. Nothing too exciting about this ride for me just by nature of what it is. I know there's been a lot of talk about the name and theming and what not, but the biggest takeaway for me is: why did this take so long? DarKastle has been empty for ages. If this is all they're replacing it with (which is fine), it feels like this should've been built five years ago. I don't really have a strong opinion about the snowmobile ride vehicle aside from the fact that it precludes this from being a true family coaster, which is a pretty strong negative for this ride. This is an obvious family coaster layout, and having a height requirement of 48" is pretty lame for that. I would've pivoted to a different vehicle design altogether just for that. The only bright side there is that it might keep lines a little bit shorter for what appears to be a capacity nightmare.
 
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Zachary said:
Pretty certain BGW is wrong about their "world record"

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Is “world’s first all-indoor straddle coaster” a real or desirable record, anyway? Maybe marketing could find a way to highlight the coaster without falling back on the laziest solution (ie, focusing on an “est.”)

On another note, regardless of whether the shell makes sense thematically, I am very interested in the ride experience, itself. The motorcycle side of Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure Featuring Every Character We Haven’t Used Yet feels different than most other ride vehicles. My hope is that this does, as well.

Also, is anyone really surprised at the height minimum? What about “BGW Design Team + Intamin“ makes anyone think “tame family coaster?”
 
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Nicole said:
Is “world’s first all-indoor straddle coaster” a real or desirable record, anyway? Maybe marketing could find a way to highlight the coaster without falling back on the laziest solution (ie, focusing on an “est.”)

On another note, regardless of whether the shell makes sense thematically, I am very interested in the ride experience, itself. The motorcycle side of Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure Featuring Every Character We Haven’t Used Yet feels different than most other ride vehicles. My hope is that this does, as well.

Also, is anyone really surprised at the height minimum? What about “BGW Design Team + Intamin“ makes anyone think “tame family coaster?”
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New marketing worlds first quad launched doodle switch track all indoor straddle coaster.

On the family coaster I pulled this chart of the advantage height of American children by age. On average children should be around the 48 inch mark starting around 8 to 9 which while certainly not ideal for all families makes the family coaster label makes little more sense.
 

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So many 'thoosie' twitter accounts going big on the DarKoaster today as if it was just announced, and I so badly wanna troll all of them.
 
horsesboy said:
New marketing worlds first quad launched doodle switch track all indoor straddle coaster.

On the family coaster I pulled this chart of the advantage height of American children by age. On average children should be around the 48 inch mark starting around 8 to 9 which while certainly not ideal for all families makes the family coaster label makes little more sense.
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48” can also get you on Twisted Timbers and Millenium Force. Family rides from experience are really more at early elementary and pre-k age. KD and HP excel in the family ride area, where BGW is really making a token effort for younger kids rides.
 
Aren’t snowmobiles essentially just 20th Century sleighs? The old ride used sleighs as the ride vehicle, and now the lore has jumped ahead in time meriting the use of snowmobiles - at least that’s how I see it. I’m a bit skeptical to see the final design of the trains, but the concept image in the video made the trains look obviously like snowmobiles and it looked cool! I think it makes total sense for it go from a sleigh ride to snowmobile tour.

How do these not look like snowmobiles? These trains look aesthetically excellent, better than Verbolten even.
 

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