Kinda suprising to me honestly, but it’s getting to the point that most of our family doesn’t want to ride it at all so something should be done . My initial thought is that this probably would have been a good integration for the VR rethemed to German mythical storyline. I’m just thinking that this may have made them second guess on where to install a vr type attraction if this was an option before the initial thoughts of redoing Europe in the air. I think that the utilization for frostbite and the terminology used to describe Santa’s workshop as the castle made popular by darkastle really makes sense now and may have lead them to this direction. Hoping for a renovation and retheme to some German mythical theme but that may be far fetched ! Thanks for the information on darkastle ! Great work as always
Curse of DarKastle
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
Zachary, PK, and I (and I think a couple other members) did an insiders tour a few years ago and they detailed a lot of really interesting things about the ride. We walked the track, got to see a sleigh's operations up close in the maintenance bay and generally experience how the ride operated.
Unfortunately neither I nor Zachary documented anything from the tour (though he did take a large number of behind the scenes photos) and of course an article about it was not written so both of our memories are quite foggy on the details.
If anyone else took the Ultimate Insiders Tour and did DarKastle, please share since the ride may never return.
Unfortunately neither I nor Zachary documented anything from the tour (though he did take a large number of behind the scenes photos) and of course an article about it was not written so both of our memories are quite foggy on the details.
If anyone else took the Ultimate Insiders Tour and did DarKastle, please share since the ride may never return.
This is really sad. I really like Curse of DarKastle and think it adds a lot to Busch Gardens lineup of attractions. I hope if it goes that they get a high quality dark ride or two in there as soon as possible.
I loved the DarKastle of years ago, and had this news come then, I would have been truly disappointed. But at this point, the ride itself is more disappointing than the thought of its absence. In the grave state it is in now, it either needs to come back from the dead or be left to rest in pieces.
I'm actually kinda saddened. I wished that they would keep it alive in some way. But kinda bad timing with Project Madrid right around the corner.
Although the timeline seems right. Universal is on a 10 year refurbishment on similar rides.
Although the timeline seems right. Universal is on a 10 year refurbishment on similar rides.
I'm certain that old Ludwig will be able to scare something up and keep the wolves howling.
Crazy and sad to think how much has changed with this park and the collection of former BEC parks in the 12 years since DarKastle opened. At the time this was the beginning of a challenge the company was setting for itself to stop competing against Paramount, Cedar Fair, and Six Flags and starting to create a new tier between the destination parks operators and the mainstream seasonal operators. Now we're in what, third round of layoffs since the sale?
This news is very saddening and I struggle to wrap my mind around a once state of the art attraction that only opened in 2005 now possibly being closed. Even in it's current state it's still an extremely well done dark ride for a regional park and will still wait for this ride. However, ever since 2009 it has become apparent that this ride is not the top priority of the park as they have experinced some radical budget changes compared to the deep pockets of Anheuser Busch.
For example, in 2009 as well as 2010 when DarKastle was open for ChristmasTown and then in the following year 2011 the ride went dark. Many presumed that it was going down for a refurbishment and it would return the next year. Here we are in 2017 and DarKastle has not opened again for ChristmasTown and hasn't experienced a major refurbishment since 2006. While some projectors have been replaced and regular maintenance has continued many effects are still broken along with sleighs now having reduced movements or struggling to produce audio and many scenes having damaged screens.
Now here we are in 2017 and a maze in DarKastle is taking place along with a Santa experience while the ride continues to fall backwards in time begging for a refurbishment. The park is a cross roads similar to the Le Scoot situation and being that this is also another costly attraction for the park we'll have to see this spring if the golden sleighs return and the castle remains frozen in time, or will Ludwig's curse be lifted and the castle becomes dormant for special events? Time will tell...
For example, in 2009 as well as 2010 when DarKastle was open for ChristmasTown and then in the following year 2011 the ride went dark. Many presumed that it was going down for a refurbishment and it would return the next year. Here we are in 2017 and DarKastle has not opened again for ChristmasTown and hasn't experienced a major refurbishment since 2006. While some projectors have been replaced and regular maintenance has continued many effects are still broken along with sleighs now having reduced movements or struggling to produce audio and many scenes having damaged screens.
Now here we are in 2017 and a maze in DarKastle is taking place along with a Santa experience while the ride continues to fall backwards in time begging for a refurbishment. The park is a cross roads similar to the Le Scoot situation and being that this is also another costly attraction for the park we'll have to see this spring if the golden sleighs return and the castle remains frozen in time, or will Ludwig's curse be lifted and the castle becomes dormant for special events? Time will tell...
I guess the ride got frozen in time along with the castle.
Here's hoping for a permanent Darkastle penguin habitat!
I have friends who worked on this ride's design, and my name can be found deliberately worked into the title of a book in the library scene. Sad to see it go, if it turns out that "permanent" was temporary. (The ride AND the book.)
I rode IoA's Cat in the Hat ride shortly after it opened in Orlando many years ago, and thought it was absolutely fantastic. The ride vehicles spun like crazy from scene to scene, adding a tremendous amount of fun to the attraction.
Went back and rode it again somewhat more recently, and found that the spinning had been dramatically reduced. I'm sure other folks still enjoy it all the time, but I found that the bloom was off the rose once the ride was tamed.
Darkastle seems to have suffered a similar fate. I feel I only experienced the "full" ride the first year I hopped on it, which at this point was quite a while ago. Gotta agree with many others in here... it isn't what it was.
The curse (!) of tech-heavy attractions is that they essentially commit a park to a lifetime of continuous high-skill, high-dollar maintenance PLUS periodic major reinvestments to keep the system relatively up to snuff with the public's expectations. From a marketing standpoint, there's not a lot of return for those expenditures; it's a huge amount of money just to stand still vs. the evolving sophistication of the public. Otherwise the attraction gets left behind as digital equipment and bespoke scenery/hardware degrade and otherwise just become obsolete over time. (Just within BGW, see: Questor sim platform, 4D Globe Theater, DarKastle, Verbolten...)
This won't be a popular opinion here -- but while I'm happy BGW took the leap into something new and different with DarKastle, and while I enjoyed it, I am not surprised to hear that it may be on the chopping block... and I'm not even all that sad to see it go away. I'd feel differently if the alternative was a ride system that was once again firing on all cylinders instead of cruising at partial power, but I don't think that's a reasonable possibility even in a park that spends generously to revamp its log flume. DarKastle was a noble experiment which IMO confirmed WHY regional parks don't typically install these rides.
If DarKastle goes away, will they keep the building as is? Redecorate? Move those awesome queue statues elsewhere? I imagine the structure could be reused in any of a variety of ways. What might it be used for during the regular operating season? That footprint is REALLY sizable.
Went back and rode it again somewhat more recently, and found that the spinning had been dramatically reduced. I'm sure other folks still enjoy it all the time, but I found that the bloom was off the rose once the ride was tamed.
Darkastle seems to have suffered a similar fate. I feel I only experienced the "full" ride the first year I hopped on it, which at this point was quite a while ago. Gotta agree with many others in here... it isn't what it was.
The curse (!) of tech-heavy attractions is that they essentially commit a park to a lifetime of continuous high-skill, high-dollar maintenance PLUS periodic major reinvestments to keep the system relatively up to snuff with the public's expectations. From a marketing standpoint, there's not a lot of return for those expenditures; it's a huge amount of money just to stand still vs. the evolving sophistication of the public. Otherwise the attraction gets left behind as digital equipment and bespoke scenery/hardware degrade and otherwise just become obsolete over time. (Just within BGW, see: Questor sim platform, 4D Globe Theater, DarKastle, Verbolten...)
This won't be a popular opinion here -- but while I'm happy BGW took the leap into something new and different with DarKastle, and while I enjoyed it, I am not surprised to hear that it may be on the chopping block... and I'm not even all that sad to see it go away. I'd feel differently if the alternative was a ride system that was once again firing on all cylinders instead of cruising at partial power, but I don't think that's a reasonable possibility even in a park that spends generously to revamp its log flume. DarKastle was a noble experiment which IMO confirmed WHY regional parks don't typically install these rides.
If DarKastle goes away, will they keep the building as is? Redecorate? Move those awesome queue statues elsewhere? I imagine the structure could be reused in any of a variety of ways. What might it be used for during the regular operating season? That footprint is REALLY sizable.
halfabee said:
I guess my counter to this would be yea I would expect it in those Florida and California (Well I guess almost any Disney or Universal Property around the world) because they operate year round; have little downtime.
I Think what could make it a little better to operate from a Operations and update standpoint is BGW has down time, offseason, shortened weeks in some seasons. Theoretically they could subcontract a team of specialists to come in for one week in that time and do the updates and work to sleds/projectors/screens/effects. Then you have 2-4 guys on your staff work with them and understand the ride system inside and out.
Maybe I'm simplifying it too much but I feel the work on this ride should be easier.
halfabee said:
I think the problem isn't that regional parks can't do these ride systems; I think it's that when BGW did DK it was still really expensive. I bet if they were doing it from the ground up right now it wouldn't cost as much and the ride system would be much better.
Personally I would like them to do one of two things with the ride:
1) Multi-year refurb to distribute the cost of the update. New ride cars, new screens, redoing special effects, ect.
2) A complete redo of the ride. Renames either "Ludwig's Revenge" or "DarKastle Reborn" (I like the second one); and it becomes a shooting dark ride. The story I like for it is:
Because of all the visitors coming to the castle; Ludwig has gained enough power to awaken from his slumber. The rage and insanity from being frozen in time has drove him to lash out at the nearby town. You and the others in the sled have been selected to go in, find Ludwig, and free the town of his wrath.
Heck, you could even do away with the 3-D elements, but keep some screens around between sets for activity, to keep a cohesive storyline to tie in original elements.
Personally I would like option 1 to be the one picked. Over a few years, update a few things here and there, putting a cap on how much you want to spend in an offseason, and maybe change some story elements.
Darkastle's ride vehicles cost half a million dollars each; I don't see them replacing those. Maybe if they do go the refurb route, they'd be reprogrammed- it's much cheaper.
I'm personally hoping they simply close the ride for one season and do extensive renovations. I think Curse of DarKastle adds so much to Busch Gardens and I love having such a cool high-tech ride within two hours of where I live. I would be pretty bummed if it went away.