Curse of DarKastle

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Zimmy said:
I would think closing DK is more akin to balancing their annual budget rather than pay down or even servicing the debt.  Frankly I am really okay with a balanced budget.  Of course without a deep dive we are only speculating on actual individual park's budgeting.
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Even if they were running at that much of a deficit (I know there are reports out there but I think if they have been doing it that long there's no way they would stay open this long); cutting back on day to day operations can help give them the chance to pay it back.

Making up numbers here, but even if everything they've done has cut spending by 5%, and find a way to increase in park spending even 3% day to day, over the course of the summer they can make a huge impact.

I think closing DK, killing off AFO (I know some people won't like that), the changing up of food options (I've noticed they went to some higher profit margin foods), and other small changes here and there can make an impact on their financials.
 
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The lack of DarKastle on their map would leave a large gap. They probably just wanted to make the map look pretty and not give the impression that the park has a lot of unused areas. It's kind of like how they keep the Royal Palace Theatre on there year-round. It just looks better that way versus empty spaces everywhere.

Tampa has had similar problems when closing attractions. There is only so much you can do as far as adding trees and repositioning signs on the map.
 
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It's also a large, highly visible, and easily recognizable landmark. As strange as it might seem to those of us who know the park well there are people that can't find where they are in it and the more you put on the map the easier it is.
 
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They could also probably clear up some confusion with actual signage around the castle. Right now I still see people walking up to it expecting to ride DarKastle and being confused when nothing is there. I think putting an actual "NewKastle" marquee over the entrance arch, with a sign reading something like "Please join us at NewKastle later this year for special events including Howl-O-Scream, Christmas Town, and more" on the gate, would alleviate some of the ambiguity over the castle's presence.
 
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For a while now I have been thinking about how cool it would be to start a throwback series to Curse of DarKastle with photos videos and sound from the attraction. Anyone can contribute via this thread or by or sending me a PM.

To start off, (before getting aHEAD of myself) I want to show a unique video that I posted a while back, but I don't think it received much attention at the time. In this video, the ride was being shut down; I think before a thunderstorm that was in the area. After the ride, I waited in the station for about twenty minutes before getting off, but I was able to catch this video as soon as things started getting wonky on the ride itself.

This video shows the sleigh traveling at a slow, steady speed without any of the motions. Meanwhile, I'm aiming the camera at several objects and animations that you would not typically have been able to see. Because of this fun coincidence and sharp timing, you can get the closest glimpse that we may ever have of how the lost three portraits scene might have played out if they would have kept it in the ride. If you can't see it: the two portraits of the parents on either side of Ludwig slowly fade to shadows until only Ludwig is fully lit up from behind and in the center.

Also notice that at 2:15, the audio cue that plays late ("They are beyond your reach!"). Although at 2:10, you can very faintly hear the same prompt over the sleigh's speakers in a haunting voice. It's hard to notice, but it sounds distorted like the voice of the girl in the film, The Exorcist.

I could go on about listing trivia (like how you can hear 3 seconds of the ballroom scene music that was switched out after 2005), but I think it might be more fun for some people to find those details on their own.

Enjoy, and please comment on what other things you would love to see or know about this once great attraction. You might be surprised at what remains out there somewhere.

 
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The ride was a hoot and always great for a laugh for me and my family. We will miss it but totally understand things come and go in theme parks.

As we pass by it at the Food and Wine festival this year we will raise our wine glasses and yell "Mother, you're driving me insane".

(Our favorite line on the ride and we use it quite frequently)
 
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Maybe it was a bad idea to have a Food & Wine kiosk right next to a closed ride. Since alcohol tends to bring out nostalgia, I can't wait to hear idle chit-chat around it during F&W. ;-P

Joe said:
You might say it was a... BLAST!
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I think that is the one sound-byte from the ride that I don't have by itself.
 
I don't have much experience outside SeaWorld and Busch parks so I'm not sure about this but it seems most of the big successful dark rides out there are tied to known IP. It seems like Darkcastle type rides rely so much on that a popular IP is a major advantage. I'm sure there are some that are original, but getting people invested in a new story isn't as easy as say Harry Potter. I think this is somewhere the park could use IP without it totally clashing with the setting and park theme. Make that a Game of Thrones dark ride and see the crowds come pouring in. In my opinion. Each park could have a different location too. Williamsburg could havea North based ride, Tampa could focus on Dorne or Essos and SeaWorld could have one set to the Iron Islands.

That's a little off track, but I'm just saying when/if a new ride ever goes in, i hope they put something in with a strong draw and lasting interest.
 
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