News Attraction Project 2018: Pirates of the Deep Sea

[Shane]

I'm a little late on getting this news up here, but Six Flags Festa Texas has revealed that they will be retiring Scooby-Doo Ghostblasters at the park and installing a new Dark Ride experience.

(12/27/17) Oh no! Six Flags Fiesta Texas has announced that they will be closing down the Scooby-Doo Ghostblasters dark ride at the end of Jan. 7th, 2018... the last day of the park's Holiday In The Park. The good news is that the location "will become the future home to the latest dark ride innovation later in 2018." So at least we will have some kind of new dark ride experience coming to replace it sometime in 2018... but now I'm curious what this will be. Anyone know more?

This is a very similar experience to the long retired Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Mansion rides that were once at Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Canada's Wonderland and the Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle attraction at Kings Island. The Ghostblasters version at Fiesta Texas was even more similar to the generic Boo Blasters versions currently at the Cedar Fair parks.

My initial gut reaction when this was announced was that this would be a de-themed version of the ride like what Cedar Fair did to the original attractions. It smelled very much of a cost-cutting measure to save on fees paid to Time Warner for the use of the Hanna-Barbera characters.

Though long term cost savings may still be the ultimate goal, it looks like the ride won't be turned into a stripped down, IP-less version of the existing ride according to a recent post from NewsPlusNotes.com

As if one of the world's first single rail roller coasters wasn't enough, Six Flags Fiesta Texas has also revealed that they will be adding a new dark ride experience in 2018. The new attraction will mean that the park will retire Scooby Doo Ghostblasters, which opened at the theme park in 2002. Set in the park's Boardwalk themed area, the replacement dark ride is still shrouded in mystery, though the park's president, Jeffrey Siebert, has been giving some clues on the Texas Thrill Seekers Facebook page.

For starters, the new attraction will not be virtual reality based, which is refreshing considering the current trend of 'VR' being incorporated into nearly everything. The new attraction will also open on Memorial Day weekend 2018, happily not late into the season. Finally, the dark ride "adventure" will be family friendly, not just aimed at teens or adults, and carry a theme that fits in the with the Boardwalk.

Mr. Siebert has also stated that an "epic battle" is coming to the park when referencing the ride, and posted the above photo of two pirate-looking ships in mid-battle. So this would appear to be a hint at the attraction's theme, but you never know if it is just a red herring. Either way, I'm curious to know if it will still utilize Scooby Doo's traditional dark ride layout, or if the building will be gutted and feature and all new style of ride system for the attraction.

Hopefully it won't be long until we get a full announcement and all the details.

Source

If I had to speculate I am thinking that the ride might get a some sort of Ghost Pirate theme so that the could re-use some of the existing themeing while still making the ride fresh and new and not a Boo Blasters Clone.