Busch Gardens Williamsburg announces Curse of DarKastle

"Never before has a combination of innovative technology, state-of-the-art motion-based engineering, and visual projection come together to deliver an incredible theme park ride."

Busch has obviously never heard of Spider-Man at IOA. Nonetheless, this looks to be an incredible ride.

I look like good to be a good thrill ride. It also a can some features like Spider-Man in IOA or much more newer.

Dood the ride looks great and it feels I want ride it. By away it looks even better, and scacier than Super-Man IOA

Eh. I can't believe the technology has improved that much since the implementation of spider man. I don't think they will be able to do much with the car that hasn't already been done on spider man at IOA. And I can't really think of anything they could do to make the experience better - maybe interaction between the audience and the characters??? Who knows, anyway, this should be nice but won't bring me there. Good effort on BGW part. On the other hand some market analysts must think its a good idea. Whatever.

Hmmmm... I think I'd be more inclined to hit BGT for Shiekra with the possibility to driving 1.5 hours for Spiderman than visit BGW just for this.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud the effort. Especially with it being the only one of it's kind in that area of the US, but would it draw me if I had taken a ride on Spidey? Probably not.

The general public, OTOH, are probably going to go ga-ga over it, and that's all that matters anyway.

I'm more amused by the press video though.... 'here, watch the news report, the watch the news report AGAIN without the voiceover and long shots of people welding!'

I agree, Travio. Even though it looks a lot like Spiderman technology, I welcome the same kind of ride with a new storyline. BUT, what about guests who have rode Spiderman at IOA before? Are they going to say, "Wow, it's a whole lot like spiderman at IOA! Sweet!", or are they going to say, "Hey! I thought this ride was going to be new and unique, darnit!"?

"Never before" is misleading, unless of course the ride has some brand new and super unique surprise that they haven't yet told us about.

I am still planning a trip for the first time in about 10 years, mostly because of DarKastle. I am thinking it will be very interesting to see what another ride of this kind will be like.

To be honest, I doubt if the majority of the GP at BGW will even make the connection between Spidy and DarKastle. A few will probably see some comparisons, but beyond that, most will blissfully think it's unique and really cool. I doubt if many DAK visitors realize that Dinosaur uses the same basic technology as Indiana Jones at DL. (Of course, Dinosaur doesn't utilize that technology nearly as well either...)

Has anyone heard rumors of the price tag for this ride? At nearly $100M, Spiderman was one of the most expensive rides ever built...I can't imagine a regional seasonal park spending that kind of cash. Also, I always had the impression (from all those "behind the scenes" shows) that Spiderman used technology that was proprietary to Universal Studios. I assume now that I made an incorrect assumption...

Joel

Are you saying that coaster geeks aren't representative of the population at large? I don't believe you! ;)

Dinosaur doesn't just use the same basic technology as Indiana Jones Adventure, it's the same ride. Everything but the set dressing is the same from one ride to the next.

All I can say is that its been quite a while since BGW announced a new ride (5-6 years?!). BGW is an awesome park but a dark ride isnt something to keep the guest comming imo.

Good thing you aren't making the decisions, then:).

Dark rides are fastly becoming more and more popular. Just because it isn't a coaster doesn't mean it won't keep people coming back, I've never been to IoA, but when I go next year, the first thing I'll probably hit is Spidey, becaue even all of the GP I know say it's "Just that good"(TM).

I'm excited. I'm actually gonna try to do SFA, PKD, and BGW next year, maybe in early August.

doing pkd and bgw early next season but now i may wait for darkastle to be open for sure

I have heard from one of the folks that works for the company building DarkKastle. They will be luck to get it done on time. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't open for about a month after the park itself opens (March 19th).

hey

BGW had actually been spending their money on general park improvements, and the last major thing they noticeably spent money on was Trappers Smokehouse, a couple of years ago... It's about time they got a new ride, but this is the 1 year in 6 that i don't have a seasons pass... oh, and you don't see a regional park getting really expensive stuff, you might've forgot that BGW is backed by Anhueiser-Busch, and could probably have been in a tie for most coasters in a park if they really felt like it, compliments of the beer sales, investors, and park sales. But hey, what do I know... :) DarKastle is probably a much more detailed version of Spidey, as Busch generally puts lots of minor details into their rides and park.

Hello from Florida, I used to work at BGT at Rhino Rally, and I still have friends that work there. I get the hook up about information concerning SheiKra. Monday the IMMELMAN was topped off., they dont have much track left to construct other than the block brake section and both vertical drops. Included is a link to see the immelman, which is a B&M first on a sit down coaster, and also a first on the diving machines.

http://www.bgtguide.com/2005/immtop.php

BGT is not sure if the coaster is going to pause at the top of the second vertical drop, but the coaster will pause on the top of the 200 ft drop.

Enjoy the pics of the SheiKra construction.

ExRhinoRallyDriver, Jesse

OH I frgot t mention to any of you who have ever eaten at the smokehouse at BGT, It is even better than before. A bit expencive, but worth every penny.

(thinking to self) I can't believe i forgot to mention food.....LOL

ExRhinoRallyDriver

From what I understand Busch Gardens' new dark ride, "Curse of DarKastle: The Ride" will be opening in May of 2005. That was the original date for the unveiling. They are putting the finishing touches on it as of this week and plan to begin testing the ride. It has been rumored to be truly unparalleled and will only resemble the respective "Spiderman" at IOA due to it being a dark ride and having the 3-D effects. This new ride HAS remained a mystery though even to it's employees that work there and not much will be known more about it beyond what was in the press release until it is actually unveiled. I myself am very excited about it and I will be hopefully working there this season. If all goes well, I'll be working the DarKastle ride itself! But PLEASE check out the website link above. It's got some GREAT teaser pics as well!

There is ONE thing I forgot to mention...I have been able to get some information out of one employee that works there and they told me that this ride has a "White Knuckle Drop" that was mentioned in the press release that has NEVER been seen in any dark ride prior to this one. So all the hype is for good reason it would seem. I hope to see you all there!

~Sweetkid

Hello everyone.... Sheikra is up and running... the best coaster i have ever ridden, very fast and very tall........LOL A must see / experiance attraction when visiting BGT.