Busch Gardens Williamsburg Announces Its Holiday Gift to Thrill Seekers: New Attraction to Open May 2005

BGW announces new ride called Curse of darkastle the ride.

http://www.buschgardens.com/buschgardens/va/ar_rides.aspx

http://www.prnewswire.com/broadcast/20789/consumer.shtml

So the question still remains, What exactly is it?

Sounds like BGW is getting their answer to Spiderman at IOA.

Yeah, sounds good. This is one of the most exciting non-coaster announcements in quite a while. I'm just as excited about this now as anything else being built this year, really.

It sure does. If you watch the video clip - they keep hyping "the drop" - sounds cool.

Some quotes from the video:

"When BGW made its wishlist for 2005, we had thrillseekers in mind. We used the most sophisticated technology to build a ride that will test your threshold for fear and excitement"

"Dark Castle is going to smash the limits of drak ride technology. It's going to be so unique. There's no other ride out there that really you can compare it to."

I like the hype :)

Sweet. Looks like one of my favorite parks just got a little better. It's interesting that the final theme seems different than what was hinted at on the first teaser banner that was up earlier in the year. That one had almost a Native American appearance to it. Then again, what would that kind of themeing be doing in a park themed to Europe anway?

Sounds like alternate theme to Spiderman. 3-D villians, Rotating cars, a simulated drop.

Not complaining, since Spiderman is my favorite ride anywhere.

Awesome, I have been waiting for this announcement for a while now. Hopefully we will learn more about it before May, this announcement seems sort of shallow.

I would guess it is a spiderman-like ride with a sort of Haunted Mansion at Disney theme to it...with haunted things, ghosts, etc, etc.

Looks good, can't wait to get down to Williamsburg again.

Josh

If you watch the video, they show a man working on the ride at a computer and the vehicles are exactly like those on Spiderman at IOA. In fact the video reveals a LOT. It's going to be one heck of a great ride with AMAZING themeing and will give the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman a run for its money for best dark ride out there...wow, what a GREAT announcement!

I am very glad to have already planned a June trip to BGW.

Well, guess this more than makes up for Hershey canceling Turbulence. So lets see, those of us on the East Coast will have the world's tallest coaster in Kingda Ka @ SFGAdv, argueably the most unique layout for a floorless in Hydra @ Dorney, a nicely themed top spin in Tomb Raider @ PKI, a good new flat in Sidewinder @ Knoebels, and now argueably what's going to be one of the greatest dark rides ever in DarKastle @ BGW... factor in whatever SFA is getting... and wow, makes my mouth water. Just glad I'm in the Balto/DC area and all these parks are within a three hour drive. But where to start? So many good choices! So many must ride attractions, so little time... and so little money! Time to start saving. *** Edited 12/15/2004 9:15:57 PM UTC by Coaster Lover***

The new TR top spin is at PKD, not PKI. PKI's is two years old. You probably meant Italian Job:Stunt Track at PKI.

Hey CP do you see this....people like this ride...Here's a clone you can build! ;)

<sour grapes>Ok Ok coaster lover, but we'll be having 80 degree weather over the weekend.</sour grapes>

;)

I'm still waiting for Castle Park to announce a new woodie.

About time they make something new.

With this ride I think the wait was worth it!

"Darkastle is going to smash the limits of drak ride technology. It's going to be so unique. There's no other ride out there that really you can compare it to."

That made me think about whether it was going to be a spider man ride with a differnet theme or a new ride altogether. It would be great to get something different rather then spider man with a different theme but either way it looks like it will be great with the amount of work getting done to it.

Edit: Is Darkastle related to anything because on the title of the announcement it said Dark kastle...The Ride. It made me laugh since I don't think there is one.

Edit: fixed Darkastle *** Edited 12/16/2004 2:24:52 AM UTC by WILLDOG***

More than that is that this ride is in Virgiania not Florida. With Disney and Universal any new great technology ride is sort of like SF adding a new rollercoaster. But in Virginia the ride will have no other competition to be the best of its kind or type. *** Edited 12/15/2004 10:20:00 PM UTC by GIGAFORCE01***

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Coasterbuzzer said: You probably meant Italian Job:Stunt Track at PKI.

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Na, I ment TR:TR @ PKD but in the rush "I" just hit the I instead of the "D".

As for the name of the ride...it's "DarKastle" NOT "Dark Castle"...though I'm sure that name confusion will last for quite some time...

Hi guys,

I remember reading about a new type of ride from Vekoma called Pandora's Box. It was covered a bit on screamscape in their IAAPA review. Judging by the building BGW is constructing, as well as the description of the ride, it seems safe to say this is probably what it's going to be. Follow the link, then scroll all the way to the bottom to the heading "Vekoma." Looks cool - enjoy!

http://www.screamscape.com/html/iaapa_2004.html

(Sorry if the link doesn't work - it's the first one I've ever posted)

(Sorry if this is all already common knowledge, though I didn't see it mentioned in the thread)

-Pete

Close, but no RCPete, if you watch the video on BGW's webpage, you can see in the computer animation that the ride uses the same (or a similar) sysytem that Spiderman at IOA uses.