DarKastle Closing @ Busch Gardens Williamsburg

[Jwhee]

The ride is being turned into event space. Sounds like they're trying to save money.

From the park's facebook:

"We thought we'd say goodbye to Curse of DarKastle with this final ride (digitally of course). The ride building will transform into a special events venue starting this year. While the ride maintained a loyal following over the last 13 years, we will be able to now offer new & exciting opportunities for Howl-O-Scream, Christmas Town & other events. With that said, we want you to choose the name for the new event space. Which would you prefer: Gartensburg Castle, NewKastle or Oktoberfest Palaste? Comment below with your choice from these 3 (only 1 vote per person)... poll ends Jan. 26 at noon."

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

This is an even bigger waste than turning Wonders of Life into the event pavilion

 

[Viator]

I find it unfortunate, while at the same time..I am totally not surprised nor shocked about the removal of DarKastle from the ride roster. It just doesn't seem like something that SWPR could handle in the modern day, and probably costed a lot to keep up with the effects working.

I'm not mad..I'm just dissapointed.

 

[Mad Dog]

Another terrible move by Seaworld/BG. When it opened it was a nice copy of SpiderMan, lots of fun and thrill. A Universal/Disney level E ticket. . Unfortunately, management let the attraction go to hell like they did with Atlantis in Orlando. DarkKastle should have been the park's premier attraction, but it was neglected along with the rest of the park. BGW was my favorite theme park when the Busch family operated it.Now it's just a shell of it's former greatness. No wonder people quit going to Sea World parks. Can't blame PETA for BGW, like SeaWorld likes to blame them for all their problems. "Bad management" is a cancer that destroys everything it touches. A sad day for BGW. :thumbsdown:....BGW has become just another coaster park.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This is a terrible decision. I'm beyond angry and pissed off. I'm going to have to collect my thoughts when I'm not writing something up and can be rational.

Something unique and different died today. This is a bad day for themed entertainment.

 

[Viator]

I will say this, with SWE spending more capital than they could afford, I am more fearful if they will close down other popular attractions across their brand following this.

 

[WAJAS]

You don’t fix a problem by alienating the fan base. They should have reinvested into this ride and marketed as a whole new upgraded experience by a new name.

 

[Tobias]

Man, this is a sad day for dark rides.

Now I will be honest, I've personally felt DarKastle was a second-rate Spider-Man. It was lacking the little touches that really make that type of dark ride amazing.

With that said, something that cannot be denied is BGW was bold as heck for building this attraction. You have to admire that a regional park was the one to build the second 4D dark ride after IOA. That's unique, gutsy and worthy of applause. An' even with what I said earlier, it was a far better dark ride then the disaster that is Antarctica.

So it really sucks they're closing it, presumably due to maintenance costs which they can't afford due to the company being in such a hole right now. They lost something truly unique, and on top of that, they lost another 42" height requirement attraction! If there is a weakness in the park, they're lacking family attractions like that. They had a perfect 42" family coaster in the form of Big Bad Wolf, but they replaced it with the 48" Verbolten. Then came InvadR which could've easily been 42", but they made it 44" instead. (I'm still irked about that.)

 

[Ryan]

I never got to ride this and man, I always wanted to. What a unique attraction for a regional park. And now it's gone due to lousy budget cuts...

...oh but we get to select the event space's name! Good for us!

Can't even replace it with another dark ride, sheesh. Somebody get Merlin to buy these parks already.

 

[Freak]

I never got to ride this and man, I always wanted to. What a unique attraction for a regional park. And now it's gone due to lousy budget cuts...

...oh but we get to select the event space's name! Good for us!

Can't even replace it with another dark ride, sheesh. Somebody get Merlin to buy these parks already.

Bro do you really want Merlin to run those parks? I guess if you don’t mind most of the rides open two hours after opening. It wouldn’t be that much better.

I’m in the same boat as you. Even worse, I was in the midst of planning a trip this Spring to visit this park and King’s Dominion. Really bummed I will never get to ride this.

Even worse is how they’re handling this. No last call for final rides, no replacement, no final goodbyes. Man, I know the parks are in a bad state, but that’s really going to hurt them. They were all, “Quick! Dump the ride while no one’s looking to save a buck!”

Really disappointed to say the least. They better not get rid of Pompeii as that’s their last surviving indoor dark ride.

 

[Ryan]

There is no possible way Merlin could be worse than management right now.

 

[Nick]

This reminds me of when BGT closed Akbar's Adventure Tours as a cost cutting measure so that the building could be used for Howl-O-Scream and storage.

 

[Jake Obannon]

"Special events venue." Can this theme park chain SUCK any harder? They're the equivalent of lighting up a cigarette on the Hindenburg as it goes down in flames. Shameful.

 

[Mad Dog]

Ironically, I always envisioned this attraction as to what a Universal monsters dark universe ride would be like.

 

[Donald Razorduck]

Things come and go in them parks, sometimes fan favorites bite the dust. (See Blackpool Pleasure Pier's wooden mouse) This park added a solid family woody and the Premiere coaster were both the longest lines in the Park last June. My wife that doesn't do rides had enough entertainment to not nag us about taking her back taking the room. The landscaping was stunning and we got solid me of the best theme park pics of the kids we have ever seen. I'm glad I experienced this ride but it was a one and done for us. The kids could not get enough of Verbolten. But some as still very bitter over Big Bad Wolf going bye bye. Can't please them all.

 

[Mad Dog]

This was still a fairly new expensive attraction though, which makes the closing even more ridiculous.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Things come and go in them parks, sometimes fan favorites bite the dust. (See Blackpool Pleasure Pier's wooden mouse) This park added a solid family woody and the Premiere coaster were both the longest lines in the Park last June. My wife that doesn't do rides had enough entertainment to not nag us about taking her back taking the room. The landscaping was stunning and we got solid me of the best theme park pics of the kids we have ever seen. I'm glad I experienced this ride but it was a one and done for us. The kids could not get enough of Verbolten. But some as still very bitter over Big Bad Wolf going bye bye. Can't please them all.

BBW was replaced with another coaster. And DarKastle's closure goes in the face of regional parks' push into the profitable Christmas event season. It shows a lack of vision from management and a bigger overall issue with the Busch/SeaWorld parks.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Why exactly do people hate Merlin? I have no opinion of them, just wondering.

 

[youhow2]

The ride wasn't as great as some people make it seem, but it was fairly next level for a regional park at open.

I mean, After a couple years or so all the effects stopped working, and it was 95% screen based. The physical sets were a joke, If I remember correctly the only physical parts of the ride were the "trees outside the gates", A hallway with some paintings that transformed, but the effect hasn't worked in years... and then the empty library with bookcases painted onto the walls and you could clearly see the maintenance bay door with it's light on almost all the time.

 

[Disneyhead]

They should remove all the screens, buy 1 cheap AA and turn it into Count von Count's Castle Adventure.