From 2005-2017, visitors to Busch Gardens Williamsburg were able to tour the castle of King Ludwig during the classic 3D dark ride “Curse of DarKastle.” While the attraction ultimately (much like King Ludwig) met its demise in 2017, Busch Gardens guests now are able to once again enter the frozen castle with the addition of the park’s 10th roller coaster, named DarKoaster in homage to its predecessor.
Billed as “North America’s First All-Indoor Straddle Coaster” and designed by Intamin, DarKoaster takes riders four launches and a traversed track length of more than 2,400′ of track on just about 1,400′ of physical track, completely in the dark.
Ahead of the coaster’s “official” grand opening on Friday, May 19, we were able to experience the coaster along with a group of assembled media and content creators on Thursday, May 18. Obviously, as with any new roller coaster, we have some thoughts on this experience. We’ll attempt to keep this review relatively generic and spoiler-free, but if you truly want to be kept “in the dark” (pun absolutely intended) on all things DarKoaster, feel free to scroll down to the TL;DR at the end of this article.
Building upon the original DarKastle lore, DarKoaster takes riders inside the condemned castle of King Ludwig to investigate a supernatural force with the fictional “Dark Tours.” Signs on the castle doors note the the building has been “condemned” and deemed unsafe, and this theming extends to the queue, as well. While many elements of the original ride’s theming, including wolf statues at the entrance and in the castle’s courtyard, are no longer present as they were in the days of King Ludwig, the queue for DarKoaster features the same pathways as its predecessor.
As guests enter the castle, they’re greeted by a photo of King Ludwig as a young adult, along with some paranormal investigating equipment. Throughout the queue, remnants of “Dark Tours” equipment, including skis and snowmobile parts can be seen as the tour organization prepares for the elements.
The “straddle coaster” trains, first unveiled as jet skis on Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio in 2017, are designed to resemble snowmobiles, perfect to take on the frozen and snowy terrain surrounding King Ludwig’s castle. Each of DarKoaster’s two trains (named Frostbite 17-19 and Wild Wolf 9684, paying homage to the Howl-O-Scream maze that occupied the space after DarKastle closed, Big Bad Wolf, and Wild Maus, which occupied the DarKoaster/DarKastle land prior to 2005) features five rows of two seats, and even for larger riders, the trains felt pretty accommodating. As riders sit in the seats, they pull down a lap bar restraint, and then grab onto the handlebars in front of them before the ride begins.
Taking a left turn out of the station, riders are propelled from the first of four launches, and begin to make their way through the condemned castle in the dark. While the ride never goes faster than a speed that would be acceptable in many residential neighborhoods (top speed: 36 miles per hour, which it doesn’t hit until the fourth and final launch), DarKoaster is the beneficiary of the “speed feels faster in the dark” phenomenon that many indoor coasters utilize. (See: Space Mountain’s top speed of 27 mph.)
After multiple twists, turns and effects, the snowmobile trains hit a switch track, and traverse a majority of the track for a second time, this time with an entirely new set of effects (while the twists and turns remain mostly the same.) Because the coaster is in the dark, it’s difficult to gain an orientation of where inside the ride building or on the track you are at any given time, unless you memorize every turn. (We weren’t able to do that over four rides.) The ride comes to an end with a fog effect before heading into the brake run in the station. In all, the ride experience takes about 90 seconds from dispatch to brakes.
At its core, DarKoaster is definitely a family-friendly roller coaster attraction. If you’re not afraid of the dark – we don’t judge if you are – DarKoaster isn’t breaking any “-est” records for roller coasters. It has its moments of “laterals” that coaster enthusiasts love, but there are no crazy drops or inversions, making this an ideal coaster for families to ride together. Riders have to be 48″ tall to ride — of roller coasters at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, only Grover’s Alpine Express and InvadR have lower height requirements, and its comparatively low top speed compared to other roller coasters at the park, makes it a perfect coaster to bridge the gap between those coasters with lower height requirements and coasters like Verbolten and Loch Ness Monster that have larger drops and inversions.
As for which seat is best? We rode four times in four different rows — Row 2, 5, 3, 1 in order. Each portion of the train had its own benefits that made the coaster extremely re-ridable in each row. If you want the sensation of speed, we suggest waiting for the first row. DarKoaster, true to the faux snow on its facade, is chilly inside (which is going to be a popular location in the warmer summer months for sure), and you feel this temperature disparity the most in the front row. If you’re looking for more forces and the extremely scientific term of “whippiness,” we recommend sitting in row 5. The middle of the train, while not the fastest or the snappiest, has the potential to treat riders to the best views of scenery and show elements on the ride.
If you ask five different people their favorite row on DarKoaster, you might get five different answers, and that’s perfectly acceptable.
TL;DR
If you skipped all the words and photos above just to come down here and get a quick summary, you’re in luck. DarKoaster is a fantastic addition for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and is the perfect coaster to fill a much-needed family coaster gap in the park. It’s a coaster that has the potential to appeal to the masses. Longtime Busch Gardens fans will appreciate the callbacks to DarKastle, families and “coaster enthusiasts in training” will appreciate that the park has complemented its coaster lineup with an accessible ride that’s not too intense (and the air conditioning), and hardcore coaster enthusiasts will appreciate the forceful launches, snappy transitions, and the fact that there’s now 10 coaster credits at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
Bottom Line: DarKoaster gives Busch Gardens Williamsburg one of the most well-rounded coaster lineups of any park in North America. I can’t wait to see how they follow it up.
DarKoaster’s grand opening is May 19. For more information, be sure to visit the park’s website, and follow Busch Gardens Williamsburg on social media! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Take a Reverse POV Ride with Coaster101 Below!
“If you skipped all the words and photos above just to come down here and get a quick summary, you’re in luck”, Perfectly located lol. 1st place I stopped.
Terrible coaster. The feeling of the ride is fine, launches and turns are smooth but what surrounds you during the ride looks cheap and rushed, and for a “family coaster” they missed the mark with the theming. Time to let the history of king ludwig die and move on. I don’t anticipate this ride hitting its ROI targets. Uninspired and poorly executed. Better luck next time.
You can also add low throughput. With 10 people trains and around 2mins of ride length that is only 300 peeps per hour. Decent amount it double that, and great is 3-4 times that.
I hated the ride. Too many jerks and its pitch black with nothing to enjoy.
Rode this for the first time yesteday. Waited over 2.5 hours to get on. When we got off we were all like: Wow, that sucked!! Worst ride at the park!