Well, it has opened so post anything about it here.

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any reviews, im interested - particularly to hear about it from someone who rode spiderman and darkastle

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Dirty Tramp

From the POV of it on TPInsider... it looks like it has a better story then spiderman.

Hmm, where to start. I waited in line from 10:30 to getting off the ride at 1:30 Sunday morning. That's right, a three hour wait with 4 breakdowns within that time period, so I have no idea what the line would be like normally (at least for now, while its new.) Anyways, I thought the ride was awesome, except the two big special effects that were so supposed to happen didn't work while my "sleigh" was making its rounds inside the castle. I thought the ride was really good, the storyline to it was great, but a little hard to follow, but that's just because the pre show's sound, wasn't very loud, and the smallest conversation between two people in front of you could have blocked it out. There were many 3-D props, and I was just barely able to pick out a few things, whether it was real, or not. The main wonder about it is multilpe things happened on many of the screens, not just focusing on one thing at a time, they had many simultaneous 3-D tricks on one of the first screens. The ride did seem a bit to run from screen to screen rather quick, and some of the transitions were'nt that well but maybe those two "lost" effects were supposed to hide the stuff. It actually was very cold inside, just like is says on the commercial.

The preshow was good except for the sound of course as I stated earlier, it wasn't really a video, but it seemed more lie thay had certain cutouts of the characters and placed them into there position on the film, I'm guessing they went with this just for the effect. They certainly could make a movie on the ride if they wanted too. I'm not sure how, but they could.

One funny thing, the castle is supposed to be frozen in time, and just next to the official entrance to the ride, I saw a clock, with icicles dripping down the bottom, and it was stuck on 12:00, so it literally is, frozen..in..time. Another sweet effect was a little bit of water, was coming down the tower on the outside, just enough to see it close up. The waiting line looked great, it all seemed to flow together, especially one semi-circle part around a statue of three wolves, which I've heard is soon to become the garden's hedge maze. Anyways from the one, not correct experience I had, I'd give this ride a 3-star rating, but, it did not have those two things working, which I'm sure made all the difference.

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Sesame Street characters at Busch Gardens Europe!?
Take THAT Magic Kingdom!

I actually have a friend who worked it sunday. Shaved head glasses, if this conjures up any memories and here is a list of problems they had
-Fireplace failure
-Audio failure in a few cars
-the ice shattering thing
good news:
-he said that the mechanics told them that it should be much better next weekend

AND YES JOHN GARDENER DOES EXIST, weither the information is true, thats debateable

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Wait, he worked on it, or he went there?

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Sesame Street characters at Busch Gardens Europe!?
Take THAT Magic Kingdom!

ride operator

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Busch Gardens Visits 05: i lost count
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I did notice the fire in the fireplace wasn't very big when I went through. Also, I don't remember Ludwig being projected above the fireplace in my ride. I didn't notice any shattering ice at all. The audio in our car worked, but it was hard to process what the characters were saying with the distracting accents, background music, and special effects.

Here's my experience from the ride on Sunday. Sorry that it's a little long.
Today's trip to Busch Gardens was AWESOME!!!! We got there at about 9:30 and were able to go right into Hetherdowns to wait to get into Germany. We rode Loch Ness to pass the time. At 10:00 we went to Germany, but aparrently it had already been open. We got in line and were at the end of the garden themed queue that was fenced in by a stone wall. (Excelent theming!!!) After half an hour and barely any moving we were told the ride had been shut down and that maintenence was working hard to fix the problem. After about fifteen minutes we were told the problem had been fixed only to have the ride stopped a few minutes later. Finally after an hour's waiting the ride was ready to start. It took a while to get into the castle. The preshow was an interesting projected pop up book like movie that gave general background information. we moved into the next room to pick up our goggles and line up to board the sleighs when they stopped the ride again for about twenty minutes because one of the sleighs aparrently wouldn't lock its doors closed.
When we finally did get on the ride it was very smooth. Almost like floating. Again, there was excelent theming inside. My memory of the ride is blury. In general though, everything seemed smaller than it looked online. It may have been because of the huge car, but the castle didn't seem so big. The track seemed very squished together. The huge size of the show building almost didn't seem that necessary. You basically bounced from 3D screen to 3D screen during parts of it. I remember spiderman being more set oriented rather than 3D screen oriented than this. DarKastle didn't seem to blend them as well either. Even though the speakers were in the car, It was hard to process what the characters were saying and I couldn't follow a plot. The scenes didn't seem to link together very well. The many 3D arrows and knives shooting toward your face got old after the first few.
Though it had its pitfalls and disapiontments (The fire in the fireplace was barely more than a red glow at the bottom) it was a very good ride. All the technology at work was evident. You could tell how much work went into it. It was a very fast paced ride. The drop felt real. The only thing that messed it up for me was moving to a different room to actually drop.
The only other coments I have about the ride was the set. Inside the castle, it seemed kind of cartoony. Not like the realistic world Spiderman brought you. I don't think it messed up the ride. It actually flowed together nicely. It just wasn't what I was expecting I guess.
We had waited in line for about three hours, and to me it was worth it. (What's three more hours compared to months of anticipation?) It was a generally good ride, but I wouldn't wait that long to go on it again. I had better things to do today. I'm thinking that I'll spend my whole day Saturday either on DarKastle, waiting in line for DarKastle, or eating.
I really couldn't tell you how long a wait it would be without any breakdowns. I'm guessing to wait to get to the preshow from the entrance to the garden would be 45 minutes. But don't quote me on that.
If you want any hope of getting on the ride in a reasonable amount of time, get there before the park opens and go straight to DarKastle. By about 4:00 the line stretched out of Oktoberfest, through France and almost to Alpengeist. I doubt it'll get that long again though. Today was opening day and everyine wanted to ride it. And breakdowns are to be expected.
All in all, I give the ride 4 out of 5 stars.

it didn't rain the whole time we were there. We were able to ride everything worth riding (including DaVinci's cradle which wasn't open at the begining of the day. It only went all the way over the top once for us. It was smoother, though.). Most of the rides were almost walk on because of the huge number of people waiting for DarKastle.

Here are the opening times posted on my map:
Curse of DarKastle is open at 9:30
England opens at 9:00
Scotland, Ireland, France, New France, and Germany open at 9:30
Oktoberfest, Italy, and Festa Italia open at 10:00

Sorry for how long that was.

That has got to be the most hilarious ironic thing I've read in my entire life.

Sry to quote right after the post, but I just had to pull one tiny thing out of the whole experience.

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Sesame Street characters at Busch Gardens Europe!?
Take THAT Magic Kingdom!

I guess that sentence was pretty poorly written. I ment to say that the DarKastle world was more of a complete fantasey world, the environments and all. Spiderman existed in a realistic New York, but had the cartoon characters in it. It also seemed like some of the things in DarKastle would fit in a Scooby Doo castle rather than a real one. I was expecting a Bavarian castle that was more realistic and down to earth. I did realize Ludwig would float, have no legs, and throw energy balls at you, but I didn't expect all the ghosts and moving suites of armer. I'm not criticizing the ride, but it's just not what I expected.

Sounds like it was a great ride. I really have to go and ride it this summer. How was the track layout?

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I'll add my two cents. Edit: More like a quarter.

Got to the park at 5, got in line at 5:20 pm, was in my sled at 8:47pm. During all three rides (yup, I rode it 3 times, more on that later) the "fire room" I guess did not work. Can anyone explain to me what exactly is supposed to happen here? Is it supposed to be pitch black, or was something missing? I sure do hope so.
The Line, as it is now referred to among the group that I was with, was the line from Hell. That was expected. However, after snaking thru yet more chains, we joked that the "Curse" of the ride maybe was the fact that you never actually get on the ride...you just continue getting herded like cattle from one room to another. Preshow=serious letdown. And I was confused as to why we were supposed to stand there and listen to a story in the pre-pre-show when it was not audible. Fast forward to the ride itself. It was interesting, the most amazing 3-D I had ever seen (I've never been on Spiderman, so I admit I'm not a good judge.). The sleds were very shiny and the seats were spotless, which will not last long but was nice to experience once. I found that the height of the sled's sides were a bit distracting when sitting in a side seat. I understand why they are there, but a few inches shorter would not have hurt. What did hurt? Me and I'm still hurting now. I positioned the bar in different places each of the three times, and could not get comfortable. I am rocking a nice deep purple and blue bruise on my right thigh and knee, but am unsure of when it exactly happened on the ride. I DO NOT like the spinning. DO NOT. Two or three times around is okay, but it was very excessive and a little rough in my opinion. I get the point. But like I said, the fireplace I'm guessing was not working, so I'm not sure what the spinning represented. Getting off the ride, my neck hurt bad, and I am very, VERY sore today. Ice effect, very cool, however the end scene was ruined twice for us. The first go-around, we got stuck at the ice/tree faces in the transition into the final scene. We sat there for a good 10 minutes. The timing was off so, we got to witness the last screen, but it was blank when we rode by it. They offered another ride to us, and so we stayed on. Everything was peachy until---the transition into the last room. Got stuck in the same place for the same amount of time. Do you wanna ride again? Why the hell not, so we stayed on again. By now the fireplace thing is pissing me off, and I cross my fingers that we make it thru. We sailed thru the "stuck place" and onto the last scene with no problem.

All in all not a bad ride. Here's some random thoughts for ya:
--At night, the castle looks awesome. I'm hoping they throw in some fog creeping out of the pool in the front. Hollowscream will be awesome in this area if they play it up right.
--The ride operator's costumes look hot. Not Paris Hilton "hot," hot as in sweating their balls off in July hot. It's nice now, but just wait. I've worn that material all day in the summer BGW sun and it sucks. Hard. Hope they get them some summer options.
--Felt like I was at King's Dominion on the ride and in the line? Weird observation, but the ride does not feel like BGW to me.
--Will be a nice place to cool off in the summer, but I will not stand in line for it ever again if the wait time is over 20 min. Not worth it.
--Interested to see how quick it's popularity wears off. It is not rollercoaster that is awesome everytime. It will get old, as it did after only 3 rides. Just like Corkscrew Hill. Fun, but not necessary.
--Can we exchange it for a rollercoaster. Please? Is it too late?

Thanks for reading. Please explain the fireplace to me. I'm confused.
Jessica

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R.I.P Imaginique

Okay, When I went through the one and only time, the fireplace thing didn't work for me either, but ludwig was in the picture/mirrow/whatever it's supposed to be above it. For the fire, there wasn't even a glow on the floor as somebody said earlier. I know there definintely is supposed to be fire there, if not 3-D fire, I guess I'm in the same boat, or sleigh, whatever. Could someone please clear this up, and someone tell me what the ice thing is about.

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Sesame Street characters at Busch Gardens Europe!?
Take THAT Magic Kingdom!

I're read tons of reviews everywhere, including other forums, and most say it's not as good as Spiderman. Get the effects working right Busch! At least Six Flags was smart and delayed it (Kingda Ka) when they knew it wouldn't be ready for the first posted opening date!

i agree jessica, wheres the coaster!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It's coming... 2007, probably, just a guess, Don't bet money on it, Don't put your life on it, but that's the best conclusion since that is the quadricentennial of Vriginia, and Busch can't let something like that get passed by.

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Sesame Street characters at Busch Gardens Europe!?
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I think thats a good theory, i don't want to wait though....Hopefully we'll see something good next year.

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I doubt they'd throw something in right after all that went into DarKastle.

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Sesame Street characters at Busch Gardens Europe!?
Take THAT Magic Kingdom!

i personally thought darkastle was great. i know some of ya'll dont think its that thrilling but i think once they get everything working properly and the lines are shorter the ride should be a whole lot more fun. dont judge the ride completely just yet. i'm sure there were some things hat were not working on opening day that might add a whole lot to the ride. the 3-d effects i thought were great and i loved the storyline. i've always been into fantasy and disney so i think i would like this theme better than spiderman. i personally really liked the spinning. again, i know some of you all did not like it but i think it added a little bit of fun to the ride. at least the park has there dark ride now. it just seems like busch gardens is so complete because they have alittle bit of everything. i was just thinking, maybe the Big Bad Wolf is the wolf that Ludwig saw in the forest when he was young? it's just an idea. also, i can't remember, did darkastle have turnstiles on them before you got on the ride? i was so excited about getting on i didn't really pay attention. anyways, i think darkastle will be another huge hit for the park and become a very popular ride with the whole family. i think it was a wise investment. darkastle rocks!!

none the less will it throw g's at me? will it make me scared for my life? Will it make me look 200 ft down and let acrophobia set in? no, it'll still be fun nonetheless.

DisGarde-i doubt they'd throw something up like that either. They'll have something new though. New Show(please no)? New flat(good enough)? Rename a town and call it something different(Ireland part 2)? We'll find out!, and i'm excited to find out!

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I'm with you on that one, But I have a feeling it'll be the newer imaginique, nothing too special. And In technicality, if you give in to DarKastle's plot, and let yourself believe your really there, technically you will get to look down 200 ft, and let acrophobia set in. Will it throw g's at you, no, but the spinning part is good for some lateral G's.

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Sesame Street characters at Busch Gardens Europe!?
Take THAT Magic Kingdom!

I really hope they don't just throw a new imaginique at us, that would be very dissapointing, its cool but...
anyways hopefully my imagination will kick in at full force sunday when i go, it i do, i pray that i do in fact. I need a day out of here.

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I'm lucky, I'm going again on saturday already, not even a week after I went last. that in my opinion, is just crazy.

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Sesame Street characters at Busch Gardens Europe!?
Take THAT Magic Kingdom!

One of my best freinds is going to BGW for this, he travels a lot, and his grandparents live near the park. He's a fanboy, so he'll say it's better then Spiderman. But it will be interesting hearing a first person account of what the ride was like.

okay.. i'm going to try to reply to this as best i can

Firstly, the ride's very pretty

DarKastle doesn't have turnstiles that you walk through.. but the person that's standing in the roped area right before the pre-pre show uses a hand turnstile (like on the kiddie rides) to keep track of how many guests go through. it's probably the best way since they have to send 64 guests into the preshow at a time.

the ride's beautiful

not sure what the capacity for DK is.. it's supposed to be as much as a coaster. even though i work there, i was there with all the other guests Sunday morning. i was in line by 945 and off the ride by 12. The line moved fast when it was up. There were only two shutdowns while I was in line (to my knowledge) and apparently the timing had been off because the ride tends to shut itself down when the cars come too close. i also rode it a second time.. and the reason for the high end of the cars is to prevent you from seeing scenes behind you from another car's experience.. also near the end there are two scenes played on the same screen i think..

gorgeous theming

so far as costumes go.. there isn't but one position that'll be outside and uncovered once the lines die down.. and more than likely.. they'll have shorts just like everyone else.. but that castle is coolllllldd.. i think i'd just deal with the hour worth of heat instead of spending the rest of the day freezing inside

it's very pretty

the fire in the library is supposed to be big and lifelike.. but the second time i had the same problem where it was only a red glow.. and apparently when you're on the way to the ballroom (where the figures are dancing and such) the room should be glowing red... i agree that the sound effects and background music are very loud whenever the mother talks.. you can hardly here it in the front or back of the sled... the ice breaking part comes at the very end when Ludwig is frozen and kinda crawls out to you and bursts (water effects.. where's my "you will get wet on this ride" sign.. where's my "this ride includes water effects" sign?.. oh.. and i love love the PG rating on this ride..)

this ride has wonderful theming

also, when it comes to the line.. i didn't have to deal with much... i waited in line three times for DK and rode twice.. the first time in line.. there were no discount passes handed out.. which i didn't care about because it was the same discount given to gold passport holders and employees on a regular basis.. i did get one when i got in line the second time (it was at the beginnin of the german village.. where the boogie band goes through in the summer if it's too crowded to go the other way).. i ended up giving mine away to a guest that hadn't gotten one.. the line was like one continuous herding of people going in and out for popcorn, soda, water, nachos, candy, cig breaks and bathroom breaks.. which leads me to my next problem.. TRASH CANS! BGW prides itself on having one every 10 feet.. but i only counted three in the entire line.. and it took every fiber in my being to hold onto a handful of trash for about an hour until i got to a trash can.. not everyone had the same self control.. so there was at least two cast members combing the line for trash.. if ruinin the theming (which was beautiful) was the problem.. do like LOD and make a wolf statue that eats trash.. believe me.. kids love putting stuff in that thing..

all in all.. the ride was a 3 out of 5 for me.. kool.. but too much hype and techie problems for it to be AMAZING.. on the way out..i was just thinking what's going to happen to such amazing theming when the storyline to the ride needs to be changed.. as yall know with Questar, King Arther, and Corkscrew Hill.. even great rides have to change.. especially simulation ones..

did i mention the ride was really pretty?

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I've tried other jobs.. but they say i'm too committed to the park to work for them.. heh

The new Imaginique will happen next season. If you look at their website, 2006 is when it says that Neil Goldburg will be designing a new show for BGW.

Jessica<-----Imaginique expert....seriously

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^where does it say that on their website? i could see them building a new kiddie/junior/family coaster to kinda replace the position of wilde maus. i dont know if they would do this but this could be a possibility for next year.

Overall the whole ride looks kind of boring, not like Spiderman, where there's action and special effects around every corner (I've been on Spiderman and seen a POV of Darkastle with most of the effects working).

Wow, when a park goes for the all-around effect to create a more family like environment, you all go and throw it back at Busch. BGW is not Cedar Point, it doesn't need coasters and coasters to make it good.

Have some of you even considered the fact that rides tend to malfunction, especially new rides with new technology when they open??? Lets not even start on TTD... Even spiderman malfunctions!!!!!! I rode Spiderman last friday and the whole drop scene did not work. The car faced the mock buildings to the right and just moved on through the room. Give them some time to work all the problems out...

Im not even going to compare Darkastle to Spiderman like everyone else shouldn't if they havn't even ridden it yet.

Thats my two cents.

Where did you see the POV video?