Busch Gardens Williamsburg was once home to an unique dark ride: Curse of DarKastle. The ride operated for 13 seasons, before it was closed in 2017. Four years after the closure, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is finally looking to replace the dark ride with a new ride. The new ride, according to rumours, should be a roller coaster.
Curse of DarKastle was a dark ride, designed by Falcon’s Treehouse, that combined physical sets with 3D projections. The ride system was built by Oceaneering and contained motion-based ride vehicles. The ride was located in the Oktoberfest-section of the park. The exterior of the ride looks like a Bavarian castle, which is also where the story of the ride took place. The ride debuted on May 1, 2005 and operated for the last time on September 4, 2017. The show building had been used for a haunted house called “FrostBite” during the Halloween season from 2017 to 2019, but has been used as storage ever since.
According to rumours, Busch Gardens is now stripping the building to make room for a new attraction. The park has not made an official announcement yet. However, the whole project has been dubbed “DarKoaster” by fans. It is not known whether the new ride will qualify as a listing in the Dark Ride Database, though rides replacing a previous dark ride are generally dark rides or semi-dark rides. Curse of DarKastle’s replacement should be operational in 2023. Until then, the only (semi-)dark ride in the park remains the water ride Escape from Pompeii.
