DarKoaster at Busch Garden’s Williamsburg opened to the public today. This new attraction is North America’s first all-indoor straddle coaster and reimagines the beloved Curse of the DarKastle attraction at Busch Garden’s Williamsburg. Holovis’ involvement with the attraction was first announced during the 2022 IAAPA Expo in Orlando.

DarKastle presented Holovis with the unique opportunity to build upon the iconic original attraction’s narrative and fan base. As a turnkey attraction for Holovis, we’ve been involved in the development right from the start, conducting site walks of the existing show building and working with Busch Gardens on the next iteration of the story and narrative. From there, we used models and virtual simulations to help develop and test what show effects and thematic elements we might use to bring this new story to life and how that integrates with the ride system and existing show building. We went through various iterations of show effects, story, characters, and what the experience may include before we reached what we know today as the final product. We then conducted mock-ups and testing at their facilities in the UK and Orlando to ensure what they had envisioned and modelled would work and give the intended effects.

Ben Millerman, Holovis’ Creative Producer on the Project, stated:

“DarKoaster provided the unique opportunity to explore the next evolution in Ludwig’s story in a new form. Holovis is thrilled to have worked collaboratively with Busch Gardens from concept to execution on this new show package. We’ve created something we hope will thrill new guests while providing plenty of Easter eggs to fans of the original iconic dark ride.”

It took a small army of multi-discipline people to carry out media production, character modelling, musical composition, voice-over recordings, scenic fabrication, structural engineering studies, hardware procurement, lighting design, programming and coding, installation, all the elements and skills that are needed to create the overall show package and experience. Coordinating all these elements and seeing the overall experience come together has been exciting. DarKastle has a loving fan base, so we worked closely with Busch Gardens in finding ways to weave Easter eggs and nods to the original attraction into the experience while also creating something that would be a standalone attraction for the modern guest, a new story for King Ludwig which doesn’t necessarily rely on the original.