Pun_Machine

Thanks for the photos CFC! Progress photos of this ride have been my drug lately... Every day i go online and can't find new pictures i exhibit withdrawal symptoms! I absolutely cannot wait for the 18th!

Correct me if i'm wrong but they used to do that didn't they? Like the first few seasons it was open if i recall. I feel like there used to be some effect, at the least some orange light and a blast of air, but i seem to remember it being hotter as you entered the fireplace.

Man, did they reduce the spinning even more than before? The last time i rode it it felt like it only spun once or twice. I like that they've added the effects back in that part got really lame lately... i could do without the preshow. It's a great ride, if only there was some magic to make that line shorter.

I had heard earlier this year that changes were being made to Darkastle. Has anyone that's been to the park noticed anything new?

Makes sense, thanks for the clarification.

As i understand it LSMs function as both launch and brake depending on how/if power is supplied to the motors. If my understanding is correct these could function as blocks if required.

It looks like they plan on potentially unloading 2 trains and loading 2 trains at a time.

Whiners will find anything to whine about. If the park had sprung for a full on bridge to be built rather than a façade, if the footers were minimal and beautifully sculpted, even if the forest were as thick and lush as could be, year round, the same people would find some obscure minutia to groan about. They don't consider real things like budgets, time constraints, and technical limits... If it's not as perfect as the fantasy they've built in their mind it's garbage. Given that this is Busch Gardens, and given what they have to work with i'd say they're going above and beyond! It's not just coaster enthusiasts... there are whiners in every community.

Awesome photos guys! Watching the progress of this ride never gets old.

A new video just posted on the Facebook page: The Trains!

I wonder if we're going to get a sneak peek of the themeing inside the show building before the ride opens... I'm really anxious to see what they're going to do with that. So far all i have to go on is those few seconds of the model in one of the promo videos and the stuff detailed in the plans that were leaked last year.

Pretty smart of them to take this route after what happened with the Mach Tower marketing last year... Looks like they've learned their lesson. Also, good on them for broadening their marketing reach for this ride as well. If it turns out to be what we've been expecting it could be a destination attraction, no doubt.

New Video posted on the FB page talks about the freefall drop and river dive.

@JAMMYD778 Nice! I think that's a fairly accurate prediction based on what we've seen so far. The show building is going to be a real surprise. In seeing this, and putting that together in my head of what we've seen that is actually going in there it's gonna be amazing! I can't wait for this ride to open!

Cool little trivia bit: Schwartzwald is German for Black Forest.

This doesn't surprise me for a 5 train ride. They will likely park one in the loading station block, one on the unloading station block and the remaining three on the storage tracks when it's not in operation. The space behind the loading station is likely for maintenance.

Thanks for the trip reports and photos! Great stuff, i've been looking forward to this since you announced you were going. I'm getting really pumped up to ride this thing, summer can't come soon enough. I was comparing the leaked plans to the latest photos to get an idea of what to expect from the final ride. I noticed something in the show building that i hadn't seen before. It looks like there's going to be some theming element on the floor in the center of the helix... It's labeled 'vortex' and looks like swirling branches... Looks like that part of the ride is going to be a pretty intense experience. There's also something in that area called the 'moon box.' Any ideas what that might be?

From the plans that leaked last year, and pictures i've seen of the site it looks like that themed wall will resemble an overpass and only covers the entrance to the event building. It would be nice if they extended that theming to the exit as well, but it doesn't look like that's the case.