Project Drachen Spire: Multi-Launch Shuttle Giga (Cancelled?)

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General Information:​

"Project Drachen Spire," is a community-generated identifier for the Intamin-made, multi-launch, shuttle giga coaster that was originally slated to open at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 2021. The attraction is planned to utilize the currently-vacant land behind Verbolten, Festhaus Park—the former home of Drachen Fire.

The coaster's main layout—as leaked before the addition was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic—featured two launches, two spikes (one spiral, one vertical-ish), and a couple of banked turns. Drachen Spire was designed to run two trains by means of a pair of switch tracks connecting the primary, shuttle portion of the layout to the station platform.

Important Articles:​

  • Most Up-To-Date Understanding of the Layout:
    bgwfans.com

    Leaked Electrical Plan Depicts Busch Gardens Williamsburg's 2021 Roller Coaster in Detail – BGWFans

    If there’s a god, he’s up there laughing this afternoon. Why? Because BGWFans just had one of those classic sitcom moments. Yesterday, we published our painstakingly detailed analysis of the footer plan for what we believe is Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2021 roller coaster—seemingly a huge...
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  • Most Recent Status Update:
    bgwfans.com

    Drachen Spire Height Waiver Extension Details – BGWFans

    Just over a week ago, we reported on the renewal of the notorious 355 foot Festhaus Park height waiver that was originally requested for the controversial, Intamin-made, multi-launch, giga, shuttle coaster we’ve dubbed Drachen Spire. In last week’s article, we were very careful to leave the door...
    bgwfans.com bgwfans.com

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Previous Thread:​

 
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Pompeiiboy said:
I genuinely wonder if this coaster will ever come to fruition considering the current events in the world. And if it does, when?
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I would expect it in 2022. As long as next season the park gets to be open next year for a good amount of time at a high enough capacity. That's really the biggest question. Even then the park might decide it's a good idea to go into 2022, which will hopefully be the first year with no COVID restrictions, with two new attention grabbing coasters.
 
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The big question mark continues to be the alleged prepayment deal with Intamin, assuming the strings attached to the height waiver approval from JCC are reconsidered given how the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into everything.

If enough has been paid down already, the complete cancellation of the ride becomes a slimmer possibility.

However, if they are willing to let this one go, I'd hope that whatever capex budget that still remains would go into fixing up existing rides and theming before circling back to using this plot of available land.
 
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Jonesta6 said:
The big question mark continues to be the alleged prepayment deal with Intamin, assuming the strings attached to the height waiver approval from JCC are reconsidered given how the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into everything.

If enough has been paid down already, the complete cancellation of the ride becomes a slimmer possibility.

However, if they are willing to let this one go, I'd hope that whatever capex budget that still remains would go into fixing up existing rides and theming before circling back to using this plot of available land.
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You hit it on the head. This ride is supposedly pretty much already paid for by the park. They really just have to pay to construct it. If that is true, which I currently haven't been shown any evidence to suggest otherwise, then it seems very unlikely that this ride won't happen at some point. Most likely in 2022.
 
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Yeah—people need to remember that planning was full steam ahead on this until the shutdown hit in March. Ground was set to be broken just a few months from that date. It seems very likely that support and track fabrication could have already been in full swing at the Intamin plant by the time COVID hit.

I’m not saying the ride will definitely happen—but I’m pretty sure it would be a big red flag if we found ourselves in a timeline where it didn’t.
 
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BGWnut said:
I would expect it in 2022. As long as next season the park gets to be open next year for a good amount of time at a high enough capacity. That's really the biggest question. Even then the park might decide it's a good idea to go into 2022, which will hopefully be the first year with no COVID restrictions, with two new attention grabbing coasters.
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What we really don't know at this point is whether or not the capital expenditure for the ride is already part of their 2020 financials, and whether they're on the hook for the manufacturing costs that had already been accrued (presuming, of course, that Intamin had already begun manufacturing before things shut down). If they're already invested in the project, it doesn't really make sense to scrap it entirely, although certainly the theming/concept side of things is probably going to be scaled back from what has been posted in the thread so far.

And going exclusively by my experience playing Rollercoaster Tycoon as a kid, shuttle coasters were an inexpensive way to create a cheap new thrill ride, so in some ways they're lucky that they weren't on the hook for something more substantial for 2021.
 
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Memles said:
What we really don't know at this point is whether or not the capital expenditure for the ride is already part of their 2020 financials, and whether they're on the hook for the manufacturing costs that had already been accrued (presuming, of course, that Intamin had already begun manufacturing before things shut down). If they're already invested in the project, it doesn't really make sense to scrap it entirely, although certainly the theming/concept side of things is probably going to be scaled back from what has been posted in the thread so far.

And going exclusively by my experience playing Rollercoaster Tycoon as a kid, shuttle coasters were an inexpensive way to create a cheap new thrill ride, so in some ways they're lucky that they weren't on the hook for something more substantial for 2021.
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More like the majority was part of their 2019 financials. For all intents and purposes, the park had already paid Intamin for Pantheon and this ride. In fact the construction team was supposed to move to festhaus park as soon as they were finished with Pantheon.
 
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@Memles - granted real life and RCT2 hardly intersect anymore considering the only shuttles in the game resemble Arrow loopers, I presume you're probably correct in that a shuttle without any inversions or a complex layout with crazy elements should be fairly cheap to build.

However, it's not a simple out and back with the overbank into the drop to the ravine before the spire, so my guess is the larger expense is custom engineering which by now had probably mostly taken place.
 
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Nicole said:
Here is the BGWFans article about Project 2021:

bgwfans.com

Leaked Electrical Plan Depicts Busch Gardens Williamsburg's 2021 Roller Coaster in Detail – BGWFans

If there’s a god, he’s up there laughing this afternoon. Why? Because BGWFans just had one of those classic sitcom moments. Yesterday, we published our painstakingly detailed analysis of the footer plan for what we believe is Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2021 roller coaster—seemingly a huge...
bgwfans.com bgwfans.com
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Thanks!
 
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