I'm pretty sure they're not wanting to resurrect memories of a multi million dollar "mistake".
Drachen Fire
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
I might be able to give some insight on that.. ? DM me on Twitter for more info. You can find me @GolubRblx
A serious photographer with a higher-end film camera in the 90s was a resource not to be trifled with!
Hello guys! Long time no post from me! Just thought you might enjoy this Drachen Fire tribute I finished yesterday. 
Never got to ride it myself. I actually missed out on Wolf by a couple of months too. ? I'd have probably really liked Drachen Fire... Big fan of Vortex, Viper and Anaconda.
This and my other coaster tributes are available from my Etsy as tees and posters. Can also check me out on Instagram if you wanna see more art.
Thanks!
Never got to ride it myself. I actually missed out on Wolf by a couple of months too. ? I'd have probably really liked Drachen Fire... Big fan of Vortex, Viper and Anaconda.
This and my other coaster tributes are available from my Etsy as tees and posters. Can also check me out on Instagram if you wanna see more art.
Thanks!
Just so everyone knows, @HAJiME has been given permission to post his coaster art alongside relevant links to his Etsy store and social media on ParkFans. We figured that, given the relevance and quality of the content, an exception to the self-promotion rule was in order.
It really is an excellent piece! Thanks for sharing @HAJiME! Hope to see artwork for other VA rides in the future!
It really is an excellent piece! Thanks for sharing @HAJiME! Hope to see artwork for other VA rides in the future!
Hello guys! Long time no post from me! Just thought you might enjoy this Drachen Fire tribute I finished yesterday.
View attachment 13103
Never got to ride it myself. I actually missed out on Wolf by a couple of months too. ? I'd have probably really liked Drachen Fire... Big fan of Vortex, Viper and Anaconda.
This and my other coaster tributes are available from my Etsy as tees and posters. Can also check me out on Instagram if you wanna see more art.
Thanks!
First beautiful work.
Now the, "burst your bubble," part.
(warning: the following is just one mans opinion)
As an unabashed Arrow fan boy, I can say this with complete honesty. You did not miss much with DF. (I personally think you did not miss much with BBW either, sure it was different and unusual and well themed, blah, blah, blah, but frankly for about half its life it was almost force less) DF was an interesting idea, but VERY poorly executed. Many people found it frankly painful. I loved the speed, when it was running well, but I think its elements often missed the mark. Its drop, for example, had a poorly executed cork screw, that killed all its downward force and did little in the way of directional force.
I think both rides suffer from, "rose tinted glasses."
While I never found Drachen Fire to be as painful as (e.g.) Anaconda, there is no denying that DF looked far better than it rode.
I'll carry water for my boy Big Bad Wolf, though. The janky nature of the vehicle assembly embodied the word contraption, lending a "will we or won't we" essence to the question of making it back to the station intact. Discovering the high-touch nature of BBW's maintenance needs was ... unsurprising. Loved that ride.
Anyway. Drachen Fire was the only coaster at BGW -- ever -- where I saw (and rode) a train that was dispatched without anyone manually checking harnesses. It was a rare Very Bad Day at the park in 1997, with seemingly every major ride going down that day. Also, King Arthur's Challenge was still at the park, and I had hoped it would be a one-year wonder that disappeared after its '96 inaugural year. No such luck. Unfortunately, it saw no downtime at all that day.
I'll carry water for my boy Big Bad Wolf, though. The janky nature of the vehicle assembly embodied the word contraption, lending a "will we or won't we" essence to the question of making it back to the station intact. Discovering the high-touch nature of BBW's maintenance needs was ... unsurprising. Loved that ride.
Anyway. Drachen Fire was the only coaster at BGW -- ever -- where I saw (and rode) a train that was dispatched without anyone manually checking harnesses. It was a rare Very Bad Day at the park in 1997, with seemingly every major ride going down that day. Also, King Arthur's Challenge was still at the park, and I had hoped it would be a one-year wonder that disappeared after its '96 inaugural year. No such luck. Unfortunately, it saw no downtime at all that day.
Thank you! For both letting me share and the kind words! I have some ideas for other VA tributes... Coming one day!
It was a bloody nightmare not gonna lie.
I grew up with the Arrow suspended Vampire as my first big coaster, so I totally get what you're talking about. I'm very grateful that we still have Vampire, albeit with open Vekoma trains. It got a new lease of life as a family coaster with a lower height restriction. I had a 3 year old ride it when I worked with it once! THREE!
But I also kinda love VBolt soooo...
That track looks so Morgan like lolHello guys! Long time no post from me! Just thought you might enjoy this Drachen Fire tribute I finished yesterday.
View attachment 13103
Never got to ride it myself. I actually missed out on Wolf by a couple of months too. ? I'd have probably really liked Drachen Fire... Big fan of Vortex, Viper and Anaconda.
This and my other coaster tributes are available from my Etsy as tees and posters. Can also check me out on Instagram if you wanna see more art.
Thanks!
That is some awesome artwork you did HAJiME. I really like the dragon and fire around the coaster track.
Here's a (really old) Drachen Fire site plan that I forgot I had. Don't know why I didn't publish it previously.
Hopefully this helps with someone's future NoLimits recreation efforts! I expect to see the proper kinds of trees in the correct locations from now on! ?
Hopefully this helps with someone's future NoLimits recreation efforts! I expect to see the proper kinds of trees in the correct locations from now on! ?
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Here's a cool commercial featuring Drachen Fire.
The use of Kumba in that ad is a depressing look at what could have been. ?
This was posted this am on /r/rollercoasters. Poster says it's from his old BGW collection. Lift hill walk in 1996. I invited the poster to the site so he can share here.
Man seeing all the structural quirks of the ride from that angle really opens up just how messed up that ride really was. The more of these pictures I see the more amazed I am it even lasted as long as it did.
I just skimmed thru the thread and didn't see it mentioned, nor had I heard this before -
(According to /u/arksein on /r/rollercoaster, where the lift hill picture originated) - The trains had red runner lights that used moped batteries to power them. "At night you'd see a red blur racing through the barely-lit course."
At 1:21 of this (really old) raw video you can see the glow.
View: https://youtu.be/-iZyTgXWmIo
I know how picky JCC is about lighting, but how cool it would be if similar lighting was outfitted on the new MMXX coaster trains!
(According to /u/arksein on /r/rollercoaster, where the lift hill picture originated) - The trains had red runner lights that used moped batteries to power them. "At night you'd see a red blur racing through the barely-lit course."
At 1:21 of this (really old) raw video you can see the glow.
View: https://youtu.be/-iZyTgXWmIo
I know how picky JCC is about lighting, but how cool it would be if similar lighting was outfitted on the new MMXX coaster trains!
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