Project 2021/Drachen Spire: Intamin Multi-Launch Shuttle Giga Coaster [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:
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    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...
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NoLimits Model of the Layout:​

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As far as I've been able to determine, all we know right now is a general area of the height waiver request. I'd think we have to wait until they file a request with the FAA that will give an exact location then we can have 20-30 pages of speculation/guesses/wishes/"expert input"/"I heards"/”it's gotta be"/etc.
 
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sunchild said:
you can literally copy and paste 325 in that area. Both other rides are very low on that side of the park and invadr even has a sound tunnel. I'm not saying that there wont be a giga in the back area, I just think it's unlikely.

You say that they don't care about building out that way, and yet there is nothing to show that they want to. None of the height waivers have had anything even close to the golf course.
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I think you are really overestimating the space that exists in that area of the park.

Why do you think the park is concerned that there is a golf course over there? They have never given any signs that they care about that. They've never built that way because it would be more expensive to build a ride that goes out into undeveloped land where they would have to build access roads than to build in areas already developed by the park and they haven't built a coaster since Apollo that needed that much space that they needed to do that.

I'm also not sure what they would be concerned about in regards to a going course being down there. It's noisy? But at the area where they would come close to the golf course would most likely be a turn around so the sound would be minimal. The part that creates the most noise is the lift hill and drop. Also the height waiver is only for the highest part of the ride. It would be ridiculous for them to have the highest portion be that far away from the entrance to the coaster.
 
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Just my general sentiment towards these threads.
 
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As much as I love countless pages of repeat speculation for every single BGW attraction, I figured I'd try to start some conversation based on the facts we know to this point. With the public hearing coming up for Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, the attachments for the 2019 height waiver are on JCC's website. There's the staff report (which I already shared here), the full balloon test document, a table including past height waivers for Busch, and the location map. Interestingly enough, they mark the approximate location for the tallest point to be smack dab in the middle of the former Drachen Fire site. Also, according to the height waiver and a little bit of math, the elevation underneath the highest point is 80' (see second image).

I must say that this is all very rough and for planning purposes, so the exact location won't be known until later in the filing process, but at least we know that the highest point will be somewhere in the FHP area. As a comparison though, MMXX's location was shown closer to the Rhine than where we know it will be. This information doesn't really narrow anything down for us too much yet (type of ride, layout, etc.), but I do believe it might debunk the theory of using the land adjacent to Bolt's station.

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To keep @kingadam happy and show some love, I'll bite.

I know the high point is no way exact, but I'm hard pressed to see how, logistically, a giga high point could be anywhere in the DF "dirt area". By horrible reference (i.e. Google Earth measure) Intim 305 lift hill is about 360ft and Fury over 550ft (they can't be that different can they?). That would put either, if we logically place a station at or near the old DF station, peak over hallway to the Rhine. I know there were variances in the MMXX, but no where near that far.

Thus, I'm still convinced it's (maybe @Zachary was on to something) we might see an Intamin "package" of an updated Falcon's Fury and (maybe) a Megalite "through the Black Forest” (cheaper) or (to stay in the "we gonna launch everything") a Blitz Coaster (probably more $$).
 
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I could see a layout like this happening ??
 

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I really think they won't put anything in that area without developing it more.. but I worry if it's "new Spain" they might build a border wall around it to keep out the locals..
 
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Jpineda96 said:
I could see a layout like this happening ??
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But that puts the high point about at the shoreline of the Rhine (the "bay", so to speak). That's pretty far from the estimated high point.
Jahrules said:
I really think they won't put anything in that area without developing it more.. but I worry if it's "new Spain" they might build a border wall around it to keep out the locals..
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My gut feeling is they'll "Festa-ize" it to save money; make it a "satellite" of Germany/Oktoberfest. Perhaps they'll carry the current name of "Black Forest" and come up with some concocted "story".
 
The approximate high point in that picture is exactly the same spot of the top of the lift in my B&M Flyer / Black Forest Amphitheater concept I've shared on here and with the park. Not 300 feet, but then again neither is MMXX. Not likely but it got me excited nonetheless.
 
GrandpaD said:
Thus, I'm still convinced it's (maybe @Zachary was on to something) we might see an Intamin "package" of an updated Falcon's Fury and (maybe) a Megalite "through the Black Forest” (cheaper) or (to stay in the "we gonna launch everything") a Blitz Coaster (probably more $$).
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Isn't that already what we're getting next year?
 
Basically yeah.. we've been hearing rumors that MMXX has a "yet to be announced" kissin cousin.
 
madmax said:
Isn't that already what we're getting next year?
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I don't consider them the same. Close, but the switch track and reverse spike make them different, in my opinion. But truly I think they'll get a tower/Megalite combo which is probably more bang for the buck.
 
GrandpaD said:
I don't consider them the same. Close, but the switch track and reverse spike make them different, in my opinion. But truly I think they'll get a tower/Megalite combo which is probably more bang for the buck.
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They’re the exact same style of ride. They need something original.
 
If this was the 90's or early 00's, I'd say they would be doing something original. But BGW hasn't been that way for a while.
 
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