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:
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    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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Jonesta6 said:
So... Hamlet expansion/new hamlet?

I'm thinking of a tower ride, maybe a new theatre type thing, shops and food... And new offices and backstage areas so that the stuff under EFP can be removed for that ride to either be replaced or massively overhauled more than the fixes made this year.

Or a badass coaster of some sort and I still have just as good of a clue as anyone else.
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The only thing under EFP is the maze that it houses that sits there all year. Nothing that they would need to find a home for before they one day tear it down.

Personally I'm thinking it's not going to be a new Hamlet completely. Potentially a new Germany area to go along with Rhinefeld and Oktoberfest. I would love a new new country to be introduced but I don't know if it will be. That seems less likely to me than a Giga
 
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BGW isn't a desperate park in need of a giga-coaster (MAJOR) investment. Nor are they likely doing SO WELL that they can splurge on one for the heck of it.

Wondering if folks here respect/understand just how expensive a giga-coaster is to approve, build, maintain, etc. Or how it essentially redefines a theme park.
 
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Drachenwolf said:
BGW isn't a desperate park in need of a giga-coaster (MAJOR) investment. Nor are they likely doing SO WELL that they can splurge on one for the heck of it.

Wondering if folks here respect/understand just how expensive a giga-coaster is to approve, build, maintain, etc. Or how it essentially redefines a theme park.
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To the contrary, after reading here for a good while, it seems there are an excessive respect/understanding of everything park related, ride related, and even corporate financing aspects.
 
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I'm going to make the most solid case for a giga that I can make here:
1 - One of the last major plots available. I know people like to counter this one all the time with the area by Apollo's turn around. That's not a feasible expansion area, and in personal digging, it seems like there are some protected wetlands in that area. It's also an extremely long hike to get to it from almost anywhere else in the park. If BGW is ever going to build a giga, this might be one of the last spots for them to put something in that's going to take space.

2 - The height waiver limits what it can be. Yes I know that 2017's height waiver of 315 feet didn't get fully used. So what. Parks don't file waivers to 'fake out' the small percent of fans that pay attention to it. It's because they intend to use it. Just because they didn't last time doesn't mean we should assume that they won't hear. Every other time they filed, they used the full amount.

3 - It's actually a logical addition. I've brought this up before. There's not many needs for other coasters at this point. There's an invert, a looper, a dive, an airtime machine, a triple launch, another triple launch, another launched, and a woody. 5 that have inversions, 3 that don't, 5 with lifts, 3 that are launched. Adding another coaster that overlaps with any of those doesn't make sense.

4 - If SPW is happening, BGW could be staring at one of it's last major investments for a 5-7 year period. That doesn't mean they won't add more to the park. But is Sesame Place Williamsburg is indeed real, and going to be built, I would be betting that Busch Gardens wouldn't see a MAJOR addition while SP is getting up and going. Just doesn't make sense. So giving BGW back to back major investments, means the next few years they can skate with filling out the are with 'cheap' investments like shops, games, a flat or two, and shows.

5 - BGW needs something dramatic in this part of the park. I know this one is the most objective of my points, but BGW doesn't have a dramatic element to the Germany area. Yes Bolt's drop is a sight to see, but it's not a dramatic element. Alpie's lift, Griff's dive, Nessies loops, Apollow as a whole. They are dramatic statement elements for those areas of the park. I don't see that in Oktoberfest.
 
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Drachenwolf said:
BGW isn't a desperate park in need of a giga-coaster (MAJOR) investment. Nor are they likely doing SO WELL that they can splurge on one for the heck of it.

Wondering if folks here respect/understand just how expensive a giga-coaster is to approve, build, maintain, etc. Or how it essentially redefines a theme park.
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You missed the part where SeaWorld said they’re spending $150 mil in cap ex a year
 
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Wow this conversation has gotten really mean. Im not touching the Giga arguement with a ten foot pole at the moment.

However something I just thought of is that if they add two coaster that would put them at 9. A very good number that Would be very close to KD and challenge most of the east coast for best coaster lineup.

It’s quite subjective so I don’t wanna get super detailed but bgw has a very modern selection of rides. There are few parks with as many newer quality rides. Not to mention the only “old” ride is pretty great too.
 
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^I agree if this giga comes to fruition along with MMXX man that lineup will be stacked because honestly I've always felt BGW could use like a nice intense coaster with ejector air time with rapid transitions. If they build two large Intamins in a row that would make their lineup unbelievably stacked when it ALREADY is stacked! Plus they just added my favorite flat ride type! If only Curse of DarKastle survived and was maintained then I don't think there's many parks on the east coast I would say is better overall. To be fair I've never been to BGT or SWO and think of Disney parks in their own special class of theme park.
 
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Drachenwolf said:
BGW isn't a desperate park in need of a giga-coaster (MAJOR) investment. Nor are they likely doing SO WELL that they can splurge on one for the heck of it.

Wondering if folks here respect/understand just how expensive a giga-coaster is to approve, build, maintain, etc. Or how it essentially redefines a theme park.
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Personally I do not understand the first thing about finance, micro, or macro economics. It really is a shame, one day when I grow up maybe I will be able to go to college and even... no I dare not say it... graduate school for business...

I would argue, btw, that if they get both these rides and the second is a Giga (I am not convinced it will be, but I am also not convinced it won't be... really I am Switzerland here) I would argue that they might have one of the best line ups in the country. Are there parks with more, certainly but I am not sure those parks have the quality, and certainly not the upkeep that BGW has. (this is a general statement and one can argue about subjective things like quality and "best" all day long and frankly it is a best a silly thing to argue over)
 
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Jahrules said:
If you don't count tempesto, that would put them at 9... But the park would argue they'd be at 10.

Loch Ness, Apollo, alpengeist, Griffin, verbolten, InvadR, tempesto, grover's Alpine express.

MMXX, 2021. That equals 10.
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Well you see I wasn’t counting Grover, as the park often doesn’t. “X world class coasters”

Perhaps to hit the ten number they would change that though.
 
Drachenwolf said:
BGW isn't a desperate park in need of a giga-coaster (MAJOR) investment. Nor are they likely doing SO WELL that they can splurge on one for the heck of it.

Wondering if folks here respect/understand just how expensive a giga-coaster is to approve, build, maintain, etc. Or how it essentially redefines a theme park.
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As people have pointed out previously you clearly haven't been paying attention to anyone else's posts. There are a lot of financial reasons for BGW to build a Giga that you seem to be ignoring when you make your statement. The first being the simple fact that SEAS is spending $150 million every year on rides, shows and events. Another point along those lines of those lines is that SEAS is also in the let's try to attract as many people as possible to the parks. So while you might not think that BGW is in need of a major investment. SEAS has decided that all of their parks need substantial investments every year.

Also I think that you are overestimating how much it costs to maintain a Giga compared to a regular coaster. A ride like MMXX will likely costs the park more money to run an maintain because of launches than a Giga.

How it redefines the park I'm not entirely sure what you mean. A Giga didn't redefine Cedar Point or any of the Cedar Fair parks that have one. They have always been known for building great coasters. BGW has been known for building world class attractions that push the envelope when they opened. Alpengeist still is the world's tallest full circuit inverted coaster. Griffon was the tallest, longest and fastest Dive coaster when it was built. Apollo's Chariot was the first Hyper coaster that B&M ever built and one of the first over 200 feet ever period. MMXX will be one of the only coasters in the world with quick switch track and will be a very unique coaster. So please tell me how building a Giga wouldn't redefine BGW? Because to me it seems it's a logical coaster for them to build given their history of building coasters.

Edit: And thanks to Zimmy for pointing out Nessie. Nessie was the tallest and fastest roller in the entire world. Not just of specific style like Alpen and Griffon were. She was the tallest roller coaster that had been built at that time. Also Nessie was the first coaster with interlocking loops and is currently the only one remaining. And while we are talking about Nessie I remembered some other examples. BBW was the second suspended coaster ever built. Also Verbolten was the first coaster to have a free all drop in a coaster. I'll forgive you forgetting about that I've never Universal is trying to tell everyone that Hagrids is the first.
 
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Don['t forget Nessie broke like 6 records when it opened some of which stood for years and years also it is the only ride with interlocking loops and of course will always be the greatest engineering feat of all time.
 
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Think of the other models this could be:
GCI woodie - too soon to Invadr
B&M floorless/looper - what new does that add
Wing coaster - new for sure but not extremely popular
Blitz - that’s what bolt is
Raptor - RMC is reputedly backlogged on these
TRex - a reportedly a few years off
Mack Hyper - a third/fourth 200 foot drop?

That leaves few options:
Giga
RMC ground up hybrid
 
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Zimmy said:
Don['t forget Nessie broke like 6 records when it opened some of which stood for years and years also it is the only ride with interlocking loops and of course will always be the greatest engineering feat of all time.
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Thanks Zimmy. I updated my original post
 
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