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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    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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Previous Thread:​

 
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HE DID IT AGAIN!

IKR2s6.gif
 
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I thought I made a good point, worthy of discussion, which I was looking forward to reading about. This point was made through reading, listening to, watching, and taking note of key points related to the hearings. And I made a mistake in my hasty exit post. It should have read....MAZ ‘out’
 
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MAZ said:
I thought I made a good point, worthy of discussion, which I was looking forward to reading about. This point was made through reading, listening to, watching, and taking note of key points related to the hearings. And I made a mistake in my hasty exit post. It should have read....MAZ ‘out’
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I thought you made an excellent point. Also for what it is worth, I am fully aware of formal punctuation usage rules, but I interpreted your quotation marks as being essentially air quotes. So, I, personally, didn’t find your comment confusing.

More importantly, you have always been a positive and valuable member of our community. I hope this incident doesn’t drive you away.
 
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Sly4Good said:
This ride is going to be the worlds largest colorful ferris wheel

source: the dream I had last night that also involved epic space battles and kittens.
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Actually, that could make a lot of sense for the whole NIMBY problem KM has been complaining about, assuming it was actually one of those giant skywheels for safety and capacity (maybe a slowly but always moving version like they have in China somewhere).

In a side view, the parts above the tree tops would be a good chunk of skyline, but in a profile it would be narrow.

Other points for it would be it gives BGW an observation attraction that isn't a thrill ride nor a tower, and that when Kevin and or Suzy said (paraphrasing) that they've moved the layout around they were probably referring to how other attractions in the new hamlet they're building to go with are being placed.

It also makes sense that Kevin's mention at the first JCC meeting about timing really means that this is the focal attraction for the new hamlet, so if they're already under a tight timeline with contractors for building the hamlet it would suck to have all of that without the signature large attraction.


The only pieces that don't fit at the moment are the view from 60 image floating around and the sound testing. I don't believe skywheels would generate that much noise. Though it could just be smoke and mirrors to appease KM. If I remember correctly the view from 60 piece said something along the lines of the width at the highest point, so maybe it could be fudged a bit when the attraction is a giant wheel?
 
I think you're reading far too much into the park official comments. In watching, I certainly didn't get any indication of a new hamlet. If anything (making an assumption here) the "timing" refers to the crew currently working on MMXX coming across the river to start work on whatever it is in the Festhaus Park. If this is an Intamin package deal, that would make sense.

I personally think BGW is out of the new hamlet business. I foresee, if there are multiple attractions (I think we'll see 2), the area becomes an extension of Germany/Octoberfest. Perhaps "extending" the Verbolten "Black Forest".
 
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You're probably right, but I liked your Espana concept with a train station... This could realistically fit into something like that based on the limited amount of information publicly available. Otherwise, a coaster makes total sense.
 
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Thanks. But the train station is a no go as there's an incline towards Caribou that makes it difficult (if not impossible) for (some) trains to make it from a dead stop. ( @Gavin has the info).

If there are multiple attractions (my guess) I'm sure they'll add money making venues (Coke Mart, souvenir stand, etc.) Even with a single coaster I'm sure we'll see something like the old Drachen Fire stand.
 
GrandpaD said:
Thanks. But the train station is a no go as there's an incline towards Caribou that makes it difficult (if not impossible) for (some) trains to make it from a dead stop. ( @Gavin has the info).

If there are multiple attractions (my guess) I'm sure they'll add money making venues (Coke Mart, souvenir stand, etc.) Even with a single coaster I'm sure we'll see something like the old Drachen Fire stand.
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If there is any significant amount of landscaping work required for the project then it seems possible that it might be feasible to include railway regrade in the cost of it.
 
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horsesboy said:
If there is any significant amount of landscaping work required for the project then it seems possible that it might be feasible to include railway regrade in the cost of it.
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I believe we discussed railroad regrading over in the concepts thread, and someone pointed out that it would likely require a major redesign of the tracks between Festa and Caribou. Turning trains to run the other direction would potentially solve this issue but that would require the entire system to be redesigned.

But, not knowing what plans are in the works at the moment means they could potentially bake the costs for something like this to be done in the off season as part of the overall landscaping improvements for both MMXX and whatever this attraction is.

Or they could just be building 2 huge coasters across the water from each other and the train is unaffected.
 
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That's it for me on that one.

To your point about profit centers, that's fairly realistic. The question I'm curious about is if they're going to repurpose the catering area or leave it be. They've already got the basic utilities there to make it easier to transform if there was a desire for it.
 
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