Project 2021/Drachen Spire: Intamin Multi-Launch Shuttle Giga Coaster [Cancelled]

Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!

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...
    bgwfans.com bgwfans.com
  • 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

NoLimits Model of the Layout:​

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Direct Link to Embedded Media Source

Additional Coverage (Newest to Oldest):​

Previous Thread:​

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Click to expand...
I feel like someone needs to justify the existence of this theoretical smaller launched coaster to me.

How would such an addition not be entirely duplicative with Pantheon across the Rhine and Verbolten next door? Verbolten is the almost 100 foot tall family launch coaster without inversions. Pantheon is the almost 200 foot tall family thrill launch coaster (or whatever the hell the slide called it) with two inversions. How does another sub-giga launch coaster not end up strictly better/worse than either of those?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Vigil, ilovebg, DJTLG and 3 others
ControlsEE said:
Is it confirmed that the balloon test is where we think it is? Is there a public record of it's geographical location?
Click to expand...

I think the best thing we have to work with is the location map from the height waiver item summary. It's linked to from here.

ControlsEE said:
I keep seeing "Knife's edge." Where did this term come from? A public hearing or meeting?

If the Knife's Edge is towards Kingsmill, where specifically in KM? That neighborhood does kind of surround the rear of the park, so how do we know which way it is facing?
Click to expand...

The "knife's edge" comment was made during a JCC hearing. As far as I know, we don't know where exactly that knife's edge view was from other than somewhere in KM. My goal has been to get the highest point perpendicular to some portion of the property line. That seems like enough to qualify to me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BGWnut and ControlsEE
Zachary said:
I feel like someone needs to justify the existence of this theoretical smaller launched coaster to me.

How would such an addition not be entirely duplicative with Pantheon across the Rhine and Verbolten next door? Verbolten is the almost 100 foot tall family launch coaster without inversions. Pantheon is the almost 200 foot tall family thrill launch coaster (or whatever the hell the slide called it) with two inversions. How does another sub-giga launch coaster not end up strictly better/worse than either of those?
Click to expand...

I know that I’m not the one guessing that but I’m going to throw out that I think it’s a form of wish fulfillment. Between comments on Bolt being a letdown and MT having downtime issues, I think some look at this as a “do over” for those rides.

The one I’ve been thinking/wondering...the launch part of this. At a point on the height waiver process Suzy said that they re-engineered the layout a few times to minimize the impact of the high point. A flat launch would have limited the places that high point could go, especially if they wanted to use the DF station.
 
Zachary said:
I feel like someone needs to justify the existence of this theoretical smaller launched coaster to me.
Click to expand...

How about this:

Let's say SPW is happening.

Then, the only kid's area inside of BGW proper is land of dragons.

It might not be unreasonable to think that BGW would want to add a second kid's area which might include a coaster.

So, this is just a theory; and I know it's a theory everyone will dread... But what if 2021 is mainly a kid's area with a small coaster reusing the Drachen building and the 355 foot waiver is some sort of observation tower?

It makes complete sense to me. With sesame being a separate gate, BGW would have 0 coasters for kids. The general public would surely not be pleased with this.. so it's totally believable that BGW would add a kid's coaster to fill this potential gap.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BGWnut and SLC Headache
Zachary said:
My goal has been to get the highest point perpendicular to some portion of the property line. That seems like enough to qualify to me.
Click to expand...
Yeah, they probably meant that it generally is going to look like a knife's edge, as in most of the KM property would be viewing it from the side.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zachary
I think the "knife edge" description of the high was the one thing that really sounded like a portion of a coaster as opposed to a tower ride, and now seeing seeming confirmation of a coaster makes it all line up to that, imo. The high point also seems so far away from the parks pathing that the infrastructure needed to connect it would seem downright goofy unless the site were developed all at once in a hundred-million dollar or more project or something.

A tall rollercoaster in 2021 is the simple solution to the info we have at the moment just imo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BenWilkerson, BGWnut and Zachary
Just another question. Does it seem odd to anyone that the drawing shows a one train station? I mean, most of the rides that I have been on that have shorter trains like that have a two train station. Now I don't really remember how long the Drachenfire trains were, but I would think that as short of a train as this is (should be the same length as Cheetah Hunt's trains) that they would be able to fit two trains in that station. They fit two Verbolten trains in BBW's old station, so why not DF's?
 
  • Like
Reactions: tursiops
I'll just throw my idea down although there's been arguments to the contrary since I tried to do this -

17374

The white line is a Superman:Escape from Krypton shuttle. It's single track. Station is box at bottom. People walk under the track to enter area.

The yellow is a Blitz. I understand what you say @Zachary, but I'm imagining one that is a combination Taron and Taiga...ground hugging, lots of inversions, lots of tree interaction. I may not have a much craziness in my drawing as I'm imagining but stay in the trees (and interact with the train) as much as possible. I think that makes this different enough from Verbolten and Pantheon.

I think what "handicaps" various concepts is the leak using the DF station and the small(ish) train. It's gotta be a launch...just what kind?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ilovebg, Icer and BGWnut
Zachary said:
The "knife's edge" comment was made during a JCC hearing. As far as I know, we don't know where exactly that knife's edge view was from other than somewhere in KM. My goal has been to get the highest point perpendicular to some portion of the property line. That seems like enough to qualify to me.
Click to expand...

Random comment re: "knife's edge." While we assume a top hat, that of course is not officially known. However, I think the "knife's edge" implies a top hat pretty strongly*. Given that a top hat is fairly vertical, e.g. like two towers side-by-side, it's going to look fairly "knife blade-like" from Kingsmill, even if you view it from a slight angle. A tall lift hill however wouldn't so much. Plus we know that the high point moved to appease Kingsmill, so it would seem that only a top hat would be able to move (such that it's perpendicular to the property line) and significantly change how wide it is--i.e. knife edge or surface.

Therefore, I'm assuming either a Red Force-like clone, or some smallish (length-wise) coaster with the top hat being the primary element. Hoping the latter to give this thing some additional appeal... Red Force-like coasters just seem too gimmicky/one-trick ponyish for me.

*I've ruled out a spike, which is the least visually impactful, since moving it wouldn't really change Kingsmill's view and obviously that would be too similar to Pantheon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zachary and Icer
The knife edge comment seemed to be describing seeing a structure while looking down the edge of it so that it appears thin, such as looking at i305 from the entrance to that plaza. Based on the description he gave, I think it could apply to a lift or top hat or anything that could conceivably have a flat edge and thin sides. Having said that, a 16 passenger giga lift would be very unusual, and that train length points to a launch most likely.

As an unsubstantiated claim too, I have heard rumor that Madrid, or an iteration of it, was a very orthodox red force layout spanning the Rhine and back, so the park having interest in such a model would be no surprise to me, and it is easy to imagine the park desiring the speed and height records for a rather large region.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Adam and BGWnut
This possibility goes completely against this coaster being a giga, but has anyone considered an Intamin Megalite? The train matches what was on the plans and it's also a tight, ground-hugging, intense coaster model.

17379
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad