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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Didn't they do some electrical work last year to prepare for Pantheon? I thought I remembered seeing that somewhere.
 
I don't think they did much, if anything, with the grid lately. Looking back, in talking about FF, people said the last major grid work was with the Festa addition. Also you'll recall that they ran power to FF from Griffon. That not to say they haven't done anything to power to more coasters. It's just no one here had been privy.
 
Jonesta6 said:
If it's truly a launch, I wonder how they're going to solve their power problem considering VB's launch timing issues from a lack of power availability?

That's not to say a regular lift wouldn't raise the same concerns since I'm guessing those too would require a lot of power, just not as much as a launcher.

Does anything indicate that the park would either be upgrading their grids or adding a new grid?
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This is an excellent point....
 
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Permitting wise, I haven't seen anything come up about any electrical infrastructure upgrades (not from what I can remember at least).

I would imagine they would need to make some modifications if this is going to be another launched coaster. Unless it was an isolated/fluke incident, I remember one of the recent times I was at the park they had a "power outage" that seemed to only affect the ride systems. Was this due to drawing too much power and tripping something? I have no idea.. But it's certainly feasible that the park has some peak load issues that will need to be solved, especially if the most recent infrastructure upgrades were in fact with the Festa addition.
 
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Random thought. If launch distance is the issue, and power is an issue as well, what about one of the new S&S air launched coasters?

I know the going theory is a 2-for-1 Intamin, but I want to try to branch out some with this.
 
In regards to Verbolten and the power issues...I am wondering what type of system they're using for this 7 year old attraction. While I profess to knowing very little about electrical stuff, it seems from reading this article that there is more of an electrical demand for some LSM systems than others. Could it be that the longer spacing between launches is due to a slower "recharge" time than it is actual electrical demand? Or, maybe they went to the "slower system" because of available "juice"?.
 
GrandpaD said:
In regards to Verbolten and the power issues...I am wondering what type of system they're using for this 7 year old attraction. While I profess to knowing very little about electrical stuff, it seems from reading this article that there is more of an electrical demand for some LSM systems than others. Could it be that the longer spacing between launches is due to a slower "recharge" time than it is actual electrical demand? Or, maybe they went to the "slower system" because of available "juice"?.
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As far as I am aware, VB does not have these systems in place, however I do not know if this is something that Intamin would install with 2021 or even Pantheon. Notice that all the rides referenced in that article are not Intamin rides. Intamin has their own subsidiary that makes LSM systems for them (I think it's called IntaLIM or something), in fact Verbolten uses their stators (saw a sticker on a spare stator one time, had a picture, but that was 5 or 6 phones ago and since lost it). Now maybe Thunderbird uses Intamin LSM's, but I kind of doubt it, and even then, it is possible that the manufacturer of the LSM's did not also make the energy recovery system.

Since VB does not have these systems, It doesn't really take any time to "recharge," which is why the trains wait on the vertical drop if a train has been dispatched from the station, but not through Launch 1 yet. Else, the current draw would shutdown the back half of the park.
 
GrandpaD said:
Like I said, I know zip about electric stuff....but, if I'm understanding right, you're saying VB doesn't have an energy storage system?

Here's a 2017 article about Red Force and Intamin's "super caps". “Instead of the 4MW, we probably use 1MW peak load from the grid to feed the LSM systems.”
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I seriously doubt it. While super caps have been around before VB, I doubt they use them for energy storage to reduce peak load by that much. Now will they use these on 2021 and pantheon? Maybe, if the park requests it. I'm sure that decision was reached a while ago, since they would have to factor electrical loads before deciding to purchase a ride.
 
ControlsEE said:
I seriously doubt it. While super caps have been around before VB, I doubt they use them for energy storage to reduce peak load by that much. Now will they use these on 2021 and pantheon? Maybe, if the park requests it. I'm sure that decision was reached a while ago, since they would have to factor electrical loads before deciding to purchase a ride.
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Considering there's a lot of talk about BGW's lack of power for a number of years, I'd assume at least one (Pantheon would be my guess because of the launch series) will incorporate that technology. It remains to be seen what type of coaster 2021 will end up being.
 
If you can save power, I don't see why you wouldn't, but I don't know what kind of service (V and A) they get from Dominion.
 
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ControlsEE said:
If you can save power, I don't see why you wouldn't, but I don't know what kind of service (V and A) they get from Dominion.
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It may be less than when they started out. I'd heard, after the sale of the park, that a power audit discovered sourcing from the brewery that (obviously) was terminated.
 
BGWnut said:
So I apologize for the quality in advance. I'm on my phone and I don't want to go downstairs and get my computer. There are a number of people who seem unhappy about how close this ride is to Verbolten. So I thought I would compare some other rides and there proximities to each other. There are a lot of rides at BGW that are very close to each other outside of Tempesto and Apollo. Bear in mind that these are taken from Google maps so the measurements are not perfect.
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Just to add to this: in addition to the imperfect scale of Google Maps' measurement tools, these measurements are all horizontal distances across the ground between track segments. And very imperfect ones at that, due to the angle of the aerial photography (i.e., not directly overhead), which in some cases makes these photographed ride sections look even closer together than they actually are.

The best example is the Griffon-LNM horizontal distance, which looks like literally zero feet in the overhead photo. Of course, actually seeing the two rides in person reveals the substantial vertical distance between their closest horizontal approach. They are quite far apart.

And it seems the VB-2021 approach would be the same, based on what we know and what we additionally presume from filings: horizontally close, vertically very far apart.

The Griffon-LNM case does reveal one other angle to this, though, which I think may come into play: structural supports. LNM has three Griffon supports encroaching in its immediate "space" on that side of the Rhine, including two Griffon footers that are essentially in the very shadow of LNM's brake run. This is minor in the grand scheme, yet it does low-key break the sense of scale and place LNM has historically enjoyed on its own bank. Seeing a ride effortlessly leap the span of the "river" from another hamlet to visually menace a major ride does diminishes that latter ride's presence a bit.

Over on the other side of the park, a 355-foot tall structure -- provided that it's a roller coaster -- is going to need substantial support infrastructure, and we don't know how closely those will encroach on the visual "space" a VB rider or observer tends to unconsciously desire before feeling like one structure unduly encroaches on the other. Hopefully there is a practical way to preserve not just the vertical spacing between tracks, but also between their structures in total. (Though I kind of doubt it, to be honest.)
 
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I wonder if what @GrandpaD wrote it true if it was a legality thing where the park couldn't legally buy power back from the brewery (also possibly some issues with setting rates, max draw at peak times, etc)?

Also, if there comes a day for a complete power system overhaul, maybe they could find a way to incorporate solar on some of the roofs (Tesla roof that blends in, maybe)?
 
GrandpaD said:
It may be less than when they started out. I'd heard, after the sale of the park, that a power audit discovered sourcing from the brewery that (obviously) was terminated.
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That would make sense. AB would have taken one large supply for both the brewery and park but now with both being owned by separate companies, they would need two separate supplies, or buy power from the other.
 
BGWnut said:
There are a number of people who seem unhappy about how close this ride is to Verbolten. So I thought I would compare some other rides and there proximities to each other. There are a lot of rides at BGW that are very close to each other outside of Tempesto and Apollo. ...
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FWIW, I, for one, am not one of them. I actually like the coaster interplay, and remember, this is the park that advertises "coaster crossing." Besides, if we get something other than a one-trick pony top hat and that requires using more space and greater proximity to other attractions, then bring it on.
 
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Does anyone think the drop will come from the park's side, dropping toward the Rhine, resulting in another lake drop? Three in the same area is a lot, but it could turn that 355 ft height into possibly a 400 ft drop...?
 
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