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:
    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:​

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Previous Thread:​

 
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If you're referring to my knife picture, look at it again... It's spiral like the coaster. And the profile of the coaster as we've determined is anything but a thin and tall knife edge.
 
Not referring to your pic, but the structure is many times taller than it is wide, opposed to something like griffon or apollo, which I believe was the council member's general meaning.
 
warfelg said:
Wait wait wait.....if this ride is all about speed, what makes us sure this isn't "Speed: the Ride"?
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The two ride systems really do have quite a bit in common. And the name is available now...

Adding a bit of German in keeping with Oktoberfest, it's Geschwindigkeit: The Ride. Rolls right off the tongue!
 
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Drachen Spire is also available...

Edit: I'll put down a prediction here we'll never see a new, complicated-looking (to an English-speaker) German-language name again. e.g. they'll call it Drachen (or simply Dragon) long before we ever see "Die Drachenachterbahnfahrt." (The Dragon Rollercoaster Ride, if my Google translate skills are working).
 
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Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The Capital Of Launch Coasters...
 
I thought we had kind of agreed that the “moving the high point” was more throwing a pity bone to Kingsmill than it was a legitimate effort to drastically alter how it would look in the skyline.
 
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I imagine that the high point could have moved multiple times throughout the process. Initially the ride could have been flipped with the turn going to the left initially and then going to the right. It's also possible that initially the plans were for the ride to just go straight with no turn at all.
 
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RollyCoaster said:
  1. King Kobra
  2. Flight of Fear
  3. Volcano
  4. Hypersonic XLC
  5. Backlot Stunt Coaster
  6. Verbolten
  7. Tempesto*
  8. Pantheon
  9. Project 2021
KD has built a total of 5 launch coasters and have 2 remaining.

BGW has built 2 launch coasters and 1 launched flat. Will soon be building a 3rd coaster.
This makes a total of 4 launched rides.

*Tempesto is a launched flat ride

Quite the trend, eh?
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You forgot the Elmo spire in BGW's FoF.
 
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I think something is a little interesting about where this spiral spire is proposed to be located. It's going on the small hill shared with Verbolten but it's right smack on top of the hill at its highest elevation. I recall BGW assuring Kingsmill at the public hearing that they had moved the high point of the ride down the hill to lessen the visual impact.
 
AIR said:
I think something is a little interesting about where this spiral spire is proposed to be located. It's going on the small hill shared with Verbolten but it's right smack on top of the hill at its highest elevation. I recall BGW assuring Kingsmill at the public hearing that they had moved the high point of the ride down the hill to lessen the visual impact.
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No they said that they had moved it further from kingsmill. They did say that the loudest part of the ride was downhill by the Rhine.
 
For context - my point wasn't trying to say I believe Kingsmill has a leg to stand on about any visual concerns, nor say that BGW had promised a major redesign to get it approved and failed to deliver. It was likely some minor high point location changes, and the mitigated impact in question largely sound/proximity to the property line.

Rather, I just think it's a bit ironic that the high point location posturing was a point of discussion, now that we see the design. Fiddle with the exact high point all you want, there's only so much they could have moved it, and there's no hiding this thing. Lattice-like, sure, but all of that support structure makes it very wide, forget about how tall it is. And that, in my head, isn't "knife-like," whether the board member was accurate in their description or not.
 
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thopping said:
For context - my point wasn't trying to say I believe Kingsmill has a leg to stand on about any visual concerns, nor say that BGW had promised a major redesign to get it approved and failed to deliver. It was likely some minor high point location changes, and the mitigated impact in question largely sound/proximity to the property line.

Rather, I just think it's a bit ironic that the high point location posturing was a point of discussion, now that we see the design. Fiddle with the exact high point all you want, there's only so much they could have moved it, and there's no hiding this thing. Lattice-like, sure, but all of that support structure makes it very wide, forget about how tall it is. And that, in my head, isn't "knife-like," whether the board member was accurate in their description or not.
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Keep in mind elevation of looking from and anything that might fall under the tree line. That has a major effect on the description.
 
thopping said:
And that, in my head, isn't "knife-like," whether the board member was accurate in their description or not.
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I think this might be a good time to revisit the BoS meeting.

And I think it’s important to get the quote and context exactly right.

This is the BoS rep from the district that includes Kingsmill summarizing the description of the structure from the BGW meetings with Kingsmill which he attended:

“I do want to kind of give my impression of what I heard that these structures would be like; first, that they would be somewhat shorter than the total height waiver that is being requested; but probably just slightly, enough to put a light structure on top which will be required by the FAA.

And what I heard is that it will be a spire that would be open lattice design

and that, and I heard this at both meetings, that roughly the width of this lattice structure at the peak of this structure would be roughly 10 feet; give or take a few feet; probably, give a few feet.

...

And so my understanding of this concept is that there would be a single spire that would go up to the height required; somewhere below 355 feet and That it would be open lattice work and if you were to look at it from one of these vantage points (being kingsmill) that it would look like this [holds hand up on edge] and I would describe this like a knife’s edge as opposed to a brick wall.”

2:36:27 of the below video

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