Project Drachen Spire: Multi-Launch Shuttle Giga (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

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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:
    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

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Halfffff a bear Doo Doo da Doo da doo
Halfffff a bear Doo Doo da Doo da doo
Half a bear.

Yep; I went there.
 
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Jonesta6 said:
I like @GrandpaD's ideas, but the tricky thing all along is the sight lines into KM being about 10' wide from some location and some angle over the treetops.


Unless I'm mistaken, any turnaround at the top or drop curve that has been proposed thus far can satisfy that.

Maybe keep the hill (launch or cable lift), drop straight to the Rhine, curve about halfway down so as to not interfere with the RPA buffer any more than it has to, and maybe some big sweeping air hills to kill the energy mixed with some crazy elements that aren't on Pantheon?
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There's a lot of leeway in that height waiver. They only ever talked about how it would look from the highest point. It could look different 50 feet under the height waiver.
 
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It’s so tough to come up with a realistic idea that incorporates all 5 restrictions:

-Fits within train tracks in Festhaus Park
-350-ish feet tall
-4-car trains
-“Knife’s Edge” from Kingsmill
-Exits straight northeast out of DF station

There are plenty of concepts you can come up with that meet 3 or 4 of the 5 criteria here but if one attraction is to meet all 5 it’s really going to have to do something we’ve never seen in the coaster industry before. It almost makes me reconsider the tower+smaller coaster idea, which seems unrealistic but also seems like the only way to meet all 5 of those restrictions without doing something we’ve never seen before.
 
Intamin does build towers, and could be a different experience from Mach Tower.

As much as I want to think that, the proposed high point would be near the edge of a ravine like someone else had mentioned so combined with a long walk for guests with nothing else over there it's hard to tell what this could be.
 
Zimmy said:
For the record, I would count us lucky if we got i305 like coaster
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As would I. I would strongly prefer a traditional giga/i305-like coaster (would prefer Fury 325-like, but conceding this is an Intamin) versus a top hat one-trick pony. I just don't see that happening unfortunately. (Again, gut). I'm expecting the description of the high point leads to a top hat viewed from the side from Kingsmill, and a TTD/Red Force-like coaster will result, but with some odd-ball turn to accommodate the station reuse and the top hat angle.

But really hope they do something more back there and build more of a traditional giga.

Maybe someone can sketch out the lift hill in alignment with Kingsmill to be like a knife's edge, the high point location, and what that would mean for the drop to see whether that's even feasible. I think a traditional lift hill, that angle, that location, would push the drop well into Festa Field/Pantheon.
 
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Have we ruled out it being a vertical spike?

What if Pantheon is like a gateway to a more extreme version of a similar technology?

I'm envisioning roll out the track into a vertical spike; fast switch track, backwards launch up a 355 foot spike; another fast switch. Coaster drops into a giga layout.

Meets the view from Kingsmill.
 
Why would BGW be interested in two launch coasters in back to back years? Diversity is a good thing in the theme park industry. I see this more like larger Maverick than anything else.
 
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thopping said:
Maybe someone can sketch out the lift hill in alignment with Kingsmill to be like a knife's edge, the high point location, and what that would mean for the drop to see whether that's even feasible. I think a traditional lift hill, that angle, that location, would push the drop well into Festa Field/Pantheon.
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Google doesn't do street view within Kingsmill (or anyone else for that matter). What I'm working on, and if my math is right, with a 355 foot peak height and trees roughly 60-80 feet tall, then based on perspective that means only the top 150-200 feet of the height waiver will be visible from Kingsmill (based on what I know from Machtower). That actually leaves a lot of leeway to have a turn out of a traditional lift's drop.
 
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Actually they had a very specific view from a very specific street and it was more like just the top 50 feet visible.
 
That would be Warehams Pond Pool, but if you backup more to the streets houses were on, you would see a much shallower angle of the trees, exposing more 'height' of the structure.
 
I still don't get the whole "ToO mAnY lAuNcHeS" argument. To me it's a personal preference that holds no objective value. Sure you may prefer traditional lifts to launches, and I'm fine with that. But someone honestly explain to me how having 4 launched coasters versus 3 is such a crime, when they have 5 with a traditional lift.
 
I don't care a ton whether or not it's a launch (though I would slightly prefer it not be.) I do not, however want to see this be a one-trick-pony Red Force type of ride. I feel like it wouldn't make a ton of sense on the heels of Pantheon and I don't see that type of ride being a very good "fit" at BGW.
 
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