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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.

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These are some exciting times. I never would have thought that we could potentially see two huge attractions coming in back to back seasons.

I'm sticking with my original conspiracy theory that MMXX / Madrid was one gigantic project that originally warranted the 315 foot height restriction, and was pushed back a year to make adjustments and plan for two coasters instead.

That's what I was getting at. Personally I think the park decided that they wanted to go truly record breaking with the tallest, fastest, etc. Giga coaster and B&M(my personal wish) wouldn't be able to deliver what they wanted in 2019 because of other previous commitments or because they wanted to not build something bigger than Fury 325 so soon so they pushed it back 2 years so they could get exactly what they wanted from the Giga.
 
I think that might be wishful thinking. Is there really enough room? I would normally make a cogent argument about cost, but shit I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND their numbers anymore. (I honestly think there is a lot of number smoothing and risky investment, but they keep so much under wraps it is hard to know)

I give up on trying to predict their behavior, it is far too scatter shot.
 
I wonder if they could possibly relocate the boneyard to give a coaster or hamlet some extra space. Doesn't seem too unreasonable to me. And didn't the park file permits for a new warehouse behind the Royal Palace Theatre a year or two ago?

I doubt it was meant to contain boneyard junk but it's just something I remembered.
 
I think that might be wishful thinking. Is there really enough room? I would normally make a cogent argument about cost, but shit I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND their numbers anymore. (I honestly think there is a lot of number smoothing and risky investment, but they keep so much under wraps it is hard to know)

I give up on trying to predict their behavior, it is far too scatter shot.

The park currently uses approximately a little more than I'd guess 50% of their total land. The rough blue outline below is all land that is owned by the park that they currently do not have anything built on. The purple dot is where Apollo turns around. The park has a lot of space to build a coaster but FP is simply the best area to have one start at that doesn't require a massive expansion of the park to make it possible.

14765

More on the property owned by BGW can be found in this in this excellent post by Gavin.

As far as the money being spent my guess is that they are in a period of aggressive reinvestment of money that they have brought in. This is being done in the holes that it will lead to greater profits in the future. So very little money is being taken out of the business
 
I don't know how you folks can make predictions without Amusement Insider releasing leaked slide.

And, looking at the last balloon thread, in 2017 the guesses in order posted started-
B&M Wing
Polar Coaster
StarFlyer
B&M Giga
RMC T-Rex
Observation Tower
StarGlider
B&M Flyer
Space Shot

So step up your speculations!
 
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The park currently uses approximately a little more than I'd guess 50% of their total land. The rough blue outline below is all land that is owned by the park that they currently do not have anything built on. The purple dot is where Apollo turns around.

View attachment 14765

More on the property owned by BGW can be found in this in this excellent post by Gavin.
Looks like enough room for another park sesame place Williamsburg, but that’s never gonna happen so I cause I can only dream.
 
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I figured it all out. It's the scaled up version of HP's "super duper looper" that nobody asked for
 
The park currently uses approximately a little more than I'd guess 50% of their total land. The rough blue outline below is all land that is owned by the park that they currently do not have anything built on. The purple dot is where Apollo turns around. The park has a lot of space to build a coaster but FP is simply the best area to have one start at that doesn't require a massive expansion of the park to make it possible.

View attachment 14765

More on the property owned by BGW can be found in this in this excellent post by Gavin.

As far as the money being spent my guess is that they are in a period of aggressive reinvestment of money that they have brought in. This is being done in the holes that it will lead to greater profits in the future. So very little money is being taken out of the business
I was specifically talking about Octoberfest park, since that is where the permit is suggesting. Unless I am missing something I do not think the forested land to the east of the Rhine is on the permit.
 
I don't know how you folks can make predictions without Amusement Insider releasing leaked slide.

And, looking at the last balloon thread, in 2017 the guesses in order posted started-
B&M Wing
Polar Coaster
StarFlyer
B&M Giga
RMC T-Rex
Observation Tower
StarGlider
B&M Flyer
Space Shot

So step up your speculations!


Intamin Strata?

Height waiver plus landscape elevation changes = room for 400
 
It fits thematically!
But is the pole 300+ or is it mounted on a tower that makes it 300+?

I think clearly it is a 75' pole on a 300' tower.
 
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I was specifically talking about Octoberfest park, since that is where the permit is suggesting. Unless I am missing something I do not think the forested land to the east of the Rhine is on the permit.
Right now it's just for the height waiver and where the highest point will be. Nothing about what space the attraction will take up
 
The scales of the images are different too.
Yes, I meant relative to the scales of the respective images.

To be super clear about what I was originally stating: The new star is a metric shitload bigger in scale than the old one.

Jeez.
 
Most likely in an effort to hide the actual spot of the attraction
Yes, exactly. Thank you @BGWnut.

Building on some of the more stratospheric speculation in this thread, just ‘cuz it’s fun... let’s assume the park has some critical mass of residual memory regarding what impatience led to when Drachen Fire was given to Arrow. Perhaps, once BGW decided to wait a year or two for B&M to have the bandwidth to deliver the truly massive giga they want, Intamin swooped in regarding their own concept — which had potentially lost the original bidding for the originally planned 2020 timeline — and gave the park a ridiculously sweetheart deal to make it financially possible to install their product for 2020 after all.

New USA foothold; maybe Intamin had a gap in their 2020 book of business with nothing promising on the near-term horizon to fill it; and in particular, a nice way to end that drought with a flex move by returning to the major park that (according to lore) has deliberately shunned them longer than any other. Even if they just break even on it, or squeak out a miserly profit.

Zero confirmed facts in any of the above, to be clear. Good fun to imagine.
 
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