Drachen Fire was an Arrow Dynamics roller coaster that operated from 1992 to 1998, at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.[1]
| Drachen Fire | |
| Drachen Fire's cutback | |
| Location | Busch Gardens Williamsburg |
|---|---|
| Park section | Current Black Forest site |
| Status | Defunct |
| Opened | April 4, 1992[2] |
| Closed | July 11, 1998 |
| Cost | $4,000,000 USD |
| Type | Steel |
| Manufacturer | Arrow Dynamics |
| Designer | Ron Toomer |
| Model | Custom Looping |
| Track layout | custom |
| Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
| Height | 150 ft (46 m) |
| Drop | 130 ft (40 m) |
| Length | 3,550 ft (1,080 m) |
| Max speed | 60 mph (97 km/h) |
| Inversions | 6 (1992-1994) 5 (1994-July 11, 1998) |
| Duration | 1:46 |
| Acceleration | no launch |
| Max G force | 3.7 |
| Height restriction | 4 ft 0 in (122 cm) |
| Drachen Fire at RCDB | |
| Pictures of Drachen Fire at RCDB | |
| Amusement Parks Portal | |
Contents |
Initially, Drachen Fire was to be designed and built by Bolliger & Mabillard. Busch Entertainment contacted the young company to build two multi-inversion sit-down coasters at both this park and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. However, B&M was busy creating two stand-up coasters for Paramount Parks (one at California's Great America and the other at Carowinds) and preparing to debut its first inverted coaster, Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great America. They could deliver one coaster for Busch Gardens Tampa, which became Kumba, but not for its Williamsburg sister park. Busch understood and instead handed the contract for the Williamsburg coaster to Arrow Dynamics. The concept given to the company by B&M featured many elements that were different from anything they had done in the past. One particular problem that Arrow faced was designing the vertical loop to wrap around the lift hill, an element used on Kumba and on Riddler's Revenge at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The concept also featured a cobra roll inversion and interlocking corkscrews, signature design elements for B&M coasters but ones not used before or since by Arrow. The layout proposed by Arrow relied upon the type of support infrastructure typically used by Arrow, but the layout was much larger than Busch wanted. As a result, Arrow tried to incorporate B&M's original design features into a smaller layout.
Less than a month after opening, the coaster gained a reputation for roughness.[3]
When Drachen Fire was completed, it had six inversions: a wraparound corkscrew midway into the first hill (first), a Cobra Roll (referred to by Arrow as a "Batwing"—second and third), and a cutback (fifth) between the corkscrews. Two counter-clockwise corkscrews (the fourth and sixth inversions) completed the inversion count. Opened in 1992, closed in 1998 and finally removed in 2002, it stood 150 feet tall and had a top speed of 60 mph.
A train was traveling on the track on Opening Day of 2001, testing the ride to decide whether or not to re-open it for the 2002 season, as well as raising many people's hopes about the possibility of opening with the rest of the park, but the ride was never re-opened.
The coaster was placed for sale in 1999.[4] After failing to find a buyer, the coaster was torn down in February 2002 and its steel recycled.[5] Drachen Fire's loading station and train storage house are currently used for Howl-O-Scream Halloween festival.
The Coaster originally had 6 inversions but the "diving corkscrew" which immediately followed the brakerun was removed after the 1994 season.
In 1999, Arrow implemented the same B&M-style support structure used on Drachen Fire for the Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood.
In 2006, Busch Gardens began to use the former Drachen Fire site as a concert venue.
In 2009, Busch started holding the ever-popular Glory at the Gardens concert series in Festhaus Park due to overflowing The Royal Palace Theatre in Aquitane.
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