Drachen Fire

Sorry, but I must bring up the taboo subject of Drachen Fire. Since I did not get into coasters until 1999 and BGW is my home park, Drachen Fire has become an all consuming enigma to me. I have heard so many "things" about it. I point blank asked several park employees about Drachen Fire 10-7-00 and they told me the same thing. "It was closed because it was hurting peoples necks but it will re-open in 2001". What can I believe? All I know is I would love to ride it. I hate to see it just sitting there idle. I think people would ride it again in high volumes if it were to ever open back up. It couldn't have been that bad..??? I would like to hear what everyone thinks or knows about Drachen Fire and if you would ride it if it opened again. *** This post was edited by Lorrie on 10/26/2000. ***

Busch is still trying to sell the ride, but as there are no takers, they are researching giving the ride a complete overhaul. Wait and see what Dana Morgan does with the Steel Phantom. There is life after bad installations on alot of coasters. If they can reopen that ride and it is better, it is like having a brand new attraction. And every ride at that park is good, unlike some neighboring parks that have a bunch of mediocre coasters.

The layout is great and the first hill is really unusual, but it's true, it really did hurt your neck in the second half of the ride...from shifting directions too fast. It's honestly the only coaster I have ever ridden where I walked off in pain. My friend felt the same way, as did the people who sat behind us. My neck hurt real bad. But I hope BGW can fix it and open it again.

I would like to ride it it too, it looks tight. There is only one thing, Jeff always says that Arrow welds their coaster's parts together. How can it be sold?

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Number 1 And Only Cedar Point

I'm no coaster expert but work with structural steel for a living. I'm guessing from my area of work here but, they would probably cut or torch the pieces apart where they were originally welded then the welds would be ground off. Atere the new instalition they would be rewelded.

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Parks Hit For 2000! PKD, BGW,DP,HP,PKI,HW,SFKK,SFA,GAdv,SFNE,LC,GE,QP,CDP,LP,KG,SFO,WG,GE,KW,IW,WL,

I rode Drachen Fire when it first opened and it didn't hurt at all. And this was before they removed some of the ride. And I might add that it was an excellent steel looper. My personal second behing PKI Vortex. And I would love to ride this coaster again.

Is it true that they removed an inversion before closing the ride?
You see, theres so much talk about this coaster, but lots of questions are still unasnwered!

Yes, they removed a half-corkscrew to add a brake section a year or two before the ride closed.

It was suppose to be a B&M, but BGT got both B&Ms. Arrow took over the project, and we can see how it turned out. That zero-g hill was supposed to be a roll but Arrow's trains couldn't do it. Anyways, this coaster looks great, even if it is nasty rough. I loved the Vortex at PKI, so I would probably fall in love with this puppy. Let's hope something good happens with this coaster.

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Coasters- a little slice of heaven

It really is not all that rough, the entrance is just in a really lousy place, behind the Festhaus. That explains the low ridership, no one could find it! The picnic grounds do have a great view of the cource, especially of the cutback. I had heard that Drachen Fire was supposed to be Kumba, but B&M could not get their trains made in time, so Busch moved Kumba's design to Tampa and had Arrow dupicate as much as possible. The first inversion on that ride is really amazing. A floating right corkscrew into a dive loop from about 130" up.

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Where would we be without the rumor mill?

From the looks of it, DF looks revolutionary. I have never seen another ride with a high loop then a drop. (except maybe the Hulk at IofA but that's not after a chain lift) The back wing looks cool and it has corkscrews and cobra rolls. I'd ride it, better yet If I had the money I'd buy it.

Well, you need about $4.2 million to buy it. It will sit a while longer.

I do agree it is very revolutionary. Bad execution though. I wish I could have ridden it.

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Coasters- a little slice of heaven