What really happened to Drachen Fire?!

I tried searching the general buzz archives before creating this post...so I'm not intentionally beating a dead horse with this topic. What happened to this ride? I visited BGW last summer. Some say lack of ridership, others say a serious injury occurred. Has anyone heard an official statement concerning the demise? Perhaps we will never know. I just wish I had the opportunity to ride it.

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It's gone. Dead. Too bad, too. I loved it. I don't think it was sold, but I could be wrong. I think it's slag.:(
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Tripowered for maximum efficiency

Yeah it;s gone, right now it;s being recycled into new Toyota or somethign else that will put the old steel to good use. Be kinda cool to have apiece of an old coaster in my corolla.

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All at once the ghosts come back reeling you in now.

I was lucky enough to ride it before and after they took the corkscre out. I have no dea what happened to it!

Drachen fire count: 1993-2 1994-1 1998-18 I know this cause i used to have a journal from when i was 5 to when i was 11.

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I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it!

It was too rough for people to ride and people went to the front office complaining, it was supposed to be a B&M and thats probably why it was so rough due to Arrow making it.

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Can we change the name of Top Gun to your mom so no one wants to ride your mom?

B&M never had anything to do with the project... they even wrote and signed a letter clearing up those rumors. It was all Arrow, all the way.

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Jes
Jes's Roller Coasters DJ Jes MCS Please, Feel Free To Call Me Jes!
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure 2002 Ride-Ops Crew

Funny you guys are discussing this. I just checked out a coaster video from my local library and it showed Drachen Fire's cocnstruction! It was an old Nova episode. As I was watching, I was thinking that I didn't see it on my RCT recreation of BGW, I guess I found out why. The ride looked pretty smooth, but maybe that's just because it was new in the video.

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Cedar Point, where the world records just keep on coming!
Paul

I saw that episode too. Our Teacher made us watch it. I still dont get why they tore this coaster down when there are plenty of really rough rides that need to be torn down. I always wanted to go on that ride and I walays admired its beauty.

The ride was painful. It was always a walk on running with no better than half full trains, because Busch's family clientel wasn't into pain. It was shut down, and Busch attempted to sell it. When not customer came forward, they scrapped it out. There were no eagles. There were no conspiracies.

there were eagles, i saw the nest! But they could of just moved the nest so i know thats not why they tore it down.

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I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it!

I agree that the reason it was scrapped was low ridership and roughness, but the eagles really were there. I went to BGW at least 50 times last year, and you could clearly see the eagles nest if you took the train ride. Also, I would not characterize it as there was no customer that would come forward, rather there was no customer that would pay BGW's astronomical asking price for a used coaster. BGW listed the ride for $4.5M plus deconstruction costs to the buyer. If you look at other used coasters that was way beyond the average pricing. It's too bad, with lap bars I'm sure it would have been a great ride somewhere.

It was sold as scrap earlier this year...poor coaster....:(

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http://www.thegrooveplace.com
Now with Theme Park Chat!

i get so freakin sad everytime i see a post on DF.....i for one miss it very badly....if not for AC, it would always be my fav coaster at BGW, and that includes Alpie:)

Tim (who reluctantly admits that his passionate love for Arrow sometimes crosses the line:))

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hey...thats my story..and im stickin by it!!! :)
PKD 2003...drop rides will never be the same...Intamin rocks!! :)

It seems as if Busch Gardens is in to perfection - they don't put in rides every other year like other parks do, and I guess when they began to discover faults in Drachen, they attempted to work with it to make it a good ride and eventually just gave up - I would imagine they would put a new coaster in its place within the next few years.

I feel like an idiot, thats the old stuff I heard though anyways, I don't think you are allowed to touch an eagles nest, it's a big problem if you do, but its not the only reason it was torn out.

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Can we change the name of Top Gun to your mom so no one wants to ride your mom?

It being torn out had nothig to do with an Eagles nest I know that much. It was toar out for the same reason Steel Phantom was torn out. And as to what happened to it. It is probably a refrigerator by now.

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The Beast and Night, They go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly

sylvester said:
- I would imagine they would put a new coaster in its place within the next few years."

I would be very shocked to see that. Its location was one of its biggest problems. You could see the coaster fine from the midways, trying to find the way to it was a big problem though. Its pathway was totally blocked from view by Festhaus. I think the next coaster project will be somewhere else. This site may be used many years from now when BGW finds themselves needing some space.

Jim Fisher said:
There were no eagles.

There was in fact an eagle's (or some kind of bird's) nest visible on the top of the lift hill. When I was riding the train one of the operators pointed it out "an eagle's nest on top of the first hill."

Whoever did the BGW Timeline did a great job with the Drachen Fire promotional video. If you haven't checked that out yet I highly recommend it. I was trying to find a way to download it from the site but I've had no luck in doing so.

If I told you what really happened and why you all wouldn't believe me. I'm not saying I now every little detail but I do know a great deal. The sad part is they fixed the ride last season and it still got scraped.

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Fear The two Apollo’s Chariot,which boasts nine drops,totaling 825-feet!and Alpengeist,the world’s tallest at(195-feet!),fastest at(67 mph!)and most twisted inverted roller coaster.

The nests that I saw were hawks not eagles.