Defunctland: The History of Drachen Fire at Busch Gardens Williamsburg

[Music] Ronn tumor is the undisputed king of roller-coaster design a former rocket engineer tumor has been involved in the creation of 83 coasters he always starts in the same unassuming way with a simple piece of wire twisted into a few loops and turns for maximum terror [Music] [Music] somebody once called me a fright merchant and now do you know we don't know I think we have to try to scare them I just think by virtue of the product we have it scares them already some people like to get beat up and bashed around and others don't so so we have to sort of walk the line of having an exciting ride that's gonna you know scare people or whatever without without damaging but how new is the ride what's behind the drokken fire and all the other coasters that have ever been built [Music] on March 31st 1959 beer company anheuser-busch expanded on their Tampa brewery for beer tastings and company events part of this expansion included the addition of a bird garden courting the name Busch Gardens this was not the first brewery of this type for the company as if you had been open in California in the past offering tasters and visitors additional attractions six years later in 1965 the Serengeti Plain exhibit opened expanding the number and types of animals at the park along with this a monorail was added to enhance guests viewing experiences of the freely roaming animals by 1968 Busch Gardens Tampa was forward his most popular tourist destination a few years later in 1971 Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom opened giving Busch Gardens a major competitor in the state that same year another Busch Gardens would open in Houston four years after that everything changed for the wildlife and beer parks Busch Gardens Tampa opened its first roller coaster in 1976 Python opened to the public fitting with the parks African theme the Busch Gardens in California was themed after the South Pacific and Busch Gardens Houston was themed after Asia but neither of these would develop into fully fledged amusement parks Busch Gardens Houston will close in 1973 and Busch Gardens California would close in 1979 both - due to lack of attendance but there was a fourth Park [Music] I guess just about everybody at one time or another dreams of a trip to Europe but just how many of us can afford it I'd like to show you what you can do on this side of the Atlantic for less than seven dollars [Music] this is the old country now being dopa Busch Gardens at Williamsburg Virginia near Washington DC in this book will help you plan a visit this spring when the old country opens for your free copy right Busch Gardens Williamsburg Virginia and start planning to join us in the old country on this side of the Atlantic on May 16th 1975 anheuser-busch opened an amusement park outside of their Williamsburg brewery as a method to promote the Virginian town the park opened his Busch Gardens the old country accompanying Busch Gardens Tampa then named Busch Gardens the Dark Continent they would be renamed around the same time in the early nineties to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in 2006 to 2008 they would be renamed to Busch Gardens Europe and Busch Gardens Africa respectively before reverting back to their previous titles the two parks had more continuity than just their names though and they would remain closely tied to one another as they developed and grew a few years after opening in June of 1978 Busch Gardens Williamsburg opened the Loch Ness monster the world's first roller coaster with interlocking loops which mirrored the style inspects a Tampa's Python for 1,400 years of his eluded man vague rumors questionable evidence all have led to dead ends and lands endless search for the monster for sure as you hear my voice the Loch Ness monster lives terrible and its power to drive men mad was feared see for yourself when the Loch Ness monster surfaces at the Old Country Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 1996 Tampa received Montu a record-breaking inverted coaster followed by Williamsburg's alpengeist in 1997 which was another inverted coaster breaking montu's records this practice of back and forth continues today but if you look at the lineups of the two parks you might notice one coasters without a sibling in 1993 Busch Gardens Tampa Bay opened khumba an inverting wild and thrilling coaster that implemented many unique and new elements don't miss the daily afternoon race between the heron and the monorail someone obviously enjoyed attraction and this coaster really designed by Bolliger & Mabillard of switzerland and opened in 1993 Mumbai introduced three first-of-a-kind elements the Camelback a maneuver which breeze weightlessness from spiraling 360 degrees a diving move which plunges you into a loop from a height of a hundred feet and 108 during the two minutes 54 seconds run you'll also be taken to a cobra roll and oblique loop vertical spiral and a double corkscrew at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and pulling three and three-quarter jeans do you want to get off now Kumba is still operating today and there's not a similar coaster in Williamsburg so was kuma destined to be an only child not at all in fact it was actually the second door in the small town of Monte Switzerland in 1987 the roller coaster manufacturer Jia vanilla underwent a change in management two of their employees Walter Bullock air and Claude mob yard decided to leave the company and form their own hiring two other employees during their startup after leaving Gio vanilla bully Guerra mafia our decided that they would not design any more amusement park rides that was until six flags contacted them persuading them to build their first coaster after hiring more employees and finding contractors bnm constructed iron wolf at Six Flags Great America two years later bnm would design Batman the ride also for 65 great america creating the world's first inverted coaster this began their long and prosperous career manufacturing thrill rides and over time they developed a unique style recognizable to park goers while a gia vanilla bulgar and mob yard work is another switzerland-based roller coaster design company intamin intamin has manufactured and were designed to pass defunct line additions back to the future the ride Jaws the ride and disaster transport intimate and BM M's work are often compared as the company's products appear incredibly similar the style of the track and supports for example are nearly identical as vulgar a mob yard helped develop this wall achieve Enola however there is one main difference between the two companies their willingness to take risks intimate is not afraid to push the limits on their designs for instance intamin built the tallest roller coaster in the world Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure most of the time the results of their risks are worth it and results in incredible and new attractions times though the products are less than reliable such as Knott's Berry Farms accelerator which intamin manufactured accelerator is a launch coaster that reaches over 80 miles an hour in 2.3 seconds and the cable responsible for the launch has snapped on two occasions one time injuring a rider bnm is the antithesis to this that are often criticized for playing it safe and not innovating outside of different car and restraint styles the upside of this is obvious as bm's coasters are notoriously safe and efficient and they have incredibly high up times especially when compared to intimate whose coasters are sometimes infamous for their down times bnm is a mindset of careful and thoughtful production resulted in them declining Busch Gardens request for two coasters one at each of their parks at this point bnm had only created a few coasters and the overwhelming success of Batman the ride brought a flood of requests for copies and new inverted coasters from the company Busch Gardens had requested the coasters for a 1993 release which would have been difficult for bnm as they were already working on a Batman clone for Six Flags Great Adventure and another umberto coaster for California's Great Adventure Busch Gardens did not take no for an answer and bnm once again gave in to the pressure agreeing to build just one of the two requested coasters it was settled that the company will build khumba for Busch Gardens Tampa but Busch Gardens does not wish to leave Williamsburg without a new coaster so they went searching for another company the problem with this is that the concept and design for khumba had been settled so the second company would have to match BN M's coaster a ride that hadn't been built yet so what poor company did Busch Gardens hire to match the strength power and reliability of BN M's coaster in 1942 a machine shop near Mountain View California was opened under the name Aero development founded by Andy Anderson Carl bacon William Hardeman and Edgar Morgan originally operating as a simple parts manufacturer Aero took notice of the boom of the amusement park industry following World War two they began to dabble and ride manufacturing and in 1948 they built their first ride a merry-go-round for the city of San Jose they expanded their production of amusement park rides even reaching out to Walt Disney after hearing the news of Disneyland's construction in 1952 arrow hoped that Disney would be interested in their new paddle boat design however Disney was more interested in the other attractions the company was producing he contracted the company hoping they could innovate new types of ride for and arrow got to work creating right after ride for the new park their contributions led to the creation of opening day attractions King Arthur's carousel mr. Toad's Wild Ride Mad Tea Party Dumbo the flying elephant the KC jr. circus train and Snow White scary adventures they would later help create Alice in Wonderland pirates the Caribbean haunted mansion and past defunct plane edition submarine voyage perhaps arrows biggest contribution to Disney Parks was the Matterhorn bobsleds in 1959 with which they ultimately invented the steel coaster while there were Disney's go-to manufacturer and designer arrow ventured into plenty of other parks becoming a staple of the amusement park industry when you think of a looping roller coaster you're probably thinking of a narrow corkscrew when you think of log flumes Splash boats mine trains suspended coasters all arrow they were the king of the industry but industries change new companies enter and existing ones progressed in 1971 Disney open their own in-house manufacturer central shops executive vice president Dick noone has broke the news to aro that their help was no longer needed saying quote I have to admit that we could not have done this without you but it's over now we built this big facility and we're going to do everything ourselves the next year Aero development was sold off and it will be passed along being bought by company after company eventually becoming aerodynamics by the late 80s dizzy from the absorptions and dissolvent sand still trying to find their footing in an ever-changing industry era was still able to hold on to some incredibly talented designers such as the legendary Ron tumor Aero also had an advantage and that had a long record with most of the major amusement parks they had produced some of the original monorails the Python and Loch Ness monster coasters and the big bad wolf suspended coaster all four Busch Gardens so when the company approached them about building a new coaster for their Williamsburg Park they accepted there were just a few conditions [Music] we're aerodynamics and while other manufacturers are content to Coast alone Aero continues to speed down the fast track that's advanced our coaster technology light-years beyond anyone else in fact we've helped America's most exciting parks have record-breaking attendance for the past 20 years [Music] Busch Gardens Williamsburg cranked up the heat to the scorching you know when they Unleashed hairos dragon fire of my long ride on the back of this tubular steel dragon will fire up even the coolest coaster fan rotten fire from aerodynamics the monster has left its lair and is now the hottest ticket in town at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 1991 the general manager of Busch Gardens Keith Kayson announced Williamsburg the newest attraction a steel coaster named rock and fire the coaster will be placed in Williamsburg his Oktoberfest area near arrows big bad wolf construction began in 1991 and was completed in early 1992 the coaster was set to open on April 4th with a special appearance by comedian and self-proclaimed roller coaster enthusiasts Dana Carvey however the ride experienced issues on its opening day which Carvey compensated for through means of an impromptu stand-up routine but its technical difficulties would not be a major problem for the ride during its lifespan in fact guests had more reason to be afraid when drunk and fire was operating correctly hang on because the rides just begun for with an ear shot of your fading screams is drokken fire Busch Gardens newest and most spine-tingling coaster experience yet a dizzying 15 storeys tall at its highest point drokken fire is one of the largest steel coasters in North America Busch Gardens wanted drokken fire to be one-of-a-kind with first-time elements a new car design and a more freestanding non-traditional support system for the tracks all in all a moving monument to the physics of fun [Music] and fun and thrills are what drokken fire is all about anticipation builds as riders make the quick 15-story ascent to drokken fires highest point as the cars begin their first plunge they are inverted briefly before careening 120 feet to the ground at over 60 miles per hour after this disorienting first drop riders are turned upside down five more times hurtling along 30 550 feet of electric blue track through a series of inverted elements including three corkscrews and three new elements never tried before on any other roller coaster daring riders will first encounter the famed camel backup which produces a few seconds of near weightlessness next in the series of unique elements is the fiery batwing which rolls passengers upside down twice in a boomerang type of effect with hardly enough time to catch their breath passengers will then whip through a corkscrew where they will encounter the cutback element which rotates cars upside down inside a loop and then whips through yet another corkscrew leading to the grand finale a fast 360-degree spiral before returning to the station truck and fire reached a height of 150 feet tall with a ride time of just under two minutes Dragon Fire is one of the most unique and baffling coasters ever created obviously built by a company out of their element truck and fire similarities with khumba and other bnm coasters are obvious yet mind-numbing arrows desperate attempts to match the look and feel of a bnm coasters what would eventually lead to track & Fire's failure for instance arrow coasters have a very distinct support structure a cluttered cross beaming mountain of metal be NMS on the other hand implements simple and elegant tubes for their supports instead of using their own method to build rack and fire arrow attempted to recreate B and M style this is the first arrow coaster to have this type of support and the company's lack of experience with such structures not only led to a coaster that was awkward to the eye but also had an imperfect amateur feel after seeing the designs of khumba era wanted to have a similar loop over druk and fires lift hill but supposedly they couldn't figure out how to with the tracks layout they opted for an inversion during the first drop instead this awkward corkscrew is jarring as guests come out of it fast eventually reaching 60 miles per hour era 1 as far as to use a similar computer system to be an MS which they had never used in the past and would never use again the new elements and unique design were fascinating and for some worth the ride for the general public however drokken fire was simply too rough with the first few weeks of operation riders were already choosing not to ride the coaster for this reason Busch Gardens attempted to remedy this around 1994 by eliminating one of the six inversions the diving corkscrew element replacing it with a straight piece of track the head rattling nature of the ride was still so intense that Busch Gardens warned riders to remove their earrings so they would not lose them still it was Williamsburg's newest coaster and they weren't afraid to shove it in front of the camera for press releases and publicity although it's nestled in the rolling hills of southern Virginia a visit to Busch Gardens Williamsburg of like taking a mini tour through Europe it's a very large theme park and this thing looks more like a field map to the Normandy invasion then they map their theme parks I can't really figure out exactly where I'm going what I'm doing but there's a lot of great things to see here apparently it's the fastest roller coaster here upside down five times badder [Applause] [Music] three o'clock fortunately my vertebra snapped like a twig or I'd get up but the doctor should be here shortly and then we'll continue on with our adventure in 1997 however the rambunctious dragon the bnm wannabe would be put in its place in 1997 bnm opened their first addition to Williams first line up the after mentioned alpengeist the tallest and fastest inverted coaster in the world it was an instant hit not only drawing audiences away from drunk and fire but also exemplifying its inadequacies by 1998 the small section where dragon fire was located was looking less like an attraction and more like a ghost town in the middle of the 1998 season truck and fire was closed Busch Gardens spokesperson Cindy Circo said there has been a steady erosion of ridership combined with the high operating expenses of the ride it helps officials make the decision to shut it down she would add that Busch Gardens might attempt to modify the ride giving fans hope that it would open once again however this became more and more unlikely as time passed in 1999 drokken fire was listed for sale while there were several potential buyers no agreements were made and Drakh and fire sat still in Oktoberfest waiting for its eventual demise however hope was reignited during the 2001 pass holders Preview Day three years after the ride closed several guests reported seeing the ride running with Busch Gardens seemingly testing the ride for a reopening but this wasn't the case the next year in February 2002 truck and fire was dismantled and recycled for scrap at this point arrow couldn't care less as the company had moved on to other more disastrous projects that would eventually lead to their bankruptcy and demise bnm on the other hand is still creating high-quality coasters all over the world drunken fires remaining cue and maintenance structures are now used for the park's Halloween events and the former land occupied by the ride is now used for concerts at the park in 2016 Busch Gardens apparently began selling drunk and fired t-shirts again trying to capitalize on those nostalgic for the ride drunken fire was a monster a wild untamed rough monster that was trying to be something that it wasn't the attraction was only open for five years it is impressive that it is so widely regarded as a disaster despite the fact that there were no major accidents or incidents with the ride it might be because it was destructive to everything evenly so it is hard to pick out one single case the riders designers and managers alike all felt the damage of drunken fire's flame and none of them could handle the heat [Music]

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 1,420,330

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, coaster, roller coasters, amusement park, thrill parks, thrill rides, theme parks, drachen fire, busch gardens, busch gardens tampa, busch gardens williamsburg, bgw, busch gardens the dark continent, africa, europe, the old country, big bad wolf, history of, b&m, bolliger mabillard, bolliger, mabillard, arrow development, arrow dynamics

Id: kKfSC3_LUtA

Length: 20min 57sec (1257 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 27 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/BaKdGoOdZ0203]

Ignoring that B&M was NOT asked to make it, (this sub can't make up its mind, so I'm just gonna go with, THEY DID) it's still a fascinating tale of "anything you can I do, I can do better" "no you can't..... seriously, don't try and be us." Hate to say it, but this incident makes me love B&M even more.

[u/DafoeFoSho]

"Some people like to get beat up and bashed around..."

Can't say Ron Toomer wasn't consistent with his design principles.

[u/krruss7]

The computer system comment is wrong. The Drachen Fire system first debuted on Great American Scream Machine, and was also used on Viper. A similar architecture was used on Shockwave, but was implemented using Westinghouse PLCs instead of Allen Bradley.

[u/Crunchewy]

That was good. Then I watched the Disaster Transport one. That was even better. Subscribed and will check out there other videos.

[u/Heyohmydoohd]

That’s really cool, and now it got me thinking about BGT’s arrow. They should do Python!

[u/sonimatic14]

I was really disappointed by this one. I've seen proof on the sub that B&M was never asked to build Drachen Fire.