methos Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 does any one have a good pov and off ride of drechen fire at bgw before ists change or after?
Chris Benvenuto Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 it's very unlikely anyone has a POV of it, it was 1997 man, we didn't have digital video cameras then, normal video cameras where popular then, sorry for spoiling your hopes. but that's the truth. I think.
calcajun Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 No Dooood! There is hope! Drachen Fire is featured on the Americas Greatest Roller Coaster Thrills in 3d dvd. Do a search at cdnowdot com and it's there
jackskellington101 Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 I've wondered this, and I don't mean this to be a personal bust on you, but why are people clamoring for Drachen Fire stuff? I, personally, never liked it. It was one of the roughest coasters I've ever been on. That one gave me a headache and a half from the repeated bashings against the horse collar restraints of doom. I know to each their own, I'm just curious. Stuart "Killing cats left and right" Newsom
chauncey Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 Well, I'm not one to care about roughness, personally. However, I think people are really excited by Drachen Fire for a lot of reasons. It's a very beautiful ride, with a lot of unique elements, that was new when it closed, and so few people ever got to ride it.
Homer Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 I have found one, the site it was on was taken down, but thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can download the file! http://web.archive.org/web/20040329065538/http://www.polarisfiles.com/rollercoaster/drachenfire.mpeg A good Drachen Fire POV...
chauncey Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 I never realised it was so slow! It seems to crawl through a lot of it's course.
coasterfreak101 Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 ^Yeah, it does, doesn't it! I would've loved to ride that, too bad it's gone! A lot of times, don't coasters move a little bit slower when there's no people on board? Or is that just RCT The way that coaster is talked about, to take such a clear video with no bumping I'm thining that it was taped to the car! In that case, maybe noone was on! Thanks for posting that video, I've always wanted to see that coaster in action!
socalMAN123 Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 Man, I wish I could've been on it! It looked like a lot of fun! I think it was an Arrow looper, which might explain its roughness. ---Brent 8)
benzo41190 Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 the video doesnt work it playes half way through then it stops.
Coasterkid20 Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 Had it been designed by someone different, it could have been really recent. But it just looks like crap because of the incurable transitions........ I'ts a pitty cause 2 of those inversions have never been repeated again......
benzo41190 Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 I always thought it was cool that there was a Cobra Roll in a Arrow! That overbanked turn/corkscrew thing looked so cool, wasnt that inversion removed, or im I thinking of something else.
chauncey Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 The inversion that was removed was the corkscrew after the midcourse breakrun.
cfc Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 I've ridden Drachen Fire in both its incarnations. The first time it left me with two huge bruises on either shoulder, along with the soon-to-be-customary headache and feeling of disorientation. The only reason it lasted as long as it did was because a bald eagle built a nest on the top of the lift hill, so Busch had to leave it alone for a year (thanks to the Endangered Species Act). So, it did serve at least one good purpose before being scrapped. As you've probably guessed, I do not weep for Drachen Fire. Anaconda at PKD is even worse, though.
zburns999 Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 No Dooood! There is hope! Drachen Fire is featured on the Americas Greatest Roller Coaster Thrills in 3d dvd. Do a search at cdnowdot com and it's there Haha! I have that movie. It makes Drachen Fire look nice and smooth, but it shows the train coming into the station and nobody's smiling and those low trains look really uncomfortable.
Real Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 I must say the first cork into the drop looks far different and acts far different from their standard corks. It actually has a good parabolic shape to it that can be seen as it nears the middle of it, it gets tighter than untightens in radius. Its almost like they modified it just because it had a drop as an exit but never realized that was a PROPER way to do a cork. That whole entire first part looks so smooth and I actually would bet its the smoothest part of the ride. After that you can just tell that the transitions would kill you. So many people complain that Intamin goes "too" prototype but look at Arrow. They had Drachen Fire - Torn down. The Bat - Torn down. X - down for months. Their history is probably worse because so many modifications have been made to their existing rides.
Twister II Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 I always thought it was cool that there was a Cobra Roll in a Arrow! That overbanked turn/corkscrew thing looked so cool, wasnt that inversion removed, or im I thinking of something else. That overbanked thingy is called a cutback. Its concidered an inversion.
YoshiFan Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 Even if it was rough, I think they still should have kept it. Isn't the area where the ride was just vacant anyway? Plus, they really could have used another coaster considering the lack of coasters they have now (they have more past coasters than current coasters!)
chauncey Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 Even if it was rough, I think they still should have kept it. Isn't the area where the ride was just vacant anyway? Plus, they really could have used another coaster considering the lack of coasters they have now (they have more past coasters than current coasters!) So does Kennywood, Cedar Point, and a lot of other parks! Besides, it's quality not quantity! From what I hear Drachen Fire wasn't a quality rollercoaster, so it's good they got rid of it.
DenDen Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 Haha! I have that movie. It makes Drachen Fire look nice and smooth, but it shows the train coming into the station and nobody's smiling and those low trains look really uncomfortable. Those are the same trains as Canyon Blaster. They're not bad, it's the ride itself that sucked harder than a vacuum.
Mind Eraser Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 Part of Drachen Fire's problem was location. In addition to banging up riders, a lot of people didn't even know it existed; and a lot of those who knew about it couldn't find the damn ride. Location plus lawsuits...
peteb Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 Drachen Fire was good looking looking ride on paper, in photos, and in person; that's probably why there's interest in what happened to this ride. The curves, turns and entrances into the loops were just not smooth. Every transition into the next element was abrupt. It just felt like a bunch of loops with poorly designed connectors in between that would just jerk you into alignment for the next element. There was so much of this ride that needed reprofiling to smooth out it was just cheaper to tear it down and put the money elsewhere. It would be interesting to find out what happened between Arrow and BGW on this one; who paid for the changes, was there ever a lawsuit, etc. Arrow had a pretty good relationship with BGW before Drachen Fire but I doubt they'll ever do business with them again. I think this coaster put a lot of nails in Arrow's coffin.
Meteornotes Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 I only had a chance to ride DF on one visit to BGW, since I lived in CA the entire time it was at the park. I don't remember a lot of details, but I do remember liking the ride and didn't think it was all that rough. I also remember we were the only two people on the train, as like Kip said, I don't think most people visiting the park even knew it was there. I'm sure if it was still around today it would be a skull destroyer of epic proportions, but I remember it back then as being a fun ride... dt
peteb Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 Most visitors didn't know Drachen Fire was even in the park unless they took the train ride which ran next to it, otherwise it was almost invisible. The ride really wasn't as bad as some say, it's just that better coasters were being built and this one wasn't even as good as Loch Ness Monster which Arrow built 14 years before.
Mind Eraser Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 I rode it from opening year until like 1997. I think its terrible reputation was not warranted. It was no rougher than most other Arrow loopers (GASM, Shockwave, Orient Express, Phantom, etc). It was a wicked coaster, and I miss it a lot What always cracked me up was how BGW took out the corkscrew because the transition into the cutback was quite the headbanger. The problem was, the new track had the same tight turn before the cutback causing the same head bashing on the riders. -kip-
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