Continuing on my nostalgic amusement/theme park memories, I would like to share my memories of a ride that similar to the Orient Express, has a bit of a history. The ride was called Drachen Fire and was one of a kind, located at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, in Williamsburg, Virginia. For me there was a lot of hype built up behind this ride. Drachen Fire was being talked about on tv (which you will see the video below), and then I find out years later I’m going to get to go ride it! Once we finally got into the park and I stood at the gates of Drachen Fire, everything changed.
Drachen Fire was built in 1992 by Arrow Dynamics (who also build the Orient Express). It was located in the Oktoberfest (Germany) area of the park. From what I gathered the theming and idea of the coaster centered around riding a dragon. Of course I thought this was awesome. At the time I really was into castles, knights, and pretty much anything else you could think of related to Dungeons and Dragons. This ride fit right in for me. They even had a grand opening for the ride with Knights! leading the way (see NOVA video below). I get the word we are taking a vacation to Virginia, and will be spending a day at Busch Gardens. I immediately start planning what rides I was going to get on. Just a few years before I remembered seeing a special on Drachen Fire on E! (Video Below), so I was fully prepared to conquer this ride of the dragon.
The year is 1999, and upon arriving in the park, my head was on a swivel due to the amount of attractions this place had. Sure some of it might not have been themed the best, but there were more rides than I had seen to this point. As we made our way through the park throughout the day, we would stop and ride anything that looked fun. Towards the end of the day we had made our way to the back of the park in Oktoberfest area. After an awesome ride on the much advertised coaster, “Big Bad Wolf,” I could see the towering blue structure that was Drachen Fire, and made my way to the entrance gate. It was at this point my dreams of conquering the beast were shot down.
The gate to Drachen Fire was locked shut. The ride was closed. I checked a couple more times throughout the day, hoping it was only closed for maintenance and would reopen. It did not reopen. In fact it never reopened again!
All these years later, and several of hours of research online, I discovered what had happened, which only fed my nostalgia and curiosity even more. The ride officially closed in 1998, meaning it only was open for 6 years!. The ride stood intact, but not operating until early 2002, when it was disassembled, parted out, and melted down. There were several contributing factors for the coaster closing from the research I have done. It suffered from several technical malfunctions from its opening day. It was also VERY ROUGH, which somewhat fell into place with some of the other Arrow Dynamics steel coasters of the time. Many also believe that Arrow somewhat forced the architecture of the ride without considering how rough the transitions would be. Some blame it on the location, because it was towards the back of the park and a somewhat tricky to find.
To this day the mystery, and intrigue of Drachen Fire is still talked about from coaster enthusiast around the world. Where the ride used to set is now Festhaus Park to the best of my knowledge, and is used for concerts, the park’s "Howl o'Scream" festival as well as misc. events. Drachen fire will always be known for it’s truly one of a kind wraparound corkscrew dive, its total of 6 inversions and its bright blue frame. It's just too bad I never got to ride it. Flame on in our memories Dragon!
Thanks for taking the time to read my article. Did you ever get to ride Drachen Fire, or Busch Gardens Williamsburg? Please share your thoughts below in the comments. If you enjoyed this article and all the other content on this site, please consider Showing Your Support.