I rode this coaster several times in 1992 & 1993. The switchback corkscrews would slam your head back and forth against the harness. After riding a couple times your neck and head would be hurting. That didn’t stop teenage me from making laps on the thing. I think they eventually removed one of the corkscrews.
This roller coaster was responsible for sabotaging at least 3 visits after sustaining severe headaches. Riding through the corkscrews felt like someone was slamming a rubber mallet against my head repeatedly. I chalked it up to "maybe I'm getting too old for this" even though I was in my 20's. Stayed away from roller coasters in general for a few years after that. Now I feel a bit validated learning that others felt the same way.
It's a shame I never got experience this one. I've lived 20 minutes from Williamsburg my whole life, and been there more times than I can count, but this coaster eludes me. Too bad it was so rough
This is the best designed roller coaster by arrow(referring to the layout) outside of their multi dimension coasters, this looks so wild. It’s a shame arrow could never figure out the head banging/transitions very well
Ron Toomer arrogance in wanting to stick with hand drafting coasters and twisting metal by hand. The way he'd always done it. Their latter half dozen coasters were all designed in a program though. Which is why they're so much smoother. I always loved this rides layout. It's a full ride. Got a good drop, a "schtick," 6 inversions, an ending helix, a potential airtime moment etc.
@idkwhattoputhere Yeah, it's definitely stubborn more than arrogance. But, I'd have to re-watch all the Arrow stuff I've seen/read. I'm sure you've seen The Legacy of Arrow Development? I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in the bonus interviews of that documentary. But in most pieces of media I've seen on Arrow; there's a line or two mentioning Toomer being in charge in the 90s and wanting to stick to the way they'd always done things. He didn't see a need to change things so drastically. It wasn't until it started becoming very obvious that CAD design was the future, and enough new engineers had been brought on (or maybe even Toomer wasn't in charge anymore, can't remember if he stayed until the bankruptcy or not) for Arrow to actually switch things up.
Seems a simple u-shaped headrest could solve instead of dismantling. Not just the roller coaster kid inside me, but the economist inside me wants to cry 😭
@@RYMAN1321 the popularity issue was because it was such a neck snapper. Arrow took a really big swing but they lacked the expertise to pull off the coaster they were attempting to build.
I rode this coaster 5x in a row at the end of the day with my daughters when the park was about to close. The operators just kept asking us "want to go again". We could barely walk when we were done. I feel my head bumping the side restraints a couple of times just watching this video!😵💫
I never had any issues with headaches or whiplash on this coaster. In fact- one trip I was there with some buddies till the park closed and since there was nobody in that part of the park, we stayed on this coaster and rode it like 4-5 consecutive times without even having to get up (until the park closed, of course)
There are reasons why Arrow went under other then the sheer costs of building and developing X for SF Magic mountain. Drachen Fire perfectly illustrates that. Arrow tracks are by definition rough. That may have been fine back when they set the precedence in the rollercoaster market. But with the rise of he likes of Intamin and B&M, who's tracks led to a for the most part butter smooth ride they just couldn't compete anymore. I'm honestly surprised Vekoma managed to still hold out for so long with the tracks they inherited from Arrow. Good thing they finally seem to have abandoned those.
@@jasonhook3884 That was with a different management crew and using computers to be able to get tolerances of the track similar to B&M and Intamin resulting in a smooth ride. But they didn't have the $ to replicate this elsewhere.
@@jasonhook3884 yeah people always blame the track, same with Vekoma SLCs, but if you look at Tennessee Tornado (or Great Nor'Easter for the SLC equivalent) the track isn't the issue at all. It was track profiling, which Arrow and Vekoma sucked at (if you see how glass smooth Great Nor'Easter is now with new track you can see the effect of good profiling), and Ron Toomer's steadfast refusal to utilize CAD to the level he should have. Which led to some amazing, absurdly forceful rides (see: Viper at MM) but made coasters like Drachen Fire and Steel Phantom almost unbearable for the GP.
Yeah, but I would have loved to been present when Ron Toomer was pulling his hair out trying to figure out how to put a square B&M peg into a round Arrow hole.
I was able to ride this last season before being shut down. I really enjoyed it, and I’ve been on some rough roller coasters. Didn’t find it much different than say Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Ninja at Six Flags Over Georgia, or Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Great Adventure (as far as roughness). I think there should have just been disclaimers placed and ride remained open.
Yeah well outside of the Georgia Cyclone Ninja was the roughest coaster I ever rode and it was definitely the roughest steel coaster so that's not putting it in very good company.
Well actually, it would have been a lot better if Arrow hadn’t decided to basically doom it on accident. You see, this coaster was originally meant to be built by B&M but this was a time when B&M was not as experienced with building rides and were not a mainstream manufacturer yet. And with the task of building 2 coasters, that being Kumba and Drachen Fire, they thought they couldn’t take on both tasks so they decided to focus on Kumba. Arrow Dynamics was then hired to build Drachen Fire but Arrow made a mistake. They actually tried to copy the track design of B&M which is why it is so rough, because they didn’t know how to, and there’s also the fact that they tried building the corckscrews like today’s corckscrews, instead of their standard corckscrews. If it weren’t for these mistakes, it would’ve still operated to today and might’ve actually been pretty enjoyable.
@@racheldurrette3039 And that’s true, but you mentioned Anaconda, which was built traditionally (I mean the way Arrow builds most of their rides). Even if Magnum XL-200 was their first attempt at a Hypercoaster and not exactly “traditional,” it’s not strange in any way so you could consider it traditional, yet it’s a lot smoother than most of Arrow’s other coasters, which is why I mentioned it.
The only major BGW coaster I never got to ride. I had a drought in my visits to the park between about 86 and 97. She was still standing when I first road Alpengeist but they had already closed her down unfortunately.
Keep in mind this was made before computers designed coasters. This track was eyeballed and bent into place manually. That’s why almost all arrow loopers are rough.
I had to be like 11 or 12 when I got to ride this. Which consequently puts me somewhere around the last year of operation. My family didn't have much money and we went to Busch Gardens for the only Summer Vacation I can remember we took. I rode every single roller coaster they had and I got the stupid "I survived (enter roller coaster here)" keychain for every one of them. I do remember banging my ears at some point on drachen fire it felt like my ears got pelted with a hard hit wiffle ball. Maybe if I was older I could have predicted the g force and countered. Either way, our trip is a memory I'll carry with me forever.
This looked like a fun ride I was 9 when they took it away and at the time I was so scared to ride roller coaster but now I wish I wasn’t it looked like such a fun ride
I just wish Busch gardens would have waited for B&M to finish Kumba at Busch Gardens then start Williamsburg the way it would have worked smoothly or replace original dragon fire trains with different trains.
People crying about how rough the ride was are babies. Grizzly at Kings Dominion is way worse. This was a great ride my girlfriend and I rode back in 95 for next three and half years. We've been married now almost 21 years it sucks we never rode as a married couple.
I rode Drachen Fire multiple times in 92 before the one corkscrew was removed. I enjoyed it but my neck did hurt much more than it should have. Faulty design. I always thought that Busch Gardens should have considered building a successor that fixed the obvious flaws. It could have done very well.
0:30 Still blows my mind pipe benders, especially the fact they had to be some of the most experienced in the world at the time, weren't able to bend smooth radius turns over multiple track pieces. I just don't get it. Even by hand, just low effort. I've always loved this coaster though. Truly unique layout. And was Arrow actually FINALLY trying something new after realizing competition was pushing them aside.
I rode this in 1997-1998, don't remember it being excessively rough, but for comparison, I still ride Anaconda at KD... but with my neck sticking out so my ears/head never touch the restraints... on the entry and exit of the break run, and corkscrews. For those who remember, would that strategy have worked here, for example on the cobra roll and corkscrew parts?
I’m glad I was able to ride this coaster several times before they shut it down. I don’t think it was rough. It did give the rider high g forces. The same roller coaster was built in another theme park and a person died while riding it. That’s the reason why they closed the one at Bush Gardens.
They made it very clear while in line that you should take out any earrings, etc. it really beat you up but I loved it. It beat people up so badly that I was able to ride it again by staying in my seat on multiple occasions. People were scared of it.
My wife (girlfriend at the time) rode this for years and the only problem was she left her earrings in one time, but they were larger than her others and she got poked with the backings. No one told her to remove themever. We rode from 95 until mid summer 98 and we loved it. It was a bit rough but anyone complaining has never ridden Grizzly at KD ,that ride is awful. I've ridden several coasters that are newer and worse. The POS Manta at SeaWorld gives me a headache. So there ,it's all in what you like and can take physically.
They should bring it back courtesy of Alan Schilke’s computer assisted/Tennessee tornado arrow track design. Make her a bit taller and faster, theme it on the heat of blue fire and add a double corkscrew instead of a single on the finale before the high speed helix under the “boomerang” element!
I wish I would have been able to ride this coaster. It looked so cool. I have seen coasters that are much rougher than this. I want to become an engineer that designs rides for Busch gardens and I would love to pitch an idea similar to this but there are parts I would definitely change
This was a great layout and a ride I looked forward to riding but my goodness…. it was so rough, one time it gave me a headache so badly that I vowed never to ride it again… and I didn’t.
Most of the issues with this ride were the train design. It was even worse than the standard arrow coaster. I suspect if the ride had opened with the standard arrow trains it might actually still be there today.
Nah, it was the whole coaster that was flawed. Arrow were trying to copy B&M and they couldnt. From the train to the supports to the elements and the smoothness. It was all a sub par attempt, but BGW asked for it
They could have done a full retract near the end of its life. By then they would have had Alan shilkie (I think that’s how his last name is spelled) designing for arrow. Cus he did the last few coasters like Tennessee tornado and x (now x2) he could have done a full redesign and retrace with computer animated track work and more slick transitions. It would still be there, and be a world class looper to this day
I legit think riding this so many times as a young teenage has led to some of my health conditions I have today. Probably got so many concussions riding this and didn't even know it.
They actually wanted to, but B&M, being so new at the time, could only build one of the requested coasters (BG wanted 2, one in FL and one in VA). Busch Gardens Tampa got the B&M, which we all know as Kumba.
Thats what I say about great american scream machine people love to shit on that and like you with drachen fire I never thought GASM was rough or unbearable. I actually thought Vortex at KI was rougher and I still loved that ride too.
How long did you have to wait in line for such a short ride? just curious I remember having to wait 2to3 hours for a three minute ride totally ridiculous.👍😁😎
I always thought the crap about hurt necks etc started with 1 person and it just spread to give people something to cry about. This ride was not rough...but I was also 13 at the time
My friend and I were 11 in 1996. Drachen Fire smacked the -fxxk- out of our heads on every inversion. We tried fighting against it, but our skulls just rattled around between the plastic restraints, like a pinball machine. We got off the coaster, disoriented and moaning in pain. We _had_ planned to tackle a few more rides, but Drachen Fire ruined the last hour of our visit. And today I learn there were _documented_ incidents of neck and brain injury on this thing? 😬
Loved this one, think I rode it within the first two years it was open…Yeah it was a lil bit punishing, but it was worth the ride! Too bad they didn’t go bigger and faster from the start…Give it a 200ft drop somewhere and smooth it out a bit and it would have been legendary!
I feel like some tweeking and reworking could have smoothed out and saved the ride. It looks better than most of the coasters they have installed as of late.
It looks like it wouldn’t be as rough as Loch Ness Monster. I didn’t ride Loch Ness until about 10 years ago, so it may have been smoother when it was newer, but that tunnel is horrible
This ride was a very unique arrow coaster i love it and to me it wasn't rough at all, if you wanted rough ride Son of beast paramount kings island in 2000s when it first opened with the heavier trains and loop now that was rough
I would love this park to get a company like gerstlauer and make a Infinity coaster with this same layout and other elements and call it "reborn" and give the same colors. I was so hyped for this coaster when I parents desided we go to this park on trip we took down here. I loved arrow coasters and still do. But this coasters even for me banged me up. Itwas biggest disappointment because i only rode this twice
They closed it because all of these complaints I I rode that thing several times now you do have to hold on keep your body pretty stiff because you're the g-forces it was probably the one best rides I've ever had
@@eac1235 Arrow was fine until they started making large looping coasters (their hypers are fine if maintained well-Magnum XL, etc.-if a bit rough). The issue was they had difficulty designing their inverted elements for faster coasters as they were designed in the 70s and never really updated until TN Tornado, which is a great ride. Hence, why you see the hill before the first vertical loop in Viper (to get the speed and g-forces down but it damages the pacing). They also had track tolerance issues from visually and manually designing. For slower and smaller coasters, this was OK enough, but as they get larger and faster, the problems magnified.
I marathoned this ride as a kid the year it came out. Was one of the most fun rides I ever rode at the time. The roughness was overrated, probably by a bunch of 40 year old moms that shouldn't be riding it anyway.
I remember riding this for the first time and cut my knee on the edge of the train and I had to go to first aid. Once they put a bandage on my knee and asked was I okay, I got right back in line and wrote it about 7 more times. The trains were horrible. The only trains that I really like are Intamin trains.
I rode this beast over ten times. It was extreme and I never had a complaint about 'roughness'. This coaster was one-of-a-kind.
As someone who rode this as a kid and son of beast as a teenager I can only say they were both out of control and felt dangerous to ride
The layout just seems random. Throw together random cool elements and see what happens..
It's a shame this coaster was so rough, the layout always intrigued me. The first drop/inversion was so unique.
steel curtain :D
I think it was more intense than rough, a real shame that it doesn’t exist anymore
Why it was so rough. So many right looping element's right on top of one a other.
I rode this coaster several times in 1992 & 1993. The switchback corkscrews would slam your head back and forth against the harness. After riding a couple times your neck and head would be hurting.
That didn’t stop teenage me from making laps on the thing.
I think they eventually removed one of the corkscrews.
similar to Steel Curtain’s first drop today
Arrow Dynamics engineers: "Heartlining? What the hell is that?"
This roller coaster was responsible for sabotaging at least 3 visits after sustaining severe headaches. Riding through the corkscrews felt like someone was slamming a rubber mallet against my head repeatedly. I chalked it up to "maybe I'm getting too old for this" even though I was in my 20's. Stayed away from roller coasters in general for a few years after that. Now I feel a bit validated learning that others felt the same way.
Coaster’s fault the first time, the rest were your’s though
Ah yes, the Brown-Out Coaster. Only one that’s ever done that to me.
It's a shame I never got experience this one. I've lived 20 minutes from Williamsburg my whole life, and been there more times than I can count, but this coaster eludes me. Too bad it was so rough
This ride is truly one of the pivotal attractions in roller coaster history.
this is rare footage as the ride still has the corkscrew off of the midcourse which i believe was removed a couple years after it opened.
Thank you for posting this! I rode this coaster over and over with my sister as a teen, and it's great to be able to "reride" it here.
May I use your footage in a video on Busch Gardens' history? I will give you fill credit in the video.
Hm this guy seems familiar
@ Not necessarily
@ Of course
@ he's doing this to get a lower chance of getting striked
This is the best designed roller coaster by arrow(referring to the layout) outside of their multi dimension coasters, this looks so wild. It’s a shame arrow could never figure out the head banging/transitions very well
Ron Toomer arrogance in wanting to stick with hand drafting coasters and twisting metal by hand. The way he'd always done it. Their latter half dozen coasters were all designed in a program though. Which is why they're so much smoother. I always loved this rides layout. It's a full ride. Got a good drop, a "schtick," 6 inversions, an ending helix, a potential airtime moment etc.
@idkwhattoputhere Yeah, it's definitely stubborn more than arrogance. But, I'd have to re-watch all the Arrow stuff I've seen/read. I'm sure you've seen The Legacy of Arrow Development? I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in the bonus interviews of that documentary. But in most pieces of media I've seen on Arrow; there's a line or two mentioning Toomer being in charge in the 90s and wanting to stick to the way they'd always done things. He didn't see a need to change things so drastically. It wasn't until it started becoming very obvious that CAD design was the future, and enough new engineers had been brought on (or maybe even Toomer wasn't in charge anymore, can't remember if he stayed until the bankruptcy or not) for Arrow to actually switch things up.
Seems a simple u-shaped headrest could solve instead of dismantling. Not just the roller coaster kid inside me, but the economist inside me wants to cry 😭
@@yuki-sakurakawa the ride had stress fractures in the track because this was still old track welded together
They should had waited until B&M was able to deliver them another coaster. Drachen Fire was amazing, but it was a poor investment
That's a fact! Didn't even get a decades use before it was closed down for good!
@@ashleighelizabeth5916Wasn’t it also because it had low popularity too?
@@RYMAN1321 the popularity issue was because it was such a neck snapper. Arrow took a really big swing but they lacked the expertise to pull off the coaster they were attempting to build.
Or have Vekoma build it instead in the style of Blue Hawk with a butterfly inversion
This was never supposed to be a B&M. Arrow just didn’t know about heartlining and some other factors that played into its failire
This was an AWESOME ride. I would love to see it make a comeback somewhere. It was epic!
I rode this coaster 5x in a row at the end of the day with my daughters when the park was about to close. The operators just kept asking us "want to go again". We could barely walk when we were done. I feel my head bumping the side restraints a couple of times just watching this video!😵💫
And by bumping you mean getting absolutely demolished against said restraints?
I never had any issues with headaches or whiplash on this coaster. In fact- one trip I was there with some buddies till the park closed and since there was nobody in that part of the park, we stayed on this coaster and rode it like 4-5 consecutive times without even having to get up (until the park closed, of course)
So sad! Was a legend. Arrows big boy.
While the ride is gone, the name is really cool
This is why you don't imitate B&M with Arrow track.
There are reasons why Arrow went under other then the sheer costs of building and developing X for SF Magic mountain. Drachen Fire perfectly illustrates that. Arrow tracks are by definition rough. That may have been fine back when they set the precedence in the rollercoaster market. But with the rise of he likes of Intamin and B&M, who's tracks led to a for the most part butter smooth ride they just couldn't compete anymore.
I'm honestly surprised Vekoma managed to still hold out for so long with the tracks they inherited from Arrow. Good thing they finally seem to have abandoned those.
@@OnionChoppingNinja "Arrow's tracks are by definition rough"
Lol, then wtf is Tennessee Tornado?
@@jasonhook3884 That was with a different management crew and using computers to be able to get tolerances of the track similar to B&M and Intamin resulting in a smooth ride. But they didn't have the $ to replicate this elsewhere.
@@jasonhook3884 yeah people always blame the track, same with Vekoma SLCs, but if you look at Tennessee Tornado (or Great Nor'Easter for the SLC equivalent) the track isn't the issue at all. It was track profiling, which Arrow and Vekoma sucked at (if you see how glass smooth Great Nor'Easter is now with new track you can see the effect of good profiling), and Ron Toomer's steadfast refusal to utilize CAD to the level he should have. Which led to some amazing, absurdly forceful rides (see: Viper at MM) but made coasters like Drachen Fire and Steel Phantom almost unbearable for the GP.
Yeah, but I would have loved to been present when Ron Toomer was pulling his hair out trying to figure out how to put a square B&M peg into a round Arrow hole.
I was able to ride this last season before being shut down. I really enjoyed it, and I’ve been on some rough roller coasters. Didn’t find it much different than say Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Ninja at Six Flags Over Georgia, or Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Great Adventure (as far as roughness). I think there should have just been disclaimers placed and ride remained open.
Yeah well outside of the Georgia Cyclone Ninja was the roughest coaster I ever rode and it was definitely the roughest steel coaster so that's not putting it in very good company.
Too bad Arrow's track design was too outdated for this to be smooth.
Well actually, it would have been a lot better if Arrow hadn’t decided to basically doom it on accident.
You see, this coaster was originally meant to be built by B&M but this was a time when B&M was not as experienced with building rides and were not a mainstream manufacturer yet. And with the task of building 2 coasters, that being Kumba and Drachen Fire, they thought they couldn’t take on both tasks so they decided to focus on Kumba. Arrow Dynamics was then hired to build Drachen Fire but Arrow made a mistake. They actually tried to copy the track design of B&M which is why it is so rough, because they didn’t know how to, and there’s also the fact that they tried building the corckscrews like today’s corckscrews, instead of their standard corckscrews. If it weren’t for these mistakes, it would’ve still operated to today and might’ve actually been pretty enjoyable.
@@dibble1331 nah, in '91 they built Kings Dominion's Anaconda, which is very similar to this, and a rough head banging ride.
@@racheldurrette3039 And in 1989, they built Magnum XL-200. What’s your point?
@@dibble1331 you said they tried to copy the track design of B&M which is why it was so rough
@@racheldurrette3039 And that’s true, but you mentioned Anaconda, which was built traditionally (I mean the way Arrow builds most of their rides). Even if Magnum XL-200 was their first attempt at a Hypercoaster and not exactly “traditional,” it’s not strange in any way so you could consider it traditional, yet it’s a lot smoother than most of Arrow’s other coasters, which is why I mentioned it.
The only major BGW coaster I never got to ride. I had a drought in my visits to the park between about 86 and 97. She was still standing when I first road Alpengeist but they had already closed her down unfortunately.
Keep in mind this was made before computers designed coasters. This track was eyeballed and bent into place manually. That’s why almost all arrow loopers are rough.
B&M was using computers at this time, but Arrow wasn't. The tolerances in the track were too high (welds, etc.) resulting in roughness.
CAD was in use at the time, it's just that Arrow wasn't using it. They considered it too expensive.
And theyre now extinct and B&M reigns Supreme
@@hawkpfc3Arrow used CAD to design Drachen Fire
I think this was the first time they _did_ use computers.
I remember Drachen Fire! Fun but a rough roller coaster.
My first ride-through was on here, before they took out the corkscrew. Just a normal day, “stay on if you want”. :) We rode it 11 times that day.
I LOVED the first drop/inversion, they should do that on a giga
i wish they still had it
I rode it when it first opened, it was a hell of a beating!
I just missed getting to ride this as I was too young for it by the time it closed
Busch Gardens Williamsburg: I want Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa!
B&M: I'm busy
Nah, this was always an Arrow. They just wanted to innovate
This was one of the only Arrow coasters with a cobra roll
This was the the most painful rollercoaster I've ever been on. The soreness took the fun away unfortunately...
I had to be like 11 or 12 when I got to ride this. Which consequently puts me somewhere around the last year of operation.
My family didn't have much money and we went to Busch Gardens for the only Summer Vacation I can remember we took. I rode every single roller coaster they had and I got the stupid "I survived (enter roller coaster here)" keychain for every one of them.
I do remember banging my ears at some point on drachen fire it felt like my ears got pelted with a hard hit wiffle ball. Maybe if I was older I could have predicted the g force and countered. Either way, our trip is a memory I'll carry with me forever.
Loved this ride. Always a good fight.
I was fortunate to ride it once, it seemed like the longest coaster I had ever been on, and it was Great.
This looked like a fun ride I was 9 when they took it away and at the time I was so scared to ride roller coaster but now I wish I wasn’t it looked like such a fun ride
I just wish Busch gardens would have waited for B&M to finish Kumba at Busch Gardens then start Williamsburg the way it would have worked smoothly or replace original dragon fire trains with different trains.
People crying about how rough the ride was are babies. Grizzly at Kings Dominion is way worse. This was a great ride my girlfriend and I rode back in 95 for next three and half years. We've been married now almost 21 years it sucks we never rode as a married couple.
The Grizzly is the worst at being rough it literally rearranges your internal organs
I rode Drachen Fire multiple times in 92 before the one corkscrew was removed. I enjoyed it but my neck did hurt much more than it should have. Faulty design.
I always thought that Busch Gardens should have considered building a successor that fixed the obvious flaws. It could have done very well.
In my opinion Grizzly and the racer should get a hybrid update. Kings Dominion has a bad history with rough riding coasters.
Bruh I love Grizzly, maybe it’s just me though.
the grizzly is older than everybody posting right now.
0:30 Still blows my mind pipe benders, especially the fact they had to be some of the most experienced in the world at the time, weren't able to bend smooth radius turns over multiple track pieces. I just don't get it. Even by hand, just low effort. I've always loved this coaster though. Truly unique layout. And was Arrow actually FINALLY trying something new after realizing competition was pushing them aside.
I rode this in 1997-1998, don't remember it being excessively rough, but for comparison, I still ride Anaconda at KD... but with my neck sticking out so my ears/head never touch the restraints... on the entry and exit of the break run, and corkscrews. For those who remember, would that strategy have worked here, for example on the cobra roll and corkscrew parts?
This looks like a great coaster, wish I could have ridden it.
Why is it so janky yet it feels like a B&M?
I’m glad I was able to ride this coaster several times before they shut it down. I don’t think it was rough. It did give the rider high g forces. The same roller coaster was built in another theme park and a person died while riding it. That’s the reason why they closed the one at Bush Gardens.
It was rough. This was the only roller coaster to make me sick both times.
The track looks like the Loch Ness monster that's still running to this day
the transitions are criminal
I never got the chance to ride this. I went to busch gardens for the first time I believe the same year they closed this coaster.
Never got to ride it, but I have heard it was a rough ride, more especially after the brake run
They made it very clear while in line that you should take out any earrings, etc. it really beat you up but I loved it.
It beat people up so badly that I was able to ride it again by staying in my seat on multiple occasions. People were scared of it.
My wife (girlfriend at the time) rode this for years and the only problem was she left her earrings in one time, but they were larger than her others and she got poked with the backings. No one told her to remove themever. We rode from 95 until mid summer 98 and we loved it. It was a bit rough but anyone complaining has never ridden Grizzly at KD ,that ride is awful. I've ridden several coasters that are newer and worse. The POS Manta at SeaWorld gives me a headache. So there ,it's all in what you like and can take physically.
They should bring it back courtesy of Alan Schilke’s computer assisted/Tennessee tornado arrow track design. Make her a bit taller and faster, theme it on the heat of blue fire and add a double corkscrew instead of a single on the finale before the high speed helix under the “boomerang” element!
Even though this video is dubbed, it's the best POV of this coster out there.
Can't believe there was a cutback element on this thing.
I rode this many times. Such great memories.
I wish I would have been able to ride this coaster. It looked so cool. I have seen coasters that are much rougher than this. I want to become an engineer that designs rides for Busch gardens and I would love to pitch an idea similar to this but there are parts I would definitely change
Definitely become an engineer and do that bro. It will be so lit. Fr
It was one of the first coasters I ever rode, and I was scared to death by Big Bad Wolf and Loch Ness Monster, but I loved this one.
This was a great layout and a ride I looked forward to riding but my goodness…. it was so rough, one time it gave me a headache so badly that I vowed never to ride it again… and I didn’t.
I wasn't aware of how rough it was beforehand and ended up with a concussion.
Most of the issues with this ride were the train design. It was even worse than the standard arrow coaster. I suspect if the ride had opened with the standard arrow trains it might actually still be there today.
Nah, it was the whole coaster that was flawed. Arrow were trying to copy B&M and they couldnt. From the train to the supports to the elements and the smoothness. It was all a sub par attempt, but BGW asked for it
Arrow was the worst thing to happen to BGW.
They could have done a full retract near the end of its life. By then they would have had Alan shilkie (I think that’s how his last name is spelled) designing for arrow. Cus he did the last few coasters like Tennessee tornado and x (now x2) he could have done a full redesign and retrace with computer animated track work and more slick transitions. It would still be there, and be a world class looper to this day
I legit think riding this so many times as a young teenage has led to some of my health conditions I have today. Probably got so many concussions riding this and didn't even know it.
never knew arrow made a cobra roll
First coaster I’ve ever seen with a cutback inversion
They should of re built it as a B&M floor less/Sit down
They actually wanted to, but B&M, being so new at the time, could only build one of the requested coasters (BG wanted 2, one in FL and one in VA). Busch Gardens Tampa got the B&M, which we all know as Kumba.
KugeiCyclone why wouldn’t it?
This is why Roller Coaster Tycoon was invented, so humans didn’t have to be subjected to the whims of a madman.
This ride was nowhere near as bad as people like to say it was.
Thats what I say about great american scream machine people love to shit on that and like you with drachen fire I never thought GASM was rough or unbearable. I actually thought Vortex at KI was rougher and I still loved that ride too.
I've ridden GASM several times. Drachen Fire is the only amusement ride to leave me temporarily incapacitated. I'm glad it worked out for you…
One of the few Arrows that I really liked. this layout was one of a kind. Shame she's gone.
Superb footage 🥳🥳🥳🥳
Was this ruffer then scream machine at six flags great adventure?
How long did you have to wait in line for such a short ride? just curious I remember having to wait 2to3 hours for a three minute ride totally ridiculous.👍😁😎
This is really long for a roller coaster lol
Just imagine if we got the B&M Drachen Fire.
This is what BGW should have done.. Have B&M rebuild Drachen Fire as intended
It'd still be there today!
I rode this 3 times and loved it.
At least I can say I rode Drachenfire. A personal favorite, but you can hear how rough of a ride it is. Beat the heck out of its riders.
IS THAT A CUTBACK ON AN ARROW COASTER? After the mid course and corkscrew
yes, it was
Replaced by Alpinegeist (did I spell it right)?
Hmm that is an interesting first drop,never seen that kind before
I always thought the crap about hurt necks etc started with 1 person and it just spread to give people something to cry about. This ride was not rough...but I was also 13 at the time
My friend and I were 11 in 1996. Drachen Fire smacked the -fxxk- out of our heads on every inversion. We tried fighting against it, but our skulls just rattled around between the plastic restraints, like a pinball machine.
We got off the coaster, disoriented and moaning in pain. We _had_ planned to tackle a few more rides, but Drachen Fire ruined the last hour of our visit.
And today I learn there were _documented_ incidents of neck and brain injury on this thing? 😬
@@crnkmnky dang on. I must have a Brock Lesnar neck
@@Justin_311 Indeed. I also hear the ride was smoother in the front cars… 🤔
Loved this one, think I rode it within the first two years it was open…Yeah it was a lil bit punishing, but it was worth the ride! Too bad they didn’t go bigger and faster from the start…Give it a 200ft drop somewhere and smooth it out a bit and it would have been legendary!
Still smoother than coasters in planet coaster
The pacing on this looks attrocious
I feel like some tweeking and reworking could have smoothed out and saved the ride. It looks better than most of the coasters they have installed as of late.
honestly, it's more the OTSR than anything. if this was the Vekoma vest restraints or lap bar it wouldn't be as painful.
Could of have Chance/Morgan on this and it would of been perfect like Phantoms Revenge at kennnywood
Hi I Bob lol they ain’t gonna give those super free and loose lap bars on a coaster with 6 inversions.
It won't. Arrow was pushing beyond the limit of their track can do.
It looks like it wouldn’t be as rough as Loch Ness Monster. I didn’t ride Loch Ness until about 10 years ago, so it may have been smoother when it was newer, but that tunnel is horrible
This ride was a very unique arrow coaster i love it and to me it wasn't rough at all, if you wanted rough ride Son of beast paramount kings island in 2000s when it first opened with the heavier trains and loop now that was rough
Morgan manufacturing or rmc (i know what you guys are thinking) couldve retracked this ride
That ride looked like it was a blast!!! Why did they get rid of it?
It didn't live as expected with B&M style layout
My neck still aches after watching this video. Glad Busch Gardens decided to retire this one..
So strange, it looks like a floorless with arrow track
This was truly one of the coasters at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
its like someone turned down the gravity
I would love this park to get a company like gerstlauer and make a Infinity coaster with this same layout and other elements and call it "reborn" and give the same colors.
I was so hyped for this coaster when I parents desided we go to this park on trip we took down here.
I loved arrow coasters and still do. But this coasters even for me banged me up. Itwas biggest disappointment because i only rode this twice
BGW: mom, can we have a b&m?
Mom: no BGW we have a b&m at home
B&m at home:
They closed it because all of these complaints I I rode that thing several times now you do have to hold on keep your body pretty stiff because you're the g-forces it was probably the one best rides I've ever had
People are getting injured just watching this video.
Why did you add the screams & extra noises? The original version of this video had no audio.
Does it really matter? He probably just did it for ambiance.
@@TheBigScreenPictures it does matter, seeing as it's worse than those terrible "laugh tracks" that get used on sitcoms.
This doesn’t look so rough?
Not yet
May we use your video if we give you full credit?!? Thanks! 😎👍
I’d love to see what Morgan could of done to this if it was given a steel phantom treatment
This was my RIDE! Wish the bones of it were still around - train technology is so much better nowadays. They could've fixed it.
0:01 That support is tall lol
Bring it back! Same layout with a mid tier launch.
My head hurts just watching this lol
I want to go on something more thrilling than Corkscrew Coaster 2.
I still don’t know what makes a rollercoaster rough
arrow dynamics
Arrow was great they made Loch Ness. The problem was they tried to be B@M and it didn't work.
@@eac1235 Arrow was fine until they started making large looping coasters (their hypers are fine if maintained well-Magnum XL, etc.-if a bit rough). The issue was they had difficulty designing their inverted elements for faster coasters as they were designed in the 70s and never really updated until TN Tornado, which is a great ride. Hence, why you see the hill before the first vertical loop in Viper (to get the speed and g-forces down but it damages the pacing). They also had track tolerance issues from visually and manually designing. For slower and smaller coasters, this was OK enough, but as they get larger and faster, the problems magnified.
I marathoned this ride as a kid the year it came out. Was one of the most fun rides I ever rode at the time. The roughness was overrated, probably by a bunch of 40 year old moms that shouldn't be riding it anyway.
I remember riding this for the first time and cut my knee on the edge of the train and I had to go to first aid. Once they put a bandage on my knee and asked was I okay, I got right back in line and wrote it about 7 more times. The trains were horrible. The only trains that I really like are Intamin trains.
It had a good layout it just needed stuff like better trains and such
It needed to be designed correctly.