Today we will be featuring two retired attractions from Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW), one famous and the other infamous!
Up first, the sign for Busch Gardens' legendary Arrow suspended coaster, The Big Bad Wolf.
The Big Bad Wolf, started by Anton Schwarzkopff and completed by Arrow Dynamics in 1984, thrilled guests for 25 seasons before closing in 2009. An on-ride POV of the attraction can be seen here. In 2012 the attraction was replaced with Verbolten which follows a similar path and takes the same dive to the Rhine River below as did The Big Bad Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf was unique in that it was a suspended coaster, meaning the cars of the train were allowed to swing freely. A picture of one of the cars can be seen here.
Below is an image of the front car of one of the trains of the then Standing But Not Operating (SBNO) Arrow custom looping coaster, Drachen Fire.
The attraction was notoriously rough and had an interesting backstory as well as it was originally to be designed and built by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M). Rumor has it that because B&M, who was getting ready for a busy 1992 season that would see the debut of their new inverted coaster design, told Busch that they could not complete two coaster projects for them for the 1992 season but could complete one for them in early 1993. The coaster that was designed and built by B&M for Busch went to the other Busch Gardens, Busch Gardens Tampa, while Arrow Development had to step in to do the project for Busch Gardens Williamsburg for the 1992 season. Some say that Arrow used B&M's plans for Drachen Fire in designing what would end up being the real Drachen Fire but I do not believe that this has ever been fully verified. What is interesting though is that Arrow definitely seems to have been heavily inspired by B&M in the design of Drachen Fire and I say that because of its unique inversions and the B&M style supports used throughout.
Drachen Fire closed for the last time to guests only days before this trip in July of 1998!
Well folks, that wraps things up for today! I hope you enjoyed today's two retired attractions from Busch Gardens Williamsburg and hope that you stop back by The Amusement Blog tomorrow for another day at BGW!
Also, if you are curious to see B&M's 1993 addition to Busch Gardens Tampa you can here. It is still operating today!
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