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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

venny said:
After hearing such plaudits for Wickerman all year, I finally got to ride recently. I’ve got to say that I just do not understand why people enjoy it so much.

Yes, the single large piece of themeing is impressive. In fact, perhaps the most impressive part of the ride. I also applaud the lighting efforts made, they’re great. The pre-show is also pretty decent.

Outside of that, I really struggle to see why the ride itself is of any note. It’s just rather... dull. I spent the entire ride waiting for something decent to happen. Add to that, the principle marketing USP has been the fire -when it doesn’t work, it’s kinda disappointing.

Mind you, I also think Troy is extraordinarily overrated.
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If you think Wicker Man is dull, don't ever ride InvadR! :p

I think for its relatively small size Wicker Man is pretty good and does pack a bit of a punch. The triple down drop at the start is clearly the highlight but pacing around the whole ride is good. It's no Wodan, Troy or Thunderhead and I still wish we had a bigger and better wooden coaster at Alton Towers but Wicker Man fills a gap in the coaster line up and thankfully seems to gave gone down very well with guests!

:)
 
^InvadR might have a stupid name but it runs round its layout a whole lot faster than Wicker Man. WM is just so slow and after the first triple down it is really uneventful.
 
I think row 3 must have magical powers or something @Brad97, because out of the 3 rides I've had on Wicker Man, the ride I had in row 3 was my favourite!

Out of interest, would anyone say that their opinions of Wicker Man have changed at all since the ride first opened? Because I'd say mine have slightly, even though I loved the ride from that first ever ride on opening weekend! Many of you may remember that I reviewed Wicker Man back in March as part of my trip report from the ride's opening weekend: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/alton-towers-24th-25th-march-2018.4702/#post-217857

However, I'd say that there are a few opinions of mine that have changed since that first ride, so I'd now like to share my updated review so to speak with you all:
Matt N's Updated Wicker Man Review
Since my first ever ride on Wicker Man, I have ridden the ride twice more and experienced it in varying places on the train. I have managed to ride the coaster in row 10, row 3 and row 1, for clarification.

For starters, I remember saying in my initial review that I loved how good the whole experience the ride provided was, and that hasn't changed! I still feel that Wicker Man is the UK's best experience coaster, and one of Alton Towers' most immersive attractions alongside Hex. I love the pre-show, I love how much detail has gone into the theming and I just love how every element of the experience blends together to make something truly wonderful!

Now onto the ride itself. In my initial review, I said that Wicker Man had usurped Megafobia as my favourite wooden rollercoaster. To tell you the truth, that wasn't my initial impression when I came into the brake run, and after that first ride, it didn't quite top Megafobia until I gave it a little more thought later in the day. It did pleasantly surprise me as a ride, however, as I was expecting a top 20 ride at the very most before I boarded Wicker Man for the first time; I was expecting something similar in thrill level to Thirteen, despite seemingly being optimistic about the ride compared to most others during construction. So I was incredibly surprised with what the ride was actually like, and as I said above, it did top Megafobia for me after I gave it a little more thought, which I certainly wasn't expecting during construction when everyone was referring to it as a family ride! Due to this, I was a little nervous that I had rated the ride too highly before I boarded it again, but when I rerode the ride in August 2018 and September 2018, respectively, it was better than I'd remembered if anything, and it definitely proved I was correct to place the ride ahead of Megafobia! I was towards the front of the train, as well, so I can only imagine what it would have been like at the back!

I also said in my initial review that I liked the ride's pacing, but that it wasn't as intense in terms of forces as Megafobia, despite having better pacing than Megafobia, in my opinion. My more recent rides, however, were even faster than my ride in March; the pacing was simply obscene on both of my more recent rides, with the coaster feeling wild and relentless from the second it crested the lift hill to the second it hit the brake run! It felt even faster than it did in March both times, and I loved the ride's pacing in March! I also felt that the ride's intensity was better, with the coaster feeling at least on par with Megafobia for intensity! And I again reference the fact that I was sat towards the front of the train! I'd go as far as to say that out of the 6 woodies I've ridden, Wicker Man has the best pacing, with Nickelodeon Streak at BPB being a close second!

Furthermore, I said in my initial review that I felt that one of the ride's main drawbacks was its airtime. I only felt one or two gentle pops of airtime on my very first Wicker Man ride, and I'd say this is still the case now. I do remember the ride's level of airtime being the only thing that even slightly underwhelmed me after my first ride on Wicker Man, as I'd heard many people praise the airtime hugely prior to my first ride. One person even compared the amount of airtime that Wicker Man has to the amount that Shambhala at PortAventura has, and while I haven't ridden Shambhala, I have ridden it's Floridian cousin; Mako at SeaWorld Orlando! And I don't know whether anyone else thinks this, but I personally think that Mako's airtime is in a completely different league to Wicker Man's airtime. While Wicker Man's airtime is fun and it's certainly better than no airtime at all, I don't think it's particularly fair to compare its airtime to Mako's. However, me criticising the ride's airtime is awfully picky, as airtime isn't Wicker Man's focus! So I apologise for that.

Overall, the ride still sits as my 3rd favourite coaster at Alton Towers behind The Smiler and Nemesis and my favourite wooden rollercoaster. It's a fantastic coaster, and I'll admit that it's incredibly harsh of me to criticise the ride's airtime, as from reviews, airtime doesn't really seem to be the focus of any GCI coaster. The main focus of GCIs definitely looks as though it is to be twisty, fun rides with great pacing, which Wicker Man excels at, in my opinion! I also forgot to mention during my review, but I also think that Wicker Man doesn't feel that short when you're on it!

So all in all, I absolutely love Wicker Man! It's a fantastic coaster, and a stunning overall experience; it gives me great faith in Alton Towers' future, as well as future additions from Merlin! If I was to review it out of 10 compared to everything else I've ridden, I would give it a very solid... 9/10
P.S. Sorry for long post. Also, sorry if this review is a bit rambly or unnecessary.
 
Matt N said:
I think row 3 must have magical powers or something @Brad97, because out of the 3 rides I've had on Wicker Man, the ride I had in row 3 was my favourite!

Out of interest, would anyone say that their opinions of Wicker Man have changed at all since the ride first opened? Because I'd say mine have slightly, even though I loved the ride from that first ever ride on opening weekend! Many of you may remember that I reviewed Wicker Man back in March as part of my trip report from the ride's opening weekend: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/alton-towers-24th-25th-march-2018.4702/#post-217857

However, I'd say that there are a few opinions of mine that have changed since that first ride, so I'd now like to share my updated review so to speak with you all:
Matt N's Updated Wicker Man Review
Since my first ever ride on Wicker Man, I have ridden the ride twice more and experienced it in varying places on the train. I have managed to ride the coaster in row 10, row 3 and row 1, for clarification.

For starters, I remember saying in my initial review that I loved how good the whole experience the ride provided was, and that hasn't changed! I still feel that Wicker Man is the UK's best experience coaster, and one of Alton Towers' most immersive attractions alongside Hex. I love the pre-show, I love how much detail has gone into the theming and I just love how every element of the experience blends together to make something truly wonderful!

Now onto the ride itself. In my initial review, I said that Wicker Man had usurped Megafobia as my favourite wooden rollercoaster. To tell you the truth, that wasn't my initial impression when I came into the brake run, and after that first ride, it didn't quite top Megafobia until I gave it a little more thought later in the day. It did pleasantly surprise me as a ride, however, as I was expecting a top 20 ride at the very most before I boarded Wicker Man for the first time; I was expecting something similar in thrill level to Thirteen, despite seemingly being optimistic about the ride compared to most others during construction. So I was incredibly surprised with what the ride was actually like, and as I said above, it did top Megafobia for me after I gave it a little more thought, which I certainly wasn't expecting during construction when everyone was referring to it as a family ride! Due to this, I was a little nervous that I had rated the ride too highly before I boarded it again, but when I rerode the ride in August 2018 and September 2018, respectively, it was better than I'd remembered if anything, and it definitely proved I was correct to place the ride ahead of Megafobia! I was towards the front of the train, as well, so I can only imagine what it would have been like at the back!

I also said in my initial review that I liked the ride's pacing, but that it wasn't as intense in terms of forces as Megafobia, despite having better pacing than Megafobia, in my opinion. My more recent rides, however, were even faster than my ride in March; the pacing was simply obscene on both of my more recent rides, with the coaster feeling wild and relentless from the second it crested the lift hill to the second it hit the brake run! It felt even faster than it did in March both times, and I loved the ride's pacing in March! I also felt that the ride's intensity was better, with the coaster feeling at least on par with Megafobia for intensity! And I again reference the fact that I was sat towards the front of the train! I'd go as far as to say that out of the 6 woodies I've ridden, Wicker Man has the best pacing, with Nickelodeon Streak at BPB being a close second!

Furthermore, I said in my initial review that I felt that one of the ride's main drawbacks was its airtime. I only felt one or two gentle pops of airtime on my very first Wicker Man ride, and I'd say this is still the case now. I do remember the ride's level of airtime being the only thing that even slightly underwhelmed me after my first ride on Wicker Man, as I'd heard many people praise the airtime hugely prior to my first ride. One person even compared the amount of airtime that Wicker Man has to the amount that Shambhala at PortAventura has, and while I haven't ridden Shambhala, I have ridden it's Floridian cousin; Mako at SeaWorld Orlando! And I don't know whether anyone else thinks this, but I personally think that Mako's airtime is in a completely different league to Wicker Man's airtime. While Wicker Man's airtime is fun and it's certainly better than no airtime at all, I don't think it's particularly fair to compare its airtime to Mako's. However, me criticising the ride's airtime is awfully picky, as airtime isn't Wicker Man's focus! So I apologise for that.

Overall, the ride still sits as my 3rd favourite coaster at Alton Towers behind The Smiler and Nemesis and my favourite wooden rollercoaster. It's a fantastic coaster, and I'll admit that it's incredibly harsh of me to criticise the ride's airtime, as from reviews, airtime doesn't really seem to be the focus of any GCI coaster. The main focus of GCIs definitely looks as though it is to be twisty, fun rides with great pacing, which Wicker Man excels at, in my opinion! I also forgot to mention during my review, but I also think that Wicker Man doesn't feel that short when you're on it!

So all in all, I absolutely love Wicker Man! It's a fantastic coaster, and a stunning overall experience; it gives me great faith in Alton Towers' future, as well as future additions from Merlin! If I was to review it out of 10 compared to everything else I've ridden, I would give it a very solid... 9/10
P.S. Sorry for long post. Also, sorry if this review is a bit rambly or unnecessary.
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Interesting review.

I have only Blackpool's woodies to compare it to and i prefer the Wickermn to all of those. I too feel it's getting faster and faster. We know the ride's top speed, i wonder if it's exceeding that now
 
Mikw said:
Interesting review.

I have only Blackpool's woodies to compare it to and i prefer the Wickermn to all of those. I too feel it's getting faster and faster. We know the ride's top speed, i wonder if it's exceeding that now
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I have a strong feeling it might be, especially after a long day, it almost feels too fast for family thrill. I wonder if they accounted for that in the design? none the less it does give more air than earlier in the season.
 
I've been talking inactive for a while. Haven't been to Towers much.

Hoping to update this post with what I think about WM at night but just looking at it fills me with a lot of confidence.
 
Wicker Man appears to have been down all morning. Reliability has generally been very good on it for the last few months, hopefully it has not developed a fault heading in to Fireworks weekend!

:)
 
Rob said:
Wicker Man appears to have been down all morning. Reliability has generally been very good on it for the last few months, hopefully it has not developed a fault heading in to Fireworks weekend!

:)
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It broke down last night, I was waiting to ride it for my last ride after ride closure, we were all evacuated from the queue line and given ride priority pass'


Edit, looks like Wicker man has just now reopened :)
 
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Rob said:
Wicker Man appears to have been down all morning. Reliability has generally been very good on it for the last few months, hopefully it has not developed a fault heading in to Fireworks weekend!

:)
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Yeah in fairness to towers I think they were unlucky early on with the WM issues. Since the restraint issue has been fixed it's been running like clockwork.
 
Having finally ridden this for the first time I can’t see how anyone can say it’s anytbjng other than class.

The whole package, theming, pre show and coaster are excellent. Granted there’s more intense woodies around but that for me isn’t the comparison, it does what it’s meant to do brilliantly

The fire also looks great on it and is noticeable when you’re going through the Wickerman structure.
 
I rode this week for the first time since the many rides I had on opening day. I was mildly irritated when I ended up having to ride dead centre - usually the worst for airtime and forces - but I was very impressed by it. I would like to have tried it on the back this week to compare.

It has been a great addition and its popularity throughout the season suggests it has been a great financial investment also. Let's hope it proves to be Merlin's gateway to wood we all hope it represents.
 
Tom said:
I was mildly irritated when I ended up having to ride dead centre - usually the worst for airtime and forces - but I was very impressed by it
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I've ridden front, back and middle on WM this year and I find it absolutely dullsville in the centre :( big shout out to the despatcher last time I was there who wouldn't let me pop on the back (empty) row as it was too much hassle for him to count! Bloody AT, they've taken my SRQ's and now they're being mean with (reasonable!) seating requests!

Not wishing to stir the pot but the Icon crew at BPB are far more accommodating to us back row airtime geeks :p
 
And while I'm moaning :D can we please have a "I've seen this ruddy pre-show a million times" pass to skip through the blasted thing?! It gets very repetitive o_O
 
Unicorns_are_lovely said:
And while I'm moaning :D can we please have a "I've seen this ruddy pre-show a million times" pass to skip through the blasted thing?! It gets very repetitive o_O
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Not sure I understand this attitude. If you weren't watching the preshow you'd be queueing with nothing to see, why not just go with it? I find it passes the time. Sure it's repetitive, but it's got to be better than more queueing!?!
 
Lurker said:
Not sure I understand this attitude. If you weren't watching the preshow you'd be queueing with nothing to see, why not just go with it? I find it passes the time. Sure it's repetitive, but it's got to be better than more
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Spot on.

Plus it's quite fun watching people's reactions.
 
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