2018: Wicker Man - General Discussion - SPOILERS! - Part One

I really wish they had (or still would) build the broomstick coaster in gloomy wood.

Wasn't that a fan hoax? Or am I getting confused with Jazzland? (It still looked interesting though.)

DiogoJ42 said:

Wasn't that a fan hoax? Or am I getting confused with Jazzland? (It still looked interesting though.)

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Looks legit to me. But I suppose it's possible that it was still some kind of advanced hoax. Then again, who would even bother concocting a hoax involving a Vekoma Booster Bike?

I agree, seems a lot of effort for a hoax and would also not be a fanboys first choice of coaster.

With the flume's section which went through the woods now demolished, I suppose there's the possibility of more room for something like this down there in future. Would be nice.

Fair point.
(I could have sworn someone many moons ago back on TTF "owned up" to hoaxing it. Unless that itself was a hoax....)

PeteB said:

I really wish they had (or still would) build the broomstick coaster in gloomy wood.

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Problem is nice as it would have been to have had a launched coaster in the woodlands there instead of medioc-rita bulldozed through Ug Land, trying to make a modern steel launched coaster fit into a Victorian/hammer horror traditional themed area would have led to a pretty ropey end result at best.

I mean broomsticks? Really? It would have been naff, but almost anything would have been better than the off the shelf nonsense we ended up with on the other side of the park.

Broomsticks may sound a little naff on the surface, but think about it - Harry Potter was massive (still is), which features a lot of broomstick flying. Universal even used it in a ride. Towers were way ahead of their time when they thought up this concept lol.

CoasterCrazyChris said:

trying to make a modern steel launched coaster fit into a Victorian/hammer horror traditional themed area would have led to a pretty ropey end result at best.

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Wouldn't be too hard with a bit of creative juice. Paint the track and supports either black or dark brown so they blend in with the woodland and so you don't really see it. Then it's just a case of theming the station building to fit in with Gloomy Wood / HH. Add a few vines here and there (Towers love vines, right?). Make it an old witch's cottage. Easy. They could even put one of those cute little fog machines under the launch track, just like Rita.

But, if they're gonna paint the whole thing red and blue, stick mother-effing ballons and clown feet all over it in a Splash Landings homage, then sure, you get a mess. And that's EXACTLY what I would expect from Towers.

I think its to do with the refurb of the ride itself, so we may see Duel closed like Hex did for 12 months. And with such a refurb, they may actually retheme it. Who knows.

GaryH said:

I think its to do with the refurb of the ride itself, so we may see Duel closed like Hex did for 12 months. And with such a refurb, they may actually retheme it. Who knows.

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As far as I am aware there are no plans to close Duel for a whole season. It's due for TLC next year but I doubt it will be anything major and with CCL due a re-theme in 2019 it seems unlikely that they would re-theme Duel at the same time. Plus SW8 is in Mutiny Bay!

But anyway, who likes photos of mud, concrete and rebar? Here is a look at the SW8 site, all photos taken on Sunday!

We start with a site overview from the new pathway linking Munity Bay to Gloomy Wood:


Various footers in place around where the bottom of the first drop and some other turns will be:


At the top of the site you can see rebar marking out the top of the lift and turnaround to the first drop:




The Skyride provides a great view of the whole construction site. Here is another overview:


A closer look at the station building which is progressing well:



What looks like a rather large footer going in around where the ride entrance will be:


A look towards the top of the site, the rebar you can see on the left marks the path of the first drop:


It is an impressive construction site and we are going to be spoilt with views of the coaster going up over the summer!

If you do wish to share these photos on other forums please give credit to myself and/or TowersStreet - thanks!

Excitement is now building with me for this. At least we all have realistic expectations, unlike Th13teen; its going to be a family GCI. Likely a solid addition which I'm sure will be extremely popular. I just hope we see some decent and solid theming and a little pre-lift pre-show would be nice I'm looking forward to riding this - It's also nice to see the heart of the park begin to be developed. All other SW's have been in a satellite area.

Its great we'll get to see construction. It doesn't seem 5 minutes since we were watching the smiler being built

Finally, thanks for the photo updates Rob.

As a sidenote the coaster has been added to RCDB. Not gonna lie, kinda surprised it's been added now! https://rcdb.com/15029.htm

That's early for a Towers coaster to be added by RCDB standards!

We will have some great views to see the construction process for SW8. I'll echo that I'm getting excited for this as well, even though it's classed as a family GCI they are my favorite wooden coaster manufacturers. To be getting this and a Mack Mega next year is a real treat.

Steve88 said:

To be getting this and a Mack Mega next year is a real treat.

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For a second there, I thought you were under the impression that Towers were building a Mack Mega...

In a weird move (But made to stop people like me making an idiot by jumping alot to get some pictures) Towers have made construction holes in the fence... I guess this is the start of marketing (Minus the SW8 banners) for the SW8.



Credit to the MAP Facebook Group.

They were working on adding even more today.

why not just take the fence down and replace it with a chain link fence

bluesonichd said:

why not just take the fence down and replace it with a chain link fence

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That wouldn't be very in-fitting with the coaster now though would it?

Great pace with the footer construction there, it's nice to see a bit of layout shape!

Do we have any empirical indication to the length of this thing yet? It's the one thing that's stopping me getting excited for this, frankly.

Whens feeding time for the diggers?....Like a bloody zoo with the cut out.