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

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matthewgcole said:
It has but not to that extent. The Flume was nowhere near the pathway, and was gone out of sight within a few yards. This new ride sits virtually on top of it for half its length.
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I get your point but the music and announcements from the queueline of the flume were still clearly heard next to the Katanga sign. As it is the wall of the station next to the path for SW8 I would expect the noise leakage might actually be less noticeable than before as the wall may help to block the music?
 
jon81uk said:
I get your point but the music and announcements from the queueline of the flume were still clearly heard next to the Katanga sign. As it is the wall of the station next to the path for SW8 I would expect the noise leakage might actually be less noticeable than before as the wall may help to block the music?
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Right by the sign, yes. But that was controllable by simply turning the volume up or down or moving speakers. This is an entire coaster built right next to it for half its length.

Although this is usually called "the Flume site" much of the site this coaster is built on was queue line and lake. This may end up ok, it's just hard to envisage for me, I haven't actually been up the path yet.
 
matthewgcole said:
Right by the sign, yes. But that was controllable by simply turning the volume up or down or moving speakers. This is an entire coaster built right next to it for half its length.

Although this is usually called "the Flume site" much of the site this coaster is built on was queue line and lake. This may end up ok, it's just hard to envisage for me, I haven't actually been up the path yet.
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I haven't been to the park this year, but based on the plans and photos seen so far, very little of the actual ride seems close to that path, most of it is on the other side of the site. I think the station building does loom over the path for certain, but sound won't be too bad.

The best indication so far is in these pictures
RoyJess said:
Old path way has now been reopened, photos credited to theme park guide

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I think the Katanga sign is next to the bottom picture so should only face the building
 
matthewgcole said:
If you were a Merlin exec reading many forums at the moment (although you'd have more important things to be doing I'm sure), you'd probably be quite confused with all the negativity around.

But a lot of it seems to centre around the fact that it has an SW tag but is clearly a small woodie with nothing remarkable about it, it's theme (where I've seen more negative comments than anything else), the "world class" claims and other marketing hype making it out to be some sort of world beater and the anticlimax of realising that those days of Towers building real world class coasters has gone and went out with the 90's.

My own criticisms are the ruining of the KC pathway and final turn of the Rapids. I know Towers like building fences so a couple more here would be nice just to keep KC visually secluded from the impact of the new ride area.

But I think most would agree this doesn't look a bad coaster at all. I think it looks quite good. It looks like a good quality build, with some of the best thought put in to the landscape and theming in years! No flooded square concrete pits or shipping container shops here.

I think there's a missed opportunity to really finish off the theme of Mutiny Bay nicely, but this could still look OK in the area as long as the coaster theme doesnt spill out from the ride area.

It's also filling 2 gaps in Towers line up, namely a wooden coaster and another family coaster. I have no doubt it'll be enjoyable and popular and will give the park a much needed boost. This will be a good and worthwhile attraction.

I think when you see the ride for what it is, you can appreciate it. But it can't be compared to the real secret weapon show stoppers of the past and Merlin have made it abundantly clear that they have no ambitions for the park to return to that.
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@matthewgcole There are rumours going round that Alton Towers may be retheming Mutiny Bay in order to fit in with the coaster.

And in terms of the theming of this ride, I'm going to make a bold and possibly controversial statement; I feel that it will be the best SW of all time in terms of experience. Not best ride (I still think Hex will clinch that title) but best SW.
 
I agree with @Matt N, I think that the overall experience is shaping up to be very thematic. Pair an intriguing story with a solid coaster and Merlin might have a winner on their hands. I always felt disappointing by the smiler's theming because the lead-up was very solid with those videos that towers put out. Then when we entered the "pre-show" building for the first time, it was nothing more than a metal shed with some projection mapping. I really hope we get a good pre-show with this one is what i'm trying to say.
 
I’ve spent two days at Portaventura this week and my wife and son, aged 9, absolutely loved Stampida. It’s a very good, solid wooden rollercoaster that is perfect for families as opposed to Woden at EuropaPark which was way too fast for my son when we visited the park in August. I am really hoping that SW8 is able to match the thrills and excitement of Stampida and give pre-teens a well needed attraction in the park. For anybody that has riden Stampida, are you expecting a better ride on SW8 or an overall tamer experience?
 
Pottermus4 said:
I’ve spent two days at Portaventura this week and my wife and son, aged 9, absolutely loved Stampida. It’s a very good, solid wooden rollercoaster that is perfect for families as opposed to Woden at EuropaPark which was way too fast for my son when we visited the park in August. I am really hoping that SW8 is able to match the thrills and excitement of Stampida and give pre-teens a well needed attraction in the park. For anybody that has riden Stampida, are you expecting a better ride on SW8 or an overall tamer experience?
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It won't be anywhere near as fast as Wodan, but it has the same manufacturer, so the 'feel' will be the same. But yes, much tamer.
 
It's probably going to be closer to Joris en de Draak at Eftelling than Wodan.

I find it entertaining when in Europe to see tiny kids totally fearless on all manner of rides. But then, especially in Germany and The Netherlands, extreme thrill rides are a much bigger part of their culture than they are to us. We view rides as "scary" ... they view them as "fun".
 
I think that the ride this will be closest to is InvadR at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I haven't ridden it, but people who have say that it is a fun family coaster. Here's a POV:

I personally think that Alton have a winner on their hands if SW8 turns out like this. Or as @DiogoJ42 said, it could be more like Joris en de Draak at Efteling, which looks like a fun racing coaster. Of course SW8 won't be a racing coaster, but they look similar in terms of thrill level. Here's a POV of each side:


Or, I thought that parts of SW8's layout kind of reminded me of El Toro (no, not the Intamin prefab at Six Flags Great Adventure!) at Freizeitpark Plohn, a small theme park in Germany. Here's a POV:

What sort of GCI do you guys think SW8 will be? Are you thinking it will be an El Toro? Or are you thinking it will be more InvadR-style? I personally think it will be more InvadR-style, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
 
I was also thinking; do you guys think that Alton have met the deadline that they put in the original application back in May 2016? For anyone who has forgotten, the park stated that they wanted major construction completed in December 2017. That is two months away, and it still looks like they've got a fair few rails to place.

EDIT: Although saying that, they also reckoned that they would start construction in September 2016, and they didn't actually start until about late November/early December 2016, so they haven't completely stuck to the planning application. I'm thinking that January 2018 is now probably more realistic as a target for completion.
 
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Matt N said:
I was also thinking; do you guys think that Alton have met the deadline that they put in the original application back in May 2016? For anyone who has forgotten, the park stated that they wanted major construction completed in December 2017. That is two months away, and it still looks like they've got a fair few rails to place.
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They were granted permission to build it, full stop. There's no stipulation that is has to be completed by a certain time, that would have just been their own predicted timescale. Christ, if there was something like that then The Smiler would've ended up being a filthy, flooded pit beside some steel beams.
 
With the excavation work, ride structure, all buildings theming structure all but complete major construction almost is finished. I would imagine all they'll have left to do by December is snagging, painting, laying pathways, electrical works etc.
 
matthewgcole said:
With the excavation work, ride structure, all buildings theming structure all but complete major construction almost is finished. I would imagine all they'll have left to do by December is snagging, painting, laying pathways, electrical works etc.
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The station building is virtually complete and I think they're making good ground on doing the track because I'm presuming that all of the wooden supports are now up? So I suppose there's no reason for them not to have finished major construction by December other than that it seems to have taken a long time for the metal rails to have gone on the lift hill. They're definitely much further on with the construction of SW8 than they were with The Smiler's construction at this point in 2012 because from looking back at construction updates, I think that on October 29th 2012 (exactly 5 years ago today when the Smiler was under construction.) the first track pieces had only just arrived at Alton. Heck, The Smiler didn't even go vertical until December 2012 and Towers are aiming to get SW8's major construction finished in December 2017! Really shows how much Towers have learnt since Smiler.
 
Sorry for double posting, but on a side note, will SW8 have the two little thin strips of wood in the middle of the track that other recent GCI coasters like Gold Striker, Mystic Timbers and InvadR have?
 
Matt N said:
Sorry for double posting, but on a side note, will SW8 have the two little thin strips of wood in the middle of the track that other recent GCI coasters like Gold Striker, Mystic Timbers and InvadR have?
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Yes, I would've have thought so. Not entirely sure what they are for, though.
 
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