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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

bluesonichd said:
It can’t just be me who finds the ride a back breaker when you get a car to yourself.
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I have only ridden with my daughter so have not experience it with an empty seat.

I’m having to find plump people to sit next to me to wedge me in.
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I take it your not plump.


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I’m 6”3 and about as lanky as you can get and I found it very comfortable myself. I was only pinned once though so I can see why it might be uncomfortable if you are a bit larger, especially on that s-bend.


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Rode it yesterday. About a two hour queue at the start of the day. Operations seemed to start slowly but dispatches gradually got quicker. Fast track quota per rider batch seemed reasonably fair (as far as it ever being fair to pay to skip queues...) in terms of keeping the main queue moving frequently enough not to become frustrating. Probably wouldn't willingly queue that long for it again though. Was only running two trains but tbh I don't really see how running three would make much difference to throughput unless the ride ops were a lot quicker as trains were always stacking in the brake run.

Would say it is a decent ride for the target audience. There were a lot of families and kids under 1.4 metres yesterday so it will spread out the crowds from Thirteen and Spinball once the new ride effect fades. Thirteen was down for a lot of the day and you could sense that there were a lot of frustrated families around there looking for things to do. We were incredibly lucky to get off Rita just as Thirteen reopened and literally walked on to Thirteen. There were hoards of families heading to Dark Forest when we got off.

In terms of thrills I'd say it's a big step up from Thirteen but it's never going to be an adrenaline seeker's go-to ride. The pacing is good and fun and it is a reasonable length by Alton tower's standards. But we were third row from the back and I wouldn't really say there was any bums off seats airtime. It was a very smooth ride though, I wonder how that will change with age?

The pre-show was quite well done to get you in the mood to ride, although i wish there wasn't so much bass on those speakers. The brake run in the dark did feel a little bit like they had run out of money in their special effects budget. Would be nice to see something else there, but then again this is Alton Towers we are talking about so will probably stay as it is forever.

Fire effects still weren't working which was a shame but I will give Alton Towers the benefit of the doubt that they are trying to sort this out with the special effects people.
 
From watching it yesterday the train coming into the station has to come to a complete stop outside the station before the train in the station can be dispatched, most times the train was ready to go before the train behind stopped, 3 trains would of helped yesterday.
 
Danny said:
On our last ride yesterday we came round the corner into the station to see the train in front leaving.
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Great news! Operations are improving now that the staff have gotten used to operating the ride and the procedures etc... we can only go onwards and upwards from here!
 
I wouldn't say it was an improvement to operations, it was down to two factors:

1) The ride was running 2 trains as opposed to 3, so there was no double stacking.
2) By pure luck there were no restraint issues on the train before us which meant it was able to be dispatched much quicker.

The ride is still dogged with the restraint issues which is playing havoc with the throughput.
 
Danny said:
I wouldn't say it was an improvement to operations, it was down to two factors:

1) The ride was running 2 trains as opposed to 3, so there was no double stacking.
2) By pure luck there were no restraint issues on the train before us which meant it was able to be dispatched much quicker.

The ride is still dogged with the restraint issues which is playing havoc with the throughput.
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Ah right. Thanks @Danny! So the ride is still having major issues?
 
rob666 said:
But let us not cast shadows over Matt's enthusiasm.
Should never have been set to run three any way, no use, too bloody short for a third train.
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When running properly it *should* benefit from the 3rd train, though it will stack. A train should be starting up the lift hill as the previous one enters the brakes when running flat-out. It was doing this consistently by the evening on opening Saturday but throughput was still terrible as more than half of the seats were being left empty due to parking issues.

In terms of theoretical operations, WM benefits more from a 3rd train than Smiler ever did with it's 5th. How long it'll take them to get it running properly is another matter.
 
Found a proper front row POV on You Tube! :)



Credit to Thrill Rides UK.

Edit: Anyone know if the sound effect in the maintenance shed has been fixed yet?
 
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Wicker Man will benefit from a 3rd train once GCI have sorted out the horrendous restraint issues which are wrecking capacity.

To be clear, at the moment, Wicker Man has a lower capacity per hour than Galactica, Nemesis, Th13teen, Rita, Oblivion, The Smiler and Spinball Whizzer.

Not acceptable!

:)
 
It was good of Alton to keep the Wicker Man queue entrance open later than 6 after the downtime it had, meant we were able to re-join and get one last go.

The queue moved painfully slowly today, throughput seems terrible and batching from all 3 queus seemed even (so only a third of the ride's capacity being used from the main queue!!)

I really hope they can resolve the reliability and capacity issues soon, as it is an excellent coaster and needs to be a success.
 
AstroDan said:
Wicker Man will benefit from a 3rd train once GCI have sorted out the horrendous restraint issues which are wrecking capacity.

To be clear, at the moment, Wicker Man has a lower capacity per hour than Galactica, Nemesis, Th13teen, Rita, Oblivion, The Smiler and Spinball Whizzer.

Not acceptable!

:)
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This is why i am hoping whist they are running two trains, the 3rd is being used to find/fix the issue.
Once they have a fix then the alterations can be installed on the other two trains.

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