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

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Brad97 said:
Agreed, it's massive. The coaster as a whole looks much better and more exciting in person. I was pretty impressed when I saw it in October, the wooden aesthetic blends in really well to Alton's landscape.

I'm not expecting it to blow me away but I'm quite looking forward to this.
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I agree. I'm remaining cautiously optimistic about this whole project. I am not currently expecting it to make my top 10 coasters or beat Nemesis as Alton's best roller coaster, but I am expecting a decent family thrill ride, like Thirteen. Some of the drops and turns on this look really good, and when I built the ride's layout in Planet Coaster, it maintained its speed relatively well throughout, bearing in mind that the top speed was 48mph and the minimum I saw it drop to was around 35mph. That's pretty good going for a family ride! Yes, I know that the physics element of Planet Coaster is rather questionable, but it's the only indicator I have. Also, I am looking forward to the theming and storyline aspect of the ride. The theming element looks like an impressive structure from photos, and when paired with some cool fire effects, it could be something quite special. I'm excited for the pre-show, as this looks to be a proper pre-show and not an indoor queue line like The Smiler's, which while The Smiler's indoor queue is great, a pre-show is better and has more of an opportunity to effectively tell a story. On another note, they seem to be focusing a lot on the finer details with this project, like with the jagged queue line fencing and the stone wall. I actually reckon that SW8 could be the park's best experience coaster if pulled off effectively. And who knows, the ride's drops and turns could actually make it a full-blown thrill ride if we're lucky. Wouldn't surprise me, as GCI has made lots of critically acclaimed attractions over the years. I'm not judging it before I ride, though.
EDIT: On a side note, are those sound walls on the turn where the Flume station was? Or is it just the bottom of the track?
 
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I agree, both the theming and track layout look good. Station looks ghostly, but in a good way. The statue itself looks nice and imposing too. First airtime hill looks great, and the sudden twist at the end of the hill looks fantastic. Let's just hope the speed is maintained as you say :)
 
It definitely looks like the parks best themed ride to date. The park have always been pretty good when it comes to centre pieces but they often neglect the other elements of a good theme such as story or soundtrack (looking at you obnoxious hahaha of the smiler, sorry IMAScore!). I really hope that the atmosphere is maintained from the moment that you enter the attraction to the moment you get off. Thi13teen probably comes the closest to this out of any other ride in the park, but I always felt that the station itself kinda broke the theme established in the darker queue with the faraday cage that comes before it. Tldr: I have high hopes for this ride, I hope it has good theming
 
Matt N said:
Did Attraction Images capture any aerial footage of it testing? Alton won't be happy about this...
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To be fair Attraction images did email Towers about publishing the photo but they didn’t respond. It will remain relatively contained anyway because it’s just enthusiast stuff. They can’t control thier airspace anyway.
 
Maybe Towers can go one step further than The Smiler. The Smiler was great right up until they actually had to make it exist which was a shameful bodge. 13 is potentially the last thing Towers got right and Hex's retheme was the last time they did a 100% immersion experience in late 2000
 
Now that we've seen the coaster as it now is. Do u think mutiny bay will be rethemed and what area do u think SW8 will fall into?

I think it will be in an unrethemed mutiny bay. Which looks better than a ride with bathtubs.
 
I think Alton were lying when they said it would be in Gloomy Wood. I reckon that Alton will rename Mutiny Bay to link in to SW8's storyline, similar to what Chessington did to Transylvania upon the arrival of Gruffalo. I think SW8 will be too story-driven to just sit there in Mutiny Bay.
 
Matt N said:
I think Alton were lying when they said it would be in Gloomy Wood. I reckon that Alton will rename Mutiny Bay to link in to SW8's storyline, similar to what Chessington did to Transylvania upon the arrival of Gruffalo. I think SW8 will be too story-driven to just sit there in Mutiny Bay.
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Well if they do it's got to be better than Wild Woods.

I think if they do it will be called Beornen Village or something like that.
 
I'd imagine Mutiny Bay will get a light retheme, Because if the Smokehouse becomes part of SW8's area, Then Mutiny Bay will be tiny and will be split in half...

And this ain't Thorpe Park.

EDIT: Attraction Images has posted a high res zoomed in picture.

DR_6qHbX0AAqlVJ.jpg:large
 
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A clashing theme is bad, a Dark Forest/Wild Woods 2.0 is even worse.

Thorpe Park would look like the the epitomey of cohesive and immersive themes in comparison to what you are suggesting as a possibility.

Slopping green Dulux over a pirate themed Splash Battle and changing the name of the area on the map does not constitute a "retheme".
 
I guess so. Obviously the 2 areas (mutiny bay and SW8) are very different in the theme but there are similarities and thus aesthetically they will work together well.
 
Did the plans specify what was going to happen to the concrete structure next to the lift hill? Guess it'll be given a similar finish to the other buildings in the ride area.

Also, are we to assume the talk about them testing it successfully was true, given that they've seemingly started to tunnel in the first drop?
 
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