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

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Two screen shots from the video

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The problem, even though probably harmless in their actions, is this drone operators flight only feed more ammunition to the Airline Pilots Association for them to tighten up and get drones banned, although we all know no amount of regulation or law is going to stop and idiot being an idiot, but let's not let common sense get in the way.

I just wish these guys would think before acting, the park seems fairly savvy on social media now and maybe they would be quiet willing to let someone fly a drone over if it got them the right kind of publicity.

Plus it ruins the surprise lol
 
IanSR said:
The problem, even though probably harmless in their actions, is this drone operators flight only feed more ammunition to the Airline Pilots Association for them to tighten up and get drones banned, although we all know no amount of regulation or law is going to stop and idiot being an idiot, but let's not let common sense get in the way.

I just wish these guys would think before acting, the park seems fairly savvy on social media now and maybe they would be quiet willing to let someone fly a drone over if it got them the right kind of publicity.

Plus it ruins the surprise lol
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Alton have previously used UAVs in their marketing (such as some of the Francis videos) but I can't get imagine them being allowed outside of that.

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Depends on how the question is asked, my sister got married on a camel farm earlier in the year and the owner had big 'no drones' notices everywhere, but he was quiet happy to, in theory, let me take mine up for the wedding, only problem was some idiot forgot to charge the battery lol
 
Merlin use a drone that is used within the legally permitted use for marketing.



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I am wondering if a admin could make a drone topic and move some of the post to it. I can see a good discussion about them coming.

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I was just looking through TowersTimes' SW8 page and I found some new and interesting bits of info that were apparently confirmed during their Halloween event at Alton Towers in October. I'm presuming it is OK to post them if they are publicly available on TowersTimes' SW8 page, so here goes:
  • The ride will definitely have 3 trains. Whether they can run all 3 at once or whether they can only run 2 and store one on the transfer track a la Smiler I don't currently know.
  • Capacity will definitely be over 1000pph.
  • The ride will feature "tunnel effects". Interesting. I'm presuming that this means special effects of some description in at least one of the sound tunnels. I reckon it could be flashing runes or something. Or maybe it could be an animatronic in the maintenance shed at the end or something.
Take what you will from this information. I apologise if this is common knowledge and I'm just telling you stuff you already know. I just found it interesting.
EDIT: Here is a link to TowersTimes' SW8 page: https://www.towerstimes.co.uk/sw8/about/
Also, I think they are painting the sound tunnels in the same colour as the buildings as I suspected because in the drone footage, the sound tunnel entering the maintenance shed has the same cladding on it as the buildings.
 
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Matt N said:
The ride will definitely have 3 trains. Whether they can run all 3 at once or whether they can only run 2 and store one on the transfer track a la Smiler I don't currently know.
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What relevance is The Smiler in regards to the no. of trains it can run?
 
ihaveaspergers said:
I think it's more about how they keep a train spare not on the circuit.

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However this is not the case with The Smiler. It can operate up to 5 vehicles at one time, there is no prerequisite or spare vehicle that must be kept in storage.
 
Going back a bit, when it comes to interest in this ride... We know more about this ride than we have about any Secret Weapon project ever. Sites crashed when The Smiler aerial pics were released by TowersTimes because track was still being erected, the 14 loops had not been officially confirmed, at the time The Smiler was a very interesting project (with interesting elements), The Marmaliser was intriguing, the theme and marketing was engaging (look at The Smiler logo being placed everwhere with no explanation). The Smiler was a huge project and despite the problems since, it really was the most exciting project since the Tussauds days. Towers had been left without a huge new thrill ride for so long, it really was an exciting time.

Wicker Man... we know the name, the whole track has been constructed during the season, there's no secrets/secret elements, we largely know the theme and where it's heading, even the main theming structure most people knew what it would look like months ago, and most importantly... it's a family ride, and one not being aimed at families. Interest isn't so high because we know A LOT, and the marketing so far is very Th13teen, which most enthusiasts aren't interested in.

I wouldn't say this is a bad thing, it looks like it will be a good, solid, fun family ride with *hopefully* some good theming (beyond the theming structure). It doesn't leave much for you to go running up to Towers in a hurry however.

Plus, Blackpool.

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In regards to the capacity, As it will run three trains. Then expect it to have a throughput of 1200pph as that is the same throughput as Wodan and Mystic Timbers as they are the other GCI's with a three train service.

Although on off-peak days only expect them to run two trains.
 
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