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

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Bert2theSpark said:
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Credit to @therollercoasterproject on Instagram.
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Is it just me or is Wickerman already looking old due to the typical British weather?
 
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A dull day probably doesn't help, but yes it's likely it has a weathered effect added to it. It fits the theme at least.

It looks fantastic though. Probably the best piece of theming Towers have built since Nemesis's station.
 
Rob said:
I have praised Merlin and Towers a lot for how much better planned SW8 has been than previous attractions, and rightly so. However I agree with Crabbe that it was a huge oversight not to have John Wardley involved from the off, just as an advisor. It is a real pity that there are other areas of the ride that could be so much better if he had been involved earlier.

No doubt that awful looking unbanked corner is one of them!

:)
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Who’s to say he would have made it better?
 
So it must suck? Because Wardley says?

He’s not the only ride designer in the world.

Granted nemesis and oblivion are amazing... but there are other amazing rides too. And like somebody said above, just how much envolvment in those rides did he actually have?

He was involved in thirteen and smiler. IMO terrible.

But then people are quick to say he didn’t have much envolvmeent.

It’s not:

Wardley vs a not Wardley ride... it’s a tussauds vs merlin ride.

I just think people need to move on from this Wardley era.
 
WickerManiac said:
  • After joining the project team in an advisory role he wrote a report. This concluded that Great Coasters International had done a good design in response to the brief Merlin provided them with
  • This was subject to one reservation: the profile of the track was poor however the layout itself was good in general. The first 2 drops, he said, were "absolutely atrocious"
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DiogoJ42 said:
Well what more proof do we need? Wardley himself says this ride sucks! :p
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Not quite. :)
 
skyscraper said:
Is it just me or is Wickerman already looking old due to the typical British weather?
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Looks like seriously low headroom under the Ram there.

Wardley hasn't said it "sucks" he has remarked that he would liked to have made further changes, but says that it will still be a great ride.

Embarrassing that he was only asked to join the party at a late stage after so many years of pushing for a woodie at the park. Hopefully the changes he was able to drive are enough!
 
Think he said something like the profiling was a bit bad but the layout was good; "particularly the first drop which I thought was absolutely atrocious". Although he did say other areas of the track could've been "improved enormously". Quite hard to tell what he thinks about it really but hopefully those little changes he put in make it better than what it was.
 
He's also well aware that having had all the acclaim for decades, he could annoy others in Merlin by publicly criticising a ride he wasn't involved in before its opened. I'm sure he knows fans will hang on his every word too so he'll chose his words carefully. He will have his own thoughts I'm sure, in fact just saying the first dropped "looked atrocious" was surpising from him to say publicly.

Although his attitude in the last few years seems like it's just a case of having whatever input people want from him, he doesnt seem to have or want a big influence anymore, and new rides aren't on his radar. Interesting how he even emphasised last year he retired after Thirteen and his Smiler involvement was pretty much just ticking Merlin's boxes toward the brief and then being wheeled out for the media.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Ah, but remember he's the kind of chap who doesn't normally say a bad word about anything. For him to describe the layout as "absolutely atrocious", it must be far, far worse than that.
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He actually said that the profile of the first two drops was absolutely atrocious so he reprofiled them and his changes were accepted.
 
He must know by this point he is untouchable, therefore he's at the point where's he's more readily able to air his grievances about stuff in public. He's already retired, yet has by far the most industry knowledge and experience and knows whatever he says he will be able to repeatedly collect his fee on future projects for contributing that.
 
electricBill said:
and his Smiler involvement was pretty much just ticking Merlin's boxes toward the brief and then being wheeled out for the media.
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He did actually say somewhere that he designed the layout and profile for The Smiler. I'm gonna guess that's all it was. We know he's had no involvement with theme or other ride design elements for a long time.

Also interestingly, is how in every talk I've heard him give he always strongly emphasises that he wants people to be able to walk around his rides and enjoy the views - non riders that is. Guess that's one major factor on what makes a "Wardley Ride" - yet both Th13teen and The Smiler don't have anything like this (Smiler's original design did appear to have non-queueing pathways weaving under the track). All his other coasters do. Even Spinball does.
 
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I think it’s worth noting that If John Wardley wasn’t brought on board until Summer 2016 it means the original planning documents were submitted long before his involvement. At the time (and you can go back and check) most of us thought the ride layout looked terrible.

Glad to see an industry veteran agreed with us.
 
Um... am I the only one here who thinks that the original layout didn't look atrocious?
 
AshleyMason said:
Who’s to say he would have made it better?
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He might not have done, but it doesn't take an expert to know that the unbanked corner in the ride is clearly an area that could have been improved!

I'm certainly not saying that Wardley is the only person who can build a good coaster for Towers, in fact I've said quite the opposite in the past. However I do feel it is a pity that there are two areas of the ride that he feels could have been significantly improved had he been involved in the project earlier.

At the of the day it has always been clear to me that this was going to be a pretty good ride, that could have been a better ride, yet the location means it was never going to be the woodie we all dreamed of at Towers.

:)
 
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