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

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Oh and more thing. In this modern world of social media, anyone can be a critic.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc are always full of one line posts, declaring than something is crap (usually with a stronger expletive), without any constructive reason or appraisal. It is intellectual bankruptcy.

There is also a modern "logic" that says A is better than B, so B must be rubbish.

Fortunately, I believe this forum to be both mature and articulate enough to recognise that both projects can be good, poor or mediocre in their own rights, and have respective merits or deficiencies without the simple "logic" above.

Looking forward to 18 months of great debate.
 
Normally when Alton Towers get a brand new coaster it is almost certain to be the biggest, best and most talking about thing in the UK that year. In 2018 I do not think that will be the case. I am looking forward to Blackpool's coaster far more than SW8. Looking at it the other way around though SW8 has more a chance to surprise and exceed expectation if it is better than it looks where as Blackpool's Mack will carry a lot of hype and expectation.

:)
 
Rob said:
Normally when Alton Towers get a brand new coaster it is almost certain to be the biggest, best and most talking about thing in the UK that year. In 2018 I do not think that will be the case. I am looking forward to Blackpool's coaster far more than SW8. Looking at it the other way around though SW8 has more a chance to surprise and exceed expectation if it is better than it looks where as Blackpool's Mack will carry a lot of hype and expectation.

:)
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Good point... no one expected Ali to beat Liston...
 
I don't think SW8 will be a bad coaster in its right, but I would be incredibly surprised if it was better than Blackpool's Mack.
 
I think Alton have gone for a safe design to test the water for the perception of wooden coasters to the gp.
Maybe Thorpe may get a thrill woodie in the future. I hope we see the rise of the modern woodies that mainland Europe has seen.
 
If that turns out to be the case, that's a depressing state of affairs.

Alton Towers made its name innovating, making the most of what it had and punching way above its weight.

And now we're getting this. No doubt it will be a good ride, but there doesn't seem to be a spark, and if they're just doing it to test the water for a bigger, better Thorpe wooden coaster, the suits have truly won.
 
Martin said:
If that turns out to be the case, that's a depressing state of affairs.

Alton Towers made its name innovating, making the most of what it had and punching way above its weight.

And now we're getting this. No doubt it will be a good ride, but there doesn't seem to be a spark, and if they're just doing it to test the water for a bigger, better Thorpe wooden coaster, the suits have truly won.
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They have done a massive disservice by giving the ride a Secret Weapon tag. Not everything needs to be innovative and groundbreaking - there is nothing wrong with building a solid family ride which the park desperately needs. The SW code name has well and truly been milked now and just hypes up a ride to be something it is not (Thirteen) if they are going to use it the coaster should genuinely be boundary pushing rather than gimmicky. Let's face it this woodie is likely to be a standard coaster with a pointless world first and/or marketing gimmick attached.

What normal rides free of hype have Merlin actually built in their 10 years of running the park? Battle Galleons, Sub-Terra and a couple of cheap kids rides is all I count. Not everything can be a headliner - what Alton Towers needs in 2016 is good quality family rides and fillers to give some variety to the parks various areas. What this 2018 woodie needs to be is good fun for guests of all ages with some high quality theming. In fact I would go as far as saying this is essential after the loss of the flume.
 
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I think too many people get wound up about towers going the new coasters an SW tag it's just a way of marketing them and to the gp I bet it works
If they built a coaster and didn't give it a SW tag I'm sure half the enthusiasts would automatically say it's going to be a poor ride
The gp going to towers will see the SW signs and will be delighted a new big ride is coming but how would they react to a sign saying 'gci wooden coaster coming soon'
They probably wouldn't know what a gci is
 
The SW tag now just means large capital investment, not what it used to mean. The only two SW,s that really pushed the boundries were nemesis and oblivion. Not just being world or Europe firsts but really used the park limits the maximum.
Those days are sadly long gone, shame, because Alton offers so much potential for world class rides without daft gimmicks.
 
SW8, Project whateveryouwanttocall it, Codename xyz. It doesn't matter and if a project codename changes your perception of a ride (when you've seen the plans as well) then you only have yourself to blame if you are let down. Let's be honest though, Alton Towers could build a woodie under any codename and there would be hype. It's what every Alton Towers fan has wanted for 15 years, regardless of the scale hype was always going to be present.

What's worse for me is calling it 'ground breaking' if there is nothing ground breaking about it. Of course it is too early to say now but I am struggling to see how they are going to meet that claim.

:)
 
Just a note, when I went back in June to Towers I saw a van round the back of the rapids saying something about landscaping on it, maybe they were looking at the flume site in filling it in and/or SW8 will use it's terrain like Nemesis and Oblivion do. Also on a Towers Times event the ride was said to be in KC by Towers themselves. So maybe (but sadly) it will regenerate KC into a new area?
 
Between this and the Pleasure Beach thread there's been quite a bit of discussion about whether this will be another 94. I suppose it depends partly on what you would count as being another 1994. 2002 was probably the biggest year for British coasters since then when we had Colossus, Air and Jubilee Odyssey.

2005 had Rita, G Force and Velocity, although clearly not the same quality or the land mark moments as the 1994 or 2002 coasters.

2018 is certainly looking like a more interesting year for the British amusement industry than the recent ones with SW8, the Mack launched coaster and according to the latest issue of Fun World Magazine two water parks potentially opening at the West Midland Safari Park and in Coventry:
http://www.iaapa.org/news/funworld/funworld-magazine/the-year-of-the-water-park---october-2016

It comes back to what makes another 1994. Is it the quality of the additions? The fact it's targeting thrill seekers? The fact the industry collaborated to officially promote it as the year of the roller coaster? The fact that to an extent The Big One, Shockwave and Nemesis waved in golden peroids for their respective park (I say to an extent, because they were already successful businesses or they wouldn't have been able justify or afford such large investments).
 
Despite being stated that demolition work would begin in September the site has still not been touched. It looks like a really sorry state of affairs when passing over on the Skyride.

:)
 
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