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

[ThemeParkCrafter]

To be honest, if there was an inversion, at least there would be a not so intense inverted coaster (if you don't allow air/ Galatica). Not exactly related but if charlie is turned to a larger water shoot attraction with a drop, it would not matter as much that sw8 will probably not be related to water.

 

[Leah]

Has GCI done an inversion before? This does look like it could be one...

And there's the gimmick we've all been waiting for to confirm that this isn't a joke. Can't be all though. World's first inverting launched woodie perhaps?

 

[Martin]

Looks more like a hill banking from one turn into the next to me. Sorry.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Looks more like a hill banking from one turn into the next to me. Sorry.

Seconded. Methinks some people are wishing too hard here.

 

[TomW]

Looks more like a hill banking from one turn into the next to me. Sorry.

Could well be right, GCI are yet to do an inversion on any of their rides. But then again they are also yet to do a launch/magnetic lift so we could be seeing yet another example of Alton getting a manufacturer prototype. To be honest I hope this is just a solid coaster with solid theming and no gimmick but somehow I doubt this coming from Merlin.

On a side note, I've missed online SW speculation and I'm so happy we're off again!

 

[PeteB]

Well, I couldn't be less excited for this and hope these plans get pulled. It just looks awful and carelessly thought out. It's not long enough by far.

They've chosen to build something like this at a VERY peculiar time. I mean, they've openly told us the problem which has stopped them building a woody up to now has been the public perception that they are old and unsafe, yet they go ahead and build one immediately after one of the worst rollercoaster accidents in modern times! On top of that, from pure speculation this looks like it's aimed at families. Add to this you have the park going H&S crazy building fences on top of fences around just about everything in existence. Wow. You're living right on the edge here Towers! Just goes to show you cannot take anything these people at Towers or Merlin say seriously.

It's also a massively disrespectful "F YOU" to John Wardley who's been campaigning for a woody for like 25 years. Soon as he's out the door, it's their very next project! How nice!

I'm more excited for the mack than this and I don't even like launches. This looks about as thrilling as watching paint dry.

I totally agree and glad it's not just me.

For anyone concerned about layouts: Wodan looked naff on an overhead plan, and look at how awesome that turned out.

That looks about a million times more interesting than SW8

 

[DiogoJ42]

That looks about a million times more interesting than SW8

That'd be because it's Wodan.

 

[James]

You can tell excitement on here has dropped over the years. Two pages of discussion over 5 hours, years ago we would have been at page 120 by now and been holding some new member up against their promise of smashing eggs on their face.

I like the look of this. Track layout looks good for a family ride. The queue isn't a cattlepan (for now)! Hope the queue stays similar to the plans, as this development covers a large area and there is no need for a cattlepen. The building looks rather generic however, not sure what they will do to make a plain wooden cladded building look themed (probably nothing, if we look at The Smiler's station).

Worth mentioning that Mexican Cantina is being demolished along with this development. Which is no surprise. A games unit is also being constructed along with the development, again, no surprise. Seems to be a new thing going on with Secret Weapons, one large station building, one HB games unit, one F&B building in the queue and one or two theming elements that may or may not appear.

 

[PeteB]

Worth mentioning that Mexican Cantina is being demolished along with this development. Which is no surprise. A games unit is also being constructed along with the development, again, no surprise. Seems to be a new thing going on with Secret Weapons, one large station building, one HB games unit, one F&B building in the queue and one or two theming elements that may or may not appear.

Gotta hand out some extra hate to Merlin for using "generic formula's"

 

[Maelstrom]

Some of the smaller CGI Wooden coaster are really good coasters, White Lightening at Fun Spot in Orlando is a great ride.

A fun coaster that is family thrill is what the park needs. Plus at the min it seems they have learnt from the past few projects, a planning application 6 months ealier than Thirteen and The Smiller, plus plan to have the ride complete by Dec 2017, giving them 3 months if issues arise before the start of the season. Also no cattle pen queue and doesn't look like we will be getting a station themed to an abandoned warehouse!

 

[jon81uk]

They've chosen to build something like this at a VERY peculiar time. I mean, they've openly told us the problem which has stopped them building a woody up to now has been the public perception that they are old and unsafe, yet they go ahead and build one immediately after one of the worst rollercoaster accidents in modern times

My theory is if people are seeing a steel inverting coaster as unsafe, then a non-inverting wooden coaster is very different so should have a different public opinion.

 

[QTXAdsy]

My theory is if people are seeing a steel inverting coaster as unsafe, then a non-inverting wooden coaster is very different so should have a different public opinion.

If that is the case then does that mean that despite how awful it might sound that the Smiler crash was in some ways a blessing in disguise for the Woodie to happen?

 

[James]

If, as Towers have claimed for many years, the public perceive wooden coasters as unsafe, and do not perform well in market research, and you mix that in with the most widely covered and worst modern coaster accident in the UK. Aren't people going to think Towers are out of their minds? I'd guess most people on this basis would be thinking a dangerous park is not only building a new coaster, but a wooden one which is even more dangerous than steel. Avoid like hell.

Maybe those who work on developing rides have used this as a golden opportunity to warp market research to allow for a wooden coaster to happen. I'm with Pete that I find it strange a park that has had the biggest accident in its history, and a park that has (supposedly) conducted masses of market research that proves wooden coasters to be dangerous/unsafe in the eyes of the public, this is a really weird time to go building one.

Saying that, it could easily pay off. If it's a good ride in reality, it could change these opinions and perhaps pave the way for a bigger wooden coaster in the UK in the near future.

 

[Martin]

Well people perceived wood as less safe than steel, now The Smiler has crashed they perceive wood and steel are equally unsafe.

 

[Sku]

Apart from the couple of usual suspects, the reaction seems to have turned at least a little more positive on here with the new plans. We are finally getting wood, and I think this could yet prove to be be a decent, if compact, coaster.

In a way I suppose its size is not that surprising. I think with all the planning restrictions, noise orders, conservation areas, this is probably the largest wooden coaster we could have reasonably expected. It's not all about size though, it's what you do with it, and that really does remain to be seen. Sure it could turn out bad, but maybe it won't.

I never imagined the reaction to wood would be so negative, but I suppose it's just a sign of how much the park has slipped. It certainly is the fault of the park and it's current management that things have got so bad that the community would react so violently to something that should have been an enthusiast pleaser. But sometimes things have to get really bad before they can get better, and maybe the negative reaction from the community will remind management that they can't just "phone this in" on the basis it's a woodie, and will please enthusiasts.

I just thought it was an interesting aspect that hasn't been discussed... Alton Towers almost certainly will have been expecting us to react positively to the news of wood, and will be surprised we haven't.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Another funny thought I've just realised is that perhaps is despite Merlin's put downs of Woodies over the years that if this ride turns out to be a big hit with the public then expect Merlin to do a U-turn with their attitude saying, "Of course we've always wanted to have a Wooden coaster built in the UK, more are to be built!"

Expect then all UK coaster enthusiasts to cry out in response saying, "YOU F*****G HYPOCRITES!"

 

[Altonadvocate1]

I'm with Pete B on this one... it's looks... underwhelming.

I can absolutely understand why Alton would go for the family thrill market (larger demographic, appeal to families, last SW a thrill coaster), but family thrill doesn't have to mean short. 13 grew on me, and it's great while it lasts, but over so quickly.

If it's a family thrill ride, then justify the SW tag by making it a big one.

Makes no sense that a family run regional park like Tayto gets a bigger woody than the UK''s number one park.

I have a feeling that the groundbreaking tag has some kind of meeting, but I was hoping for an epic coaster in length and scale.

This isn't it!

 

[Leah]

I suppose that anyone who see wooden coasters as unsafe will also be the people who avoid the park for being unsafe anyway. Don't think they've got much to lose here.

 

[GaryH]

I'm kinda excited that they are finally building a wooden coaster, but i'm also a bit sad they are not fully utilising all the space the Flume occupied. Lets not forget that any new SW rides must have a world first as a selling point (or was it two selling points) - so what could this be on a wooden family coaster?


edit: oh god, i hope they dont add VR to this!

 

[cactuselves]

I'm really excited about this, looks a lot like Joris which I love, lots of little pops of airtime between twists and turns so will feel like a well paced ride. Two odd things for me, the drop out of the station is relatively substantial (compared to other CGIs) into an area of new excavation - why dig a big hole only to have to then build a bigger lift hill? Also the section in the sound tunnel is long and straight, and elevated to a decent height with only a small drop in the very middle and not much else going on - why go to all of the effort of building a tall wooden structure for a long, relatively flat section of track? It also looks like the lift hill only changes gradient near to the bottom and not half way up as thought. The HH elevation view looks good!

Massive ride building and large theming structures too, the mutiny bay area will look very different indeed! I wish it was a little longer, but they've used the space well to maximise what they've fit in - only other option would be to go over towards the rapids more due to current planning restrictions.