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

[Dave]

For a moment there I thought you were going to join us over on the dark side, though I still sense a certain level of frustration. Don't worry, it'll come sooner or later.

* symphathy pat on the back *



Even with that she still got me. Watch out.

She is a strict task master, i won't mention what she once did to me in regard to socks....

But I do have frustration with SW8, the theme looks to be a classic Merlin "couldn't give a monkeys" narrative clash, on top of "dark theme for family ride", on top of "run down style to avoid maintenance". If we want to go on with the Merlin bingo I am happy to bet it will require double the amount of staff the same ride in another park would need and therefore 3 other rides will be closed to compensate (but maybe I am too cynical).

But some of the assumptions are being negative for the sake of finding more things to hate about Merlin entertainments when quite frankly we have plenty to be going on with.

 

[monkeyboy]

With anyone complaining with the length of the layout when looking my picture, I was quite inaccurate so I made this picture with an accurate layout of the coaster with annotations.

Sorry no stick wickerman here.

I reckon this will be a quite good ride with some good landscaping, theming and pacing. I doubt it will be a short ride, especially when comparing it with other major rides in the park.

I'm sorry I'm not accepting this drawing without the realism of the stick wickerman!

 

[jon81uk]

Personally as well I won't miss the flume, hardly ever get the right weather for me to want to do it. If it is really hot there is Battle Galleons for those who want to get soaked and then Rapids if you just want a fun water ride.

Hopefully we will get a new water boat ride to replace Charlie soon and potentially that could have an outdoor drop finale and hopefully with adjustable splash depending on the weather.

 

[Matt.GC]

With anyone complaining with the length of the layout when looking my picture, I was quite inaccurate so I made this picture with an accurate layout of the coaster with annotations.

Sorry no stick wickerman here.

I reckon this will be a quite good ride with some good landscaping, theming and pacing. I doubt it will be a short ride, especially when comparing it with other major rides in the park.

Still looks pretty small to me. Of course, this doesn't at all indicate what it'll actually ride like, and who knows, the secret element may bulk out the ride time. God knows what that is though, I can only conceive a pre show lengthening the ride experience. But then they surprised us with Thirteens.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

[JB1985]

If this ride was in ADDITION to a new flume all would be good.

However it all feels like a step backwards, the park has lost an (ageing) but staple theme park ride for yet ANOTHER coaster, regardless of the material it's built from.

Asides from coasters and kiddies rides the park is offering very little else in the way of variety, I think a lot of people will be frustrated during the summer when they realise the rapids is (pretty much) the only ride to cool down on now both The Flume and Ripsaw are gone.

Literally Hex, Duel and the Rapids are the only variety rides the park offers now for adults unless you count the two knackered 80's flats.

My frustration entirley. It's a coaster park now not a theme park. Shame.

The problem you have is no one outside of three internet forums care who wins 2018, the parks didn't very much in 1994 when they last went head to head.

Also this "it isn't an SW in the way we know them" perplexes me. We have had 6 SW's and only 3 of them where designed as thrill machines.

It isn't though is it? I feel no excitement over this at all unlike all the previous SW, Thirteen included. There is just something about this project that screems missed opportunity. I agree an SW doesn't have to be a thrill ride. But it should generate excitement. This doesn't.

I don't want to moan about AT I really don't but if you look at the wider Merlin group they are coaster obsessed. They are all about a quick dollar and not a true experience

 

[PeteB]

Personally as well I won't miss the flume, hardly ever get the right weather for me to want to do it. If it is really hot there is Battle Galleons for those who want to get soaked and then Rapids if you just want a fun water ride.

Hopefully we will get a new water boat ride to replace Charlie soon and potentially that could have an outdoor drop finale and hopefully with adjustable splash depending on the weather.

This was exactly my gripe when they built Battle Galleons. I couldn't understand the need for 3 "wet" rides (4 if you included Ripsaw) in the British climate, something that for most people is only acceptable for maybe a dozen days of the year, and hence why I've only been on it once in it's 10 year history. Rapid's I can get away with, even at Halloween and Fireworks, because it's typically not all that wet unless you're unlucky. The thrill of the Rapids seems to be the threat of getting wet, not actually riding it to get wet.

Water rides as a people mover system are perfectly fine I think, like CATCF for example, but this brings me to another point:

I don't want to moan about AT I really don't but if you look at the wider Merlin group they are coaster obsessed. They are all about a quick dollar and not a true experience

Every time Merlin attempt some other form of ride experience it's met with disappointment. DBGT being the latest.

Merlin are keen to keep repeating to us how they are the biggest and best in the leisure and entertainment business, but that key word "entertainment" is something they lack the skills for. I think in the parks early days under Tussauds things were different. Tussauds were a company primarily from theatre and entertainment, finding themselves having a go at building rides and running theme parks. It worked!

Now the tables have turned and we have a company that has no real experience in entertainment or showmanship. They can just about manage to throw together a lump of steel with a few loops, give it a mediocre theme, and end up with something that generates a luke warm response at best.

I mean look at Merlin's history of theme parks. Have they ever built a single coaster that generated any real level of enthusiasm after it opened? The Smiler almost hit the spot, but we all know how that turned out.

 

[Benzin]

Least the GP seem reasonably excited/interested in it?

As for the lack of height meaning no airtime, Twister at Grona Lund exists to defy such claims (even if it isn't GCI)...

It'll still be more a missed opportunity, which I think is the main issue... Only a decade ago the prospective Valley Coaster was mooted, and Wooden coasters in general and seen fair advancement in tech... Seems disappointing that we end up with something that appears to look relatively mediocre in the grand scheme of life, with no doubt a dodgy element/world's first usp to satisfy the shareholders...

 

[jon81uk]

Merlin do seem very coaster obsessed but you would think that their experience with the Dungeon attractions would give them some dark ride and live experience knowledge too. Most of the Dungeons, despite being fairly low capacity are entertaining and well paced. Also they still have the waxwork makers that Tussauds always have so in theory they have the same knowledge the company had in the 90s.

But it seems they take good thoughts, such as I'm a Celeb, which in effect is a Dungeon style live experience (I've not been to Thorpe since it opened). But whereas when they added a Dungeon at Warwick Castle it's a seperate ticket to deal with capacity issues, I'm a Celeb just gets poor throughput. Also they then realise it's staff costs are high and expensive to run.

Given how well partnering Sea Life and Alton Towers worked, I'm surprised they haven't been able to get any other new ideas to work that aren't coasters. Sub-Terra should have been good, but the restraints issues coupled with high staffing requirements again have crippled it.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Are people seriously complaining about Alton having "too many coasters", or have I crossed in to some messed up parallel universe‽

 

[Andrew]

Are people seriously complaining about Alton having "too many coasters", or have I crossed in to some messed up parallel universe‽

You can never have too many coasters. That's why most people go to these parks.

Case in point, if I told someone that Towers were building a new ride, they'd ask straight away if it's a roller coaster. If I said it's not, their interest drops straight away from what I've seen.

 

[delta79]

Are people seriously complaining about Alton having "too many coasters", or have I crossed in to some messed up parallel universe‽

So it was not just me.

 

[DiogoJ42]

...I mean, Europa has 13 of the buggers, and we all (with one exception now) seem to love that place....

 

[KingNemesis]

...I mean, Europa has 13 of the buggers, and we all (with one exception now) seem to love that place....

Everyone knows the main selling point of Europa Park is the London Taxi's... No one cares about the coasters

 

[PeteB]

Merlin do seem very coaster obsessed but you would think that their experience with the Dungeon attractions would give them some dark ride and live experience knowledge too. Most of the Dungeons, despite being fairly low capacity are entertaining and well paced.

But it seems they take good thoughts, such as I'm a Celeb, which in effect is a Dungeon style life experience (I've not been to Thorpe since it opened).

I would argue that Merlin's version of The Dungeons are relatively poor compared to the ones from years ago.

But you are right about attractions like I'm a Celeb. In fact, you could go as far to say that pretty much all of Merlin's attempts at dark rides or similar attractions have been a copy/paste formula from the Dungeons - Shrek, I'm a Celeb, DBGT, House of Monsters, and even Sub Terra to a degree. I'm sure there a lot more examples.

 

[andeyhart]

For me, the coasters are Towers' bread and butter. From a selfish viewpoint, there could never be too many.

 

[jon81uk]

For me, the coasters are Towers' bread and butter. From a selfish viewpoint, there could never be too many.

But you can't exist on bread and butter alone, you need some variety as well.

I think replacing the Flume with a coaster isn't a bad decision but they need to replace Charlie with a new dark ride ASAP.

 

[andeyhart]

But you can't exist on bread and butter alone, you need some variety as well.

I think replacing the Flume with a coaster isn't a bad decision but they need to replace Charlie with a new dark ride ASAP.

Oh I know, and I agree. But like I said, from an entirely selfish viewpoint, the coasters are my main interest.

 

[DiogoJ42]

I think it's a safe bet that the vast majority of guests don't go to a park for the dark rides and flats. It's coasters that they want.
(Obviously there are exceptions to this with parks like Universal).

I agree other ride types are needed as well, but you can never have "too many" coasters!

 

[Blizzard]

No you can't, but you can have too few flat rides.

We have a grand total of 3*

*not including BBC land

 

[DiogoJ42]

No you can't, but you can have too few flat rides.

We have a grand total of 3*

*not including BBC land

Now that I won't dispute.