• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

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

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Due to the position of SW8 keeping it a total secret is out of the question.
Alton are playing the fine line between what they want us to know and what they want to keep secret

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
 
If I'm perfectly honest, I don't want to see a "secret element" or gimmick or "worlds first wooden coaster to be build with exactly 91,964 pieces of wood" angle. I'd rather they spent their attention on a bit of cool themeing, substantial long lasting effects (if any) and minimising the amount of visible concrete to 0.

I think the layout looks fine for a family coaster and I'm neither here nor there on the wicker man theory, don't care either way.
 
Rob said:
I really cannot see there being anything special/secret about the coaster itself (track and train). There has been talk of a possible inversion on the plans but I don't see that happening.

There is going to be some form of 'pre-show' by the looks of it though and if I had to guess I would say that some sort of effects here will provide the 'secret weapon' element of the ride as it were. It can't be any worse than #WhatsInTheShed mind!

:)
Click to expand...

I'm wondering have Alton/Merlin lied about a ride's budget before? £15million does seem really hefty for what's in the plans, it's £3million short of The Smilers cost and more expensive than Th13teen. Unless it's going to be themed really heavily which I can't see Alton doing really, well they've not done it with any of the other SW's.

Rita was what £5million? and not a SW. Maybe I'm just hopefully optimistic for something other than what's in the plans, least we forget that The Smiler was not the same as the plans that were released as the land already had development approval, this would surely be the same for The Flume site?

I guess only time will tell :)

delta79 said:
Due to the position of SW8 keeping it a total secret is out of the question.
Alton are playing the fine line between what they want us to know and what they want to keep secret
Click to expand...

They did manage to keep Th13teen relatively secret despite it being built in full view, they could install anything secret in closed season away from the public eye.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pj
I'd imagine this ride will have a lot of labour costs associated with it, I presume it's built in situ from scratch and not like a regular steel coaster that comes in kit form and a pilon every x number of meters, this ride will have thousands of support pieces scattered all over the shop.

Plus you know, inflation automatically makes everything more expensive, and those flashy tv ads during Saturday Night Takeaway don't come cheap either.
 
Maybe the SW part is that it will be the quickest woodie to ever be RMC'ed


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Rob said:
I really cannot see there being anything special/secret about the coaster itself (track and train). There has been talk of a possible inversion on the plans but I don't see that happening.

There is going to be some form of 'pre-show' by the looks of it though and if I had to guess I would say that some sort of effects here will provide the 'secret weapon' element of the ride as it were. It can't be any worse than #WhatsInTheShed mind!

:)
Click to expand...
Yeah, hopefully it will be a lot better than Mystic Timbers' shed, which was very disapointing.
 
IanSR said:
I'd imagine this ride will have a lot of labour costs associated with it, I presume it's built in situ from scratch and not like a regular steel coaster that comes in kit form and a pilon every x number of meters, this ride will have thousands of support pieces scattered all over the shop.
Click to expand...

I think that balances out though, higher labour costs but lower product cost as wood is cheaper than steel. Similar size GCI woodies are costing around £9-£10million, Alton are throwing around the £15million figure. Cú Chulainn at Tayto Park in Ireland - although built by The Gravity Group - cost just over £7million. It's bigger, longer and cost less than half of Alton's advertised budget for SW8. It surely can't be just what's on the plans. :confused:
 
True.

Merlin do seem to have a habit recently of either massively exaggerating the cost, spending far too much on promotion or simply paying over the odds for things.
 
The £15 million figure will cover everything from the coaster itself to the marketing to the costs associated with demolition of The Flume. Although I still think such a large budget for what should be a relatively cheap coaster should leave a lot of money for quality theming and effects. There are a lot of tunnels on the coaster and I would like to see these themed to an extent with indoor lighting/sound effects.

:)
 
Rob said:
The £15 million figure will cover everything from the coaster itself to the marketing to the costs associated with demolition of The Flume. Although I still think such a large budget for what should be a relatively cheap coaster should leave a lot of money for quality theming and effects. There are a lot of tunnels on the coaster and I would like to see these themed to an extent with indoor lighting/sound effects.

:)
Click to expand...


The tunnel theming will be a picture of John Wardley with a speech bubble saying "get a life"




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I still think they'll end up over budget somehow, will cut all of the theming and will build the ride out of MDF and bamboo. That's their world's first right there.
 
Andrew said:
I still think they'll end up over budget somehow, will cut all of the theming and will build the ride out of MDF and bamboo. That's their world's first right there.
Click to expand...


And Handy Andy will be making it out of the aforementioned MDF in 24 hours


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Andrew said:
I still think they'll end up over budget somehow, will cut all of the theming and will build the ride out of MDF and bamboo. That's their world's first right there.
Click to expand...

Well if the latest plans in the lighting schedule are anything to go by they have already cut one of the theming objects!

:)
 
IanSR said:
True.

Merlin do seem to have a habit recently of either massively exaggerating the cost, spending far too much on promotion or simply paying over the odds for things.
Click to expand...

Rob said:
The £15 million figure will cover everything from the coaster itself to the marketing to the costs associated with demolition of The Flume. Although I still think such a large budget for what should be a relatively cheap coaster should leave a lot of money for quality theming and effects. There are a lot of tunnels on the coaster and I would like to see these themed to an extent with indoor lighting/sound effects.

:)
Click to expand...

That's why I was asking earlier if people think Alton would lie about the budget that much, I mean Mandy is chucking around a £16million figure for Icon which will no doubt include everything like you said Rob but I can see that costing that amount to be honest which leads me to believe The Smiler cost the £18million. It's a tough one really, £15million is a lot to pay for what's been shown but I'll lose faith if it's just track and train with minimal theming as it means they've clearly just made up the budget. :(
 
Not forgetting that every part of the project Merlin Studios/Magic Making are involved with you can add afew extra 0s to the end of the expected cost.

#MerlinsMagicTaxDodge
 
Andrew said:
I still think they'll end up over budget somehow, will cut all of the theming and will build the ride out of MDF and bamboo. That's their world's first right there.
Click to expand...
Fun fact:
I remember reading in First Drop many years ago, that when [arg, I forget which company it was now] built their first woody in China, the park asked them... and they designers seriously looked in to... building it out of bamboo. This is because of cultural differences. Over there, they trust bamboo. Scaffolding is still made from it. But wood is rarely used for major construction, and people regard it with suspicion, just as we would bamboo.
Obviously, it was quickly realised this was a bad idea....
 
The price tag is probably due to how expensive timer is in the uk. As a carpenter it drives me mad how much timber costs.

@DiogoJ42 it was Martin & Valdex or something like that. I love the fact the gp saw it as a right of passage in that article.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top