• 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.
Rob said:
Nothing so far has indicated that SW8 would differ from the plans apart from the usual enthusiast hype that somehow gets passed off as actual rumours.
:)
Click to expand...

To be ever so slightly pedantic, there are some elements of the ride already which differ from the plans, particularly from the sectional elevations. If you look back at all of the sections, there are a few things that stand out:

-The bottom of the first drop is not as low on the original sections, in reality the top of the bents is very close to existing / proposed ground level, whereas the plans show the bottom of the drop stopping a few meters above ground.
-The sound tunnel starts immediately after the top of the lift hill in reality, whereas on the plans it was shown to start slightly around the first bend
-The bents are all shown as flat on the sections, there isn't a single banking bent, whereas there are some significant banking sections already constructed
-The excavation on the proposed levels plan is all shown to be around the station and bottom of main drop / lifthill (in yellow), whereas on site there is a significant excavation at the bottom of where the old flume final drop was located (last main drop on SW8)

I'm not suggesting that this means that we'll get an uber launch or hidden tunnel, but what is being built does look more exciting than the plans suggested initially and based on what has been built alreadt the plans can only be treated as a general indication of finished product (the plan arrangement / location of the foundations incidentally is almost exactly as per the as built, but the as built are strip footers, whereas the plans showed concrete circular piles for each bent.)
 
cactuselves said:
To be ever so slightly pedantic, there are some elements of the ride already which differ from the plans, particularly from the sectional elevations. If you look back at all of the sections, there are a few things that stand out:

-The bottom of the first drop is not as low on the original sections, in reality the top of the bents is very close to existing / proposed ground level, whereas the plans show the bottom of the drop stopping a few meters above ground.
-The sound tunnel starts immediately after the top of the lift hill in reality, whereas on the plans it was shown to start slightly around the first bend
-The bents are all shown as flat on the sections, there isn't a single banking bent, whereas there are some significant banking sections already constructed
-The excavation on the proposed levels plan is all shown to be around the station and bottom of main drop / lifthill (in yellow), whereas on site there is a significant excavation at the bottom of where the old flume final drop was located (last main drop on SW8)

I'm not suggesting that this means that we'll get an uber launch or hidden tunnel, but what is being built does look more exciting than the plans suggested initially and based on what has been built alreadt the plans can only be treated as a general indication of finished product (the plan arrangement / location of the foundations incidentally is almost exactly as per the as built, but the as built are strip footers, whereas the plans showed concrete circular piles for each bent.)
Click to expand...

I was responding to comments of more major variations such as a hidden tunnel (which clearly is not happening). Of course there are some minor changes, nothing is ever built exactly as it is shown in the plans for a variety of reasons. Realistically SW8 was never going to have zero banking for example! But the general layout of the ride and rough elevations so far seem to be as per the plans; it's not going to suddenly perform a big drop into a tunnel and out into an airtime hill!

I'm still hoping that we get a CGI POV of the ride along with some images when Towers do make their final announcement. Then we will know exactly what to expet from the coaster.

:)
 
Noted! Was just making it clear for everyone else that the plans aren't 100% accurate. The only drop constructed so far is longer than on the plans which is surely a good sign.

The POV would be great, I would have thought that they might start to drip feed some marketing as we move towards the end of the season - the viewing windows etc are great, but even some banners with "new wooden coaster," "new £15m investment" etc would address some of the general publics questions about the ride (perception that it is cheap and might be a water ride) and a few theme teaser images at this stage would get the buzz going a bit more.

The ride looks amazing already, lets hope it rides the same!!
 
I'm a tad bit disappointed to see that the turnaround at the top is more like a gradual drop, as in like a really mini Troy. I was holding out my hopes for a small straight drop like on Joris.

That being said, it's still better than that weird drawn out first drop that was in the original plans.
 
Rob said:
I'm still hoping that we get a CGI POV of the ride along with some images when Towers do make their final announcement. Then we will know exactly what to expet from the coaster.

:)
Click to expand...

Can I ask why? That's like seeing an ending to a movie or series before you even watch it.
I would rather them keep totally quiet and make us wait till opening day.
As women would say..."Be mean, keep em keen."
 
Error said:
Can I ask why? That's like seeing an ending to a movie or series before you even watch it.
I would rather them keep totally quiet and make us wait till opening day.
As women would say..."Be mean, keep em keen."
Click to expand...

Because it helps to generate hype, and Towers need as much as they can at the moment! There is nothing to hide with this coaster, it is a straight forward wooden coaster by GCI, so why not? They do not need to show off any theming or effects in any videos, they can be saved for opening day.

Lots of major parks take this approach, even Blackpool have for Icon. But it is commonplace in the US. I understand why Towers did not do it with say The Smiler as they had something to hide, but with this an open approach to get everyone excited about what is coming could really help (especially as many members of the public walking by the site do not even realise it is a coaster at the moment). They have been open so far with viewing windows so I am hoping they carry on this approach.

Social media updates of construction would also be nice and cost next to nothing.

:)
 
I'll never understand this idea of "spoilers" for roller coasters. Especially when for non-Merlin parks we see a POV before a single piece of track has been built. But somehow with Towers, a small group of people get really weird about not wanting "spoilers" .... for a ride they have already memorised the blueprints for‽
 
Jb85 said:
Any rumours on names? As stated above major details can't be long now
Click to expand...
Merlin applied to trademark "Wickerman" so that's the rumour so far. Add that to the humanoid/wicker man like theming structure they are building and the fact that one of the workmen demolishing the flume said that they were getting the site ready for the wickerman ride, and you get a pretty solid rumour.
While the smiler's logo was spray painted around the park, and projected onto the towers, and things around London during the end of 2012, the name wasn't actually announced until January 2013 so we might be waiting a while yet for confirmation.
 
BPB went very early with their annoucement, too early you could argue. I am sure that they will re-start their marketing once the peak summer season is over.

I know what you mean about not knowing however we do already know what it is because we've seen the plans and there have been fan re-creations. So why not go with an all out hype building marketing campaign to generate as much interest as they can. Show and tell the public exactly what they are building, hold back a few surprises (such as effects/theming) but make it look like an epic wooden coaster.

I feel BGW did a really good job in their marketing of InvadR.

:)
 
At the end of the day, we can slate Merlin all we like (90% of it is justified), but there can be no complaints or even criticism when it's comes to how they promoted The Smiler.

I know we've seen plans and fan videos of SW8, but that doesn't really mean anything. It's already differed from the plans, and even if it didn't, we still wouldn't know what all the elevations would be like, plus all the kwirky little twists etc that GCI use in abundance.

I dunno, I'm just really excited for this. I know it's not going to be world class, but it will be fun, and I love all the GCI's I've been on so far (7).
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top