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

[Craig]

I thought they were using the flumes station as a new smokehouse restaurant?

As for the theme, surely they'd have learnt from th13teen? I know we don't know the secret element yet, but I'm fairly confident I will be a family thrill ride. We don't need more dark themes, especially when its a family coaster.

The station itself was never going to be used as The Smokehouse, it was likely just utilising the concrete base of the turntable rather than the building itself.

In any case, The Smokehouse only appeared in the Environmental Impact Assessment, and was removed from the final plans. The turntable area now states that it's 'themeing envelope 1' and will include a queue below.

 

[mooster]

Oh of course! I've said in the past that not one sole party can be blamed as there was an accumulation of errors all stemmed from the fact that planning for The Smiler was rushed and therefore elements relating to what was below the existing ground were missed.

Indeed! If a contractor is used for four big projects in a row, then they are evidently doing something right!

 

[bluesonichd]

The station itself was never going to be used as The Smokehouse, it was likely just utilising the concrete base of the turntable rather than the building itself.

In any case, The Smokehouse only appeared in the Environmental Impact Assessment, and was removed from the final plans. The turntable area now states that it's 'themeing envelope 1' and will include a queue below.

There's no Smokehouse now? ! oh it gets worse

 

[Craig]

Yup, that disappeared when the final plans were submitted . Who knows, maybe it's something we'll get in the future, or perhaps located somewhere else on park *cough* courtyard please *cough*

 

[Leah]

I'm just going to guess smokehouse will appear somewhere else, now its one of merlin's new restaurant brands. Shame if it doesn't, the one at Chessington was nice, but I think it did well there and had plenty of guests so it would make sense if one was built at towers.

My main issue here is the new section of queue. That looks absolutely hideous, especially if it turns out to be an unthemed cattle pen style. Imagine queuing in there on a hot day, it would never end.

 

[Matt.GC]

With no Smokehouse on the site of the old turntable, I guess we know where the Wickerman itself will be placed now.

I kind of like the dark themes, I think it's a very British thing. But the Concern has to be the fact that there are 2 themed areas on either side of the coaster that would fit with wood perfectly and this will just look stupid. That's IF this whole Wickerman thing isn't a hoax.

 

[Altonadvocate1]

I think that SW8 will be a fun ride and a good strategy for the family thrill demographic...

But... other parks get huge coasters for that kind of money, the woody at Tayto Park cost half as much and is far bigger. BPB (I refuse to call it PBB), new Mack is just 2.5 million more and is on a vastly bigger scale. For a huge company with enormous buying power, Merlin don't seem to get much for the money they spend. If a large part of the budget is going on a a world first...

... then it needs to be a bloody good one and last more than 1 second.

As for Wicker Man, the original British Movie is great... the Hollywood remake with Nicolas Cage is a travesty.

Merlin, just give us a decent amount of airtime and I will be happy (though I wish it was longer).

 

[PeteB]

Don't forget that £15m will include all work surrounding the coaster, from construction all the way to marketing, because nothing says good like a giant price tag that raises expectations...

£15 million is the construction value quoted in the construction plan report and plan. So this wouldn't normally include marketing etc. It would however include demolition, planning costs and construction of course.

I find that unusual. Merlin's coaster budgets always cover the full "package" which is why for crazy money like £15m, £18m, £20m etc we usually end up with a tiny coaster. This thing looks like a £10m coaster at best, and probably another £5m on branding, merchandise, and marketing for whole ride.

But... other parks get huge coasters for that kind of money, the woody at Tayto Park cost half as much and is far bigger. BPB (I refuse to call it PBB), new Mack is just 2.5 million more and is on a vastly bigger scale. For a huge company with enormous buying power, Merlin don't seem to get much for the money they spend. If a large part of the budget is going on a a world first...

Exactly my point!

 

[andeyhart]

I've kind of already accepted this one's not fully for me. Towers has a big selection of thrill coasters, so targeting the family/thrill market is understandable. Just as long as they don't market this as a thrill coaster as they did with Th13teen, it should be fine.

 

[TomW]

I don't mind the idea of a Wicker Man theme, its pretty original, I was just really hoping it would fit in with Mutiny Bay. Don't like how Alton Towers seem to be veering away from total themed areas now, with Galactica, Rita to an extent and now this. Much prefer it when all the rides in one area have a consistent theme.

 

[DiogoJ42]

So long as the pre-show features a naked Britt Ekland, I'm cool.

 

[bluesonichd]

..but the Wickerman! its all about pagan gods and sacrifice, he got burnt to death by the villages in the end!!...
far too dark a theme for Towers

edit: Plus its all bout setting fire to a big wooden structure !

edit edit: ....

 

[andeyhart]

I don't mind the idea of a Wicker Man theme, its pretty original, I was just really hoping it would fit in with Mutiny Bay. Don't like how Alton Towers seem to be veering away from total themed areas now, with Galactica, Rita to an extent and now this. Much prefer it when all the rides in one area have a consistent theme.

True, although The Flume's theme never fitted in with the rest of Mutiny Bay, so it's a like for like.

 

[Martin]

Unless they retheme Mutiny Bay, which shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[Europa Matt]

To be honest, I really wished they would just theme it to pirates as the theme choice is a popular staple and the area is quite well themed too.

Unless there's something missing, this adequate layout seems proof that Merlin only intend to build things to bring in guests rathe than improve the park, by removing a once good Flume for a mediocre woodie.

 

[ItsDavid]

Im not really finding an issue with SW8, the park does need to focus on families and it looks to be a good move towards having a smooth fun woodie. This looks to be a fun family coaster, which th13teen is, but to me it always feels like its missing something. If they pull this off right, it will look great and it looks to be a tight layout so it might even be quite intense, either way GCI is like the new B&M coasters, they never leave someone disappointed. Id much rather towers get a family coaster to recover that part of the market, and they can market it so much as a family experience, which i do think they will take an advantage of, the SW however, 15 million is not the price of a gci, when something like gold striker/prowler cost around £7 million this should not be that price for the track, so the SW might be something special, you can see where the £18 million for the smiler went, and you can see where the £20 million for the swarm went, so im sure this wont be a bland addition that is just a small twisty wood coaster, and even if it is just that, ill be mad with them, but it will be something new and it does mean that merlin are looking at wood again, and we have a possibility in a similar model going to chessington [Its about time] and possibly a big woodie in thorpe, but merlin is the trend setters, alton add a wood small parks may follow, i can see flamingo land getting an RMC if the wood works well for alton

 

[Towerslover]

Marketing for a family target audience will be intresting if wickerman is the theme, or we could just get a Th13teen repeat.

That's if it is themed to wickerman amyways, nothing official yet...

 

[Dave]

I do wonder if we are heading towards another Th13teen style, family coaster themed and marketed as a thrill ride.

But Merlin are good at repeating mistakes many times *cough*scaremaze year round attractions*cough*

 

[rob666]

Very nice large wickerman in the new 'spoons in Blackpool, next to BPB

 

[Altonadvocate1]

This thing appears to have a world class, budget yet appear's smaller and shorter than similar rides costing half the amount. I think that rather than a gimmick we could have had a coaster with an epic length or a woody AND new water ride intertwined.

If Merlin got value for money on what are admittedly sizeable investments we would have far bigger (but not necessarily, better - Nemesis is moderately sized, yet invincible) coasters.

As far as a world's first on a woody, I don't think there are many things left, but I do thing the tag "ground breaking" is a clue.