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People rubbishing Wickerman as inferior to ICON

Benzin said:
But what else would fanboys have to argue over if not for whichever park has the most bins?
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I only care if they are themed bins. I won't put my rubbish in it unless I feel as though the bin is a natural part of the fantasy area. I like to question if the bin is even really a bin. Alton towers clearly has the best themed bins in the UK.

Parks, rides and even bins all have different merits. In my opinion there is no true leader in the UK market right now.
 
Dave said:
We have two new good coasters, that’s better than no new good coasters.
...they don’t get that ultimately their opinion is completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
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I think people's opinions do matter, even if they're not agreeable. But this is more about the fact that Icon and Wicker Man are actually decent, where the parks have gone above and beyond a simple tick in the box and pulled off something different, which really do entertain.

Had Wicker Man been a lame missed opportunity, with just a very lukewarm coaster as the final result – not 'bad', but just average – then a mixed response would have been justified!

Like Derren Brown at Thorpe Park, which could have been amazing for everyone, but in the end was a very underwhelming experience for a whole number of avoidable reasons. It had a lot of Merlin people & enthusiasts going round afterwards saying people "needed to appreciate it more for what it was". Well I don't buy that. Behind the scenes it's an amazing concept, yes, but it didn't come together and needs re-envisioning.

But Wicker Man is actually a very solid and complete ride, which I think is clear people do enjoy greatly. So surely the only reason any fan would "rubbish" it was because they're going by some strange, irrelevant fan logic about 'this vs that' or meaningless superlatives.

It doesnt have to be the best in the world to be enjoyable, just has to be good at what it does. Even if Icon turned out to be a much 'better' ride, it surely wouldnt stop anyone's enjoyment of Wicker Man when it comes to it.
 
Shawn from TPW does this ranking/comparing thing a lot if you watch him. And I don't mean to have a pop at him as I quite like the bloke personally and his channel. As soon as he comes off a new ride he talks about where it ranks on a list. I find it rather strange way to enjoy a new coaster personally. Immediate thought is to compare it to a similar ride so if it's a B&M hyper he immediately will bring up Silver Star or Shambahla for example.

I prefer to just enjoy a new coaster for what it is. Comparing it to similar coasters isn't that relevant to me and tbh comes way down the line not immediately after riding it.
 
Got the chance to ride Wicker Man this weekend and honestly loved it, packs a serious punch. Hoping to get on Icon in the coming weeks. To be honest we’re very very lucky to have both rides opening this year so close to home. Both are very different but are exactly what their respective parks needed.
 
Benjsh said:
Shawn from TPW does this ranking/comparing thing a lot if you watch him. And I don't mean to have a pop at him as I quite like the bloke personally and his channel. As soon as he comes off a new ride he talks about where it ranks on a list. I find it rather strange way to enjoy a new coaster personally. Immediate thought is to compare it to a similar ride so if it's a B&M hyper he immediately will bring up Silver Star or Shambahla for example.

I prefer to just enjoy a new coaster for what it is. Comparing it to similar coasters isn't that relevant to me and tbh comes way down the line not immediately after riding it.
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If I was a vlogger I'd probably compare a ride to others, not for my enjoyment but for the audiences. When I watch videos of people ridding Icon my first thought is how does it compare to Helix or Blue Fire. This is because I've been on these rides (at least one of them anyway) and so I can relate to a comment such as "The roll is like Blue Fires but a bit more floaty". These descriptions give viewers something to relate to.

However when I'm at Europa and riding Blue Fire I don't think "shame it's not Helix" I'm just enjoying the ride I've come to experience. When the camera are off I feel most the Vloggers do the same.
 
MakoMania said:
Sorry to burst the bubble but there are many people who cannot afford to take a flight here, there and everywhere.
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Yep, I concur with this. To give an idea of costs, I have been looking at going to Europa Park late August. Prices are coming in at around £800 for me to take my kids, stay 2 nights in a budget apartment, hire car in Germany, two day park tickets and fly using Ryan Air (cheapest of all carriers). On top of that theres the inconvenience of driving from Sheffield down to Stanstead and back, petrol and parking. Thats a 'good' deal I think, and I'll probably do it, given how much we love coasters. However, this weekend, me and my daughter did the club PBE event - 2 days, including ERTs etc, VIP go in Icon. Cost of that has been about £230 and that includes a night in the Big Blue, petrol and food. Even if I add the cost of two platinum passes (bought at £99 each) and a hypothetical 2nd night at the Big Blue, thats still way cheaper than the Europa trip and our platinum passes have already paid for themselves (we've been 8 times so far). Cheap flights is not a ticket to ride coasters outside the UK I'm afraid.:(
 
KarlT said:
Yep, I concur with this. To give an idea of costs, I have been looking at going to Europa Park late August. Prices are coming in at around £800 for me to take my kids, stay 2 nights in a budget apartment, hire car in Germany, two day park tickets and fly using Ryan Air (cheapest of all carriers). On top of that theres the inconvenience of driving from Sheffield down to Stanstead and back, petrol and parking. Thats a 'good' deal I think, and I'll probably do it, given how much we love coasters. However, this weekend, me and my daughter did the club PBE event - 2 days, including ERTs etc, VIP go in Icon. Cost of that has been about £230 and that includes a night in the Big Blue, petrol and food. Even if I add the cost of two platinum passes (bought at £99 each) and a hypothetical 2nd night at the Big Blue, thats still way cheaper than the Europa trip and our platinum passes have already paid for themselves (we've been 8 times so far). Cheap flights is not a ticket to ride coasters outside the UK I'm afraid.:(
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It's a very expensive hobby if you're going to take wife and kids everywhere you go for sure. I'm in the same boat more or less now. I turn 33 next week, i'm married and we have a 4 year old. I can't simply just go to all these parks all the time when I'd love to be able to.

It's easy to forget how good we all had it living at home with mum and/or dad whilst earning a decentish wage. You can live like a rock star. However once you have mortgage,bills and responsibilities it gets tougher. You have to earn good money to pay for all that and still be able to travel around to parks in Europe and further. And then if you have a kid it gets harder still.
 
Benjsh said:
It's a very expensive hobby if you're going to take wife and kids everywhere you go for sure. I'm in the same boat more or less now. I turn 33 next week, i'm married and we have a 4 year old. I can't simply just go to all these parks all the time when I'd love to be able to.

It's easy to forget how good we all had it living at home with mum and/or dad whilst earning a decentish wage. You can live like a rock star. However once you have mortgage,bills and responsibilities it gets tougher. You have to earn good money to pay for all that and still be able to travel around to parks in Europe and further. And then if you have a kid it gets harder still.
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However, without wishing their childhood away, it's great when they get to 17 or 18 and are earning themselves. Then all of a sudden things become affordable again for you and you can go as a family! I speak from experience on that one!
 
rob666 said:
But I disagree.
Leo the Lion outside the Pleasure Beach was a tourist attraction in his own right.
People used to queue up back in the sixties to put their toffee wrappers in his vacuum mouth.
BPB rides supreme in the bin wars.
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The Schnorbitz dog bin has gone this season, which used to be at the side of Wild Mouse. In its place is the bench with the 4 scary looking guys on it (no, I don't mean @rob666 , @shakey , myself and Bernard)

But no, comparing Wickerman and Icon is pointless as they are two completely different coasters.
 
Steve74 said:
However, without wishing their childhood away, it's great when they get to 17 or 18 and are earning themselves. Then all of a sudden things become affordable again for you and you can go as a family! I speak from experience on that one!
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Yeah I don't want to wish these years away at all. Loving the fact my 4 year old loves rides. He's obsessed already.

He wants to go on Wickerman already which I find funny. Obviously he's not tall enough yet being only 4 but he's going to hit that height in no time because he's a giant like me (I'm 6,4)

We're aiming to have done all 6 Disney resorts by time he leaves School.
 
Benjsh said:
We're aiming to have done all 6 Disney resorts by time he leaves School.
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Back up a second! I thought the point you were making was how expensive parks across Europe were (compared to staying in the UK) but your grand plan is to visit all the Disney Resorts! :eek: That’ll burn a massive hole in your pocket.

Not that I disagree with the point. I’ve had many happy years with a Merlin annual pass jumping between the different UK parks. But in recent years I’ve preferred saving my money and taking a single trip abroad rather than multiple here. If I had young kids I’d probebly go back to the former until they’ve ready to travel.
 
Tim said:
Back up a second! I thought the point you were making was how expensive parks across Europe were (compared to staying in the UK) but your grand plan is to visit all the Disney Resorts! :eek: That’ll burn a massive hole in your pocket.

Not that I disagree with the point. I’ve had many happy years with a Merlin annual pass jumping between the different UK parks. But in recent years I’ve preferred saving my money and taking a single trip abroad rather than multiple here. If I had young kids I’d probebly go back to the former until they’ve ready to travel.
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Yeah but between now and time he turns 16 I meant as we will have only 4 to do as we're going to Florida this summer and have already done Paris last year.

Me and the wife have good jobs and mortgage will be paid off in 3 years. Then we can start to splash out a bit.
 
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You've got one chance when you're young and one chance when you're old. Luckily I'm in the former. Hopefully going and doing 2 days at Europa over the summer!

Either way, people can argue about WM v Icon or WM / Icon v Europe all day but at the end of they day BOTH rides were exactly what EACH park needed. Alton doesn't need another thrill coaster, it's got 5. Pleasure Beach didn't need another family coaster.

You simple can't compare the two directly. It's much better to look at the park as a whole, but even then maybe fruitless.
 
Log Flume's Dennis said:
Alton Towers forums 1994-2017 - "Alton Towers won the coaster battle of '94. Nemesis is clearly the better coaster despite the two being intrinsically different"

Alton Towers forums 2018 - [Blackpool builds a better coaster] - "It's unfair to compare the two really"
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Thing is, I don't think it was fair to compare both Nemesis and Big One back in 1994 either (if that even happened?). They were both great investments for their respective parks. Ultimately, I think many will say that Nemesis "won" not just because of the impact it has had on Towers, but simply because in terms of the hardware used, it's probably safe to say that it is just better than that used on Big One.

The points above I think it's too early to apply to Icon and Wicker Man. Neither have yet had the chance to prove themselves in the long term. I think it remains to be seen which coaster will "win" if I am being honest.
 
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