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Who will win 2018's new coaster battle?

Which coaster will be the bigger success for its respective park?

  • Icon

    Votes: 80 60.6%

  • Wicker Man

    Votes: 52 39.4%
  • Total voters
    132
A dark ride on Wicker Man last night cemented it's status for me! IMO, it absolutely wipes the floor with Icon!
 
Love Wickerman, it's a great coaster but it's just too short a ride.

Could have done with another 30 seconds then it would have been a close call but Icon wins for me. It does a lot more and it's a lot longer.

Still 2 amazing coasters for the UK. Both parks will have to go some to come up with something better.

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Robert.W said:
Unfortunately I can’t really compare the rides in terms of experience as I’ve not yet ridden Icon. However, I think based on looking at the general public opinion of both rides, Wicker Man has clearly been more of a success for Alton Towers than Icon has been for Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Pleasure Beach’s poor marketing has probably contributed. Perhaps Wicker Man catering for a larger demographic than Icon has also. Wicker Man just seems to have dominated this year, I’ve heard very little about Icon in terms of advertising, social media, etc. I’ve not met one single person in real life who knows about Icon... yet it’s actually been surprising the amount of people I’ve met who know Alton Towers opened Wicker Man this year...
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Don't get me wrong, Icon is a great ride, nicely themed. The launch is no way near as powerful as Rita or Stealth. Great air time and inversions. It's the best rollercoaster with inversions at BPPB (and about time they had a good solid rollercoaster with inversions that is ride-able)
 
The question in the poll is as follows:

Which coaster will be the bigger success for its respective park?

I see that at the time I voted for Icon but I was wrong, Wicker Man appears to have been far more successful for Alton Towers than Icon has been for Blackpool Pleasure Beach is. Forget about which coaster or experience is better, as a new investment and impact on the market, Wicker Man has wiped the floor with Icon. The park is so much busier and so many people have spoken to me about the new wooden coaster at Alton Towers, yet no one has mentioned a new coaster at Blackpool to me.

:)
 
For me, it was more about the overall ride experience than the business success.

Don't forget that Merlin could sell ice to Eskimos hence why Wickerman was better marketed ;)
 
Wicker Man for me too.

The whole package for Wicker Man is good. A nice fun ride with a great piece of theming as its centrepiece and an excellent theatrical preshow too. It's not an intense ride but it's fun, and it's been popular with the public too.

Icon obviously is unthemed (it's BPB, I get that) and the ride experience for me was hit and miss. It also doesn't seem to have drawn the punters in like you would expect, which is a shame for Pleasure Beach after sinking £16m into it. Something needs to be done from a marketing perspective to get a return on their investment.
 
As a ride, I prefer Icon, Mr Wicker is too short and has no real big drop, but is still a good ride.
As for which has been a bigger success for the park, that has to be Towers, BPB hasn't marketed the new ride anything like enough, but...
How big a factor has the 55 quid pass been?
Many of the punters in the Towers queues haven't been paying to get in.
Like them both, but chalk and cheese really.
 
rob666 said:
As a ride, I prefer Icon, Mr Wicker is too short and has no real big drop, but is still a good ride.
As for which has been a bigger success for the park, that has to be Towers, BPB hasn't marketed the new ride anything like enough, but...
How big a factor has the 55 quid pass been?
Many of the punters in the Towers queues haven't been paying to get in.
Like them both, but chalk and cheese really.
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I think Towers is the better value option, especially for a non enthusiast. This year, our 2-4-1 ticket for Towers was only a few pounds more than our student discount rate Blackpool tickets. Sure, you get on fewer rides but for the general public I would say Towers has the better selection. Icon is great though! It sure was a bit with those that tried it, as you say they just need to advertise it better

EDIT: "hit" not "bit"
 
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It all come down to marketing and the fact wickerman appeals to a larger audience, which let's be honest alton towers has been lacking for a few years . Get a coaster which can appeal to kids 6 and over and guess what the crowds come a flooding in. Perhaps thorpe park need to take note A family wooden coaster to replace loggers leap wouldn't go amiss and will probably get visitor numbers up rather than a super all singing and dancing steel coaster that doesn't live up to expectations
 
I'd personally love a B&M hyper at Thorpe, but a family wooden coaster like Wicker Man would be good, too!
 
rob666 said:
How big a factor has the 55 quid pass been?.
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That is a very good point and I suspect it has a lot to do with the increased visitor numbers. Even been 3 times myself which is 2 more than i would have gone without the £55 deal.

Wonder how many more people they would have got through the gates at BPB with a similar deal ?



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shakey said:
That is a very good point and I suspect it has a lot to do with the increased visitor numbers. Even been 3 times myself which is 2 more than i would have gone without the £55 deal.

Wonder how many more people they would have got through the gates at BPB with a similar deal ?



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Absoultely, i've been loads this year, a great idea, i doubt it'll be back next year though, it's done it's job
 
The £55 season pass actually is coming back next season; the park are already selling 2019 season passes!
 
Why spend £55 on a season pass when you could get a good few supplies of this instead...

cf53eb36944e35522dc995520cd30f6b.png
 
Mikw said:
That is good news!
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We though that although this is great value that they had devalued the product. We thought they had more guests but lower ARPU. We though they had a busier theme park, but at the expense of revenue.

The fact they are bringing this back next year makes me think we were wrong.

I suspect that in the words of Commandant Lassard from Police Academy, the have converted MANY MANY Sun readers from spending bugger all to spending 55 pounds.
 
Altonadvocate1 said:
We though that although this is great value that they had devalued the product. We thought they had more guests but lower ARPU. We though they had a busier theme park, but at the expense of revenue.

The fact they are bringing this back next year makes me think we were wrong.

I suspect that in the words of Commandant Lassard from Police Academy, the have converted MANY MANY Sun readers from spending bugger all to spending 55 pounds.
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I expect so. And more frequent visits boost visitor numbers, and lead to more being spent on car parking and at the retail and food outlets I have been loads thanks to the season pass this year.
 
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