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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

Austin Towers said:
Got lucky as the queue line opened as I was standing there, just a few minutes wait and we were on. All good. It's fright time now, Nemmy here we come.
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How was the ride running, out of interest? Would you say that any particular section felt different, or smoother?

Also, I think you did get very lucky, as the queue is now 135 minutes according to the app!
 
Matt N said:
How was the ride running, out of interest? Would you say that any particular section felt different, or smoother?

Also, I think you did get very lucky, as the queue is now 135 minutes according to the app!
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To be fair we only get to the park once a year so it's difficult to comment if the ride felt much different than before. Didn't feel anything strange though.

When we got off the queue line was out beyond the extended bit and heading up on to the new bit of path they've opened behind Wickerman. I mentioned to my wife that it looked to be at least a 2 hour wait. The rap queue looked to have around 100 people in it. Seems that word got out fast that they were testing and everyone headed to the ride.
 
Looks like WM may be having more re-tracking, as it's been closed yesterday and today. Anyone know which section this time?
 
skyscraper said:
Looks like WM may be having more re-tracking, as it's been closed yesterday and today. Anyone know which section this time?
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It might not be retracking, but maybe some of the other low sections that interact with the wicker man structure might be on the cards (e.g. the turn where the final pass through occurs)? I’d imagine that that’s where the most strain is placed on the track due to the ride being faster in those bits, and that particular section also has copious amounts of mist to contend with.

Did anyone ever confirm which section had been retracked the first time? Was it the fast turn just before the first pass-through as many suspected?
 
Apologies for double posting, but I’d be intrigued to know; a common criticism of Wicker Man is that it is too short, but what is it that seems to make it feel short to everyone, because when I timed it from lift hill to brake run in comparative POVs compared with a few other notable GCI woodies, and it actually compares quite favourably?

When I timed Wicker Man, the duration came out at roughly 47 seconds from leaving the lift hill to hitting the final brake run. For context, here are some of the other wooden coasters I timed and their ride durations using the same metric:
  • White Lightning: approx. 36 seconds
  • InvadR: approx. 40 seconds
  • Wodan: approx. 42 seconds
  • Mystic Timbers: approx. 44 seconds
  • Troy: approx. 56 seconds
  • Megafobia (decided to include this to give another UK woodie as a reference point): approx. 1 minute 5 seconds
So Wicker Man actually isn’t as short as you might expect compared to some other GCIs! Surprisingly, it’s actually longer than rides like Wodan and Mystic Timbers, which I rarely hear get criticised about their length in comparison to Wicker Man, and only about 9 seconds shorter than Troy, which always gets praised for being a long ride. Although to be fair, Wicker Man’s nearest UK a wooden coaster reference in Megafobia is not far off 50% longer...

So I’d be intrigued to know; what do we think it is that makes everyone criticise Wicker Man for being such a short ride, when it’s actually marginally longer than some of GCI’s more revered coasters? I’ve never personally found it to be too short at all, as I think it packs a huge amount of thrill into the length that it has, but it’s a common criticism I hear of it, so I’d be intrigued to know!
 
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skyscraper said:
Apparently it's running a lot faster this season and they are trying various things to slow it down :p
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Really? I hope they don’t slow it down too much, as I thought it was running tremendously when I went in July, and the speed didn’t seem to be having any adverse effects on its reliability when I was there...
 
Out of interest @skyscraper, did someone tell you that it was allegedly running too quickly, or was it just a guess on your part?
 
Damn... That's not sounding good, I'm going next Wednesday and was looking forward to Wickerman the most. Hopefully it's fixed in the next few days!
 
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