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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

Summary of thoughts from this evening
  • Best Alton Towers ride since Oblivion
  • The preshow is cool - and importantly, not exhausting. Even after 10+ rides.
  • The ride and area have a dungeons feel to them - even down to the smell!
  • Wickerman statue completely audacious - incredible at night, can't comment as to daytime.
  • Anyone worried about speed shouldn't be - there's a period after the second tunnel where it's completely wild
  • Sit in row 7 for best visibility of post ride 'stuff'
  • Sit in back row for intensity. Front row for air.
  • JW confirmed to me that all wheels on the ride are steel - seemed to be in his element tonight.
Great event as ever. Merlin always nail things like this. We had the Beornen running around the aisle in the coach from the hotel to the ride shouting random stuff. Pure Alton Towers at their unbeatable best.

Always happy to booze on someone else's tab.... Cool band and DJ. Just a little cold to fully appreciate them.

If I had to nitpick...

I was expecting some heat as you travel through the effigy but it's actually colder than elsewhere because of the water used to achieve the smoke effects - if you're a glasses wearer you won't be seeing much after the first pass through.

This thing is going to be a hit - it's gimmick free and FUN! I know some people are down on the park at the moment, but this is the ride you have been waiting for.

Keep the faith, cos the times they are a changin'.
 
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Rick said:
Summary of thoughts from this evening
  • Best Alton Towers ride since Oblivion
  • The preshow is cool - and importantly, not exhausting. Even after 10+ rides.
  • The ride and area have a dungeons feel to them - even down to the smell!
  • Wickerman statue completely audacious - incredible at night, can't comment as to daytime.
  • Anyone worried about speed shouldn't be - there's a period after the second tunnel where it's completely wild
  • Sit in row 7 for best visibility of post ride 'stuff'
  • Sit in back row for intensity. Front row for air.
  • JW confirmed to me that all wheels on the ride are steel - seemed to be in his element tonight.
Great event as ever. Merlin always nail things like this. We had the Beornen running around the aisle in the coach from the hotel to the ride shouting random stuff. Pure Alton Towers at their unbeatable best.

Always happy to booze on someone else's tab.... Cool band and DJ. Just a little cold to fully appreciate them.

If I had to nitpick...

I was expecting some heat as you travel through the effergy but it's actually colder than elsewhere because of the water used to achieve the smoke effects - if you're a glasses wearer you won't be seeing much after the first pass through.

This thing is going to be a hit - it's gimmick free and FUN! I know some people are down on the park at the moment, but keep the faith, cos the times they are a changin'.
Click to expand...
Yay! See guys, optimism will win out in the end! Really encouraging to see the staggering change in tune tonight compared to when the planning application was filed in May 2016!
 
Sounds amazing, looks amazing. Can’t wait to see it tomorrow and hopefully ride it. Anyone know how the weather is there right now?


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TheAverageNerd said:
Sounds amazing, looks amazing. Can’t wait to see it tomorrow and hopefully ride it. Anyone know how the weather is there right now?


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Click to expand...
Well, here is the latest local weather report courtesy of @BigT:
BigT said:
I live 5 miles away and it doesn’t feel like snow in the air tonight. (You get a feel for it after 43 years)
Right now it’s 6 degrees outside, normally when it snows overnight around these parts it’s around freezing by now.
If ATR was a school obviously it would have already announced it was closed tomorrow based on the forecast and staff would get the day off on full pay but being a private company I can see it being open and depending on the temperature not being minus some if not all the coasters open, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you those that are going anyway.
I have to be at work making up lost time due to snow days called by schools on forecasts that turned out to be not as bad as reported.
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EDIT: I stand corrected. @Rick has the latest weather report just above. Very reassuring to hear that Rick! Does it feel windy, out of interest?​
 
Even without any snow tomorrow however people have to remember the strong winds in excess of 40mph and the sub zero temperatures. I don't think many rides can operate in those conditions if threre was snow or not.
 
From Alton Towers FB Page. They also state further down that this will be the case for Sunday aswell.

Dear all, the latest update from the Met Office confirms that we are still expecting cold temperatures, high winds and a covering of the white stuff this weekend and therefore we are in the same position in that our coasters are not planned to operate and unfortunately due to high winds and tall trees across our site we will are only confident at giving access to the very front of the park. More updates in the morning.
Click to expand...

:) :)
 
It all depends on what it's like tomorrow. Hopefully Alton will consider opening more if the weather isn't too bad.
 
matthewgcole said:
If only they were changing for the better. This ride aside, the operations and ride lineup for the season ahead tell a different story of change.
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Ah right. I can't comment, my time machine is broken. I'm optimistic. Not as optimistic as @Matt N of course... but I'm looking forward to this season after a wonderful start.
 
Also from Towers Facebook page,

We currently believe that Wicker Man will have soft openings from Monday with the official launch now taking place next weekend.
Click to expand...

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The ride is sensational. The speed is way beyond what I expected (although perhaps not beyond what many more in the know of GCI did). It is forceful, has many pops of air and is considerably ferocious. Great press event hospitality this evening also. Congrats and thanks to all the AT and PR agency team.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow, particularly to those hoping to ride for the first time.
 
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