Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

It'll be open by then it's already been shut for 2 days

 

It sounds like it could be quite a lengthy downtime to be honest. It very well might be open by Wednesday, but I don't think we can say it will be 100% unfortunately.

 

I'm sure the issue won't be big

 

Based on what?

 

This ride seems to be overly problematic for a standard GCI.

 

Exactly it's the most basic layout ever therefore it can't be technical problems it must be to do with the track

 

Yeah I would've thought technical problems could be anything from brakes, sensors, lift chain etc, not the actual track layout.

 

Yeah, track issues would be structural. Technical is as you've said.

 

The fact that you can't get anywhere near it and they're not saying what's wrong with it says to me it's something more serious than a general breakdown.

 

Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if the entrance hosts actually know nothing and don't actually know what's wrong with it. It's not unheard of.

 

I don’t even mean the layout, I mean the ride in itself. It’s a 24 seater millennium flyer train GCI with a chain lift, this is their bread and butter.

 

Could the effects have any bearing on why the ride seems to have more issues than your average GCI, possibly? Do any of the others have mist and smoke effecting their sensors and track in the way that Wicker Man does?

I did hear someone around opening in 2018 suggesting that it was down to the fact that GCI originally designed the ride to run 2 trains, but Merlin made last-minute adjustments to the block system so it could run 3, and that’s what’s been causing the issues, but I’m not sure whether that’s true or not.

 

Surely they wouldn't let you in the area if the ride is closed anyway. After all what's the point. Also it could be for crowd control as if they left the plaza open then people will assume it will open at some point during the day. So they probably don't want people hanging around

 

Because time does not equal length, length does. Invadr and White Lightning are both short and average rides which have not been incredibly well received and I'm sure if you were on those parks fan sites you'd have seen similar comments to Wicker Man. As for the others...

Wicker Man 2608ft. 43mph

Woodan. 3444tt. 62mph
Mystic. 3265ft. 53mph
Troy. 3534ft. 54mph

They are all over 25% longer but travelling around 25% faster. They are bigger, and better, rides. Wicker Man is short and slow and remains a disappointment to me for what the first UK woodie in forever in the UK could have been.

 

The reason I used time as a metric to compare them by is because it seemed fairer than using length and speed; just because a ride is faster and longer in track length, doesn’t mean that it gives you more riding time than a shorter, slower ride. Length isn’t everything; duration is much more indicative of how much actual riding time you’re getting, in my opinion.

There are plenty of coasters out there that are quite short in track length, but deliver a reasonable ride duration and a reasonable amount of thrill, in my opinion.

 

Nemesis being a very good example.

 

And yet Wicker Man is a poor example of how to do it.

Or banking.

 

It would appear we may have identified the cause of Wicker Man’s closure thanks to this post on TowersStreet’s Twitter page:

It would appear trackwork is once again being conducted, in the area around between the s-bend drop and the first wicker man pass through which we all thought was being done last time. Maybe that section is proving particularly problematic structurally? Or maybe it wasn’t that section being done the first time?

I hope it’s open again by tomorrow, but I’m not sure whether I should be too confident. The last closure seemed to have been turned around quite quickly (testing and reopened the same day as a large metal object was lifted into the ride area, supposedly), so hopefully this will be the same!

This would also hopefully mean that the rumours of them trying to slow it down aren’t true!

 

Can't see it opening tommorow sorry to say