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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

That's the best feeling!

I disagree haha! But I'm super sensitive to that feeling, or maybe I'm just getting old and losing my tolerance for rides :(

Back on topic though, despite feeling like I left my stomach at the top of the first drop, I loved the whole experience, and can't wait to take my friend on it in September.
 
I disagree haha! But I'm super sensitive to that feeling, or maybe I'm just getting old and losing my tolerance for rides :(

Back on topic though, despite feeling like I left my stomach at the top of the first drop, I loved the whole experience, and can't wait to take my friend on it in September.
I'd recommend you to only ride it in the morning, as it gets faster and more intense as the day goes on. :)
 
Glad you enjoyed @Vicki! If you don’t like airtime, I’d hope for a seat near the front; I loved the back row, personally, but it does have a huge amount of airtime, while the front has less!
 
You realise how poor the UK is for airtime heavy rollercoasters when Wickerman is considered to have huge amounts of airtime….
I’d say Wicker Man does have huge amounts of airtime, personally, especially if seated at the back! On the back, I got thrown over every hill with obscene ejector, and even felt like I was almost standing up over some of the larger drops! I imagine that that’s what one of the famous ejector machines like Steel Vengeance or Skyrush feels like, where you just feel like you’re about to fly out over every drop!

The only coaster I’ve ridden abroad (I’ve been to Florida) that I remember having notably more airtime than any UK coaster was Mako at SeaWorld Orlando, and I’m becoming increasingly worried that that ride will seem incredibly underwhelming when I get back on it. Last time I rode it was in 2016, when I had vastly less airtime experience, and even though I remember Mako having phenomenally wonderful airtime back then, I worry that ejector-filled coasters like Icon & Wicker Man, as well as things like Megafobia back row, Revolution, Oblivion’s drop, and the great hills on some of the UK’s Gerstlauers might make it seem tame by comparison…
 
I wouldn't worry about being underwhelmed by Mako, I still much prefer the airtime on Mako and other similar rides than the uk rides you have mentioned, they have nothing like the airtime you get on the B&M hypers. It may be different if you where comparing with some of the big Intamin hypers/blitz coasters. Having rode Intamins Flying aces, which was fantastic, I still like the airtime you get on B&M hypers just as much.

Will be interesting next summer when hopefully our next trip to Orlando goes ahead, with VelociCoaster and hopefully if it ever opens Iron Gwazi at Busch gardens and seeing how like the airtime on these coasters vs a B&M hyper. Although saying that I don't really rank coasters, if I like the ride, I like it as simple as that really.

I think the next coaster Alton installs needs to focus on airtime as this is something really missing in the line up. An Intamin, Mack or RMC would do the trick with the parks height restrictions.
 
Not saying you can't get a bit of enjoyable airtime on Wickerman the closer you get to the back, but almost every woodie I've ridden in the UK alone has more airtime than WM.
 
The Ultimate even has more airtime if you do the restraints correctly. Bonus is its the superior violent airtime over floaty. I miss Mouse and the forced airtime.

One thing that I'll give it is the ride isn't bad when cold and crawling. Opposite of Megafobia which basically crashes around when it's cold and potholes like mad but improves when warmed up. WM just gets better when warmed up but isn't gash when cold.
 
I wouldn't worry about being underwhelmed by Mako, I still much prefer the airtime on Mako and other similar rides than the uk rides you have mentioned, they have nothing like the airtime you get on the B&M hypers. It may be different if you where comparing with some of the big Intamin hypers/blitz coasters. Having rode Intamins Flying aces, which was fantastic, I still like the airtime you get on B&M hypers just as much.

Will be interesting next summer when hopefully our next trip to Orlando goes ahead, with VelociCoaster and hopefully if it ever opens Iron Gwazi at Busch gardens and seeing how like the airtime on these coasters vs a B&M hyper. Although saying that I don't really rank coasters, if I like the ride, I like it as simple as that really.

I think the next coaster Alton installs needs to focus on airtime as this is something really missing in the line up. An Intamin, Mack or RMC would do the trick with the parks height restrictions.
At the time, I was honestly wowed by Mako, but my worry is that that was because of my lack of airtime experience at the time as opposed to the ride actually having strong airtime. I do distinctly remember that airtime being absolutely phenomenal, however!

I’d certainly agree that Alton could do with an airtime coaster at some stage, however. Something like an Intamin Blitz, RMC, or maybe even a B&M hyper in the valley to replace the cross-valley woodie would go down a treat!
 
At the time, I was honestly wowed by Mako, but my worry is that that was because of my lack of airtime experience at the time as opposed to the ride actually having strong airtime. I do distinctly remember that airtime being absolutely phenomenal, however!

I’d certainly agree that Alton could do with an airtime coaster at some stage, however. Something like an Intamin Blitz, RMC, or maybe even a B&M hyper in the valley to replace the cross-valley woodie would go down a treat!


Now 1st I appreciate that towers is No1 a theme park.

But at the same time i hope and prey they actually don't build on / over the Gardens
 
Now 1st I appreciate that towers is No1 a theme park.

But at the same time i hope and prey they actually don't build on / over the Gardens
They won't ever be allowed to thankfully in order to protect it's beauty. That's why the old cross-valley woodie failed.
 
Now 1st I appreciate that towers is No1 a theme park.

But at the same time i hope and prey they actually don't build on / over the Gardens
I don’t think the cross-valley ride would have gone through the gardens; I think it was through a big ravine that was next to the gardens. The reason it was scrapped was due to noise concerns.
 
Now 1st I appreciate that towers is No1 a theme park.

But at the same time i hope and prey they actually don't build on / over the Gardens
It's vastly unlikely for a number of reasons (quite rightly) but I think the core reason is that the ride area of the park doesn't really need to expand at this point.

There are plenty of gaps within the existing areas with infrastructure already in place, furthermore there are a number of rides that will require replacement over the coming decades, so sprawling is less likely.

Arguably, a new coaster could be built outside of the existing perimeter, let's see !
 
Looks like Wicker Man is closed for the day - barriers are out stopping anyone from getting close to the ride area. Rapids are closed and drained too.
 
It's bizarre how many full days closure this thing has. What's going wrong?
I know it's only a handful before anyone jumps in but it doesn't feel normal.
 
I don't think parts for it are the problem to be honest. I don't know, but I wouldn't assume so. It'd be closed for a while if so, which I think might be the problem with Enterprise. It's downtime lasts for a few days in a row sometimes, but not long enough for part replacements to be the concern I don't think.
 
If the rapids is shut for the day as well, maybe it’s some kind of electrical fault in that area of the park or something? (Maybe WM and the rapids share the same generator; they are very close to one another. I don’t really know.)

It could just be a coincidence, but it does seem a bit odd that WM and the Rapids would both suddenly be shut all day on the same day… possibly too odd for it to be a coincidence. Maybe there is some kind of thing they’re doing in that wider area of the park?
 
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