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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

I think the above poster is correct in saying the likely issue is staff experience as the show hasn’t ran for nearly 2 years (Nov 2019).

The less experienced show staff obsess over filling the pre-show to bursting thinking it will boost its throughput when after a point you are just better getting the show running.

It’s a bit of a design flaw the lack of queue after the show though, they kind of need the space the baggage hold sits in to lengthen it.
 
Sliding doors are perfectly legal fire exit routes. In the event of the fire alarm going off, any automatic door fully opens to let people out. Not all swing doors can be pushed open either, some will only go one way. Sliding doors are generally more reliable than swing and less vulnerable to being hit, leaned against and damaged.

I challenge you to find a Morrisons store that used to be a Safeway where all 4 of the swing doors in the entrance foyer are fully working with none propped open with a bag of compost, a huge chunk of cardboard from a case of Pringles or piece of baler string.
 
Matt.GC said:
Sliding doors are perfectly legal fire exit routes. In the event of the fire alarm going off, any automatic door fully opens to let people out. Not all swing doors can be pushed open either, some will only go one way.
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I'd forgotten about that, yeah they'd be connected to the fire alarm system. Although they'd have to close again to stop potential fire spreading.
 
Skyscraper said:
I'd forgotten about that, yeah they'd be connected to the fire alarm system. Although they'd have to close again to stop potential fire spreading.
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Normally, final exit doors open fully to prioritise the evacuation of people. You're right that internal doors where another final exit is available do indeed do the opposite and close in the event of an alarm to prevent the spread of any potential fire. That would make the inbound door into the Wickerman pre show room a final exit door so it should fully open in the event of a fire as in reality it's actually an outside door.

Not sure about the station side one though. That could do either depending on the buildings specific Fire Risk Assessment. If the station was on fire or the pre show room was itself, it could close to contain the fire and the quickest route out for people in the pre show would be back out past the baggage hold. The quickest way out of the station itself would be an escape route there so no need to go into the pre show room to get out. But with the amount of people they have in the room at any one time, it could be a case of evacuation from both ends of the room. The only indication we'd have at ground level with what setup they have is how the doors are signed. If the door into the station has the green exit route sign lit up above it, then it is a designated escape route and therefore it should open in the event of a fire alarm to let people out.
 
I've got a few questions regarding the Wicker Man pre-show, if anyone wouldn't mind answering them.

Firstly, was it designed to handle more people than the ride itself can handle in a given period of time? Taking into account that Wicker Man's theoretical throughput is 952pph, or a dispatch around every 1 minute 30 seconds, was the pre-show designed to (in theory) handle more than 48 people (its design capacity according to the initial planning permit from 2016) every 3 minutes?

With this in mind, how long do they actually tend to take to batch people into the pre-show? When I did it the other week, I noticed that the batching didn't seem quite as seamless as for that onto the ride itself, or as seamless as for the batching into, say, Hex's first pre-show; there seemed to be a lot of requests to "move forward please, guys!" by the hosts, and a fair bit of time seemed to be spent trying to squeeze more people into the room. I'd guess that the pre-show having too few people in it or not being batched quickly enough to match the throughput of the coaster itself may also be the reason why the ride is sometimes seeing rows going empty; would I be correct in assuming that?

Also, I had an idea as to how they could make batching into the pre-show more seamless. I'm not suggesting they need to change the pre-show at all, this is just a suggestion as to how they could have potentially made it easier to batch efficiently, as well as a way to prevent the scrum for the door upon leaving the room. I'd be interested to know whether you guys think that this would hypothetically be a good system or not.

My idea is as follows:
  • When riders left the main queue, they would hand their bags into the baggage hold before being given a number between 1 and 48 by the staff member batching into the pre-show (groups would be given a range of numbers dependent on group size; for instance, a group of 4 might be told "stand on numbers 1-4, please"). Each number would have a corresponding dot within a set of switchbacks installed within the waiting area for the pre-show, with 1 being at the front and 48 being at the back. These switchbacks would be wide enough to accommodate things like wheelchair users, but their aim would be for people to maintain some semblance of order within the general pre-show area. Guests would be told to wait on their numbered dot until indicated to move forwards.
  • When the pre-show was ready, guests would move forward into the pre-show room itself in their current order. Within the pre-show room would be another set of identical switchbacks, again with numbered dots going from 1-48. Guests would be instructed to stand on the same numbered dot that they were on in the waiting area, and to wait on that dot until instructed to move forwards.
  • Once everyone was in the pre-show room and stood comfortably on their dot, the doors would shut and the pre-show itself would commence.
  • When the pre-show ended, the door would open and guests would move through into the ride station in number order.
In theory, do you guys think that sounds like a good system? I know that's not something that they could implement now (for starters, I'd wager that the pre-show area isn't big enough in its current form), but theoretically speaking, does this sound like a good system that would work to you?
 
Easiest way to batch properly is a clicker and reset it once the batch is made up.
The max would just be a train or two (they'll have the stats to know what is a good number(

Sent from my Swift 2 using Tapatalk
 
I too have a random question.
I'm sure at the time the wicker man planning application went in that there was a restaurant planned. Thinking about it I believe it was a grill? Anyway am I making this up? If not why didn't it happen? Was it a budget cut?
 
JAperson said:
I too have a random question.
I'm sure at the time the wicker man planning application went in that there was a restaurant planned. Thinking about it I believe it was a grill? Anyway am I making this up? If not why didn't it happen? Was it a budget cut?
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Indeed there was; a Smokehouse restaurant was on the cards until fairly late on in development!

Originally, this was due to be within The Flume’s former station building, which would have been retained (for context of where this is, it would be within the big turnaround between the first and second wicker man pass throughs; roughly where the first set of switchbacks at the start of Wicker Man’s main queue presently is), but it later moved into the Courtyard, with it being due to have replaced the Courtyard BBQ restaurant.

For unknown reasons, it was later scrapped.
 
Matt N said:
Indeed there was; a Smokehouse restaurant was on the cards until fairly late on in development!

Originally, this was due to be within The Flume’s former station building, which would have been retained (for context of where this is, it would be within the big turnaround between the first and second wicker man pass throughs; roughly where the first set of switchbacks at the start of Wicker Man’s main queue presently is), but it later moved into the Courtyard, with it being due to have replaced the Courtyard BBQ restaurant.

For unknown reasons, it was later scrapped.
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Thanks for the info @Matt N
I knew I was right.

As for why it might have been cut I suppose the most likely is a budget cut but to be honest that part of the park has plenty of F&B outlets and it's other areas that need it more. I do hope when the time comes for a new SW they make sure it has a restaurant build next to it. Themed in with the new SW ride.
 
imanautie said:
Easiest way to batch properly is a clicker and reset it once the batch is made up.
The max would just be a train or two (they'll have the stats to know what is a good number(

Sent from my Swift 2 using Tapatalk
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That's what they did in the early days - the ride host at the RAP/FT merge point had a clicker. Not sure when that stopped but pre-covid, the preshow ran fine with no real impact on the dispatching of the trains. Which makes me think this is more down to lack of training/experience with the staff operating the preshow; as I said before, this is the first time this season the preshow has been on, so there will be teething issues. Of course, if in a few weeks its the same then it needs looking at.
 
Random question; although many on here talk about WM having been a success, was the ride ever actually conclusively proven to be a commercial success, or was it ever acknowledged as one?
 
Last night, we got to being at the barriers and then.... everyone who'd just got on the train were taken off. It had broken down. Took about 20 mins to get it back up and running, then 5 test runs. It's a bit annoying as it was late and messed our day-end timetable up (WM is the only ride we FT on).

But the reason for my post is that it seemed to run a lot faster than usual. To the point of me being a little concerned that there was a fault preventing the brakes slowing it down at certain points.
 
Weby72 said:
Last night, we got to being at the barriers and then.... everyone who'd just got on the train were taken off. It had broken down. Took about 20 mins to get it back up and running, then 5 test runs. It's a bit annoying as it was late and messed our day-end timetable up (WM is the only ride we FT on).

But the reason for my post is that it seemed to run a lot faster than usual. To the point of me being a little concerned that there was a fault preventing the brakes slowing it down at certain points.
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The only brakes on WM are at the end as it doesn't have a mid course or trims.
 
Skyscraper said:
The only brakes on WM are at the end as it doesn't have a mid course or trims.
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Ah right. Not sure then.

The tracks had been extra-oiled?? :D:D

I've been on it 5 or 6 times previously, and it just seemed a lot faster than those other times (but memory can be a funny thing!)
 
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