Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

[yoursilentface]

. And with that I must say thanks to the staff on Wicker Man and the Monorail who had to work what was probably a 12 hour day.

I think the staff on wicker man had enough thanks with the amount of test runs they had in the afternoon yesterday

There was no need for them to be enjoying it like they did....riding with their arms in the air while we queued outside really wound me up

 

[Rob]

I think the staff on wicker man had enough thanks with the amount of test runs they had in the afternoon yesterday

There was no need for them to be enjoying it like they did....riding with their arms in the air while we queued outside really wound me up

What is your problem? Rides need to be tested and with the issues they were having it was required to test the ride with actual loads. Clearly they cannot do this with guests. Your post comes across as incredibly bitter, they are doing their jobs, how dare they enjoy it!

 

[Brad97]

How dare people have fun on a roller coaster! What heathens!

 

[yoursilentface]

I was being sarcastic....my humour doesn't always come across in text unless you know me

I do feel a little bitter thuugh to be fair after my shambles of a day on park....plus i didn't get to ride it

poor me

 

[Benjsh]

You make it sound like it’s the guests fault for bad operations

Nope not at all. That's not my point at all.

My point was that due to matters out of their hands (the weather) it seems like lots of people returned this weekend from the previous one. Understandable with a shiny new coaster to get on I know but it was already going to be a busy weekend anyway. All those extra people certainly haven't helped the queues at the gates. The park is no longer able to handle such crowds.

As for operations, the last thing the park wanted or needed was major issues with WM but that's how it's turned out. Again we don't know who is to blame. Have GCI messed up with something or are they doing something wrong with it at the park? We simply don't know do we?

Not blaming anyone at all. Nobody comes out happy really. Just one of those things.

 

[Rob]

I was being sarcastic....my humour doesn't always come across in text unless you know me

Please accept my apology!

 

[Rick]

Let's keep some perspective here in terms of how the ride has performed on its debut weekend. It's run more than Air did and only fractionally less than Oblivion... they ended up doing alright in the end!

Arguably it's proven technology that should just work - but they're not keeping it shut to spite you, or indeed themselves!

 

[AstroDan]

The issues were regrettable.

But the communication was inexcusable.

 

[Dave]

Let's keep some perspective here in terms of how the ride has performed on its debut weekend. It's run more than Air did and only fractionally less than Oblivion... they ended up doing alright in the end!

Arguably it's proven technology that should just work - but they're not keeping it shut to spite you, or indeed themselves!

Not seen many on here moan about the downtime on Wicker, but one key difference is in 1998 and 2002 the rest of the Park was coping ok. This time not so much.

 

[RoyJess]

It's a new ride and they always have teething problems. I remember when I first went to ride Air. It was the morning of the 3rd day of opening and I queued for an hour, I was about a ride or two away from getting on Air when it went with a loud bang and became unavailable, (one of the push rods that lowered/raised the trains into the sitting position/flying position snapped). It was a few months later that I actually got to ride Air for the first time.

I avoided going to the park on the opening weekend for the Wicker Man, I knew it would be mayhem. I took my chances when I went last Thursday, on the basis that I would enjoy the rest of the park and if I did get a ride on Wicker Man, then that would be a bonus, if not, I'll got the rest of the season to return and get a go. Fortunately the Wicker Man was up and running, it was the ride availability during the morning for the rest of the park was the biggest let down.

Not seen many on here moan about the downtime on Wicker, but one key difference is in 1998 and 2002 the rest of the Park was coping ok. This time not so much.

I felt the park wasn't coping with last years cuts during the Scarefest and Fireworks, so when they announced more cuts this year, I just knew that the park was never going to cope, it wasn't good on Thursday either, but no way as bad as the reports that I've been hearing over the weekend

 

[Rick]

Not seen many on here moan about the downtime on Wicker, but one key difference is in 1998 and 2002 the rest of the Park was coping ok. This time not so much.

As I recall, Black Hole was also down. Energizer got stuck and Corkscrew's queue went past Festival Park Dome!

 

[AstroDan]

Wicker Man has suffered problems, serious ones, it shouldn't have. It has been running for weeks fine. It's a GCI. Not a world's first technically unknown thing.

But, you know, Wicker Man's issues were only half the story this weekend.

 

[Rick]

@AstroDan I agree entirely, but I do think there are some rose tinted glasses with reference to some of the previous SW openings - it sucks, but I think it will improve over the coming days and weeks.

 

[Dave]

As I recall, Black Hole was also down. Energizer got stuck and Corkscrew's queue went past Festival Park Dome!

Possibly true (I didn’t get to the park to ride Oblivion until the summer) but then there was also the following in 1998 that have not been replaced...

Ripsaw
Toyland tours
Astrodancer
Nick out of control (sort of)
Peter rabbit on ice
Vintage cars
Tweenies playground
Cine 2000
Cred street theatre
Wave Swinger

To name a few and on top of that the whole park opened together at 10am....

As I have already said a lot of problems occur early season, and the SW’s can be buggers to open but the cuts showed their ugly face this weekend.

 

[Oatcakedodger]

Overall great experience but it’s a very short ride, fantastic atmosphere around WM area, managed to get on at about 12 o’clock after getting in the queue line at 9.35am, surely testing of the ride could be done earlier to ensure it opens closer to the stated time ? And with me being a little paranoid of being able to fit in certain rides it didn’t fill me with confidence when people were having trouble fitting in certain seats (row 4 right hand seat) on the same train 2 times running, the first guy was tall but not a porker lol but had to get off ? Needs sorting ASAP ! Overall happy but the organisation could be so much better.

 

[Yalnix]

All in all I actually really enjoyed yesterday at Towers. It didn't start great. The staggered opening means that you have few choices so everyone goes to The Smiler it seems. I feel as if opening just Nemesis at 10 would ease the congestion and make everything a lot better. Anyway, I guess I tend to have a much higher tolerance for Merlin BS than it seems the rest of you do. Perhaps that's a good thing? I feel for the Wicker Man team yesterday, I really don't think it was their fault the ride kept going up and down. Who knows what the problem is, I'm not here to making sweeping guesses and accuse anyone.

Aside from all the negatives yesterday I hope that Merlin and Towers realise how much people like Wicker Man, and how good it actually is. More like this in future please!

For me, I just find it really hard to believe that Icon will beat it. But hey maybe I'm just a corporate Towers suck up...

I just wish they would stop shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[Dar]

I don't want to be "that guy", better me than Diogo, but it seems from a few videos that one of little Bobby's shoulders seems a bit hit and miss? Could the wind be blowing out the pilot light? (I'm being serious, but don't know the proper term)

 

[BarryZola]

I don't want to be "that guy", better me than Diogo, but it seems from a few videos that one of little Bobby's shoulders seems a bit hit and miss? Could the wind be blowing out the pilot light? (I'm being serious, but don't know the proper term)

Am yo tryin' to say that tha fya ay werkin lyk it shud?

 

[Coaster]

Wicker Man certainly surpassed my expectations, it's absoloutely amazing! The coaster is great fun, the theme is excellent and the views from the queueline are stunning.

Unfortunately, operations on Wicker Man and across the park were diabolical. WM opening two and a half hours late, only starting to test AFTER the advertised 9:30AM opening for ERT. Multiple closures throughout the day and trains running with only 5 rows in use at times. I understand it's a new ride, but the number of issues and misscommunication regarding these was shocking.

Across the park, operations ranged from mediocre to disgraceful, absoloutely awful day apart from Wicker Man being such a great ride experience.

Also, has anyone seen Alton's social media responses recently? So rude!

 

[Thomas5]

We were here today, and didn't even bother going near the WM queue maybe tomorrow.

A couple of thoughts:

1) The park seems to be pushing customers to use the app for queue time information. I note that the app uses Bluetooth and I wonder if the app itself might therefore contribute to queue time data? We have a similar system at work (a uni) to register student attendance, and its sensitivity and accuracy is appalling. I note that the queue times reported by the app were simply WILDLY out today - worst ever in my experience. I wonder if this has anything to do with their new technology, or whether something more cynical is going on with reported queue times?

2) The park clearly couldn't operationally cope today - from the front gates onwards. A real mess in many places.

3) Alton Towers' official Twitter has been totally "wtf" today. This seems to reflect the level of disgruntlement and disengagement amongst staff in the park.