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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

On a random Wicker Man-related question, do you guys think that the ride has hit anywhere near its theoretical throughput of 952pph yet?
 
At the moment, they're probably aiming to hit closer to 800pph. Unless you're lucky, rides rarely get near their theoretical capacity during their first few months of normal operation, so their aims and expectations will be naturally lower.

Wicker Man is probably still not hitting that target though.
 
I had to check the calendar to see if it was April 1st.
That sign is a joke, who the hell is sitting in this board room and thought of this idiotic idea. By the looks of it, its just hung over the fence, that'll be moved to suit a persons convenience.
 
Was in the park yesterday and Wickerman was running 2 trains most of the day. Morning session was good, open from 9.30am for ERT with a 30min queue by 10am. This rose to 2hrs in the afternoon. Had a few breakdowns during the afternoon but overall very good.

What surprised me however is how different the ride is now compared to when it first opened. It is so much faster. Even sat in the middle of the train I was being thrown about all over the place and getting some little pops of airtime over some of the hills. Still not a fan of "Boring corner" on the ride but really really really enjoyed it yesterday!
 
One thing that's really interested me about WM's opening year so far is that it is really a ride that has divided opinion. Some (myself included) love the ride, whereas some find it incredibly dull, with one review citing it as "GCI at its most bland". Very interesting. In my opinion, though, it's my favourite wooden coaster, and it felt pretty wild, so it's encouraging to hear that it's running quickly compared to opening! I'll see for myself when I reride in August.
 
Matt N said:
One thing that's really interested me about WM's opening year so far is that it is really a ride that has divided opinion. Some (myself included) love the ride, whereas some find it incredibly dull, with one review citing it as "GCI at its most bland". Very interesting. In my opinion, though, it's my favourite wooden coaster, and it felt pretty wild, so it's encouraging to hear that it's running quickly compared to opening! I'll see for myself when I reride in August.
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I wonder if it depends on how many woodies you have been on before, me personally it was my first.

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I’ve done pretty much every woodie in the UK (isn’t that difficult) and I still think wicker man is up there. It’s got some real good speed to it and it’s pretty violent for a family coaster. The Atmosphere around it just helps turn a good wooden coaster into an amazing one in my opinion.


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I find wickerman has a good pace. There is a take a breath point on one corner, which is good for younger riders that have just reached the hight limit.

I find it a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Fast and more dynamic then thirteen. And takes non inverting coaster thrill to a new level in the park.



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Wicker Man is personally my favourite wooden roller coaster I've ever done (out of 2, bear in mind) for a variety of different reasons, although whether it will stay that way after I visit BPB in August I'm not entirely sure. Firstly, I felt the ride was smoother than Megafobia and that the transitions were nicer than Megafobia's, making for a ride that flowed beautifully. Also, the ride was still quite intense, albeit not quite as intense as Megafobia. It still felt lovely and wild, though, which is what you want from a wooden coaster! I also felt that WM kept its pace pretty well, and was still going at a decent speed by the end.

I like my rides to have a good balance between thrill and smoothness, and considering it's a wooden coaster, WM strikes that balance wonderfully. Of course I've been on many steel coasters that are better, but WM shouldn't really be compared to any of those. For starters, it's a wooden coaster, and one aimed at the families. Although I would personally call WM a thrill ride, unlike something like Thirteen or Spinball, which I would definitely call family coasters.

However, one area in which I feel that Megafobia definitely exceeds WM in is airtime. Megafobia has properly strong sustained airtime over some of its hills and is second only to Mako in terms of airtime in my eyes, whereas I only found WM to have a couple of shorter pops following the Not-So-Boring Corner. There are some pops there, though, which is good. WM is also targeted at a different market to Megafobia.

So overall, I loved WM when I rode it for the first time in March 2018. It's my 3rd favourite roller coaster at Alton Towers behind Nemesis & The Smiler, and my #9 in my overall top 10. It and Megafobia are very closely matched, in my opinion (WM is my #9 and Megafobia is my #10), but Wicker Man just edges it for me because it flows better as a ride and is smoother while still being a lovely thrilling ride.
P.S. Sorry for the long post.
 
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