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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

I’m about to start an argument on Facebook, I want to make sure I’ve got my facts right first. Can wicker man run on 1 train.
 
spinba11 said:
I’m about to start an argument on Facebook, I want to make sure I’ve got my facts right first. Can wicker man run on 1 train.
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Not sure, to tell you the truth. But I don't see why it wouldn't be able to if the rest of the Big 7 can.
 
Surely that's just due to the number of trains they can store off the ride, so if they'd completely disassembled one of them it could have run 4?
 
RoyJess said:
I personally can't dispute that the theming on the Wicker Man is brilliant and first class.

I've ridden many wooden rollercoasters around the UK as well as abroad and I still don't understand why so many people are raving how good the actual Wicker Man is to ride? Is it just me, but I've rode better woodies?
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I totally agree, the theming is fantastic but the coaster is fairly average.

It's probably the third or fourth best woodie in the UK.
 
RoyJess said:
I personally can't dispute that the theming on the Wicker Man is brilliant and first class.

I've ridden many wooden rollercoasters around the UK as well as abroad and I still don't understand why so many people are raving how good the actual Wicker Man is to ride? Is it just me, but I've rode better woodies?
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Could it be people used to merlin parks without woodies? Wickerman is the only woodie I have been on.

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Given that before Wicker Man there was only one (arguably two before 2017) decent woodie in the UK - which happens to be located in the middle of nowhere - that might have something to do with its reception. It's something new and exciting for the majority of guests.
 
Matt N said:
@Coaster I can only reiterate what everyone else has said. Fantastic review (with great photos, might I add!) and I'm glad to hear that you liked it as much as you did. But I've got a question, if you wouldn't mind answering it; would you say that it's your favourite UK wooden roller coaster, out of interest? I definitely would, but not many people seem to agree with me in that regard.
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It's fantastic but no, it isn't my favourite UK wooden coaster. I still prefer Grand National, Megafobia, Big Dipper - and of course, the Wild Mouse was my favourite of the lot.

I class Wicker Man as a very different type of wooden coaster to those at Blackpool, which are much more airtime-focused and I really like the rattle/bumpiness they have.
 
Coaster said:
It's fantastic but no, it isn't my favourite UK wooden coaster - I still prefer Grand National, Megafobia, Big Dipper; and of course, the Wild Mouse was my favourite of the lot.
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Ah OK. Thanks @Coaster! I seem to be one of the only ones who prefers Wicker Man to Megafobia thus far.
 
Also to do with expectations. Personally I went expecting something relatively gentle and safely in the family market. I still think it's a family coaster, and it's not high-thrill but it feels quite quick and it's good fun, so came off impressed.

The experience as a whole was enjoyable, and I had a good time. That is what matters to me.

Also the first time I've ridden a modern wooden coaster (with my other reference at Blackpool, so again my expectations did not match up with what the ride was)
 
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Hmmmm...
 
Matt N said:
Ah OK. Thanks @Coaster! I seem to be one of the only ones who prefers Wicker Man to Megafobia thus far.
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I prefer Wicker Man to Megafobia, tbh it only comes in behind Wodan for me of all the (completley wooden) woodies I've been on. (I'm not counting RMC hybrid coasters, which are vastly superior)

Although I like the airtime on Grand National, I don't enjoy having my spine crushed to dust :p
 
UK woodies:

1) Grand National
2) Megafobia
3) Big Dipper
4) Wicker Man

Still don't understand people who say the BPB woodies are painful, they're wild and bumpy but I've never ever felt pain.

Grand National is actually my favourite coaster in the UK, wood or steel. Although this may change in a few weeks.
 
One of the main things that made me prefer Wicker Man to Megafobia was that I felt it flowed better as a ride than Megafobia due to the transitions not being quite so jolty. I felt that whenever Megafobia turned, it felt almost like a wild mouse coaster in style due to the jerkiness of most of the turns. Not all of the turns were like this, but most of them were. Whereas with Wicker Man, I felt that the ride's transitions rode really nicely and flowed really well (even the unbanked ones!), although the GCI trains might have helped in part with that. I heard somewhere that the Millennium Flyers manuoevre much more smoothly through the ride than the older wooden coaster trains because they are more flexible and are much more closely intertwined with the track, whereas the PTC/Gerstlauer trains sort of shunt their way through the ride, if you get what I mean.

I also found Wicker Man to be quite a bit smoother than Megafobia, but I suppose it's going to be as it's 22 years younger than Megafobia. Megafobia isn't really, really rough (I've ridden steel coasters rougher than Megafobia), but WM was a lot smoother, in my opinion. It's kind of like comparing the drive quality of a brand new car and a 10 year old car with high mileage, in essence.

Furthermore, I still found Wicker Man to be quite an intense coaster, even though it was smoother than Megafobia. Most of it was quite forceful, especially the first two interactions with the structure and the bits between. The not-so-Boring Corner wasn't even that boring! The ride still flew through it at a decent pace.

However, Megafobia was slightly more intense than Wicker Man. I also felt that the airtime was stronger on Megafobia. Megafobia was second only to Mako in terms of airtime in my eyes, whereas there wasn't that much on Wicker Man. There were two pretty good pops of air following the not-so-Boring Corner, and there might have been a subtle pop or two in the first drop, but other than that, there wasn't really much on WM. But GCI coasters strike me as the sort of coaster that can still be world-class without having tons of airtime, as WM definitely is.
P.S. Sorry for the long post.
 
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