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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

Yeah I would've thought technical problems could be anything from brakes, sensors, lift chain etc, not the actual track layout.
 
The fact that you can't get anywhere near it and they're not saying what's wrong with it says to me it's something more serious than a general breakdown.
 
I don’t even mean the layout, I mean the ride in itself. It’s a 24 seater millennium flyer train GCI with a chain lift, this is their bread and butter.
 
Could the effects have any bearing on why the ride seems to have more issues than your average GCI, possibly? Do any of the others have mist and smoke effecting their sensors and track in the way that Wicker Man does?

I did hear someone around opening in 2018 suggesting that it was down to the fact that GCI originally designed the ride to run 2 trains, but Merlin made last-minute adjustments to the block system so it could run 3, and that’s what’s been causing the issues, but I’m not sure whether that’s true or not.
 
siralgenon said:
The fact that you can't get anywhere near it and they're not saying what's wrong with it says to me it's something more serious than a general breakdown.
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Surely they wouldn't let you in the area if the ride is closed anyway. After all what's the point. Also it could be for crowd control as if they left the plaza open then people will assume it will open at some point during the day. So they probably don't want people hanging around
 
Matt N said:
a common criticism of Wicker Man is that it is too short, but what is it that seems to make it feel short to everyone, because when I timed it from lift hill to brake run in comparative POVs compared with a few other notable GCI woodies, and it actually compares quite favourably?

When I timed Wicker Man, the duration came out at roughly 47 seconds from leaving the lift hill to hitting the final brake run. For context, here are some of the other wooden coasters I timed and their ride durations using the same metric:
  • White Lightning: approx. 36 seconds
  • InvadR: approx. 40 seconds
  • Wodan: approx. 42 seconds
  • Mystic Timbers: approx. 44 seconds
  • Troy: approx. 56 seconds
  • Megafobia (decided to include this to give another UK woodie as a reference point): approx. 1 minute 5 seconds
So Wicker Man actually isn’t as short as you might expect compared to some other GCIs! Surprisingly, it’s actually longer than rides like Wodan and Mystic Timbers, which I rarely hear get criticised about their length in comparison to Wicker Man, and only about 9 seconds shorter than Troy, which always gets praised for being a long ride. Although to be fair, Wicker Man’s nearest UK a wooden coaster reference in Megafobia is not far off 50% longer...

So I’d be intrigued to know; what do we think it is that makes everyone criticise Wicker Man for being such a short ride, when it’s actually marginally longer than some of GCI’s more revered coasters? I’ve never personally found it to be too short at all, as I think it packs a huge amount of thrill into the length that it has, but it’s a common criticism I hear of it, so I’d be intrigued to know!
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Because time does not equal length, length does. Invadr and White Lightning are both short and average rides which have not been incredibly well received and I'm sure if you were on those parks fan sites you'd have seen similar comments to Wicker Man. As for the others...

Wicker Man 2608ft. 43mph

Woodan. 3444tt. 62mph
Mystic. 3265ft. 53mph
Troy. 3534ft. 54mph

They are all over 25% longer but travelling around 25% faster. They are bigger, and better, rides. Wicker Man is short and slow and remains a disappointment to me for what the first UK woodie in forever in the UK could have been.
 
pluk said:
Because time does not equal length, length does. Invadr and White Lightning are both short and average rides which have not been incredibly well received and I'm sure if you were on those parks fan sites you'd have seen similar comments to Wicker Man. As for the others...

Wicker Man 2608ft. 43mph

Woodan. 3444tt. 62mph
Mystic. 3265ft. 53mph
Troy. 3534ft. 54mph

They are all over 25% longer but travelling around 25% faster. They are bigger, and better, rides. Wicker Man is short and slow and remains a disappointment to me for what the first UK woodie in forever in the UK could have been.
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The reason I used time as a metric to compare them by is because it seemed fairer than using length and speed; just because a ride is faster and longer in track length, doesn’t mean that it gives you more riding time than a shorter, slower ride. Length isn’t everything; duration is much more indicative of how much actual riding time you’re getting, in my opinion.

There are plenty of coasters out there that are quite short in track length, but deliver a reasonable ride duration and a reasonable amount of thrill, in my opinion.
 
It would appear we may have identified the cause of Wicker Man’s closure thanks to this post on TowersStreet’s Twitter page:

It would appear trackwork is once again being conducted, in the area around between the s-bend drop and the first wicker man pass through which we all thought was being done last time. Maybe that section is proving particularly problematic structurally? Or maybe it wasn’t that section being done the first time?

I hope it’s open again by tomorrow, but I’m not sure whether I should be too confident. The last closure seemed to have been turned around quite quickly (testing and reopened the same day as a large metal object was lifted into the ride area, supposedly), so hopefully this will be the same!

This would also hopefully mean that the rumours of them trying to slow it down aren’t true!
 
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