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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

It baffles me why there's so much passion on here for removing WM's pre show, so much so that it keeps cropping up again and again and again, seemingly because it's getting in the way of ride whoring.

The vast majority of guests (you know, those guys who are actually Towers core customer base?) have probably only ridden it less than 3 times, many would have been riding it today for the very first time.

No more removal of effects or theming at Towers.
 
Matt.GC said:
It baffles me why there's so much passion on here for removing WM's pre show, so much so that it keeps cropping up again and again and again, seemingly because it's getting in the way of ride whoring.

The vast majority of guests (you know, those guys who are actually Towers core customer base?) have probably only ridden it less than 3 times, many would have been riding it today for the very first time.

No more removal of effects or theming at Towers.
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I wasn’t calling for the pre-show’s removal by any means; it was only my parents who were completely not on board with it coming back, not me. They were completely non-plussed by it, and thought that its only purpose was delaying us getting on the ride. That wasn’t my viewpoint by any means, though!

In fact, when I was in there over the weekend, I was genuinely wowed, because I’d forgotten quite how impressive the pre-show is! I also noticed so many little details in there that I’d never noticed before, like
  • How the lights change in the pre-show batching area when it’s time for you to enter, and how there’s a drum in the audio signalling you to enter.
  • How there’s whispering voices in the audio telling you to “come closer” before the show starts.
  • How there’s a scent of smoke pumped into the room just before the face itself appears.
  • How the rocks with runes on them around the side of the room light up when the wicker man face bursts into flames, and how they pulsate along with the face itself.
From an immersion standpoint, I do absolutely love the pre-show, and I personally valued seeing it again!

My main criticism of it is the getting into it and getting out of it; all of my personal issues with the pre-show are practicality-based as opposed to being to do with the show itself. I’ll admit that the scrum getting out of it in particular does make me quite uncomfortable.

Would there be a way that they could still have the pre-show running, but maintain some kind of order, or have queue line switchbacks within the room in order to prevent the scrum that happens when you enter and leave? That would be ideal for me, because you’d still have the pre-show, but you wouldn’t have the chaos of getting in and out of the room!
 
Matt N said:
Would there be a way that they could still have the pre-show running, but maintain some kind of order, or have queue line switchbacks within the room in order to prevent the scrum that happens when you enter and leave? That would be ideal for me, because you’d still have the pre-show, but you wouldn’t have the chaos of getting in and out of the room!
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This is what I was thinking. Surely they could have the cattlepen queue in there and still have doors at either end and that would solves both issues.
 
JAperson said:
Great minds think alike @Matt N ! Anyway couldn't they make the switchbacks longways rather than towards the screen and back?
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That’s what I had in mind! That would certainly solve that particular issue!

For counting people in, maybe they could use a turnstile, like on Hex?
 
I think that part of the issue is that the staff insist on packing as many people as possible into the room. This is somewhat counterproductive as it means they can spend ages moving people out of the way of the entry doors to be able to close them and after the show they can't load the room straight away as there's not enough space on the other side for everyone to leave. If they ran it with slightly fewer people in there they could probably avoid both problems.
 
The Wicker Man pre-show is great and considering it lasts no more than 68 seconds, I simply can't understand a reason that anyone would want shot of it. As others have said, I think it really adds to the ride experience, and is one of - if not the - most re-watchable pre-shows I've ever seen.
 
Burbs said:
The Wicker Man pre-show is great and considering it lasts no more than 68 seconds, I simply can't understand a reason that anyone would want shot of it. As others have said, I think it really adds to the ride experience, and is one of - if not the - most re-watchable pre-shows I've ever seen.
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Don't get me wrong I wanted WickerMans pre-show back and I'm very glad it's back. I was just discussing ways it could be improved. I can't help but thinking there must be a better way than the staff trying to completely fill the room. If it was setup like a queue, although in reality it wouldn't work like one, with the doors remaining in use. Meaning that in reality staff can go close the doors once the line has filled. It would mean the staff wouldn't have to pack people in and it would avoid the desperate pushing exercise everybody does at the exit door, which I can't help feeling a good chunk of the british population won't like as we all love a good organised queue.
 
That is exactly how the symbolica preshow works (and I'm sure others do too). The doors open, everyone enters into the cattlepen inside the room, turns around for the show, and then continue out of the room in order through the rest of the queueline. It works really well, everyone has a good view but no scrumming for the exit and the queueline remains intact
 
Quetzal said:
That is exactly how the symbolica preshow works (and I'm sure others do too). The doors open, everyone enters into the cattlepen inside the room, turns around for the show, and then continue out of the room in order through the rest of the queueline. It works really well, everyone has a good view but no scrumming for the exit and the queueline remains intact
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Great to know it's possible and works. I just think it's something they should look at to make it easier and possibly more efficient.
 
Auribus said:
Is there a separate queue line to skip the pre-show? With young children etc?
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No; if you want to not see the pre-show, the staff will hold you in the room prior to the pre-show while the pre-show is on, and then they will let you through along with everyone else when the show has ended.

I think that’s how it works, anyway… I think skipping the pre-show and going straight to the station would technically be considered queue jumping by the park.
 
Sorry to double post, but what sort of ballpark would Wicker Man’s throughput decrease to if they got rid of the baggage hold? I can sense that it would go down by a bit, but I’m unsure of how much.
 
Matt N said:
Sorry to double post, but what sort of ballpark would Wicker Man’s throughput decrease to if they got rid of the baggage hold? I can sense that it would go down by a bit, but I’m unsure of how much.
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If they allow bags in the footwells as many many other wooden coasters do it would make almost no difference to the throughput.
 
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