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Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

elephant58

Hyper Poster
If you think Wicker Man is anywhere near the best family ride at Towers, let alone the best ride outright, then I want to know what you've been smoking, and where I can get it...
What is the best family ride then? Because it's certainly not Thirteen...
 

GeodieCoasterFan

Mega Poster
If you think Wicker Man is anywhere near the best family ride at Towers, let alone the best ride outright, then I want to know what you've been smoking, and where I can get it...

Have you ever heard of opinions?

In My opinion Oblivion and Nemesis are both classics but are getting on, Rita is one dimensional, thirteen has a good gimmick but that is it, smiler is a bit meh and galacticca just isn't fun

Wicker man feels fast ,is smooth, felt forceful when I rode it and has awesome theming so for me that doesnt just make it the best at Towers but the best in the UK
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I genuinely don't see where people are coming from about Wicker Man.

I felt no speed. No airtime. The laterals are okay. There's nothing wrong with it really, but there's nothing that blew me away.

Give me Thirteen over Wicker Man any day. Sure, the outdoor layout isn't that great, but I enjoy it more than Wicker Man, then you've got the awesome indoor section too. Plus the likes of Duel and Hex are more exciting family rides in my opinion.

I wanted to enjoy Wicker Man, I was one of the few people during construction who seemed to think it'd be a decent addition. But unfortunately, I just don't, and I really, really can't understand why people are raving about it so much.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
^ This. I felt no sense of speed, no airtime, no out-of-control wooden coaster feeling, NOTHING. I'd 100% rather ride Th13teen.
 

collins

Roller Poster
I thought I would chip in with my review of the ride.
Like others, I went in with relatively low expectations given the layout etc. Now I will have to warn, that my review is based on being in a bit of a foul mood by the time I had boarded the train, as I was unfortunate to have visited during half term (only available day) so the crowds were ridiculous. However, what didn't help the situation is that I joined the queue with a 65min wait time and eventually got onto the train approx 2hrs 45mins later. As such, my review is somewhat based on "was it worth the wait".

The answer ... not in the slightest.

Queue / theming - switch backs at the start weren't great, but was nice that they set them back into the trees a bit. The views over the coaster later on were quite nice. Although I was worried when I could see how slow the train was moving along the track. It's a bit of a piss take that the fire effects weren't working, even on a busy day! Predicted that would happen when it was announced. The main structure (although quite cool) looks far bigger in pictures. The music was nice throughout. As the queue winds around the boring corner and towards the station, I can't help but feel that this was the worst section of queue. Just nothing to look at!
Inside the bag drop off and pre-show, I thought the theming was a lot better! The pre-show effect and ambience was really cool, but as others have said, the animation of the wickerman felt a bit pixelated. Funnily enough, I knew what was going to happen in the pre-show before the ride had begun construction. Fun fact, apparently when they were coming up with the concept, Holovis made a conceptual animation of the wickerman and included a clip of Nicholas Cage screaming "not the bees!" at the end, just for fun.

Coaster - I know everyone is entitled to an opinion, but the people who said they experienced ejector air on this ride have not probably experienced ejector air. On my ride I managed to bag front row (I know there may be more air at the back). I thought the ride was alright, but has so much more potential. There was a very small pop of floater air on the first hill, the turnaround after the wickerman and when dropping through the wickerman. Other than that, there wasn't anything. The boring corner did surprisingly have some strong laterals, but it didn't hide from the fact that it was boring. The near misses through the wickerman were quite nice, even if I did get soaked from the fog machine.
The ride is far too short and the ending inside the shed is one massive missed opportunity. Everyone on our train was waiting for some awesome effect (I knew not much would happen). As we pulled back into the station, I could hear a lot of people saying "was that it?".
It's not a horrendous coaster, but when I've been lucky enough to have been on much better GCI's such as Thunderhead, Lightning Racer, it just doesn't compare. I'd even argue that I got more out of control feeling and airtime on White Lightning.

As Joey has pointed out, I feel this ride doesn't know what it wants to be and has unfortunately been mixed from two different opinions. It looks like it should be a family ride, yet is marketed and themed as this imposing, scary thrill machine. If it had a nicer theme, I feel people would have been less disappointed when they eventually rode it. The theme it currently has, needs a more imposing coaster.

On a side note, Nemesis was running amazingly and destroys all other coasters in the park!
 

elephant58

Hyper Poster
^ This. I felt no sense of speed, no airtime, no out-of-control wooden coaster feeling, NOTHING. I'd 100% rather ride Th13teen.
This is really weird. Apart from the airtime, I felt completely the opposite on everything you've described and thought it was genuinely miles ahead of Thirteen. I mean it must have good runs and bad runs like Icon, right? Because everyone's reviews seem to be really polarising. I dunno it could just be because it's the only modern woodie I've ridden but people just seem to have massively different experiences on it.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
This is really weird. Apart from the airtime, I felt completely the opposite on everything you've described and thought it was genuinely miles ahead of Thirteen. I mean it must have good runs and bad runs like Icon, right? Because everyone's reviews seem to be really polarising. I dunno it could just be because it's the only modern woodie I've ridden but people just seem to have massively different experiences on it.
Without sounding condescending (and I'm not), but, what other 'out of control feeling' woodies have you done? I do think the more that you do, the harder it is to impress you, but I didn't even leave like "That's fab for families", I was so over it.
 

elephant58

Hyper Poster
Without sounding condescending (and I'm not), but, what other 'out of control feeling' woodies have you done? I do think the more that you do, the harder it is to impress you, but I didn't even leave like "That's fab for families", I was so over it.
I haven't done any unless you count the ones at Blackpool, but that's where I was coming from when I said I haven't done any modern ones, so knows knows it'll probably disappoint me should I get on any other woodies at some point. I remember getting off it and the main thing I got from the ride was how much it threw me about and I guess I was comparing it to other coasters I've been on in general.
 

Fluorineer

Mega Poster
I haven't done any unless you count the ones at Blackpool, but that's where I was coming from when I said I haven't done any modern ones, so knows knows it'll probably disappoint me should I get on any other woodies at some point. I remember getting off it and the main thing I got from the ride was how much it threw me about and I guess I was comparing it to other coasters I've been on in general.
I mean, a first GCI is a first GCI and there's nothing wrong with being impressed about it, but this all sounds like you're generally impressed by GCIs because that's a new experience. Someone who's never eaten at a great steak house will most likely already be impressed by the starters, but they are not the reason why you go there.

Best tip I can give you is hop over to the mainland and try Troy and Joris, should you ever have the chance.
 

Jamesss

Hyper Poster
I don't see how anyone could hit that brake run at the end and be like "oh that was such a bore".... I am beginning to think you are all just miserable sods. :D

I haven't done loads of woodies but I recently rode White Lightning and Mine Blower and for me Wicker Man easily beats both of those. I am tempted to say I enjoyed it as much as Wodan even.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
Literally hit the brake run wondering where they went wrong. Honestly. What annoys me is the fact that Towers had such an amazing opportunity to build something incredible, the first wooden coaster in two decades, yet, they built THAT.
 

Fluorineer

Mega Poster
You can see some "interesting" business aspects here if you take this from a USP-point of view. Mainland europe is not spoilt, but certainly well provided with wooden coasters, making Colossos (at least according to Merlin's judgement) way too costly of a loss and resulting in them paying 12 million euros for a 17-year-old ride (I mean, original price these things wouldn't go under 20 by todays standards, and rightfully so) while the UK is such a sad wooden coaster desert, that a 600m-GCI serves just well.

What confuses me though is that they still paid a lot of money. I assume they included every single paper clip starting from 2014 in that 16 million pound total cost, but damn man, GCI is probably the most value-for-money manufacturer I can think of. Wodan is a 40m-tall coaster that cost 10 million (still baffles me btw that this is the tallest GCI to date, I think 40m is a fantastic height). I would have asessed Merlin to be especially suscebtible to the "a Wooden Coaster themes itself" belief, and them rather spending the money on some actual coaster track, instead of effects that never work.

It is all just very confusing. While this coaster might suffer from some typical Merlin-problems, it's also surprisingly un-Merlin in some aspects, but of course in all the wrong aspects.
 

GeodieCoasterFan

Mega Poster
Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I genuinely don't see where people are coming from about Wicker Man.

I felt no speed. No airtime. The laterals are okay. There's nothing wrong with it really, but there's nothing that blew me away.

Give me Thirteen over Wicker Man any day. Sure, the outdoor layout isn't that great, but I enjoy it more than Wicker Man, then you've got the awesome indoor section too. Plus the likes of Duel and Hex are more exciting family rides in my opinion.

I wanted to enjoy Wicker Man, I was one of the few people during construction who seemed to think it'd be a decent addition. But unfortunately, I just don't, and I really, really can't understand why people are raving about it so much.


Fair points better than your original statement which was a bit condescending, maybe I caught it on one hell of a good day. We all have different types we like. Ive been on the beast at Kings Island which some talk about as a superstar woody and I thought it was average and quite rough even after multiple rides and the blackpool wild mouse is seen by some on here as the second coming but I always found it uncomfortable and just not fun. Everyone has an opinion and there are lots of factors that influence how we enjoy a ride
 

henryjwillis

Mega Poster
Literally hit the brake run wondering where they went wrong. Honestly. What annoys me is the fact that Towers had such an amazing opportunity to build something incredible, the first wooden coaster in two decades, yet, they built THAT.
Exactly this. If it'd been built at Chessington or Drayton or pretty much any other UK park I'd have been thrilled. But they spent a similar amount to BPB on Icon on a mid-level at best family woodie, after years of speculation and hype that they'd finally get one. I really can't see the reasoning behind it. I still think it fills a gap in the park's lineup and as a themed experience it's nice, but as a coaster it's just so so average (coming from someone with a coaster count under 50).
 

SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
Wickerman review because I'm bored: (disclaimer, I only did it once on the back row): Had less airtime than I was expecting (which wasn't much) seemed to have more laterals than airtime. Probably the weakest out of the similar sized gci's I've done like invadr, Heidi/white lightning; I know they were restricted with space but the layout is a bit weird. Still, I am pleased that someone actually built a new style woodie in the UK and it's pleasant so I'll take that. Not the UK's best ride or the best ride at the park (nemmy) but it's a decent addition.
 

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
I don't think this is supposed to happen:-
Video by Justin Gray.

I know this was filmed in May, but apparently the ride has been closed recently due to some kind of lift hill issue.
 

streetmagix

Mega Poster
That's ... not right. Seems like a reverberance around the chain, probably from the coupling of the train to the chain. That can't be doing the gear box / bearings any good!
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
That's ... not right. Seems like a reverberance around the chain, probably from the coupling of the train to the chain. That can't be doing the gear box / bearings any good!
Looks like the chain tensioning device isn't working properly. Usually that would absorb this pulsing, which is a result of the chain acting like a spring when the train engages.

For anyone that's ridden it, can you feel the lurching on the train? It's not uncommon to get a bit of that, but usually it's dampened down quite quickly.
 
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