Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

[Nic]

Am I the only one amused by how all the reports just gloss over the fact of the accident?

2015 saw slight reduction in annual visitor numbers as it was a low investment year with no new thrill rides.

Yeah, sure. That's definitely the reason.

It also seems that I'm the only one excited at the prospect of a GCI. OK, so they've not done anything ground breaking of late, but does it matter? They produce good solid fun coasters. It's a shame that Merlin will blatantly make them do something ridiculous in the name of a marketing gimmick.

 

[Jamesss]

Please, Merlin. For once, just build a plain, good ol', no-gimmicks coaster. Please.

 

[peep]

I'm intrigued by this. I tend to enjoy GCI coasters but they do tend to age poorly. The plans make it look very short but could make for a good family ride. Then again they could be pulling a Smiler where we don't really see the real plans for the actual ride and just a general gist of the location of things. The station building doesn't look all that exciting either. Still just very intrigued rather than excited/disappointed.

 

[Ben]

I've never been this 'over it' for a coaster project before, but I just can't get excited about this whatsoever. Mainly due to the fact it screams GCI and has such a small footprint of predominantly long sweeping curves - yes, it may have some small gimmicks such as a launched lifthill or an inversion, but every single product that GCI have come out with in recent years has been VERY same-y as their old stuff, you rarely see their track work altering that much and showing variation unless it's a coaster that has large terrain elevation differences, to which this won't.

So yeah. If it is GCI, I won't be excited about it.

So you say they're same-y but then dismiss them putting the second ever Wooden launch on there and some hoops as 'small gimmicks'?

Come on Mark, what exactly do you want this ride to do?

IF it does launch and hoops, this will be really cool. We really don't know anything, and the plans don't show much. I have faith in GCI IF They've been given a good brief to work on. End of the day, if it's a crappy family coaster that responsibility sits with the park.

 

[Crazycoaster]

They have all that space where the flume meandered, why arn't they using it?! WHYYYY.

With all that space they could have added a double launching Helix-type/terrain hugging wood coaster. Then you'd have your worlds first gimmick and you'd have an awesome ride too. But nooo.

Look at all that space!

 

[Chris Brown]

That sound tunnel does seem to be in a really odd location, perhaps an inversion, perhaps a simulator style light tunnel or perhaps the launch is located there like a small speed boost or something. Very intrigued!

 

[Martyn B]

I'm guessing this is going to have a hefty theme, with a pre show room and a dark ride section!

 

[Lofty]

If The Smiler taught us anything it is to not trust plans that air in the public domain. That originally had 8 inversions and then they were like "SURPRISE, here's another four".

 

[JoshC.]

If The Smiler taught us anything it is to not trust plans that air in the public domain. That originally had 8 inversions and then they were like "SURPRISE, here's another four".

And even then they chucked in another 2 on top of that for good measure


The site for SW8 is covered by their GDO, so officially they don't need to submit plans for the coaster itself. They might need it for the station / theming elements, but that's about it. So there could be changes to the layout. But if they're planning on reusing many of the footers from Flume like they said in the plans, then I'd guess the layout should be reasonably accurate.

 

[bob_3_]

They have all that space where the flume meandered, why arn't they using it?! WHYYYY.

With all that space they could have added a double launching Helix-type/terrain hugging wood coaster. Then you'd have your worlds first gimmick and you'd have an awesome ride too. But nooo.

Look at all that space!

I've just read through alot of the proposal and it seems they want to use the fact they arn't building in that area as a positive thing in the hope it helps grant planning permission. IT is a shame though, the site could've been huge. Either way, I'm still excited to see this thing appear, even if it's looking like another Thirteen style coaster (tame family ride dressed up like an intense thrill)

"The coaster track layout has been carefully designed so that it is located within an existing developed site and avoids the woodland area to the south. The LVIA concluded that landscape character effects would be nil, neutral or beneficial, largely due to the design of the ride and the removal of an attraction from the Registered Park and Garden which would allow this area to be returned to natural woodland."

 

[Ian]

I'm guessing this is going to have a hefty theme, with a pre show room and a dark ride section!

Don't forget the VR headsets and live actors walking around.

 

[Robbie]

I'm far more excited about the Blackpool ride we'll get the same year. This just seems like a wasted opportunity.

 

[EthC]

So Someone has spotted this, these look a lot more like inversions then the other picture I posted, its looking more likely that we could be seeing inversions on this! They could also be heavily banked turns if i were to be really pessimistic but, if it does have inversions and a launch I could very much see merlin market this as the worlds first launched woodie with inversions.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1014160 ... 0172705175

 

[Jamesss]

That definitely looks like inversions.

So is this a family coaster or not? As far as I'm concerned, anything with inversions is not a family ride, but the small layout has really screamed "family coaster" up until now. I'm so confused. I smell another Thirteen.

 

[Ian]

^ looks inversiony to me! Surely not?

 

[Dar]

Looking at this plan it looks like the flume site just falls outside the GDO area (purple boundaries), so it seems these plans have to be legit?

 

[Pokemaniac]

They have all that space where the flume meandered, why arn't they using it?! WHYYYY.

With all that space they could have added a double launching Helix-type/terrain hugging wood coaster. Then you'd have your worlds first gimmick and you'd have an awesome ride too. But nooo.

Look at all that space!

Be optimistic. They may be setting it aside for some future development.

Very silent future development, if the strict focus on noise is anything to go by, but development nonetheless. Possibly.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Inversions, Nice that GCI are being pushed onwards and upwards. Makes it more intriguing why they hadn't gone for RMC as it seems to be less and less 'family' as more details emerge.

Look at all that space!

#PlantsLivesMatter

 

[Chris Brown]

I'm not convinced by these 'inversions' at all. Whilst I'm confident there will be a launch I just think the lines on these plans are being read into way too much, I'll happily eat my own words as I'd love to see inversions but not getting my hopes up at all.

 

[Hutch]

Even without a launch and inversions I figure this could still be quite fun. But a launched lift hill and a zero g roll or two in the dark sound like some good stuff.