Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

[PeteA]

Well here is my two-penneth on the Wicker Basket. Its a solid family woodie which has some good theming and the overall experience has been well thought out and (in parts) executed well. The issues that it has been having are puzzling, its essentially just another GCI woodie and you would have thought that the control systems would be working well on the ride.

This is a ride which will come into its own at night, which unfortunately will be limited to a few weeks in October. The flames and lighting have been well executed, although the fat droplets of water from the fog misters on the lower pass through the Wicker Man are acutally a little painful. I hope that they sort this out.

As for the ride itself, it doesnt do anything for me whatsoever. The best section is the second drop followed by the right / left curve which does provide some fun, but aside from that, its a family woodie and thats all it is. The ride has little airtime and in no way does it have any ejector. Ejector airtime is what I crave, ie my fave coasters are El Toro and Skyrush, and this only has mild air. I managed to ride 4 times, twice at the back, once mid train and finally the very front and bizarrely, I actually preferred the front seat.

It will be a success, peeps appear to like it, but its just not for me, Nemesis and Rita are still my favourite coasters in the park.

 

[DelPiero]

I know it means it doesn't That's the point.

It does have some good ejector towards the back, and some good floater towards the front. I haven't really ridden in the middle, but I'd think you'd get some good floater on the hill just after the "boring corner".

The ride ops like to staple everyone, so I'd try and sit slightly forward, or try and push your stomach out when they squeeze down, to try and give you some wiggle for proper airtime.

Then why even try to compare them? By all means compare it with another GCI, any other woodie sure, but a hyper? They are nothing alike.

@PeteA has just written that there's no ejector, and he knows his onions. The best ejector in the country is on Saw airtime hill (imo), there isn't really any others apart from Speed and maybe Cobra @ Paultons that have ejector currently. So if it feels similar to Saw's hill then sure, there's ejector, but I doubt it feels like that at all.

 

[Lofty]

Even Mystic Timbers doesn't have ejector - this absolutely won't.

 

[CrashCoaster]

Going over that first drop on the back has more ejector than you'd think.
I'm comparing it to Shambhala because I haven't ridden that many airtime-filled coasters, Shambhala is my number 1, and Wicker Man has enough airtime to satisfy me personally.
You guys are making it seem like I'm not entitled to my own opinion. I think younger kids would like the ride (the coaster bit), but also people my age who have never ridden anything quite like it.
Until you've ridden it, I don't think it's quite fair to blast my opinions.

EDIT:- Found this sneaky front row POV on YouTube:-

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Of course you're entitled to your opinion.
Airtime is, to some extent, objective but not entirely (especially when comparing two very different types of coaster).

It's pretty obvious that Shambhala (with its greater height and hills built for airtime) has more airtime than a low to the ground, family-scale GCI woodie, built more for twists and turns.

I'm not criticising but you have to understand that people are going to poke holes in your opinions if they are built on shifting sand.

 

[DelPiero]

Going over that first drop on the back has more ejector than you'd think.
I'm comparing it to Shambhala because I haven't ridden that many airtime-filled coasters, Shambhala is my number 1, and Wicker Man has enough airtime to satisfy me personally.

As I thought, you are comparing what you have ridden, which is fine, Wickerman is one of the most airtime filled rides you have ridden. Absolutely no issue with that, but there's at least a hundred other coasters out there with more airtime, Shambz being high up that list, so comparing them is wrong, however much your limited ride count groups them near the top of your personal list.

You guys are making it seem like I'm not entitled to my own opinion. I think younger kids would like the ride (the coaster bit), but also people my age who have never ridden anything quite like it.

You absolutely are entitled to your own opinion, I can't wait to get my 6 year old on it, he will lose his ****!

Until you've ridden it, I don't think it's quite fair to blast my opinions.

Oh the irony

 

[PeteA]

Of course you are entitled to your own opinion and I am really pleased that you like the ride and rate it highly.

With regards to the airtime, it does have a few moments of floater, but in my opinion no ejector. Now, I may have ridden it on a bad day or when it wasn't quite warmed up, but at the times I did, there was no great amount of air whatsoever and certainly no moments where I had thoughts like "OMG I am going to die" going round in my head . I think your comment "people my age who have never ridden anything quite like it." is quite telling. We are deprived of ejector airtime machines in the UK, so when something comes along which gives a little tickle of what airtime is, then its something new. I remember riding the Big Dipper the first time with the old PTC buzz bar trains and flying out of my seat on every drop, thinking how awesome that was. Now that is just airtime to me, whereas the likes of El Toro, Wildfire, Sky Rush et al, produce insane ejector.

Wicker Man has enough airtime to satisfy me personally

If you ever get to Six Flags Great Adventure, I would love to see your face when you ride El Toro and discover what ejector airtime really is

 

[Temleh]

Wicker Man has a tiny bit of airtime but that's not what the ride is about. It's super twisty and is in my opinion the most fun rollercoaster at Alton Towers.

 

[CrashCoaster]

Does Wodan have much airtime?

 

[spicy]

I can't quite think of another roller coaster that has such an interesting range of different reviews/opinions like Wickerman.

Can't work out if it is - new coaster hype/rider has only experienced a small amount of wooden coasters/ It's genuinely amazing.

If we took an average of the reviews though I think the general consensus is AT are onto a winner and Wickerman is a solid addition, which can only be a positive thing as we don't want to wait another 22 years for a UK woodie.

 

[zazobo]

Does Wodan have much airtime?

Not a great deal, no. Lots of lateral but not very much airtime really.

 

[Howie]

If we took an average of the reviews though I think the general consensus is AT are onto a winner and Wickerman is a solid addition, which can only be a positive thing as we don't want to wait another 22 years for a UK woodie.

If other park managers were monitoring what's been going on at Alton this past week, I'm quite certain that once they'd seen the crowds turning up in droves to ride the Wicker Dude, they'd have been on the phone to GCI, GG or RMC quicker than a... than a..
Quicker than a big bag of quick things.
We'll be reet.

 

[sandgrown]

If other park managers were monitoring what's been going on at Alton this past week, I'm quite certain that once they'd seen the crowds turning up in droves to ride the Wicker Dude, they'd have been on the phone to GCI, GG or RMC quicker than a... than a..
Quicker than a big bag of quick things.
We'll be reet.

Do RMC ever do straightforward retrackings? I can think of a very rattly ride or two that doesn't need a layout overhaul, but could benefit from having some posh modern tracks on it.

 

[davidm]

^ historically they only did construction / repairs ; https://www.rockymtnconstruction.com/portfolio.php its only since they teamed up with Mr Schilke have they gone super-nova in terms of their own coasters.
They do plug the topper track as just a straight repair type thing https://www.rockymtnconstruction.com/topper-track.php though "Topper Track can utilize existing or new wood or steel ledgers"

 

[Lofty]

Does Wodan have much airtime?

It has a bit yes. Especially in the back and during the summer period - it flies and screeches around the track.

 

[Pear]

I honestly have enjoyed all of the GCI's I've ridden in the front more than the back. Especially Troy and Wodan.

 

[CrashCoaster]

@nadroJ I saw the review you posted on your site, and I agree with pretty much all of it.

It truly is an immersive experience. The back is definitely the best though. I rode in row 11 and got quite a lot of airtime on some of those transitions, especially the first drop. GCI do some great, smooth transitions.

 

[GeodieCoasterFan]

Finally got on this one today after a couple of hours wait, thoroughly well worth it

Theming is excellent, even if the music did grate on me a bit after a while, seats are really comfortable for a very large gentleman such as my self, the ride was so smooth, love the fast back and forward turns a bit like Mystic Timbers. As others have said not really any airtime but a ride can be good without air time in my view ( especially woodies)

The interactions with the wicker man itself were the only slight downside as I expected heat and it was a cold mist all 3 times which on a cold and wet day wasn't great. Hopefully they can sort out the 'bugs' in operating and get in running smoothly as cant wait to ride again and dont want to have to wait for hours on a day when the park is pretty quiet

 

[Thekingin64]

Managed to get 4 rides on this today (all times in middle of train!). Much better than I was expecting and actually carries some decent speed! It is quite obvious that in the designing stage, the ride went much slower through the 'boring corner' than it does, possibly explaining the lack of banking on it.

There is floater airtime in parts but not that much, tends to focus on the twisty nature of the ride rather then airtime. Just have to wait and see to see how it holds up to Icon though.

 

[elephant58]

Managed to get 4 rides on this today (all times in middle of train!). Much better than I was expecting and actually carries some decent speed! It is quite obvious that in the designing stage, the ride went much slower through the 'boring corner' than it does, possibly explaining the lack of banking on it.

There is floater airtime in parts but not that much, tends to focus on the twisty nature of the ride rather then airtime. Just have to wait and see to see how it holds up to Icon though.

Four times?! That's lucky, I managed to get on it after a near two hour wait not long after it opened for the day.

So seeing as everyone else is sharing their opinions, I might as well. In brief, I personally thought it was great. Whilst the reviews from the past week left me feeling hopeful, I couldn't help thinking it'd give a Thirteen-style kind of experience. But it's a hell of a lot more exciting than Thirteen and definitely in the 'thrill' category. It throws you around loads, probably more than Rita does, but I wouldn't say it has much airtime though. Maybe that was because I was sat on row 5 (I think), but the whole layout seemed to be a lot more about the twistiness and interactions with the theming. The fact it's quite compact really helps to make it seem faster than it probably is as well. In terms of the ride itself, the only thing which let me down, as well as probably everyone else from the get go, is how short it is. On the good side though, it means it hasn't let up much speed by the time you reach the brakes.

I thought the pre-show was pretty good as well. A bit like Hex's in that it's on a big screen above you and doesn't last too long, but better. I thought the second part of the pre-show was actually fairly immersive too and provided some good atmosphere. The tunnel in the shed at the end of the ride is alright too I guess, in that it sprays mist and is lit up, so at least something happens. The only other let down aside from the length is that the throughput seems to be very low and obviously it was having quite a few teething problems (hence the 2 hour queue on a basically empty day), but of course that should get better with time.

All in all, I'd probably rate it third in the park personally, behind Oblivion and Nemesis, with it being just a bit more forceful than the Smiler.