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Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

Smithy said:
Maybe they're relying on the theme being the thrill aspect of it rather than the actual ride itself?

Can't get teenagers excited about a woodie that doesn't look to do much but can get them excited in a dark horror theme.
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I think this is the idea they're shooting for, but to continue the metaphor, it's paper-thin, and their own foot is behind it.

They have a ride that is less-than-thrilling, but also a thrill reputation they want to maintain. So it seems they try to make up for the ride experience by tacking on a thrilling theme, instead of embracing the family-friendliness. Now thrillseekers will find the ride experience tame and overhyped, while families who'd like the ride experience are scared away by the gloomy atmosphere. It's just like Thirteen, which could have been a good family coaster if Alton hadn't insisted on selling it as a "dark psychological experience". Or Rita, which for some reason got a gloomy retheme. Dark and edgy just for the sake of appearing more thrilling and scary than it really is. They might have got it right with Smiler (and way before then, with Nemesis), which has a ride experience to match the themeing, but the aforementioned attractions just sound like an attempt to cheaply squeeze out more thrill than they are willing to actually pay for. Family ride, family-unfriendly wrapping, disappointment for all.
 
Wouldn't it be interesting if Merlin continued their mismatched marketing/themes with their rides. Perhaps we can soon expect to ride a huge cross-valley RMC themed towards the alphabet or a marshmallow land.
 
People love dark themes, I mean, look at scare mazes, they're berely intense at all, you probably go a max of 2mph, there's not banking, berely any height variant yet people flock to them.


In all seriousness though I think people labelling Thirteen as a failure of marketing are missing the point here. Those pre-teen kids are pretty fearless. I've taken a seen plenty of kids under 1.4 at alton trying to drag their parents onto Oblivion or The Smiler. They're reaching that age where they want to tell their school mates of the scary rollercoaster they rode on their summer holidays. When I was there, every single day I had to deal with a guest who's child was too small for Galactica or Nemesis, I could always say "but there is a big rollercoaster you CAN go on!" and point them to Thirteen. That way the family still felt like they were getting their money's worth (to an extent) it was a useful tool in diffusing the situation.

I don't expect SW8 to be groundbreaking on the world stage by any means, but I'm very excited to ride it. I've grown very fond on re-ridable family coasters that make me giggle all the way round over rides that make me almost pass out/throw up. It may be packaged as the next Nemesis, but who cares, it gives the kids a chance to feel like they've ridden a Nemesis equivilent.
 
Would love to know what globally unique means from the video number 2. Is that the same as worlds first?


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WhollyRudeTech said:
Would love to know what globally unique means from the video number 2. Is that the same as worlds first?


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I suppose globally unique could reference something that did once exist, but no longer does.
 
To be fair, just having a different layout is being 'globally unique'.

Or being Wicker Man themed is.

It sounds like marketing speak without actually being anything specific.

A bit like 'World class' like what does that mean.
 
Yup, it's marketing jargon without any real weight or point to it.
Every living thing is globally unique, anything not identically mass produced is globally unique.

It's a **** term, poor decisions constantly being made it seems.
 
Lofty said:
I'm guessing you don't know much about the human anatomy as that's absolutely not his stomach.
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Surely we are not turning this thread into a discussion about the anatomy of a piece of ride theming. For those of you who are a bit anal about these things it was his chest.
 
I thought they were going to build a full blown Wickerman, but its just a head and torso :(
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sauce
 
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