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Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

There's still time to pull the plug on this... I bet Varney is already looking at replacing it in a few seasons. Got the HB catalogues splayed over his desk, carefully picking his next major investment.
 
I'm looking forward to when we can bitch with all the facts before us.

(I'm excited at the idea of having a coaster I won't be too scared to ride)
 
If it rides anything like white lightning Alton will be onto a winner. Not too scary, just great airtime smile inducing fun.
 
Or, maybe it is a real world first, worthy of the SW brand : the world's first wooden powered coaster :emoji_heart_eyes:
 
If we wanted to be technical, whilst it isn't the same company by name, it's still (some of) the same people who are involved with the company. Merlin is, crudely speaking, just Tussauds with another layer or two of management sprinkled in and around.

But that's not really the point I was trying to make. They've got a ride which is largely seen by many as a world class coaster. It doesn't matter if you don't think it's the best or world class (as you should be able to appreciate why it's seen by many as so good) or when it was built. They've got a coaster right under their noses which is "world class", so yes, they can know what it world class.

Of course, it's all just marketing guff to capture the public's attention. The same phrase was used in 2002 when Thorpe were building Nemesis Inferno. It'll work, there's nothing stopping them doing it and it sounds a lot better than 'our first wooden coaster' / 'the UK's first wooden coaster in over 20 years' / whatever more sensible way they could have marketed it. Don't see why people get their knickers in a twist by that phrase.
 
JoshC. said:
If we wanted to be technical, whilst it isn't the same company by name, it's still (some of) the same people who are involved with the company. Merlin is, crudely speaking, just Tussauds with another layer or two of management sprinkled in and around.

But that's not really the point I was trying to make. They've got a ride which is largely seen by many as a world class coaster. It doesn't matter if you don't think it's the best or world class (as you should be able to appreciate why it's seen by many as so good) or when it was built. They've got a coaster right under their noses which is "world class", so yes, they can know what it world class.

Of course, it's all just marketing guff to capture the public's attention. The same phrase was used in 2002 when Thorpe were building Nemesis Inferno. It'll work, there's nothing stopping them doing it and it sounds a lot better than 'our first wooden coaster' / 'the UK's first wooden coaster in over 20 years' / whatever more sensible way they could have marketed it. Don't see why people get their knickers in a twist by that phrase.
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Its not the phrase that bugs me. Its that Nemesis was designed to be an amazing ride experience first and foremost but now everything Merlin has installed since has been a basic coaster layout with very little or no imagination. They then just come up with some poor gimmick or IP to make the ride seem more exciting than it really is. I would have much preferred to see the previously planned Canada Creek wooden coaster (When it was Tussauds) than Saw the Ride at Thorpe Park, which is essentially a Rough as **** basic layout Eurofighter with a horror movie IP to make it more appealing. Good coasters elsewhere in the world don't need an IP to make them good. It is the ride that does it. Look at Saw then tell me you wouldn't have preferred to ride this before the new "Management" decided to can it in favour of the more cost effective Eurofighter that is now one of the poorest rides in the country. 2009 Canada Creek Plans.jpg 2009 Canada Creek Plans 2.jpg
 
Psycoshark1 said:
Its not the phrase that bugs me. Its that Nemesis was designed to be an amazing ride experience first and foremost but now everything Merlin has installed since has been a basic coaster layout with very little or no imagination.
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Nah I'm not having that.

Oblivion was a worlds first, with a ridiculously good theme and marketing campaign built up for months of construction and throughout it's opening season too. You can argue it's a basic coaster layout with the benefit of hindsight and seeing current progressions, but the imagination around it was relatively unheard of at the time.

Likewise with Air, first(ish) of it's kind, huge imagination went into it.

Hell, even Thirteen was a stunning piece of imagination and a decent coaster, that was left down by over-promising and under-delivering.

Merlin are far from perfect and they haven't got close to Nemesis, and some of their recent investments have lacked that spark. But to say that all they've installed are basic coasters with no imagination is ridiculous hyperbole. They may not be world beating installations, but they're still far and away better than most other companies manage.
 
Also Saw doesn't have a "basic layout" it's a custom Eurofighter. The first and last sections are one of a kind. And it's fab.

It's impossible from plans to tell if a woodie 'wood' have been better. Some woodies are also rough as hell, too.
 
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