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Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

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I guess Terminator: The Ride was actually the ‘world's first rollercoaster experience fusing wood and fire’ but they built a half decent coaster instead of using a rediculous worlds first gimmick to sell a mediocre layout.
 
Here's the guilty party's defense:

Alton Towers PR said:
Wicker Man is the UK’s first new wooden rollercoaster experience in 21 years and comes with a globally unique twist – bringing together wood and fire for the very first time. A Wicker Man structure standing at 57.57ft (17.55m) tall – the height of a six-storey building – will dominate the very centre of Alton Towers Resort, appearing to burst into flames as the wooden track races three separate times through the structure.

The project, previously known as ‘SW8’*, is the latest in a series of mould-breaking ride launches from the Staffordshire theme park that have helped define the industry. A world-class team of experts continue to work on the new attraction, led by Great Coasters International, the world’s leading creators of wooden rollercoasters. The safety of guests has been paramount in the design and build of Wicker Man, incorporating the latest in proven safety technology, rigorous testing and hundreds of training hours for ride operators.

Bradley Wynne, Creative Lead at Alton Towers Resort commented: “We are delighted to finally be announcing Wicker Man as the latest ground-breaking thrill attraction from Alton Towers Resort for 2018. Guests will be ‘chosen’ to take part in a celebratory ‘rite of passage’ as they race through the flaming Wicker Man.

“We hope visitors will be blown away by Wicker Man’s breath-taking scale whilst the primal essence of the wooden coaster and astonishing effects will leave them delighted, exhilarated and eager to ride again.”

Visitors to Alton Towers Resort in 2018 will embark on a multi-sensory rite of passage, in which they’ll be drawn into the mysterious world of The Beornen, a shadowy group living in the woods surrounding the theme park.

The first publicity pictures hinting at the nature of the forthcoming attraction include artwork created by globally-celebrated illustrator Kyle Lambert – known across the world as the artist behind the imagery for award-winning show Stranger Things, alongside other Hollywood movie work including Jurassic Park, Super 8 and Jumanji.
Click to expand...
 
They couldn’t think of enough positive things to say about the actual attraction in their official PR statement, so they’ve had to hype up the artwork illustrator...

And this “World’s First” really kills any kind of credibility for the towers now. It’s in no way a first, but I guess anyone can now report fake news these days.
 
I was kind of hoping we’d get information we didn’t already all know today booo.

I love the images, the Worlds first is terrible and the name leaked so long ago I forgot this was meant to be news.
 
Oh yeah, forgot about this.

Somehow became even less interesting as construction went on. It'll probably be a mid-tier attraction at the park, and will recede into obscurity after the hype dies down.
 
The ride looks good, but that world's first...um... I think you've outdone yourselves there Towers. *slow clap*
 
The artwork is really nice....
Ummm "worlds first" though - I'm imagining the statue all covered in flames - or a pre-show flame tunnel or something - that'd be cool, ; it'll be more like a miserable fart of flame popping out the top of the 'man' though I guess.
Anyway we'll see, still quite looking forward to it.
 
It looks exactly as dark and gritty as we expected, and the "world's first" thing was possibly even more contrived than anybody had thought beforehand. Now we'll only have to wait and see what it rides like, and if anybody will be turned away by the dark theme, but so far the analyses of last year seem pretty spot-on.
 
Well it's officially got fire then. I don't get it.

In a park that is recovering from a bad accident and trying to give off a new image of safety (reiterated by that new PR piece telling us how many hours they've been training staff).

And in a country that considers wooden coasters to be old and unsafe, that hasnt built one in 20 years, and in a week where a fabulous woodie was torn down for safety fears (despite supposedly passing safety inspections this year).

We get a wooden roller coaster on fire!

I just can't understand the decision. It's unnecessary, the world first is pretty much a lie anyay. This is just a little bit embarrassing.

On the plus side, I like the Pagan/nature theme and think it fits with Alton's existing themes. But I'm not a great fan of how it's been executed - cults and logic puzzles rather than general mysticism. Meh.
 
Last edited:
Mysterious Sue said:
Well it's officially got fire then. I don't get it.

In a park that is recovering from a bad accident and trying to give off a new image of safety (reiterated by that new PR piece telling us how many hours they've been training staff).

And in a country that considers wooden coasters to be old and unsafe, that hasnt built one in 20 years, and in a week where a fabulous woodie was torn down for safety fears (despite supposedly passing safety inspections this year).

We get a wooden roller coaster on fire!
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've already seen a few posts on social media by people put off by The Smiler incident who are not at all impressed by a new wooden ride being set on fire.
It's like someone saw the concept, put wood with wickerman then "burn him!" and no-one at any point since has stopped to think if that's a good idea or not.
 
Yeah, stupid. have already had several people comment on how unsafe it is, this isn't going to get more people in the UK keen to ride a wooden coaster.
 
Eurgh. Just posted on twitter that I thought it was a bad theme for a family coaster, and someone's told me I'm "talking rubbish" as Alton Towers haven't said it's a family coaster, so therefore it isn't.

Are Alton Towers going for a new world record of how many demographics they can discourage from riding a coaster?
 
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