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Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

For me,Troy is the Nemesis of wooden coasters, it's pace gets quicker and quicker throughout, building a huge amount of momentum to go through the twisty layout. Troy has pretty much zero airtime (which is usually the thing that attracts me to woodies) but it has intensity, speed and a great layout.

Wodan did nothing for me. There was a whisper of airtime but nothing to get excited about. The intensity was good but nothing compared to Troy (or Thunderhead, which I also love).
 
Oh Renegade... Man, I forget that thing exists. It was good, but I'm just sad it's so out of the way at a dumpy park surrounded by other dumpy parks. I have no desire to ever go back that way. So I forget about it. But yeah, it was good. Operations sucked there too. Eugh, need to go back to forgetting that place asap.

Thunderhead is outstanding and objectively the best GCI imo, but Lightning Racer is my personal favourite. It's a different kind of good, just such honest fun. I liked Joris too, but Lighting Racer is by far the best racing/dueling coaster I've been on by miles. It really bounds around, dancing with the other train. In general I like GCIs rides, I quite like the sweeping turns over the airtime machines.

I won't get to ride Wickerman until mid May, but despite the fact I rather like GCI and all the praise it's getting I'm still not expecting anything too special. I am hoping that photos and videos just don't do it justice as a space.

(I've still not been on Troy or Woodan, I know, I know... I need to sort my life out.)
 
Is it the same kind of breakdown every time? Been hearing that it's been breaking down a lot, I know there was a rumour that there was a new sensor trial going on but still, it had been testing with people for months. Unless maybe they didn't test with two (or three?) trains then and the issues are due to that?? I expect they would have done that though...?
 
SilverArrow said:
Is it the same kind of breakdown every time? Been hearing that it's been breaking down a lot, I know there was a rumour that there was a new sensor trial going on but still, it had been testing with people for months. Unless maybe they didn't test with two (or three?) trains then and the issues are due to that?? I expect they would have done that though...?
Click to expand...

I think it's the new sensor/brake system having trouble dealing with three trains. Engineers have been fiddling around with the outside break run quite a bit yesterday and they've taken out one of the trains and everything seemed to work a lot better afterwards. But just a guess from my side.
 
Matt N said:
What did you think?
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After two rides and waiting longer because of the ride just breaking down several times, I do have to say I quite liked the entire experience. That is, the theme, build-up and ride itself. If I were to judge the ride by itself, it is a really save options as a new addition for Alton, maybe a bit too tame (but then again it is a family coaster, but then again with the pre-show and all, I'm surprised I didn't hear any small children just scream out loud).
It does miss some little tricks here and there for me to make it a world class experience as advertised, but I can imagine why Alton/Merlin wouldn't fully commit to it. :P
 
NeoXIII said:
After two rides and waiting longer because of the ride just breaking down several times, I do have to say I quite liked the entire experience. That is, the theme, build-up and ride itself. If I were to judge the ride by itself, it is a really save options as a new addition for Alton, maybe a bit too tame (but then again it is a family coaster, but then again with the pre-show and all, I'm surprised I didn't hear any small children just scream out loud).
It does miss some little tricks here and there for me to make it a world class experience as advertised, but I can imagine why Alton/Merlin wouldn't fully commit to it. :p
Click to expand...
Great stuff! Glad to hear that you liked it! I also think that the coaster is a fantastic experience overall, and for me, I actually thought the coaster on its own was fantastic!

With regards to the theme, I like that Merlin have attempted a more mystical attempt at dark theming, as opposed to their usual out-and-out grim dark theming. While their usual theming is still fantastic, I do prefer Wicker Man's style, as it gives off quite a different vibe to Merlin's other themes. Whereas Merlin's usual themes tend to have dark written all over them, Wicker Man's theme is more mystical, and doesn't give too much away. If you get what I mean. Don't get me wrong, Merlin's other themes are all fantastic, but Wicker Man is on a completely new level of theming, and it makes me really optimistic for future Merlin attractions. In their defence, The Smiler is another coaster that isn't really out-and-out grim, but I didn't find The Smiler to have Wicker Man's mystical vibe, either. The Smiler gives off a very strange sort of vibe, in that it appears nice and cheery at first, but once you delve further into it, it really starts to get quite creepy. Anyway, that's going off-topic a bit. Glad to hear you enjoyed Wicker Man.
P.S. Sorry for the long post.
 
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