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More Woodies in the UK

CrashCoaster

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
So after the success of Wicker Man at Alton Towers being the first wooden coaster built in the UK in over 20 years, using modern technologies from GCI, does anyone think this will inspire more UK parks to take note of Wicker Man's success and build more wooden coasters across the country, and do people think that we will be seeing them pop up anytime soon?
 
I personally reckon Paultons could potentially be receiving a family GG in 2020 as part of Tornado Springs; I reckon something like Wooden Warrior or Oscar's Wacky Taxi could work brilliantly at Paultons!

I also reckon Thorpe could potentially build one from either GCI or RMC some time in the future, but I reckon some sort of hyper might be first on Thorpe's list for the time being.
 
Honestly? Probably not. I don't think we will see Thorpe or BPB add a woodie anytime soon short maybe retracking from BPB. As Alton has Wicker Man, and we've waited a LONG time for that, what other parks could financially support a woodie? Especially a major install.

If you do see one, and this would be great, would be from GCI/GG and their mini-woodies. I'm actually surprised those haven't caught on as they're cheap and really good tbh. Would fit in a half dozen parks over there just off the top of my head.
 
Well there is the Gulliver's Valley one expected to open in 2020.

Aside from that I agree that Paultons or Thorpe are our best bets - I'm hoping for a Wood Express type coaster at Paultons and a Troy type one at Thorpe. I shall prepare myself to be disappointed!
 
Thorpe Park I reckon. In fact, I'd put money on Thorpe's next coaster being a woodie. GCI would be my guess. Of course, a hyper would be lovely, but they're expensive. Whereas a wooden coaster would only have to be something the size of, say, Troy to claim the height, length and speed records for the UK. They could probably nab the steepest record too. Imagine that on the adverts - "The UK's longest, tallest, fastest, steepest wooden roller coaster".
After the success of Wicker Dude, Thorpe Park would literally be mental to not cash in on that.
 
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Wicker has proven to the corporate gimps at Merlin that you don't need a world's first with a new coaster. Going forward you think they would roll more out across all their parks mainly because they're more cost effective.
 
Wickerman's success?

What success is this? I thought all the recent noise from Alton was that they'd had yet another piss poor season and were trying to pay reduced business rates as a result?
 
Like @Snoo I'm amazed more parks didn't look at Twister at Grun Lund and grab themselves a mini GG woodie. If Drayton Manor weren't in such financial trouble it would be a perfect fit for them, or somewhere like Paultons Park. Thorpe will probably get one at somepoint, maybe a replacement for Loggers down in that bit of the forest. I don't think it'll be next though, they would have planned and designed it a while ago and probably didn't want to commit before they knew Wicker Man did.
 
I remember there being quite a bit of talk in the G-Force topic that the theme park industry in the UK is clearly been on the decline. Unless something changes to turn the industry towards growth, we likely won't see many coasters in general.

With that being said, the points regarding Wicker Man's cost effectiveness could be viewed as a reason for hope. A midsize B&M product is approaching $20 million whereas GCI's creations are still around $5 million. As many have pointed out, it's a wonder that The Gravity Group's family Woodies haven't taken off like wildfire because they're even cheaper to build with an absolutely tiny footprint.
 
Can only really agree with Howie on this. The only park in my eyes that will now opt for wood is Thorpe. Kind of by default though, since other UK parks either cannot afford to invest in that kind of product or simply won't. A few people have proposed the idea of BPB going for wood whenever they next decide to build a coaster, but I can't see it happening.
 
I think Paultons Park could be building a Gravity Group family woodie for their 2020 Tornado Springs expansion! It would attract both thrillseekers and families, especially as Paultons targets kids only up to the age of 13, and fit nicely with the Storm Chaser moniker. These woodies are relatively cheap compared to other family coasters on the market, and can fit in some awkward locations (read: Twister at Grona Lund or Kentucky Flyer at Kentucky Kingdom), even though I don't know why Paultons would name their coaster identically to the RMC Hybrid at Kentucky Kingdom. Apparently, according to Thrillnation.net, it has a similar budget to that of the Lost Kingdom (where Pterosaur and Velociraptor opened in 2016), and based off of my own analysis it is of a similar size as well.
 
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