Wicker Man - General Discussion

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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Owen
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If the wickerman thing does come to be true I still think it'll be an original theme, just one that incorporates this as a central point in the attractions story! :)
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Capt.Barnacles
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Well just because it's utilising a wickerman name doesn't necessarily mean there's a tie in to either of the movies. Bear in mind it's been a pagan ritualistic act LONG before either of the movies existed :) In fact with Merlin's recent efforts to remove most of the IPs from Alton's site (I believe CBeebies Land is the only remaining IP on site), I'd be inclined to believe it's extremely unlikely to tie in with either film.
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Aidan Lowe
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Luce wrote:But whatever the theming structure turns out to be, it'll certainly have a good near miss moment :)
Not to mention the first time the train interacts with the theming structure you'll be traveling at some speed. Coming from the lift hill you enter the sound tunnel which goes on for quite a while, then it comes around a bend and straight through the structure and at speed this will take some people by surprise and be a real head chopper hair raising moment.

As for if it is or is not a wicker man type theming element from plans it could be similar this as seen in the game Ryse here.
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T0mPr1ce
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That's very much what I believe it is going to be like, Aiden. It won't be an IP in any sense, totally original theme on an ancient ritual. It's going to be very exciting crashing through the structure like mentioned.
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NemeJaney
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Aidan Lowe wrote:
Luce wrote:But whatever the theming structure turns out to be, it'll certainly have a good near miss moment :)
Not to mention the first time the train interacts with the theming structure you'll be traveling at some speed. Coming from the lift hill you enter the sound tunnel which goes on for quite a while, then it comes around a bend and straight through the structure and at speed this will take some people by surprise and be a real head chopper hair raising moment.
Hopefully it won't be too quick or too blind a bend to realise what's happened  :lol 
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RobJackson85
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Thanks for the replies. From what I have seen regarding was that the train will be using wicker brown colouring.
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Peet
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From the construction topic it looks like the track in and out of the "maintenance building" is in a tunnel - does anyone think this will be more than just a maintenance building? Could be another "what's in the shed" type gimmick like Mystic Timbers? I'm sure it will also contain a transfer track/maintenance area but it looks large enough to be part of the ride too.
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Aidan Lowe
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I don't particularly know much about wooden coasters so for me I don't know if the ride going through a maintenance area on its way back into the station is the "norm" as I'd imagine it's a bit more intricate than a steel coaster's transfer tracks and such.

But they could potentially incorporate a small section of the break-run /  maintenance area as part of the ride experience. I hope they don't though as Mystic Timbers I imagine left nothing but bitter taste in the mouth after all that hype surrounding it. 

As long as SW8 has plenty of airtime and is quite fast I think most people are going to be more than content.
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SonicChips
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Hiedi Ho, People

Read that right and rhymes a bit lol.

Anyway, admittedly I've not taken the time to through and read everything on here, so forgiveness be requested if what I say has been brought up / discussed or maybe even "case closed" earlier. Much talk seems to be the trend of late concerning wickerman, wickerstuff, wickerwee in one case - very good. As speculation goes, what, prey think, could be the Secret of this particular Weapon...? We should expect a World (or at least European) first or record breaker, although being urinated on by essentially the same inanimate character that burned Edward Woodward alive would carry a tag of "World First" (I think), it's likely to bring a formidable challenge to the promotions and marketing teams.

So, way back when I became a member on the forum, during construction of the Smiler, I recall seeing someone posted a picture of a poster which back then strongly hinted at a replacement to the Flume and described it as "Ground Breaking"; a term which seems to have carried over to the fences surrounding our now muchly anticipated SW8. Apart from digging up some planet, what ground is being broken here.....? The choice of words seems too specific to simply represent their face value - there is likely some pragmatics involved here.

Honestly, I'm really not knowledgeable enough to look and take even an educated guess - apart from the metal thing looks a bit mental to me. It would be most lovely to hear you feedback on this though, especially those who have seen it in real life! (I don't mean It, but the coaster being built - let's leave child eating clowns out of this.)

Sincerely your fun-loving but occasional ranting SonicChips.
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Owen
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Noooooooooo! Not that poster again! :lol

The general feel at the moment is it'll be "Europe's first launched wooden coaster" due to the ride using technology in it's first hill which is used in launch coasters. That being said, we obviously don't know the speed this will be so it may not be seen as a 'launch' as such and this is all still speculation that this will be the 'first'.

The poster on the other hand we have really put to bed (although it keeps cropping back up), as it doesn't seem to have any connection to this! 
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xylyx
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The wording of ground breaking does seem very carefully chosen to me too, but I've speculated on this myself earlier in the thread.

I'm most intrigued by the loft hill, watching it to get assembled, even just as bents, is intriguing and does make me ponder about the potential of the magnetic lift system. There is some suggestion in the discussion thread about banking on the turn into the drop, I wonder if that does hint that the lift will effectively launch into the shallower gradient and use that to smooth out the acceleration prior to going into the tunnel.
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simononestop
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yeah I just don't see it being a launch. think its kind of pointless. unless it carries the speed all the way and adds to the speed of the drop.
other wise lift hill or launch hill makes no real difference other than the total ride time?
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Count-Vonduel
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I dread to think what the sound tunnel will look like off ride
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ATI
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Count-Vonduel wrote:I dread to think what the sound tunnel will look like off ride
Probably similar to Gold Striker at CGA.
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Count-Vonduel
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WOW that will look dreadful on a compact layout surrounded by theming unless they fully theme the sound tunnels with rock work or something!
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Distantsic
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Could we be seeing a bull or Minotaur statue? If you look the statue has horns on either side of it's face

African Minotaur? Goodebumps? Mythology? Or am I just crazy.
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Ripsaw Raver
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Just an idea coould the lift be part of a "fake out drop" where you lift to a point and it rolls back before launching back up, We can all agree that the lift shape is far from orthodox .Or maybe we could be looking at a backwards wooden coaster?
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Adam.W
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Ripsaw Raver wrote:Or maybe we could be looking at a backwards wooden coaster?
That kills the point of having the near miss theming element - you'd only see the small gap you just went through after you went through it. It also just seems gimmicky, making a coaster go backwards for, well, the sake of doing it, rather than focusing on the ride itself.
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xylyx
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They may be thinking in terms of keeping the noise down to a minimum. A partial launch just to get you over the gradient change would be easier to contain,noise wise, than a full launch.

That change in gradient really intrigues me has there been another coaster that changes like this on the lift hill?
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swfcjambo
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Has anyone else looked at the construction so far, and noticed that there appears to be a lot of woodwork above where the track bed is?almost as if they're planning to add a roof over the track?
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