Wicker Man - General Discussion

[Swarm Chris]

Left flames on again. So seems technical issues that caused the downtime, rather than based on how busy the park is.

Edit: Man with hardhat and step ladder just showed up. Guess that's not the restraints then!

Edit 2: They're walking the track somewhere in the center, think the final exit from the Wickerman. Have to be thankful they are thorough on the morning checks.

Edit 3: gave up, but they've apparently opened X-sector early.

[glittabones]

Queue time was averaging 10 - 20 minutes last week - absolutely brilliant! I did see quite a few people leaving their seats as they were too big for the restraints. As a chubby girl that fills me with dread, haha. 

[Swarm Chris]

It's running at about that now. Haven't seen anyone denied boarding yet. Everything I've seen so far has been sensors getting upset.

[Robert.W]

Changing the subject slightly, Holovis have been nominated for an award in the Install Awards 2018, in the "Project Excellence" category for best "Visitor Attraction Project of the Year" for their part in creating Wicker Man!

[Swarm Chris]

Hooray! It has been really well done.

Rode maybe 10 times today and I had the slight feeling it was getting a little faster. My first ride on Saturday gave me the impression of it being a fairly tame coaster compared to the only woodie I'd ridden at Eftelling. But throughout today it definitely felt it had the out of control feeling as we hurtled through the first section.

Also, rode the last train of the day and one of the crew had a nice send off for it. More importantly, as soon as the last guests are off its handed back to tech services and they continue running tests on it.

So we may moan about it not being able to open on time, but they are working on it every opportunity they have.

[Robert.W]

I definitely agree that it's a much wilder ride as the day goes on. I think I managed to ride it in the perfect conditions on my first ride (which also happened to be my first ever wooden coaster), as the track was wet because of the heavy mist (the actual weather, not the artificial stuff created for the ride), and it wasn't raining or anything, plus the Wicker Man effigy looked spectacular in that weather!

Also brilliant to hear that they really are working to get the issues fixed with every opportunity they have!

[Dan]

Having been on park for the past two days, it seems that Alton may finally be getting somewhere with Wicker Man’s reliability issues.

Apart from a late opening and a short closure yesterday afternoon, it was operational for the entire two days. It was running on three trains yesterday and two today, and given the crowd levels going through the ride, it actually seemed to run better on two, as there was no stacking in the maintenance shed. Restraint issues are still happening, but it is a very quick fix and not something that slowed down throughput too much.

In terms of effects, the flames were operational on one side yesterday and this morning, but by this afternoon neither flame effect was working. The mist was in full effect, and the pre-show working perfectly, despite me hearing some niggles about it from others.

The coaster itself is still running great, and certainly does get more intense as the day goes on. I was on the first train yesterday and was surprised how slow it was, but by mid-afternoon I had a back row ride and it was as brilliant as ever.

[Swarm Chris]

Niggles about the pre-show from guests? Hope more don't just try and push their way through, which is extremely pointless as there's no where to go. I enjoyed it more than more established Disney pre-show like Phantom Manor. From the moment you enter to the moment you leave attention has been paid to the guest experience.

I seemed to have a different ride nearly every time yesterday. Rode front once and back a couple of times, and got more airtime at the front than I did at the back sometimes. Final run of the day I sat in the middle with just the first couple of rows front and back filled, and it still gave an amazing out of control ride.

I imagine it would work better on two trains in quiet days. I think only once in the entire day did I not get held waiting for the next train to depart the station. Although, I did hear several people get fairly spooked waiting in that shed, which may have increased their experience. Maybe Th13teen flashbacks for a few?

[Dan]

Niggles about the pre-show from guests?

Nope, niggles about how it was operating from other people who have experienced it recently.

[Swarm Chris]

Nope, niggles about how it was operating from other people who have experienced it recently.

Ah, I was niggling yesterday about pre-show batching not paying attention and overwhelming the station. Seemed to be just one operator who just started on that rotation and I suspect the station called back to get them to slow down a bit soon after.

[vikkimoo]

I definitely agree that it's a much wilder ride as the day goes on. I think I managed to ride it in the perfect conditions on my first ride (which also happened to be my first ever wooden coaster), as the track was wet because of the heavy mist (the actual weather, not the artificial stuff created for the ride), and it wasn't raining or anything, plus the Wicker Man effigy looked spectacular in that weather!

Also brilliant to hear that they really are working to get the issues fixed with every opportunity they have!

I got on it 3 times yesterday (and could easily have done more, the queue never went above about 20 mins, but my group wanted to do other rides too :lol) and I definitely agree that the last ride we did at about 2.30pm was insanely intense and fast. I thought it was just me  :lol

[monkeynips]

Just spotted this on channel 4 website:

Alton Towers (title TBC)

A one off documentary will go behind the scenes at Alton Towers, the UK’s biggest theme park as they launch their multi-million pound new rollercoaster, Wickerman. Eagerly awaited by rollercoaster enthusiasts as the first wooden rollercoaster in 21 years with a structure that appears to set on fire, this is also Alton Tower’s first new ride since The Smiler accident in 2015. We follow the team at Alton Towers as they work around the clock getting Wickerman ready for the big launch when the park re-opens this March.

Commissioning Editor: Charlotte Desai

Producer /Director: Michael Ogden

Executive Producer: Katie Buchanan

Prod Co: Films of the Record

Look forward to this

[DerpyQuark]

*facepalms* They had to mention the Smiler accident, didn’t they?

[ScottLann]

Any ideas on when abouts this will be aired? I look forward to seeing this!

[PhNx Survivor]

Oh.. by the way.. this is the first coaster since The Smiler crashed.. just saying, just in case nobody knew about this.. oh I almost forgot it happened in 2015.. yeah so now you know.. just in case you didn’t know.

Joking aside, this should be a nice little watch

[MakoMania]

No fire or smoke at all today

[AltonOperator]

This documentary features pete from virtual towers online. he was told it should be released around June

[Justin]

Just spotted this on channel 4 website:

Alton Towers (title TBC)

A one off documentary will go behind the scenes at Alton Towers, the UK’s biggest theme park as they launch their multi-million pound new rollercoaster, Wickerman. Eagerly awaited by rollercoaster enthusiasts as the first wooden rollercoaster in 21 years with a structure that appears to set on fire, this is also Alton Tower’s first new ride since The Smiler accident in 2015. We follow the team at Alton Towers as they work around the clock getting Wickerman ready for the big launch when the park re-opens this March.

Commissioning Editor: Charlotte Desai

Producer /Director: Michael Ogden

Executive Producer: Katie Buchanan

Prod Co: Films of the Record

Look forward to this

Also, they fell into the trap of Wicker Man, instead of Wicker Man :P

[TheDuke]

Just spotted this on channel 4 website:

Alton Towers (title TBC)

A one off documentary will go behind the scenes at Alton Towers, the UK’s biggest theme park as they launch their multi-million pound new rollercoaster, Wickerman. Eagerly awaited by rollercoaster enthusiasts as the first wooden rollercoaster in 21 years with a structure that appears to set on fire, this is also Alton Tower’s first new ride since The Smiler accident in 2015. We follow the team at Alton Towers as they work around the clock getting Wickerman ready for the big launch when the park re-opens this March.

Commissioning Editor: Charlotte Desai

Producer /Director: Michael Ogden

Executive Producer: Katie Buchanan

Prod Co: Films of the Record

Look forward to this

Also, they fell into the trap of Wicker Man, instead of Wicker Man :P

Heard about that a while back and forgot thanks for reminding me can't wait

[JC13]

Just spotted this on channel 4 website:

Alton Towers (title TBC)

A one off documentary will go behind the scenes at Alton Towers, the UK’s biggest theme park as they launch their multi-million pound new rollercoaster, Wickerman. Eagerly awaited by rollercoaster enthusiasts as the first wooden rollercoaster in 21 years with a structure that appears to set on fire, this is also Alton Tower’s first new ride since The Smiler accident in 2015. We follow the team at Alton Towers as they work around the clock getting Wickerman ready for the big launch when the park re-opens this March.

Commissioning Editor: Charlotte Desai

Producer /Director: Michael Ogden

Executive Producer: Katie Buchanan

Prod Co: Films of the Record

Look forward to this

I remember i heard about this on Wicker Man’s official opening day. I was 3rd to Wicker Man and they filmed the two people that got there before me. Still in some of the clips though. Looking forward to watching it