Wicker Man - General Discussion

[Dom]

Whilst it would would be highly hilarious to get pee'd on by a wooden wicker person, I highly doubt this will ever happen, and if it did it wouldn't be rain like. It would be mist. But I doubt it will happen as everyone knows the point of a wicker person is to burn it. We are more likely to see fire effects like smoke/fog or maybe even some real fire (Although i imagine not given how combustible wood is)

[Ladyofthelake]

Fire effects are definitely possible and can be used on wooden rollercoasters as long as they are positioned correctly - Wodan at Europa Park is one example.

Personally, I do think the fire, fog and smoke option is the most likely, and would be the more impressive option (provided they are maintained of course).

[Stan.H]

I know I'm swaying from the crowd a bit, but personally, i think we are getting mislead by Merlin, I'm leaning towards maybe a mining theme of some sort, hence all the tunnels, logs and wicker brown objects. Also, it'd link back to the AMT scare maze, as we have seen stuff like this in the past (e.g. The Smiler and The Sanctuary). Just a thought...

[Tom170499]

I know I'm swaying from the crowd a bit, but personally, i think we are getting mislead by Merlin, I'm leaning towards maybe a mining theme of some sort, hence all the tunnels, logs and wicker brown objects. Also, it'd link back to the AMT scare maze, as we have seen stuff like this in the past (e.g. The Smiler and The Sanctuary). Just a thought...

I see where you're going and I have had the same thought but what made me move away from that theme was the fact that there is already a mine themed coaster at AT so it would kind of make RMT redundant if SW8 was mine themed.

[Stan.H]

I know I'm swaying from the crowd a bit, but personally, i think we are getting mislead by Merlin, I'm leaning towards maybe a mining theme of some sort, hence all the tunnels, logs and wicker brown objects. Also, it'd link back to the AMT scare maze, as we have seen stuff like this in the past (e.g. The Smiler and The Sanctuary). Just a thought...

I see where you're going and I have had the same thought but what made me move away from that theme was the fact that there is already a mine themed coaster at AT so it would kind of make RMT redundant if SW8 was mine themed.

But who says they couldn't retheme the RMT and CRR to a more "tribal" theme, and the RMT has got barely any theming, compared to what I'm expecting with SW8, but I do see where yout coming from... hmmmm.

[Owen]

To be honest Alton themselves haven't actually mentioned anything about any theme yet, so I don't know how they're misleading anyone! :lol

[Tom170499]

To be honest Alton themselves haven't actually mentioned anything about any theme yet, so I don't know how they're misleading anyone! :lol

The only way in which it could be said they have 'misled' us is by stating on the map that SW8 is in Gloomy Wood.

[Robert.W]

Seeing as SW8 is supposedly part of Gloomy Wood, maybe it could have a haunted railway theme maybe? It's just something random I've thought, but, who knows?! I'm still not keen on the wickerman theme.

[Stan.H]

Seeing as SW8 is supposedly part of Gloomy Wood, maybe it could have a haunted railway theme maybe? It's just something random I've thought, but, who knows?! I'm still not keen on the wickerman theme.

me neither, I don't know why but it just doesn't have a "feel" to it if you get me. Who knows, that could be a great theme, maybe like a 'burn the witch' style theme would be cool...

[towerslover]

I don't want it to be linked with gloomy wood because I feel as though it may ruin the atmosphere there and especially with the rapids. It looks like you're going to be able to see plenty of sw8 from the end of the rapids and I can just see it ruining the happy atmosphere of kc if we get a huge burn the witch type ride.

I wish towers would start some marketing or hints! Especially as construction is progressing relatively quick!

[TheDuke]

I personally would prefer another theme to the wickerman one simply because of "not the bees" but I'm sure they'll start hinting soon towards its theme, I think a mine theme is likely simply because they keep calling it groundbreaking. I think the gloomy wood is still an option as they did have a concept for a "spooky" woody a few years back basically its all still open

[MakoMania]

I'm still just sat here thinking how the hell have they managed to get this past Merlin's marketing department!?

[Nickolai]

There must be something special to bring the guests back...

[NemesisRider]

Who's to say there's necessarily a secret element? Indulge me for a moment, if you will.

John Wardley (admittedly who is not working on this project) has always talked about rides where the unique selling point is just that it'll be a great ride. As far as I'm concerned Merlin could probably sell slightly over-priced, IMAscore soundtracked ice to eskimos - so I doubt they'd have too much trouble marketing a non-USP ride.

Additionally to this many other parks market their rides as just, well, good rides. Most parks in the US without a major title for their coasters just sell them as a new experience which will be enjoyable. Lastly, there's no saying they can't do what they did for something like Swarm or Flug Der Daemonen where it's just advertised as a new style of coaster for the particular country and focus in on the theme (something I really hope Alton can excel at with SW8).

Anyway, side-track aside, I think Europe's first launched wooden coaster is still very likely. We don't know the strength of the magnetic lift so we can currently only speculate how fast it will run. However weak the launch is they can still claim it as a marketing point! So, in conclusion, I'd say keep open minded as Merlin may well surprise us (after all, Smiler didn't have a washing machine in the end...).

[scruffy_]

me personally, it's exactly like air/galactica in FV,doesn't fit in at all with the rest of FV and is just it's own theme

Can't see SW8 being part of GW,KC or MB

[RobJackson85]

Forgive me if I've missed a glaring sign, but where has all the Wickerman speculation come from?

[Capt.Barnacles]

This whole wickerman scenario came about when one of the TTSP team (as always, brilliantly observant ) noticed a trademark filing from Merlin for a 'wickerman' name. So far there's no solid evidence to support that it is in any way linked to SW8, but yeah, it makes the most sense to be fair, BUT with what is going up regarding that theming element, I strongly believe that whatever the theme of the ride is, that structure is not a wickerman statue. Far too uneven and bulky (you can almost follow a rocky contour up some edges) to be a humanoid statue.

[MakoMania]

This whole wickerman scenario came about when one of the TTSP team (as always, brilliantly observant ) noticed a trademark filing from Merlin for a 'wickerman' name. So far there's no solid evidence to support that it is in any way linked to SW8, but yeah, it makes the most sense to be fair, BUT with what is going up regarding that theming element, I strongly believe that whatever the theme of the ride is, that structure is not a wickerman statue. Far too uneven and bulky (you can almost follow a rocky contour up some edges) to be a humanoid statue.

It's also worth remembering that a contractor posted that they were building a "Wicker Man Ride" on twitter months before the trademark application was submitted. The tweet was swiftly removed.

[Owen]

It spawned from a worker posting #wickermanride on Twitter (this was swiftly removed) [as stated above], the trade mark stated above has also been filed and the most recent lighting plan was fairly revealing in the shape of the theming element from above, which looked very much like a wickerman outline at a birds eye perspective!

EDIT - If I remember correctly, we also know the trains are supposedly going to feature some kind of wicker resembling design on the exterior based on recent plan modifications!

[Luce]

I'd like to think that Merlin would come up with an original theme for SW8 but we'll just have to wait and see.But whatever the theming structure turns out to be, it'll certainly have a good near miss moment