Wicker Man Reviews & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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ChessingtonSam
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Well, I got on it, some of you may have seen my posts in the General Discussion bit about noise. And it was alright for that, in terms of the ride I need another go as I had my lap bar on too tight which killed my leg on the way round. But even then it was okay.

Also worth mentioning somebody who also didnt want to go in the pre show shoved open the exit door, meaning nobody got to experience it and, furthermore, there were only four people on our train.
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Jcoaster
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ChessingtonSam wrote:Well, I got on it, some of you may have seen my posts in the General Discussion bit about noise. And it was alright for that, in terms of the ride I need another go as I had my lap bar on too tight which killed my leg on the way round. But even then it was okay.

Also worth mentioning somebody who also didnt want to go in the pre show shoved open the exit door, meaning nobody got to experience it and, furthermore, there were only four people on our train.
It's a shame how you didn't get to see the preshow as it is spectacular!
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dansandman
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Just wanted to share our review and experience of riding. Spoilers- we absolutely loved it!

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streetmagix
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I've finally ridden Wicker Man and I'm so impressed by everything. It's better than the sum of it's parts.

The first time I went in the preshow it was spoiled by an automated announcement that 'the ride is currently running empty due to testing' which drowned out the last few sentences on the voiceover. No such problems the second time though.

The preshow was excellent but it has the same issue as the old Smiler Baggage Hold / Merge point. I saw one train go out with about 3 rows filled, when my group finally got through there was no one waiting in the airgates. I really hope they get that side of the operations sorted, I really hope they don't rip out /alter the preshow.

The trains look amazing. Hearing some issues about the restraights made me nervous, I only *just* fit in Woden and generally need a good shove for it to lock. No such problems this time, I did see some (much thinner) people have issues so I guess it's an issue with certain seats?

The drop out of the station feels faster than it looks, a great way of starting the ride. The lift hill feels weird with the different gradients but after that the ride just doesn't give up, so well paced and some amazing airtime. The unbanked curve is a great 'breather' whilst providing something better than say a MCBR or plain straight section.

The only downsides were: no (real) fire on Big Bob and the appalling reliability over the last 2 days. I reckon it's only been operating maybe 3 hours a day, I really hope they can fix it. At one point they had 6 people working in the ops cabin!
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Jcoaster
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It's a shame Big Bob still has no real fire, had none when we visited on the 8th, 9th and 10th of this month either.
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Dan
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Jcoaster wrote:It's a shame Big Bob still has no real fire, had none when we visited on the 8th, 9th and 10th of this month either.
From comments made on other forums, it appears that the blame for the fire effect not working doesn’t lay at Alton’s feet.

I’m sure it will be working again as soon as whatever the issue is is fixed.
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Robert.W
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In all honesty, I didn't really notice the lack of fire effects, although that could have been to do with the really heavy misty weather more than anything, so I don't really know what it is like on a normal day. Got some stunning pictures of the ride, even without the fire! :)
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JC13
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After having ridden Wicker Man 9 times, I feel like I can give my review.

The area around the ride is beautiful, and the music really compliments the area. Big Bob really does look intimidating from the ground. I love the entrance for the ride, it just fits in and looks great with the coaster speeding over the entrance.

The queue looks great, and you can always see parts of the coaster after the cattlepen at the start of the queue. I like that the music gets darker throughout the queue, and you can always tell it is there.

The baggage hold is nice, it doesn’t look plain, and the music is playing, so you feel fully immersed.

The pre show. WOW. The video sets up the anticipation for the ride and the projection mapped head looks stunning, and intimidating. The whole room is well themed and I still notice new things in the room every ride.

The station looks great, and the music that plays when a train is dispatched really builds up the anticipation for the ride.

The drop out of the station is faster than it looks, and provides some decent laterals. The lift hill builds suspense with the music, and then you are in the first tunnel. If you are near the back you are pulled over the first drop and get great airtime. The big airtime hill provides decent airtime and then, if you are near the back, pulled over the drop into the most intense part of the ride, you really get thrown about. You then pass through Big Bob, and the turnaround is fun. The 2 airtime hills, WOW. The first provides good airtime, but the second is pure insanity. I was on row 8, and was almost standing on the second bunny hill. The ride then climbs to boring corner, which really isn’t bad, as you can process what just happened. You then go down the drop and into a largish airtimte hill, which provides good airtime. You then go through a second hill, which does have airtime, and glide into the brakes. The maintenance shed isn’t bad, at least staff are getting more used to the ride now. The effects are a nice little bonus, even if they aren’t timed right.

Overall, Alton Towers did a phenomenal job with Wicker Man, I could ride it all day. It’s not my favourite in the park though, as that goes to Rita. It is my second favourite, and feel it could become my favourite if i can get a back row night ride. It is easily my favourite woodie, and I need more time to decide where it sits on my list. I think it could end up at number 3 or 4, behind Shambhala, Rita, and maybe Red Force.
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ChessingtonSam
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Jcoaster wrote:
ChessingtonSam wrote:Well, I got on it, some of you may have seen my posts in the General Discussion bit about noise. And it was alright for that, in terms of the ride I need another go as I had my lap bar on too tight which killed my leg on the way round. But even then it was okay.

Also worth mentioning somebody who also didnt want to go in the pre show shoved open the exit door, meaning nobody got to experience it and, furthermore, there were only four people on our train.
It's a shame how you didn't get to see the preshow as it is spectacular!
Oh I wasn't going to anyway!
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Jcoaster
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Dan wrote:
Jcoaster wrote:It's a shame Big Bob still has no real fire, had none when we visited on the 8th, 9th and 10th of this month either.
From comments made on other forums, it appears that the blame for the fire effect not working doesn’t lay at Alton’s feet.

I’m sure it will be working again as soon as whatever the issue is is fixed.
I'm not saying it was Alton's responsibility, I was just saying it was a shame, still a great centrepiece though regardless
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vikkimoo
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Got 3 rides on Wicker Man yesterday and could easily have had more - I didn't see the queue time go above 20 mins on the app - but my group wanted to get on as many different rides as possible as it was so quiet.

We got to the park about 9.45 and agreed that we would get to Wicker Man and just try to get on it first thing in case it got mega busy, then we'd done it. After a couple of very excited pictures outside and a quick chat with the guy on the gate, we walked and walked through the queue line, only stopping at the baggage hold. Very excited by this point and the pre show only built the hype further. The projection is very clever and I love how that gets more intense as it goes on, like the music in the queue line.

(As a side note, does anyone know who the Scottish guy is that voices the pre show?)

Got on the ride with no restraint issues (which I was worried about due to having a "generous" bum and hips :lol) and off we went! I was surprised with how speedily it sets off and the speed of the whole thing - we'd been told about it by staff at the park entrance but thought they were just hyping it up. The ride just blew me away. Completely. When we got back to the station I was just sat laughing and clapping to myself before we got off. We all looked at each other and knew that we had to run round and do it again straight away, and I would have happily done that all day! :lol

Hate to say this, but I think for me it's pushed Nemesis off the top spot at AT. It's an absolute belter all the way from entrance to exit. I love the speed, the airtime, and how long the ride felt timewise - the layout is brilliant. No real fire on Big Bob yesterday but I wouldn't have noticed as we whizzed through anyway!
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vikkimoo wrote: Got on the ride with no restraint issues (which I was worried about due to having a "generous" bum and hips :lol) and off we went! 
I've yet to see someone denied boarding or even the staff having to give someone a helpful shove. The seats are actually pretty large in all dimensions. I've got long legs and was pleased that there is plenty of space for them and they don't get knocked around. After one ride on the woodie at Efteling, I had a huge bruise from them knocking into the metal parts of the train. The restraint issues I've seen have all been sensors unhappy about something other than the actual guest.

It is certainly the most thought out from start to finish experience in the park.
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vikkimoo
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We saw a few people getting a good shove whilst staff give something at the side of the car a poke with a yellow stick thing? but nobody being asked to leave.
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The yellow stick things are used to release the restraints on a particular car. I've seen them used on people of all sizes, but the operators do tend to give the restraint an extra shove on rechecks just to be sure.

I saw a couple look fairly embarrassed by multiple re-checks happening on their car, to which operations made the entire station stand well back from the gates. But I'm pretty confident that it was just the ride throwing a wobbly rather than anything to do with them personally, as they were both of decidedly average build.
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vikkimoo
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Ah cool, I was wondering what they were for!
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glittabones
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vikkimoo wrote: (As a side note, does anyone know who the Scottish guy is that voices the pre show?)
I'd love to know too - that accent is just delicious! :evil:
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During the pre-show when the runes around the room first light up I always felt a slight movement. I never figured out whether they blasted some air from the sides, or if it was purely the boom on the bass that they use at that time.

I also entered one time and it seemed like some smoke was in the room. But never saw it again.
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vikkimoo
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glittabones wrote:
vikkimoo wrote: (As a side note, does anyone know who the Scottish guy is that voices the pre show?)
I'd love to know too - that accent is just delicious! :evil:
WOOF! :love
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Dan
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A gentle reminder that this topic is for Wicker Man reviews.

All other discussion around Wicker Man goes in here.

Thanks :)
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vikkimoo
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Sorry Dan, got a bit carried away!
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