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Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

I'll forgive them the Wicker Man theme if they sneak in a Nicolas Cage and bees reference somewhere...
 
WhollyRudeTech said:
Maybe those who have gone forward in time and have ridden the ride and found it to be rubbish and seen the rubbish theming could be so kind as to let me have the winner of the premier league for the next few years ta.


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Liverpool. It'll be our year.
 
elephant58 said:
I'm quite surprised at the lack of enthusiasm for this, considering that everyone's been waiting so long for a new wooden coaster in the UK and now that one's finally coming, it seems that people have just given up on it already.
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I suspect because it just doesn't look that exciting yet? We've really not got very much to get excited about! We've got a layout in 2D, and a few elevations which don't really make it seem like it's going to be a world class woodie. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a single CFer who doesn't want this to be good, but we're reserving judgement until we actually have something to be excited about.

For me, the most exiting part of this project so far is the fact that there might be a viewing platform in the middle of it. The layout (what we've seen so far) simply isn't that exciting!
 
Literally what Hixee has said.
This looks like one of the weaker layouts that GCI have made in a good few years (that includes Heidi), so it really is hard to get excited about a project that's really not going to be that exciting of an experience?
 
I'm not that excited because nothing's actually happened yet. I know we are really close to seeing it go vertical so my interest will pick up then.

Just a thought, I think the viewing panels near enough rule out any kind of special or secret element. Unless Merlin have changed their ways I can't imagine them just giving away a secret element like that.
 
Chris Brown said:
I'm not that excited because nothing's actually happened yet. I know we are really close to seeing it go vertical so my interest will pick up then.

Just a thought, I think the viewing panels near enough rule out any kind of special or secret element. Unless Merlin have changed their ways I can't imagine them just giving away a secret element like that.
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It would be nice not to have the secrecy this time, otherwise we'll be teased for months and inevitably be disappointed. As much clarity as possible would garner interest for most people, and set expectations.
There are some fab GCIs out there, and although this looks to be small and a weaker layout, it will still be one of, if not the best woodie in the country. But that's not saying much :(
 
Mackpool's getting more attention because of the openness that Blackpool's marketing goes for, but I'm certainly not unhappy that two of the UK's biggest parks are getting major installations. Especially so now that I've ridden a range of woodies and realised I get on really well with GCI's layout style.
 
Chris Brown said:
Just a thought, I think the viewing panels near enough rule out any kind of special or secret element. Unless Merlin have changed their ways I can't imagine them just giving away a secret element like that.
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It's Alton Towers, it's Merlin, it can't not have some sort of world-first gimmick. It just can't. Varney would never allow it.
"But how would we sell it?" he'd say.
And he'd have a point. Without something to distinguish this from any other wooden coaster that the British public are familiar with (which is basically Blackpool, Stampida and Gwazi), all Alton Towers actually have is a small, uninspiring family coaster on their hands. Made of wood.
I somehow don't see people flocking to the park just to experience the wicker-man theming.
Especially not when there's a double launch steelie opening the same year a couple of hours up the road.
 
I also think the lack of interest from CF in general is partly to do with the secret(or not so secret) feeling that they want Mackpool to be a roaring success, and this to falter in order to send the message to Merlin that gimmicks don't work, maybe change the approach. Build the best ride and people flock type thing.
Hopefully Paulton's GG will actually go ahead and put faith into woodies again, and I guarantee they'd plaster social media the right way marketing it.
 
I don't get the 'you asked for a Woodie!' argument.

We asked for a good woodie - we asked for a monster crossing the valley or a launched RMC, not this!

At this point it just seems to be a small, little GCI and that's not exciting. It'll turn out to be 'alright' but it's hard to get excited for something we've seen done much better before.
 
Wicker man would be a cool theme if this wasn't shaping up to be yet another horror themed family coaster. But, there's also a sense of it being a bit too try hardy. Pirate themed would have literally been perfect, but that's too normal, I guess. Problem is there issue a damn good reason some themes are.so overused... Cuz they're good.

I have no qualms with this being a small woodie, being a family coaster, hell... Even verging on a kiddy coaster. What I take issue with is broken promises. Thriteen style at worst, but even something like Swarm where the ride style is completely at odds with the theme. Imagine if Air was horror themed?

I don't get it.

We will see. I'm actually kinda looking forward to this because I do think any woodie is better than no woodie at this point, more for the sake of diversity than anything else. And family coasters are often, increasingly often, great.
 
That's literally why I hate this project. They're yet again marketing and promoting this to be a ground-breaking incredible ride when in reality we're receiving yet another family coaster.
 
Lofty said:
That's literally why I hate this project. They're yet again marketing and promoting this to be a ground-breaking incredible ride when in reality we're receiving yet another family coaster.
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Honestly, I've hardly seen any marketing, maybe because I haven't been looking for it or because no-one is interested enough to post on here. Post some of their lies :)
 
Yea completely agree with what others have said, this shouldn't have a Wickerman/horror theme at all. Please just market/theme it as what it is, a solid family wooden rollercoaster for everyone to enjoy.

Correct me if I am wrong but in the UK since taking over from Tussaud's Merlin have never themed a 'major' coaster that isn't horror/destruction themed? (SAW, Swarm, Smiler, Thirteen) it would be so refreshing to have something else.
 
It baffles me that the station is located adjacent to both Katanga Canyon and Mutiny Bay, and yet they seem to have decided on a Gloomy Woods theme? Where is the logic in that Merlin??

This could literally have been marketed as a perfect pirate themed family coaster, rather than another failed attempt at marketing a horror themed family coaster. And when it fails to interest a huge crowd of people like the Smiler did, that'll be modern wooden coasters written off for the UK!

They haven't learned that the Smiler sold well not because of the gimmick, but because of the huge mess of track it has. It LOOKS good, and therefore sold well. It wasn't any of the BS marketing they did. It sold purely on looks. It's big, has a lot of track, it's twisty, it goes upside down a lot. Thats what the GP think makes a 'good ride'. They don't give a carp about gimmicks. Unless it's something that you can make a viral video out of, the GP just don't give a ****.
 
Crazycoaster said:
They haven't learned that the Smiler sold well not because of the gimmick, but because of the huge mess of track it has. It LOOKS good, and therefore sold well. It wasn't any of the BS marketing they did. It sold purely on looks. It's big, has a lot of track, it's twisty, it goes upside down a lot. Thats what the GP think makes a 'good ride'. They don't give a carp about gimmicks. Unless it's something that you can make a viral video out of, the GP just don't give a :emoji_poop:.
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I think the marketing team actually did well in selling The Smiler and creatively speaking, the whole Smiler brand has been a success for Merlin. I'd say it's up there with Nemesis in that sense. Obviously it looks cool but I don't think that was the primary factor as to why it did well. Creatives did work hard behind the scenes!

It's hard to really compare Nemesis & The Smiler to SW8 though. We're literally watching a wooden version of Thirteen unfold. To be fair though, this is probably a bit more significant than Thirteen because a wooden coaster is going to contrast against the rest of AT's coaster line-up. I'm still interested though, in the same way a crack addict is interested in whatever ****ty bit of crack they can get their hands on.
 
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