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Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

Looks like Merlin are having a really good go at themeing the entire ride area and good on them. Whilst i dont think the ride will be particularly thrilling i do think it will look great and will do a good job as a low thrill / family coaster.
 
Temleh said:
Shame it's looking like they're going going to completely alienate that audience with the theme.
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Agreed, however i do think the intimidation factor of the theme is being exaggerated. Is The Wickerman going to be that scary for families / kids? Will they have seen the films? Granted its a bonkers theme / IP and its begs multiple questions about Merlin decision making but lets be honest its hardly Saw or DBGT!
 
Chris Brown said:
Agreed, however i do think the intimidation factor of the theme is being exaggerated. Is The Wickerman going to be that scary for families / kids? Will they have seen the films? Granted its a bonkers theme / IP and its begs multiple questions about Merlin decision making but lets be honest its hardly Saw or DBGT!
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It'll probably be along the lines of Thirteen in terms of scariness...
 
Chris Brown said:
Agreed, however i do think the intimidation factor of the theme is being exaggerated. Is The Wickerman going to be that scary for families / kids? Will they have seen the films? Granted its a bonkers theme / IP and its begs multiple questions about Merlin decision making but lets be honest its hardly Saw or DBGT!
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This is exactly how I'm thinking. So far there's actually been quite little marketing for the ride, let alone anything over the top i.e. Thirteen. I think it's a bit unfair to slate the park for making that same error, when it hasn't actually happened.
 
Still, they made that absolutely horrendous video which was shared about 7 pages ago. **** me, that was bad. It's like a scar on the brain.
 
Chris Brown said:
Agreed, however i do think the intimidation factor of the theme is being exaggerated. Is The Wickerman going to be that scary for families / kids? Will they have seen the films? Granted its a bonkers theme / IP and its begs multiple questions about Merlin decision making but lets be honest its hardly Saw or DBGT!
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I disagree. The main things you'd know about the Wickerman without seeing the film are human sacrifice and burning a **** ton of wood. Personally, if I had a child and saw a giant wooden structure themed to being burnt, it might put me off. Also, I might be concerned about dark imagery in the queueline. And possibly bees.

Was telling the family about the theme earlier and showed them the wicker man under binbags. They asked if it'll be unveiled in time for bonfire night XD
 
Yeah, I agree with Sue. The theme at its core is incredibly dark and undeniably horror.

Wicker Men have been around for much longer than the movie, and has stems way back to BC eras (Druids), so I think judging this from the movie alone is just a completely inaccurate way to look at it. I don't think that Towers are going to go all the way as to depict actual human sacrifice, but, you have to take into account that they've bothered to create a scare attraction experience at Halloween that's themed to it, just like they did with The Smiler (dark theme), so they obviously want to create the notion of horror within people from the get go.
 
Just to clarify, I don't think human sacrifice will be part of the final theme either. However, it would certainly jump into the head of a parent when they think of 'Wickerman' and work against the faimly vibe - theme or no.
 
It doesn’t really matter what the actual history of it is, what’s in popular culture is the films and that’s what people will know.

And those are horror films. It’s a horror film. There may not be blood and guts everywhere but it’s 100% dark.
 
Lofty said:
Yeah, I agree with Sue. The theme at its core is incredibly dark and undeniably horror.

Wicker Men have been around for much longer than the movie, and has stems way back to BC eras (Druids), so I think judging this from the movie alone is just a completely inaccurate way to look at it. I don't think that Towers are going to go all the way as to depict actual human sacrifice, but, you have to take into account that they've bothered to create a scare attraction experience at Halloween that's themed to it, just like they did with The Smiler (dark theme), so they obviously want to create the notion of horror within people from the get go.
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How many people actually know the Druid link though? I judged it on the movies because that’s the main thing the target audience have got to judge it on. I’d argue the majority of the target audience won’t even know the films let alone the true history of the Wickerman given the films aren’t particularly popular (with families). I dunno I’m just not buying this is gonna be that scary as IMO very little of the target audience (of the intensity of the coaster) will actually be able to relate to this in anyway?

What I’m basically getting at is I don’t think Merlin are going to do a full Thirteen again and go calling this thing the scariest thing ever.
 
DelPiero said:
I agree, but why theme this to a dark theme at all when it's clearly a family ride. Wouldn't it be nice to have something originally themed which attracts the youngsters.
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Oh 100% it’s completely bonkers. Multi inverting launched RMC themed to this would be reasonable but not a ****ing tin pot baby GCI
 
Maybe they're relying on the theme being the thrill aspect of it rather than the actual ride itself?

Can't get teenagers excited about a woodie that doesn't look to do much but can get them excited in a dark horror theme.
 
Mysterious Sue said:
I disagree. The main things you'd know about the Wickerman without seeing the film are human sacrifice and burning a :emoji_poop: ton of wood. Personally, if I had a child and saw a giant wooden structure themed to being burnt, it might put me off. Also, I might be concerned about dark imagery in the queueline. And possibly bees. Was telling the family about the theme earlier and showed them the wicker man under binbags. They asked if it'll be unveiled in time for bonfire night XD
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I've been thinking that if the idea isn't used in the fireworks either this year or next, then it's a total wasted opportunity. Although that is of course, what Merlin do best.
Also, there's probably a fairly high percentage of those under 20 who aren't aware of the Wickerman films... or this song.
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Meh, I'm joining in with the people saying that another dark theme on another utterly mediocre looking family coaster makes little sense.
 
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