Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood
- Thread starter Dar
- Start date
- Afterburn
Dar
Hyper Poster
And that's with a John Wardley re-designed drop! He was at a TTF event earlier this year and wasn't very complimentary about the ride. He said the profiling wasn't very good and the first 2 drops were "absolutely atrocious" and had to press them to change the first drop!
https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/2018-wicker-man-general-discussion.4051/page-209#post-207534
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
spicy
Giga Poster
That talk by John Wardley was pretty interesting.
The fact that the AT director thought that John Wardley was already involved in the project and only found out he wasn’t during a conversation over lunch, shows just how disjointed Merlin actually is.
Could be the reason we have family coasters that are horror themed.
Was interesting what he went on to say when he created CWoA, Nemesis, Oblivion etc. It was just him with his ideas reporting to Tussaud’s with a small team around him. Now everything goes through Merlin magic making in London, separate from the park.
Too many cooks spoil the broth comes to mind.
The fact that the AT director thought that John Wardley was already involved in the project and only found out he wasn’t during a conversation over lunch, shows just how disjointed Merlin actually is.
Could be the reason we have family coasters that are horror themed.
Was interesting what he went on to say when he created CWoA, Nemesis, Oblivion etc. It was just him with his ideas reporting to Tussaud’s with a small team around him. Now everything goes through Merlin magic making in London, separate from the park.
Too many cooks spoil the broth comes to mind.
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
I think as others have alluded to the real problem is departmental disjointedness.
Cuz you'd think the process would be thus - we need a new attraction for x target audience, we have y space for it and z budget, from which the team(s) design a thing that meets ALL the criteria. But it seems to be all disjointed and then a scramble last minute to force it all into a necessary box. Marketing decide late in the day to change the target audience, the design team being too fanciful for the budget and having to cut back crucial elements and the legal guys only making it known after money has been wasted on planning applications that the local species of frog cannot be disturbed.
Merlin aren't alone here - my favourite example is Skyrush, because the general manager of the park literally said that the winged seats offer families choices. ****ing moron. But the sad thing is that Tussauds used to be REALLY GOOD at this gelling of experience to marketing umph. What happened?
I instinctively want to blame marketing for this crap, but their reliance on the absurd gimmicks is created by poor products. If you've got a cool new ride opening (as was the case proven with Smiler), it sells itself. It's a huge problem that is exacerbated by insisting on having opening dates that cannot be met instead of soft openings like the rest of the industry, or lying about mannequins loosing arms and worlds firsts.
Everyone has been saying maybe Icon will give Merlin a kick up the arse and prove this, but Smiler already did, and here we are back where we were in whatever year it was Thirteen opened.
Like I said, everyone just gets amnesia every year.
As for the Wardley thing... That's both hilarious and so upsetting. But it begs the question, WHO designs layouts? I always got the impression that the parks would give a space and some elements they want and the manufacturers would have one of their guys do it, explaining why they are so rarely ... er, narratively paced. (What I mean here is that they don't go from beat to beat like other forms of entertainment do, they don't present an experience the way a creative person would. A few coasters do, and my favourite and best example is Tatsu. It's high up and conveys flying well and builds up to the signature element. Most coasters, good or not, just fill a space and do some stuff without much care for this. They're engineered, not designed. Waffle waffle waffle.)
Really need to remember to just straight up ask the manufacturers next time I have the opportunity. If anyone reading this ever is at one of the trade shows, please ask around.
Cuz you'd think the process would be thus - we need a new attraction for x target audience, we have y space for it and z budget, from which the team(s) design a thing that meets ALL the criteria. But it seems to be all disjointed and then a scramble last minute to force it all into a necessary box. Marketing decide late in the day to change the target audience, the design team being too fanciful for the budget and having to cut back crucial elements and the legal guys only making it known after money has been wasted on planning applications that the local species of frog cannot be disturbed.
Merlin aren't alone here - my favourite example is Skyrush, because the general manager of the park literally said that the winged seats offer families choices. ****ing moron. But the sad thing is that Tussauds used to be REALLY GOOD at this gelling of experience to marketing umph. What happened?
I instinctively want to blame marketing for this crap, but their reliance on the absurd gimmicks is created by poor products. If you've got a cool new ride opening (as was the case proven with Smiler), it sells itself. It's a huge problem that is exacerbated by insisting on having opening dates that cannot be met instead of soft openings like the rest of the industry, or lying about mannequins loosing arms and worlds firsts.
Everyone has been saying maybe Icon will give Merlin a kick up the arse and prove this, but Smiler already did, and here we are back where we were in whatever year it was Thirteen opened.
Like I said, everyone just gets amnesia every year.
As for the Wardley thing... That's both hilarious and so upsetting. But it begs the question, WHO designs layouts? I always got the impression that the parks would give a space and some elements they want and the manufacturers would have one of their guys do it, explaining why they are so rarely ... er, narratively paced. (What I mean here is that they don't go from beat to beat like other forms of entertainment do, they don't present an experience the way a creative person would. A few coasters do, and my favourite and best example is Tatsu. It's high up and conveys flying well and builds up to the signature element. Most coasters, good or not, just fill a space and do some stuff without much care for this. They're engineered, not designed. Waffle waffle waffle.)
Really need to remember to just straight up ask the manufacturers next time I have the opportunity. If anyone reading this ever is at one of the trade shows, please ask around.
Last edited:
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
I think Spicy already answered your question.
If you listen to the JW interview, he goes on about the past and how the industry has changed. How it went from basically just him doing a doodle on the back of an envelope and being in charge of the whole direction of the project, to Merlin Magic Making and a whole team of people as we have now. The larger the company, the more the bureaucracy and the greater the chance for things to get lost in communication. Literally seen this happen in my own work so am sure it happens in a company as large as Merlin.
Sandman
Giga Poster
Smiler was a big hitter but to be fair, the ride was designed to be a gimmick. It is a pretty huge gimmick in theory, "let's cram as many inversions into this space as possible, and hope it works". The only real difference is that they (surprisingly) marketed it to an appropriate audience and the creative team behind it really polished up the turd. The Smiler also had plenty of issues pre-opening, so really, Merlin have no point of reference when it comes to building a ride without relying on a gimmick.
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
Ah, see, having as many inversions as possible isn't like the other gimmicks at all, though. If you asked normal people what would make a good coaster, I bet most people would say "goes upside-down loads".
And, beyond that, it's a legitimate gimmick. Having the most inversions, being the tallest, fastest, or even at a wider push being the first to do something actually meaningful, like a vertical drop. Those are actual things to write home about. It's not the same as "worlds first psycho-coaster" or "worlds first wooden coaster with fake fire". What does that even mean? ****ing nothing.
EDIT: ALSO they didn't advertise the inversion thing like, at all. Well maybe a bit but, compared to WORLDS FIRST blah blah lies they do with everything else, Smiler was just left to being an obviously well-thought out product that sold itself.
Last edited:
Sandman
Giga Poster
I agree that compared to some of the watered down gimmicks of today, 'most inversions' is less meh as gimmicks go. Still though, after watching/reading some of Wardley's interviews about The Smiler and his consultation with the team, it seems like a bit of a cop out over a viable effort to achieve something good. The inversions thing wasn't borne out of a desire to do something great with an interesting concept, it was rather like throwing **** against a wall and seeing what sticks. I mean, Merlin already owned Colossus which by that point nobody gave a **** about, and that has a hefty 10 inversions.
Bert2theSpark
Mega Poster
CrashCoaster
CF Legend
LOL re-upload:-
elephant58
Hyper Poster
^Well there's not exactly a whole load of them to choose from 