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Alton Towers | Wicker Man | GCI Wood

The reaso the artwork looks so good is because it was made by the same guy who designed the Star Trek and Jurassic Park logos. Alton Towers is his home park btw.
 
It doesn't matter what people pay, their headline price is £55. I know no one pays full price, but that's the advertised rate I'd pay if I chose to go on a whim. If it's worth £27.50, charge £27.50! People don't see the park as a £55 day out because Merlin have halved the perceived value of the brand with vouchers, and decimated the perceived value with the new Season Pass nonsense.
It's a bit grotty, but it's a common marketing tactic. Some people will see that as some kind of "cheating the system" or just perceive that £27.50 as being worth more, though it obviously isn't. It's why you might put an expensive bottle of wine on a drinks list nobody would ever buy. It's why the DFS sale never ends.
 
The reaso the artwork looks so good is because it was made by the same guy who designed the Star Trek and Jurassic Park logos.
Not quite. He's done (good) poster artwork roughly in the style of 80s movie poster artist Drew Struzan but he didn't design the logos for Jurassic Park or Star Trek.
 

Looks like they have been reading the comments on social media, AT just released this video explaining the safety of the Wickerman.

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The fact AT has to explain to people that they won’t actually be coming into contact with fire should maybe tell them that this theme probably wasn’t the best of ideas
 
To me this ride screams "they're gonna call whatever we build unsafe anyway so let's just try to get them to piss themselves as much as possible".
And despite all the marketing bull and confusing target market, that alone is making me start to really love this ride.
 
This ride is the 2nd shortest GCI as it is longer than Heidi by .4ft. Both of these rides are similar in terms of scale, theming, and extensive sound protection. However, Heidi only cost 7 million USD whereas Wicker Man cost 22 million USD.

It's incredible how expensive this ride is. Just seems like a big waste of money.
 
This ride is the 2nd shortest GCI as it is longer than Heidi by .4ft. Both of these rides are similar in terms of scale, theming, and extensive sound protection. However, Heidi only cost 7 million USD whereas Wicker Man cost 22 million USD.

It's incredible how expensive this ride is. Just seems like a big waste of money.
They probably included more than just the ride itself in the cost, don't merlin always do that?
 
I would imagine the coaster itself is fairly cheap. White Lightning is longer than Wicker Man and that cost only 3.5 million. The amount of money spent on theming is just insane considering the theming is just a couple buildings and a big statue.
 
To be fair, they said a lot of the “fire” was special effects, so that could affect the price. Obviously it’s not 10 million pounds big, but it might be a bit. Also what about that preshow we were hearing about? Maybe that’s a pretty extravagant preshow?
 
The groundwork could also have affected the price. Heidi was placed on a relatively flat bit of land, whereas this was built in a pit. Merlin also includes every penny spent in the quoted budget. For example, with Smiler, I can’t think a Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster on its own would cost £18million, but when you add the extras like the Marmaliser, the groundwork, the theme music, the theming etc., it all adds up. Same goes for The Swarm. Even though it’s a B&M, I can’t see the particular layout they chose costing £20million, but when you factor in things like the theming, the marketing, the music, the actors in the videos etc., it all adds up. You guys probably get my gist by now.
 
I hope the theatrical elements are sustainable.
Like how Nemesis really only needs dye periodically added and Oblivion needs the mist running. I don't want a Nemesis Subterra where live actors are pretty much vital to the experience (where fatigue or low numbers will affect things).
 
The groundwork could also have affected the price. Heidi was placed on a relatively flat bit of land, whereas this was built in a pit. Merlin also includes every penny spent in the quoted budget. For example, with Smiler, I can’t think a Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster on its own would cost £18million, but when you add the extras like the Marmaliser, the groundwork, the theme music, the theming etc., it all adds up. Same goes for The Swarm. Even though it’s a B&M, I can’t see the particular layout they chose costing £20million, but when you factor in things like the theming, the marketing, the music, the actors in the videos etc., it all adds up. You guys probably get my gist by now.
I know the guy who installed Thirteen's lighting effects and he says that they could have got three times as much for what they were paying but Merlin basically went in with "this is what we want and this is what we'll pay you" so he did as instructed and walked away happy.
 
I know the guy who installed Thirteen's lighting effects and he says that they could have got three times as much for what they were paying but Merlin basically went in with "this is what we want and this is what we'll pay you" so he did as instructed and walked away happy.
Oh! So Merlin overpay for attractions, then?
 
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