2018 Neuheit: Wicker Man (Holzachterbahn, GCI, Secret Weapon 8) @ Alton Towers - UK

[rotzi]

Da müssen wir uns knapp verpasst oder zufällig net gesehen ham. Waren von 4.-8.6 auch in England in der Reihenfolge Thorpe, Drayton, Alton und Blackpool

Ich unterschreibe deinen Bericht vollkommen!

 

[Mario M.]

Für alle die sich fragen, wie John Wardley, der kreative Kopf hinter dem Secret Weapon Programm von Alton Towers in das Projekt involviert war, hier mal eine "Stellungnahme" von seiner Homepage:

Since the Wicker Man wooden rollercoaster opened at Alton Towers in the Spring of 2018, I have had many coaster enthusiasts ask me if and how I was involved in its development. To put the record straight, here’s an answer to that question.

For fifteen years I had tried to persuade Alton Towers and their owners Merlin Entertainments to build a wooden rollercoaster. Before the decision was taken to build the ill-fated Smiler I had lobbied strongly that a woodie was the most appropriate, cost-effective coaster to develop. I had concurred completely with Merlin’s reservations on the likely public attitude towards such a ride, but felt that with the application of the company’s formidable creative talents, the same approach could be taken with a woodie as we had taken with Nemesis, and that the ride hardware could form part of a completely immersive themed experience. Right from the start, I had never built a roller coaster that was just a coaster. We had always put as much effort into the theming, decoration and storyline of the attraction as we did into the ride hardware itself, and my concept of a woodie would be no different.

Candy Holland and I had conceived woodies themed on various super-heroes, cartoon characters, and even a spooky horror circus. I produced layouts and profiles for these rides that took into account all the various planning criteria that had been taken into consideration for our previous rides. But to no avail, nothing was going to persuade them, so the Smiler was built.

In October 2016, when Alton Towers was still reeling from the Smiler incident, I took a phone call from Mark Fisher who was Merlin’s main board director responsible for the theme parks. The conversation went something like this:

“Hi John. Just thought I’d give you a call to see how the SW8 coaster project is going”

“Pardon?” I said. “What SW8 project?”

“Alton’s new woodie. How is the project looking” he continued.

“I know nothing about it” I responded. “I’d heard rumours that you were thinking of building a woodie, but nobody’s been in touch with me.”

“But I thought you were on the project team” Mark replied. “I don’t know what’s gone wrong. Leave it with me.”

And the phonecall ended.

I felt on the one hand elated that at last Alton Towers was going to have a wooden coaster that they rightly deserved. But on the other hand very saddened that the dream I had had for so many years was taking place without my involvement.

Later that day, the phone rang again. It was Mark.

“John, there’s obviously been a major misunderstanding. The project is already designed, and we’re five months into the schedule. But we need you on the team. I’m arranging to send you some plans and other details of the proposals that have already been finalised, but I’d like you to look at them and give me your opinion.”

“But if it’s already been designed, what good is my involvement?” I said. “I’d be on a complete hiding to nothing. You obviously want me to say that the project is all very wonderful, in which case there was no need for my involvement anyway. But if I show any reservations or voice any criticisms, I will be seen as an interfering outsider who resents not being a key part of the team from the start. I can’t win.”

“Look, we’ve made a mistake. Do me a favour, go to a project meeting and give the project the once-over.”

“I’ll only go to a meeting if the key members of the team invite me” I protested. “I want to know that I’d be genuinely welcome on the team, and not just dropped in from above at your insistence”.

“I’ll make sure of that” Mark replied.

Over the course of the next couple of days the phone was red-hot, and emails were whizzing around. Yes, I was a welcome member of the team. So I attended a project meeting.

What I found encouraged me enormously. The team comprised some very experienced people in project management, and the creatives under the leadership of Bradley Wynn had come up with a very imaginative theme based loosely on the horror movie “The Wicker Man”. They had also engaged one of the industry’s leading wooden coaster manufacturers, Great Coasters International, as the supplier of the ride. The layout of the ride in plan was good, too, but when I then projected the profile in the vertical plane onto this and produced a computer simulation of the ride on NoLimits2 it certainly wasn’t as thrilling as it potentially could have been. In particular, the first two drops after the lift hill were extremely disappointing, together with a rather dull section of track towards the end which could easily have been made more exciting. But I was told that it was too late to change anything, as contracts had been signed, and the structure’s foundations had been designed.

So I politely said that if changes couldn’t be made and my recommendations taken on board, there was no point in my being on the team. After much deliberation, I was asked to prioritise the alterations I felt necessary, and the team would decide which could be implemented. I re-profiled the first two drops, produced a NoLimits2 simulation of the ride with these changes in place, and everyone agreed that it was a huge improvement, and these would be implemented. However, no other changes could be made. I conceded this point, and happily remained on the sidelines of the team right up to opening, offering my opinions from time to time when requested.

The ride has been a huge success, and put Alton Towers’ fortunes back on track.

Sowas spiegelt ziemlich genau wieder, was in so Großkonzernen manchmal abgeht. Ich finde es schade, dass man ihn da nicht von Anfang an als Berater mit an Board hatte, schließlich war es sein großer Traum eine Holzachterbahn in den Park zu holen

Quelle

 

[doCoaster]

Das erklärt einiges, sofern seine Aussagen stimmen. Vor allem erklärt es für mich, warum der Wicker Man nicht den großen Aha-Effekt hatte, den man von den vorherigen Secret Weapons kannte. Hier scheint das Projekt-Team ohne John entweder nicht kreativ oder nicht mutig genug gewesen zu sein. Das klingt jetzt hart, denn der Wicker Man ist auch in seiner jetzigen Form eine tolle Bahn, die etwas mehr bietet als ein herkömmlicher Woodie - nur man stelle sich Mal vor da wäre so viel Herzblut reingeflossen, wie damals in Nemesis...

Besonders interessant finde ich die Erklärung der Layout-Änderung. Ich hatte ja selbst einen Nachbau in NoLimits 2 angefertigt, als der ursprüngliche Layout Plan herauskam. Ich war ebenfalls enttäuscht vom Beginn der Fahrt und habe mich gewundert, warum man hier nicht mir steileren Abfahrten arbeitet. Scheint als hätte ich da den selben Gedanken gehabt wie auch John. Schön, dass er wenigstens in diesem Punkt noch die Planungen beeinflussen konnte, denn der nun tatsächlich gebaute Frist Drop gefällt mir viel besser!

Ich hoffe man wird bei weiteren Projekten nicht wieder denselben Fehler machen und John dieses Mal wieder von Anfang an mit einbeziehen. Spannend was manchmal der Einfluss einer einzelnen Person ausmachen kann. Nicht umsonst hat John Wardley einen solchen Ruf in der Szene und es grenzt schon an Wahnsinn, diese Ressource nicht zu nutzen, wenn sie einem schon zur Verfügung steht.

 

[Mario M.]

Anscheinend ist die Bahn während dem Winter Event "Santa's Sleepover" auch geöffnet

Zum Starten des Videos aufs Vorschaubild klicken:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=542967172836498

Link für Mobilgeräte

Ansonsten ist wohl nur der Kinderbereich geöffnet und das ganze lässt sich nur mit Hotelaufenthalt kombinieren

Experience the most magical Christmas Escape with a Santa's Sleepover!

You won’t believe just how many treats lay in store with every Santa’s Sleepover including:​

An overnight stay in one of our fabulously themed hotels
- A unique visit to Santa (with a delightful gift for each child)
- Tickets to our amazing Pantomime – Alice in Wonderland
- Tickets to the Theme Park with a selection of family rides and attractions including CBeebies Land!
- Tickets to the wacky Caribbean themed Waterpark
- 9 holes of crazy, zany Extraordinary Golf
- A fantastically festive evening meal
- A delicious buffet breakfast
- And last but not least - fabulous evening entertainment including meet & greets, shows, a Christmas cinema and a farewell from Santa.
​

Quelle

 

[scragnoth]

Interessant wie hoch die Meinung von Taylor Bybee (Coaster Studios) hier ausfällt. Allerdings wird es von vorn herein als Family Coaster bewertet (was ja auch OK ist), und das Theming wird der Bahn hoch angerechnet.

Nach den teilweise eher lauwarmen Berichten die es hier teilweise gab...

 

[Mimimimi]

Das Kind hat an manchen Stellen Recht und manchmal einfach auch nicht. Wenn er Bahnen nicht oft fahren kann, lässt er das bekantermaßen am Bericht aus. Außerdem kann er nicht in Parkgedanken denken (siehe Helix-Bericht) oder seine extrem amerikanische Sicht ablegen. Die Bahn hat locker +2 Punkte bekommen, da es in Amerika einfach keine(kaum) Holzachterbahnen mit Story, Pre-Show und wirklich großen Themingelementen gibt. Dabei sagt er es gäbe kein Feuer: Hätt er einmal vorher zwei andere POVs/Off-Rides gesehen, wüsste er, dass Wickermans Schultern normalerweise brennen. Dazu zeigt er später auch nochmal echte Gasfackeln.
Wenn ihr nochn mehr Zunder wollt, dann vergleicht seine Reviews und Bewertungen zu Taron und Kärnan.

 

[scragnoth]

Gucke alles von dem (OK außer die meisten VLOGs und die unendlichen Offride-Video-Sammlungen)... Hat mich seit 2016 mit zum Enthusiasten gemacht. Aber ja in letzter Zeit kann ich auch nicht jeder Meinung beipflichten, fand frühere Reviews differenzierter.

Wenn ich noch mal reflektiere, er ist sonst jemand der Airtime Airtime Airtime will, sagt auf dieser Bahn bekommt man nur hier und da welche, ist die hohe Punktzahl etwas verwunderlich...

Kärnan-Review zB. komplett aus Lobpreisungen, dann aber doch kein perfektes 10/10 für das leicht unruhige Fahrgefühl was mMn. (und nach Meinung vieler anderer) überhaupt nicht stört, bzw. kann man ob der Einzigartigkeit der Bahn das ausblenden wie ich finde.