Wicker Man/SW8 (Alton Towers)

[Scott W.]

Alton Towers SW8 2018 Rollercoaster Construction | Theme Park James

I feel like this has been flying low under the radar but I'm happy to see Alton Towers finally getting to build a woodie. Seems like they've been trying for a long time now.

I'm curious to see if they can bring anything new to the wooden coaster world as Alton Towers are well known for going above and beyond with their coasters.

 

[randompixel]

Isn't it meant to have a LIM lifthill / launch? Or was this pie in the sky?

Certainly the lift hill looks interesting as it seems to be fairly shallow and will be enclosed?

 

[UAN17]

It looked really short from those plans, but always difficult to tell.

 

[randompixel]

It's a UK (Merlin/Tussauds) Coaster - of course it is going to be short...

 

[fryoj]

It looked really short from those plans, but always difficult to tell.

If by short you mean lift hill height, thats one of the limitations on the park. Local zoning keeps them from building over a certain height. But they use the terrain as well as anyone there, so I wouldn't be worried. That and GCI can make a wild coaster with out need for much height. Mystic Timbers is like a runaway train.

 

[randompixel]

 

[Owen]

A lot more has gone on since those images

The station roof has been completed, and the baggage/pre-show building has begun construction. You can see that here.

Something that does seem to be a bit concerning is that the turn half way through the course is almost flat and not very high, meaning this thing must loose a good amount of speed. In all honesty the layout for this is pretty dissapointing however I am anticipating the theming is where this will shine. It has the same creative director as Ghost Train at Thorpe park so I imagine this will be very well themed and feature a full story.

 

[ThemeCrafter264]

I think there is a lot more that meets the eye.

 

[randompixel]

A few from Twitter:






The aerial definitely makes it look like a fun little jaunt.

 

[MakoMania]

 

[Tobias]

So all will be revealed on the 8th, chances are the name will most likely be Wicker Man since that name was registered quite a while back with the European trademarks. (Complete with the logo that's been used all over, so I'd be surprised if it's anything other then Wicker Man.)

For me I'm a little torn on this, on one hand I know it'll probably be fun since GCI can make fun coasters out of small layouts. Though on the other hand, I wish it wasn't a small layout. For a darker sounding theme it's going in, I'd love a bigger coaster to match it. I'd rather not have another Th13teen situation of a dark/creepy theme on what can be summed up as a roller skater-esq coaster with a drop track.

It's also odd reading the cost of the coaster itself is 15 million pounds, so it's actually more expensive then KI's Mystic Timbers. but correct me if I'm wrong, Mystic Timbers is a bigger coaster.

Now I'd also say at least there's a major positive of them just making a coaster a la' Nemesis and not going with some "World's First" gimmick which honestly hasn't worked for them in the long run with their last several secret weapons. (Eg. Th13teen: A decent family coaster slapped with a dark theme and insanely misguided marketing hyping it as the scariest thing on the planet, even though this was conceived as a family coaster from the very beginning. The Smiler: Hyped up as the coaster with the most inversions, however it comes off more as they just slapped two coasters together. (Doesn't help it has to come to a complete stop for the vertical lift in the second half.))

However, I just found out there's adverts mentioning that this is a "World's First" coaster...Bloody Hell, Merlin. Stop with the gimmicks. There's nothing wrong with just making a solid coaster as those usually fair much better then the gimmicky ones.

 

[MakoMania]

Mystic Timbers is a bigger coaster but much of the £15million for SW8 has been spent on theming and significant groundwork. Removing The Flume was also no easy task.

All will be revealed about SW8 on Monday 8-1-18 according to the latest teaser video.

 

[Scott W.]

 

[MakoMania]

Just a few hours of secrecy left, the final countdown is on!

 

[Scott W.]

Just a few hours of secrecy left, the final countdown is on!

I'm expecting very little to be revealed, Alton Towers will be vague like always. This was the press release for Smiler: Alton Towers Press:Alton Towers Resort to launch world first rollercoaster in 2013

 

[MakoMania]

I'm expecting very little to be revealed, Alton Towers will be vague like always. This was the press release for Smiler: Alton Towers Press:Alton Towers Resort to launch world first rollercoaster in 2013

This should be different, that release was in October 2012, we're now in January. Plus the ride's name wasn't even included in that press release

The name will definitely be in this release, it's Merlin's prime time for full ride announcements. They've done full announcements at this time of year for DBGT, Galactica etc.

 

[Scott W.]

This should be different, that release was in October 2012, we're now in January. Plus the ride's name wasn't even included in that press release

The name will definitely be in this release, it's Merlin's prime time for full ride announcements. They've done full announcements at this time of year for DBGT, Galactica etc.

I'd hate to be the people in charge of PR for Alton Towers tomorrow. Even if they announce the best thing to happen to roller coasters ever, you can guarantee that within minutes, people will be talking about the Smiler crash.

 

[TPC]

I expect basic ride statistics and a name/ logo will be given. There is still 3 film like episodes advertising the coaster to come, so I'm not expecting any world's firsts to be announced just yet

 

[Viator]

 

[Scott W.]

Food and fire. That classic mix.

Hopefully it’s good. They can use a hit.