Wicker Man (roller coaster)

Wicker Man is a wooden roller coaster at Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Great Coasters International, the £16-million ride opened to the public on 20 March 2018 following a three-day weather delay. It set several milestones among wooden coasters including the first to be built in the UK in 22 years and the first to incorporate fire. Initially codenamed "Secret Weapon 8", a traditional naming scheme for major upcoming projects at Alton Towers, its official name was revealed in January 2018.[1][2]

History

In October 2015, The Flume was closed permanently, with an announcement made prior to the park reopening in 2016.[3] Planning documents were submitted to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council on 23 April 2016.[4][5]

Promotion

On 16 March 2016, the park's "Towers Loving Care" Twitter account shared an image of construction fences surrounding its defunct attraction, The Flume. A sign was posted that read "SW8: Ground-Breaking New Ride Development", where SW8 was the shorthand for Secret Weapon 8. As the park has traditionally done in the past, they used a codename beginning with "Secret Weapon" followed by a number to refer to major projects under construction. A video was released on the ride's website in August 2017 and on YouTube detailing the park's previous Secret Weapon rides.

Several days following the video's release, signs around the construction site were updated with a phrase written in runic alphabet transliterating to "Be Chosen". The same phrase was burnt onto nearby wooden fences adjacent to some of the signs. The ride's potential name and logo was leaked by a website on 25 August 2017, discovered through a trademark filing by Alton Towers.[1] A second video was released on 27 August 2017 featuring two hosts discussing past "Secret Weapon" rides in a large room filled with references to other rides in the park. The video included hidden messages designed to help decode the runic phrase that had been created for the ride.

During Scarefest at Alton Towers in 2017, the park debuted a new scare attraction called "The Welcoming: Be Chosen". It was described as a prequel to SW8, and its theme was centered around a cult village.[19] A third video was released on 27 October 2017. Approximately halfway through, the video is interrupted by words written in the runic language: "We interrupt this to bring you good news. You are invited to a celebration; a celebration of our Earth and its beauty. All this noise. All this technology. It's too much, isn't it? There's no time or space to think, is there? Deep down you know the truth, don't you? The technology has now taken the reins. How did you get here? Maybe it doesn't matter. What matters is this chance; your opportunity to reconnect with the Earth. Come join us near the woods and partake in our celebration. How far you choose to go... that is your choice. What part you choose to play... only you can decide. Be chosen on the night where the living meets the dead."

Wicker Man's official name and logo were confirmed in a press release on 8 January 2018.[2] Along with its spring opening date, it was revealed that the ride would be the world's first roller coaster to fuse wood with fire.[20][2] On the same day, a promotion featured Wicker Man's logo being projected on the London Eye.[21] Artwork to promote the ride was created by Kyle Lambert, with Hollywood-style illustrations of the ride passing through a flaming wicker man effigy.[22]

location	Alton Towers
section	Mutiny Bay
coordinates	52.98889°N, -1.88861°W
status	open
opened	March 20, 2018
year	2018
cost	£16,000,000
previousattraction	The Flume
type	Wood
manufacturer	Great Coasters International
designer	Skyline Design LLC
lift	Chain lift hill
drop ft	72.2
length ft	2608.3
speed mph	43.6
inversions	0
duration	1:50
capacity	952
restriction cm	120
trains	3
carspertrain	12
rowspercar	1
ridersperrow	2
virtual queue name	Fastrack
virtual queue image	AltonTowersFastTrack.svg
virtual queue status	available
rcdb number	15029

Wicker Man (roller coaster)

History

Promotion

Characteristics

Statistics

Ride experience

Reception

External links

References