Marhelorpe

I'll be aiming for the entirety of this, so I'm down please!

As annoying as this may seem, it's worth pointing out that Balder also has the addition of seatbelts in every seat in addition to the lap bar, but it's still a superb woodie regardless and offers amazing airtime at the very back of the trains... So I like to think this won't make much of a difference to the experience itself, though it will undoubtedly interfere with the queues and the speed they move. Oh well, at least you'll be able to hear more of those 100 minutes of audio now, as well as having a greater chance of winning free Express Pass tickets for your next ride.

THIS from the same park, owned by the same company which gave us the surprisingly good Gruffaloworks only just 13 months ago? I’m... I’m... lost for words. What an utterly depressing view to see that lovely dragon’s head turned into something as stale and lifeless as that. Sure, the station looks nice and pretty and the final drop is themed once again, but that’s as far as the good stuff goes from what I’ve seen so far.

Reliability aside, that effect when it was working in 2016/17 I happened to really like and are greatly annoyed it's been taken away now, even if it was for understandable reasons and apparently was causing a lot of breakdowns. Though, I honestly question that claim as the ride is still having as many issues now as it did last year in my experience so far this season... The middle section now just feels like Sub-Terra's exit shipping container but with some fancy lighting and audio effects added, but with no actors this time. Doesn't feel like an evacuation anymore, but just a casual walk through the underground tunnels with no chaos, panic or meaning. A.K.A - the middle section is now superfluous.

A polished white elephant would suit it best I think.

Right, I’ve finally ridden it twice now to get a good idea and feel for the ride. Given how against the idea I am for turning X into this, this might be a surprising statement to some I’m about to make but...... I liked it. I genuinely liked it. For the most part, an awful lot of it remains the same as before such as the corridoors, trains and station area, but the big differences lie inside the pyramid itself. There are plenty of interactions with guests on the brake runs and various turns and corners from beginning to end, mostly just static walkers lit up along with some theming and TV screens present on one brake run, which does incidentally have the random stops put back in place, but for a decent reason this time. The pre-show room was quite nice and had some relevance to the whole experience this time unlike Wicker Man’s one and it makes good use of the audio and lighting effects present inside. However, the supposed window behind you with a TV screen was poorly done, mostly due to the massive air gap between the filter and the screen, so that ruined the effect slightly. But besides that, this is a nicely done room. The walks from the entrance to/from the station are the same layout as before, just with added details and a shed load of themed audio and lighting effects. Thankfully, none of it is on an endless loop and changes every few minutes, so there is some variety offered here. As for the station, the old lifts from the last decade have been demolished and the back of a van with wooden boxes containing supplies has been added here instead. Much better than before and doesn’t feel as cramped in this area to previous. But inside the station? It’s almost identical to before, just with a lot less lighting and added theming and audio on the platforms this time. The ride experience itself is more or less exactly the same, just with some added scenery on two of the brake runs and lift hill, not much else. There was a big TV screen used between the 2nd and 3rd brake runs which shows someone shooting walkers in the head as you travel past at fast speeds and the last turn before the final breaks has a nice smoke effect you pass through lit up in orange before reaching the end of the ride. So overall, whilst in truth this overlay of X is not amazing or groundbreaking, the park have done for the most part a pretty decent job with what they had and similar to Wicker Man, the best parts are the theatrical side of the experience, mostly down to the various audio and lighting effects used. Some of the theming was quite good too with lots of references to X:\ No Way Out. But the whole thing wasn’t consistent in this retheme at all and this is present especially with the queue line and coridoors. Whilst the inside looks nicely detailed, the outdoor queue looks horribly cheap with no resurfaced paths, no attempt to remove broken Bose speakers, the watch tower looks nastily cheap up-close, the baggage room has no detail or attempt to be themed at all and the indoor corridoors still have a lot of it’s roof wide open with light leakage everywhere which I was hoping would be refitted finally. My big issue is I still cannot get over the fact the park have turned what was rightfully a popular family coaster between 2013 - 2017 into this. This update just feels needless and for the most part, rushed. Whilst the ride was fun no doubt with the interactions and additional theming added, to see those between 1m - 1.4m no longer ride this coaster after 4 years annoys me greatly as it’s unfair on them in my view. This retheme didn’t need to happen. Ignoring my concerns about this shutting away families, the ride itself is not bad for what it offers and was still enjoyable, though it was nowhere near the absolutely, ludicrously laughable claim of being “15/10 on the scare scale”, not even close. Heck, I find the fastrack queue for I’m a Celeb scarier than this ride. All I’ll say is give it a chance and see what you think. As a massive skeptic of this update, it was better than what I was expecting. Then again, I had zero expectations for this beforehand anyway, so that’s not saying a lot.

Exhibit A:

IAC is well themed, but that doesn’t automatically give it a free pass on being a good attraction. There are many other factors to consider too, the least of which the idea of the park turning a decent family coaster into a thrill machine just so they can brag about using another bleedin’ IP...

Completely forgot somehow after trying it last week what I thought of these changes made to Duel, so here they are. Honestly, not much has changed inside since last year, really, it hasn’t. This is what I noticed: • The exterior building has been cleared of overgrown foliage along with a new soundtrack, which does suit the plaza better I think. • The indoor queue has a few new vertical-orientated screens used as moving portraits to cover the old CRT screens from before. • The first scene on the ride has been repainted with brighter UV paint. • Many audio effects for each scene have either been turned off or are too quiet now. • The flying heads are a lot brighter and colourful compared to before. • New audio throughout the entire building, including the queue line. Whilst it’s nice to see some of the smaller bits of theming being looked after and the main difference being they have been either repainted or given brighter colours, I must report that the UV lighting is still a massive problem with this ride despite being told it had been fixed and toned down. This is especially noticeable with the flying heads and bats just like previous years, so it’s still a major problem. But the biggest problem myself and I’m sure quite a few will have is this new audio. Whilst the exterior sounds better compared to before and has a statsictially longer track, the one used inside is almost the complete opposite. This new audio sounds incredibly repetitive and doesn’t suit the ride at all in my view. Hopefully one day Duel’s old audio will return inside because this new one sounds horrible and slow-paced. Mixed bag really. Some areas are nicer than before, but the UV lighting and new audio overshadows the improvements made in my view.

I've now ridden Wicker Man too after the weekend and share the frustrations with the constant breakdowns, delays and reduced filled seats occurring that weekend with Coaster above, especially given how the rest of the park was run that day. However, that being said, this ride has surprised me in a lot of ways. Rather than repeating what I think of Wicker Man, my review of it with photos and a video can be seen here: Full (yet stupidly long and picky) Wicker Man Review

When it comes to reviewing something, I try to be as honest, straight-talking and truthful as I can to the reader because above anything else, integrity to me is the most appreciated value I admire in someone when I am seeking for advice with their opinions. That way, if I decide to pluck down my own money, time and effort on something, I can be assured there is nothing being kept hidden when trying the product myself and therefore, trust can be built. I believe this first paragraph needs to be put at the very start of this review because after trying Wicker Man for the first time, I want to be as honest as I possibly can in what you are about to read. There are presently a lot of exaggerated claims, promises and expectations being thrown around about this coaster at the moment by various people and I refuse to fall into this category, so everything below is exactly what it is with no filter in place, for good and bad. Now onto the ride itself. I’ve been moderately quiet during the construction of Wicker Man these last several months despite the constant updates, advertising, drone footage and leaked name ages before, primarily because time and time again, I have stupidly built false promises and expectations with a lot of Merlin’s recent investments these last several years. Promises which inside I knew they couldn’t deliver but still believed in nonetheless and as a result, I have been scarred by it all and have a real grudge against the majority of Merlin attractions that have been built across the parks from 2014 onwards. To be blunt, I approached Wicker Man with a pessimistic view from the day it was announced until the day I finally rode it. Wooden coasters for me are something special; special in a way that cannot be described easily. Because despite not having fancy elements, being the fastest or tallest or the most amazing coasters out there, they tend to be underestimated a lot of the time and can really surprise you with how great they are. I’ll never forget that first ride on Megafobia at Oakwood, Wales back in 2010 where it left be stunned. Also quite recently sitting on the back row of Balder at Liseberg, Sweden in 2017 and being shocked and amazed by the extreme forces you go through, especially down the first drop after the lift hill. It certainly is an amazing feeling! So whilst I was pessimistic given Merlin’s track record for the last 4 years, coupled with their management of special effects, I was secretly all this time really excited to try Wicker Man and didn’t want to jump to any conclusions too quickly and then regret what I said all the time before trying it (e.g. - Derren Brown’s Ghost Train). I simply didn’t fall for any of it this time and approached the coaster with an open mind for a change. But my word, I’m really glad I did that now, as this coaster has been quite a surprise! To begin this thorough and in-depth review, I’d like to begin with the setting and scenery of the attraction which will be the first thing every person sees upon experiencing this ride: APPEARANCE AND SETTING: When I was at the park’s fireworks display last year and finally saw the majority of the track constructed, I can’t lie, but it did look quite impressively large and dominant through those window fences. However, when seeing it fully constructed and running, the thing looks wonderful! Everything about this ride looks brilliant. The track is moulded against the landscape very well, the rumbling sound of the trains really dominates the area similar to Nemesis, the audio sounds superb and there was a huge amount of buzz and excitement flowing through the entire area on it’s opening ceremony day. Another nice touch was seeing a wooden coaster fresh, because I’m so used to seeing wooden coasters where the wood has faded into a dull, grey colour that it was nice seeing it all looking and even smelling fresh and yellow for once! As silly as this sounds, it made a nice change for once. The entrance plaza and queue line is nicely routed, landscaped and constructed too. Seeing loads of fire beacons filling the plaza with real fire used, coupled with the nicely themed entrance and bizarre-looking vegetation to match the rest of the ride’s theme made the whole area feel more permanent, complete and designed well, unlike the ugly-as-heck-yellow-box-of-an-entrance The Smiler uses. A small touch I liked in the queue were the little bits of theming present used for lighting and signs as you progress nearer and nearer to the station. Unlike the typical laminated, dull-as-anything printed signs we see so often across other rides across Merlin, these were all shaped and sculpted to match the theme, which was a nice detail I appreciate the team for doing. Also, having a queue line for the most part which is linear and doesn’t have endless cattle pens like Smiler and Rita was another touch I appreciated, plus, the queue oddly seemed wider too compared to most other rides. For the landscaping, this is a mixed bag. Whilst some areas surrounding the coaster have clearly been worked on with new plants and turf mats installed, others have not and look as though they are still in the middle of being constructed with dirt and soil everywhere. Also, something I wished the team did before opening this ride was to clean the concrete supports holding the track in place because they were filthy all over and looked quite off-putting, especially in contrast to the freshly installed wood for the track. If the park can clean these concrete supports using a jet washer as well as laying down turf or giving the remaining sections of the area some green grass, I believe it will neaten the overall profile and presentation of the ride, since it was a bit mixed in several places and could have looked better. Just a smaller detail compared to everything else, but an important one regardless. THE WICKER MAN EFFIGY Always knew from the moment the name was announced back in January 2018 this figure of the Wicker Man himself would be the centre of all attention and man, I can see why after finally seeing it in-person as it looks really lovely! The scale of this effigy is huge and very nicely themed and detailed, so much so that I would put it up there with something we would expect to see at Phantasialand. OK, I know that might be an over-exageration here, but that’s what I gathered after witnessing it for the first time. The wood looks genuine even though it isn’t, especially around the shoulders, the shape and design of the two-faced head looks impressive and the attention-to-detail used even for the small holes the train passes through three times was looked after which was a nice surprise. Plus the amount of mist (yes, water mist, not smoke) used really filled the inside of the figure and the holes through him, which was especially great when passing through on the train! Also, I loved how there were audio effects used every time a train passes through which sync with the real fire effects. Probably the best thing about this effigy is when you are passing through the second time after making the banked u-turn, because the position of the track which passes straight through his chest is perfect! The brief view you get when passing straight through the centre of his chest is ideal, especially coupled with the mist and fire effects used on the shoulders. It captures your attention and is a really effective head-chopper effect, especially with the small bump present in the track just before passing through. Very effective and convincing effect used! However, I have to admit, whilst it looks pretty when you see it in real-life, it will not be as impressive up-close as opposed to a distance of at least 20m I theorise. The reason for this is because those fire effects used inside the figure are actually just TV screens playing a loop of some generic flame behind a black background used when filming, plus, the resolution of these displays are not that great because up-close, you can see the pixels used and cameras can pick up some artificial flickering from them, similar to when filming Thorpe Park’s entrance screen on any smartphone or camera. Another detail that aggravated me was the size and position of the fire used on the shoulders, because when standing on the ground, you barely even see the fire used when they are lit normally, but it’s only when they are enlarged in size whenever a train passes through you can see them properly for only a few brief seconds. Not a major issues, but be aware the flame effects might not be as impressive in real life compared to what they look through promotional videos and pictures. But besides from that, the effigy is a really nicely and detailed piece of theming which I welcome being there for the coaster and can really enhance the experience, even though it has some flaws when seeing it up-close. AUDIO When it comes to hearing audio on an attraction, to me, this is absolutely crucial to get right as it’s a very effective piece of theming to any ride regardless of how small or big it might be, plus, it gives it an atmosphere and defines it’s character. Rides like Chiapas, Taron, Helix and The Smiler I simply wouldn’t love as much if it weren’t for their audio in all honesty, so the audio on Wicker Man had to be loud, dominant and catchy for me to appreciate as a whole much more and thankfully, this is the case! This is probably the biggest secret weapon of the coaster, because I noticed across all areas of the ride from the plaza/entrance, start of the queue line, end of the queue line, baggage/pre-show room, station and track sections there were various different pieces of audio playing from the lovely guys at IMAscore. Upon seeing the effigy around the entrance and plaza, the first track you hear sounds very happy and charming similar to Klugheim village at Phantasialand, which gives the impression to riders the whole ride itself has a welcoming theme to it all, but as you progress through the queue, you begin to notice the tune, pitch and instruments used changes and the closer you get to the station the darker it begins to sound as you get ever-closer to the baggage room. After walking through the entire queue, I am certain it’s done in a similar way to Big Top’s audio where there are at least 3 variations of the same 30 minute track, only each one has a darker and more unsettling theme to it. It’s once you are inside the building itself the more vocal sections of the audio are used similar to the snippets found online. Drums are used, the tune changes and a more honestly scary-sounding track plays inside the buildings amongst the darkened rooms. In the station especially where whilst the audio is lower in volume compared to outside, that coupled with the burning wood effect creates a really unsettling theme inside as though something bad is about to happen. A really excellent thing the park have taken advantage of is in the badge waiting room for the pre-show and station, the doors and train dispatch have themed audio playing alongside the use of lighting, which creates a really exciting atmosphere for riders and builds up a lot of anticipation! When the train dispatches, a loud roar of drums starts and the lighting in the station begins to change and flicker, similarly to how the dispatch looks on Nemesis Inferno and Black Mamba, only this time, much more effectively I would say! Same for when a train arrives back into the station too which has is timed to when the train stops on the brake run and people disembark. Just in case that wasn’t enough, even the darkened waiting tunnels once the ride finishes have themed audio matched with smoke and light effects inside, which means even the wait caused by the stacking of the trains is looked after which I thought was great! Also, the lift hill has timed audio with the train too, making the excitement and anticipation even greater for the rider! But in summary, Alton Towers and IMAscore have done a fabulous job with the audio management for this ride and should be commended for their efforts. Excellent job! PRE-SHOW I’ll keep this brief without giving away any spoilers for the viewer, but this was quite a nice addition made. The inside is shaped like a dome tent with pieces of theming all over the walls and flooring with a big projector screen right above you in front. All this scene does is give a little insight as to what the Wicker Man is, how it works and preparing you for what awaits ahead such as “The time has come for the wicker man to rise!”. The audio was nice and loud, the picture was sharp and the video was 60fps which was lovely to see. However, I have to be honest here, this scene felt unneeded and superfluous and didn’t really add much to the experience at all, mostly because of how short it was to watch. Heck, it’s only just over a minute long. To me, this seemed more like another batching room to help reduce the number of people in the station, nothing much more. A nice touch, but a needless one. STATION If you were to ask me “What is your favourite station for any coaster?”, I would have to give it to Wicker Man here. The station is great! Unlike a lot I’ve been through, this one did not feel crammed or overcrowded inside as the platforms on each side of the track were nicely spaced out with plenty of room to move around whilst waiting/disembarking the carriage for a start. The next part being the lighting used inside as it wasn’t too bright or dull, but instead, nicely orange/red filtered, themed and lit perfectly inside to match the rest of the ride. Also, I always look for details on the ceiling and walls for a station so that the entire room is consistently themed, unlike Thirteen with black cloth everywhere and Galactica with industrial machinery everywhere. In Wicker Man’s case, both of these areas have been attended to and look really nice with the wooden beams, themed drapes and flickering lighting on the walls for a fire effect. Glad finally to see a station where all areas have been looked after for once, yay! But to summarise, the station for Wicker Man is really well done and everything about it is perfect from the lighting, to the audio, to the theming and the consistency. Excellent work here! RIDE EXPERIENCE Now onto the best part finally and goodness me, this was surprising! My first ride was incredibly lucky because I was allocated the very back two seats of the train on my first go and couldn’t be happier as it’s always the best. xD The trains themselves look great, neat and fully detailed all over and they are quite comfy to sit in too. Haven never ridden a GCI woodie before, I was expecting something really uncomfortable such as Tomahawk, Stampida and even Balder to some degree, but the seating was wide, spacious and relaxing. I could easily move my feet and legs around a bit when on the train and didn’t in anyway feel cramped or pinned down in the restraint, meaning it was a really comfortable ride from start to finish. Quite pleasantly surprised by the comfort of those seats. Once dispatched and the train immediately turns right under the building, you go through a massive jet of smoke (smoke, not mist this time) filled with lots of red lighting and sound effects of wood burning. It must be said, the amount of smoke which fills this room as you turn to exit the lift hill was huge and obscured your vision for the briefest of moments. Quite liked this actually and hope it stays! Once ascending the lift hill, the audio as mentioned earlier plays through the speakers and whilst you get a lovely view to the right of what awaits, I did find the lift hill incredibly slow which killed the great pace the ride had at the start exiting the station at a surprising speed. That coupled with the absolutely stupid bend on that lift hill made it worse. I’m probably the only person who has a problem with that bend on the lift hill as whilst it was needed due to the design of the layout, to me, that should have been designed better as it frankly looks dumb, especially when you climb it. But once you reach the top where the tunnel lies, everything begins finally. What I didn’t expect on the back row was that left turn before the drop was declined slightly and as a result, was whipped round that corner incredibly fast which took me by great surprise! And even though the first drop is quite small, the airtime you get at the back going down it is quite big and was a great start to the ride! Next was the bunny hop into the second tunnel and the S-bend which follows after and this was by far the best section. Because not only are you whipped again over the second hill, but because the S-bend goes downhill the whole way, you pick up some seriously high speeds down this section and the banking of the track can whip you around a fair bit on the back row! Not uncomfortably so, but enough to make the sudden changes in orientation a lot of fun with even more airtime moments! Without doubt the best section of the layout here. Once passing through the effigy and performing the u-turn back through again, the speed does slow down a moderate amount here noticeably, but not enough to kill the pace thankfully. The bend is nicely shaped and isn’t too extreme for the riders until you reach the small hump as you race through the effigy again everything becomes faster once more. The small drop as you exit the 2nd pass-through of the figure has a bit of a noticeable jolt similar to Smiler’s 12th inversion, though nothing unpleasant, it just gives another small dose of airtime to the rider! From here onwards when the ride continues to make turns, smaller drops and twists, the train does slow down, but it still keeps a strong pace from start to end with more airtime hills and strong forces exerted on riders. Probably the weakest section of the layout is the flat and slow 180 degree turn you make just before dropping back down and passing through the figure again. To me, if this was banked or had a small dip in the middle similar to the way both of Smiler’s turns work for both lift hills, this could have made it a little more interesting. Soon later, you reach the final brake run and the main section of the ride is over. Something I need to mention is regardless of where you sit on the train, be prepared to get a little wet from the mist effects used in the effigy, especially when you pass through the holes. Apart from the mist, water is dripping from the jets used and will drip on you as a result, especially when you go through the 3rd hole. Nothing too major, but enough to notice! You enter the darkened tunnels again with themed audio and more smoke effects before getting back to the station and disembarking to leave for the exit. The ride is now over. If I’m to summarise the experience in one word, it would be “WOW!” Sure, it’s not a Megafobia or Balder killer, but compared to how it looks and what it’s actually like riding, this coaster has some serious surprises to it, the least being the several moments of airtime you get sitting at the back over various parts of the course! This coupled with the comfort of the trains made this a really fun and exciting coaster to try, even though the layout isn’t amazing. The pace is constant after the lift hill, it feels faster than what the statistics say, the interactions with the scenery and effigy are great and it’s just intense enough to allow those as little as 1.2m onto the ride without it being too much for them. Plus, even though the coaster has a few jerky moments that throw you around a bit, it wasn’t rough at all anywhere and didn’t try breaking the rider’s back like Stampida does. SHOP Again, the theming continues here too and the shop looks really nice too! Loads of detailed theming everywhere similar to DBGT’s one with theming across all the flooring, walls and ceiling and some of the merchandise was pretty nice. There was a hand-made figure of the Wicker Man available in the shop too, but for £3,000? Nuuuuuuuu thanks. OTHER POINTS Here are some other points worth mentioning when you try it: • There is a baggage hold for this ride staffed by workers, but I thought Alton were eliminating all of them……? Very confused… • If all three queues are full, the ratio will be 1:1:1 for main, fastback and disabled, so the waits can get incredibly and frustratingly slow at times. • Be aware the lift hill is incredibly noisy when you stand underneath it. • The shop is routed, so it may be difficult or cumbersome to reach one side of the shop to the other. • When this ride breaks down, be prepared to wait a fairly long time. Over an hour was spent sending the trains round when it broke down with full and empty trains going round constantly. I believe the ride was experiencing weight issues, hence why 3/4 rows were running round empty all afternoon. • The on-ride photo camera is at the bottom of the first tunnel drop straight after the lift hill. • Be aware there is a major design flaw with placing the camera here. Honestly shocked nobody has picked this up yet, but the smoke in the 2nd tunnel if blown in front of the camera can make your on-ride photo look very strange with a weird ghost effect. Below is this issue me and Martin ran into, so you have a 50:50 chance of this appearing. Didn’t appreciate this after waiting 2+ hours and making it our only ride on it that day: CONCLUSION If you have read all of what I’ve put above, you probably most likely realise by now despite going in with low expectations, pessimism and serious doubts given Merlin’s recent track record, this ride has honestly surprised me on a level I haven’t witnessed before. It’s surprised my because during all the construction stages, apparent rumours the first drop was re-profiled by John Wardey, negative stabs from enthusiasts and the constant, vacuous marketing WORLD FIRST claims I was seeing for this thing, Wicker Man has delivered on being what I can only describe as a superb family coaster. It really is! Whilst I still have some doubts and questions of the theme behind this ride for a family coaster, especially if one has seen the films or does research behind the whole sacrificial belief behind it, the park have done a superb job with theming the ride as a whole and must be given credit for it. The smallest of details have been looked at, especially in the station, the audio matches it perfectly and everything feels complete and not half-finished like Smiler still does today. But my biggest concern is regarding the special effects used. Whilst for now they might all be working great with no flaws whatsoever, I seriously and honestly cannot see this lasting too long. It won’t be long before the sprayed mist on the effigy starts to degrade similar to The Marmaliser’s The Giggler leg, or 1+ of the screens displaying a flame inside breaking, or even one of the fires on the shoulders breaking. I might be sounding paranoid here, but for a coaster that for the most part lives on the promise of the effects working on this figure, that is incredibly risky of Merlin/Alton. Hopefully I’m proven wrong over time, but I still think eventually they will begin to break one bit at a time. But besides that, if the park can get the coaster to run perfectly with no hiccups regarding the operations and technical faults it has, maintain all the effects to a working standard every day beyond 2018, they could be onto a real winner here. Already I say this is their best family coaster without a doubt at the park, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying this is the best coaster in the country like some YouTubers and vloggers have said. It’s still loads of fun regardless and is a solid addition, but all I’ll say is don’t expect anything amazing here. Instead, expect to be surprised by it and really enjoy it for what it offers because it executes at being a fun, enjoyable woodie really well! Just to add a little more to this review, besides from the masses of pictures above, below is a short video showing many off-ride views, including a naughty sneak of the pre-show. Don't worry, that section is only 5 seconds long! So in summary, Wicker Man to me is a solid addition to Alton Towers, deserves credit for all the teams who put it together and should go down really well with it’s target audience. Heck, if it gets a 3 hour queue just from one day, I can only begin to imagine how big they’re going to get this summer! Wicker Man - 8 / 10

Maybe I’m seeing this all wrong, but what exactly do you mean posting negative, or as I like to call it, “honest” thoughts about something doesn’t get you anywhere? Whilst I understand to a certain degree if someone is in the park’s/company’s good graces they are limited in what they really want to say without making the product look bad, it’s these kind of reviews and thoughts I do not trust one single bit. I’m not picking on anyone here individually, but as a whole, if the reviewer cannot be honest with themselves or the people they share these thoughts with, how can I trust a word I hear from them in the future when their integrity is being put on the line? To me, if you are honest with your readers/viewers and spell out all the good and bad things about an attraction with no filter or restrictions in place, that to me is a proper review that deserves to be respected, especially if you are in a position of influence like Jordan and other bloggers/YouTubers are. A very recent example of where I have an issue with reading/seeing reviews from all these bloggers and YouTubers is from Wicker Man’s media event last Friday. After seeing multiple videos from the lucky few who were there that day, I was getting annoyed by so many making claims I frankly find hard to believe, one being “this is the best ride in the country”. Hey, maybe that is their true opinion, but this goes back to the point I’m making - how am I supposed to know what they are saying is true or not if they are towing the company’s line, hence the invite they got to the event? The same is very likely going to happen here again with WD: The Ride on it’s media night, which is why I’m not buying into any of this marketing guff until I try it myself and will therefore be ignoring all the reviews from everyone that day. To me, I am far more interested in reading and watching opinions from those who: 1) Didn’t get an invite to a fancy press event. 2) Spent their own money and time on the product. 3) Give their opinions in an unfiltered perspective. TLDR - I value honesty and integrity in my reviews above dishonesty and popularity, regardless of how controversial or unpopular it might be at times. That to me is the true mark of a proper and fair review.

I'm probably in the minority view here, but I happen to really like the snake skin design on those trains along with it's colour, makes it look more unique and less bland compared to being a single flat colour. Quite reminiscent of Helix's trains which look as though they have scales on them, though not as noticeable as Icon's here I must admit. Will these trains have side lighting in addition to frontal lights does anyone know? Besides from that, this looks amazing!!!

2nd to Disney... or something.

Not gonna lie, but after seeing various clips and photos online, my stance on this ride has changed a fair amount! It looks really lovely with all the theming, presentation, audio and dominance it has and that turn going straight out of the first tunnel looks better than I thought it would be. Looking forward to this now! Although, I still think that bendy lift hill looks really, really silly, regardless of whether it was needed or not...

Can't say I'm impressed given the trains look no different and the indentation "THORPE PARK" is still visible on the front. I know the ride is still being worked on and this could change later but please, at least make some amount of effort to get your marketing material looking decent guys... What concerns me more in that image is the floor on the other side of the platform hasn't been painted to match the new Walking Dead theme, which says it all to me really. If something as basic and easy as that isn't looked after, what hope is there for the rest? EDIT: Just seen this additional photo online and I'll leave it here, annotated and let you decide if this all seems like a thorough retheme, or a cheap and quick rehash of a 22 y.o. coaster. Such quality and attention-to-detail in the offload station here it's unreal......

Will there be a single rider queue for this does anyone know? Despite it being good if there is one to fill in any empty seats, if it accompanies a main, disabled, priority and fastrack queue like most coasters across Merlin do today, there will likely be some pretty hefty waiting times for guests when this opens I reckon.

It could just simply be the case they haven't updated the map yet, but only the labels for now. Heck, TWD: The Ride's new outdoor queue or watch tower hasn't been added to it yet.

Given I've never been to BPB before and planning a trip hopefully this Easter when Icon opens, can someone briefly explain what they mean by there being both good and bad days? From what I'm hearing so far, this doesn't sound too dissimilar to Fright Nights some evenings in my experience which isn't good.

If the same height restriction as previous was used for this retheme, along with no minimum age restriction, I would've actually given this a chance to deliver and see what it's like despite being against the whole TWD theme in general. But it's because the park are intentionally going to make this out as their next big thrill machine I have a problem, as this is once again going to lead to false expectations and promises with guests. People naturally are going to think this will be an amazing ride with the OMG ANOTHER WORLD FIRST nonsense when in truth, the coaster just isn't great for the market Thorpe are trying to go for here. Therefore, a fair few people who do ride it are likely going to be disappointed as a result and you end up questioning whether this retheme was worth doing in the first place other than for IP bragging rights. X as far as I could see worked very well with it's target audience, this change I simply cannot see happening. You know something is clearly very wrong here when for example a coaster like Helix with 2 launches, seven inversions, massive airtime and near-60mph speeds has a lower height restriction than this. Increasing a ride's height restriction based purely and only on it's theme is sheer stupidity in my view. This is an enormous two fingers up to anyone in the 1m - 1.4m height category.

So there’s a 1.4m height restriction once again on a coaster which succeeded these last several years for welcoming those just 1m onto, along with a minimum age restriction that’s higher than Saw: The Ride? I have one word for this and I frankly don’t care how nicely themed it might be when it opens: FAIL

Can't lie but that's not half-bad looking in that video actually. Let's hope it can stay looking this good every single day it's operating, which I'm veeeeeeery certain it will! I wish.

Surely there must be some sort of understanding why some people are pessimistic about this and want to point out potential flaws? Whilst I have no doubt this looks to be a good and fun wooden coaster once it opens that will appeal very well with families (despite the unsettling theme), it's the way this is being presented I have the biggest problem with. Why? Because Merlin are once again it seems building false expectations with the public and finding any means necessary to put the same old hyperbolic nonsense into their marketing material. My concern more than anything is once again we have a ride which is going to be built upon the promise of having some working special effects and this is what I'm pessimistic about. Please tell me, can you honestly sit here and say with a straight face "Merlin take excellent care of their special effects"? The record they have built over the years suggests this to be the complete opposite and this is why I'm not at all interested in the "fusing wood with fire" nonsense, because we all know deep down the effects will stop working before the end of the first month! Whilst it might sound nice on paper and through the use of fancy night photography, I'm not at all buying it. I'm only interested in the coaster layout itself, nothing more. Let me be clear when I disagree "nit-pick" with another's opinion - I think this will be a good coaster. I understand the limits the park has with building this. I want this to be a success with families. But what I'm not going to do is build any false promises or hope as it only leads to disappointment (example - DBGT).

Let's be honest here, the only "proper" visual effects we will get is it spurts a small fireball from the shoulders every 3 trains that passes by, some flickering red LED lighting inside the structure to give the illusion it's on fire, maybe some sound effects and a single smoke machine at the base that's as convincing and reliable as the laughing gas effect on The Giggler's arm. And this is with the notion the effects are all still working after the first week of opening...

Probably in the minority view here by saying I actually prefer listening to the tracks as they have been edited together on the discs as opposed to hearing the full versions and here's why: • Tracks such as the Entrance, Port & Basecamp, Fright Nights, The Jungle and DBGT are each somewhere I'm certain in the 30-minute range and all of them have sections which I like to call "filler areas". These areas sound as though they are used as transitions between some key melodies and sections and don't sound anywhere near as interesting compared to the extracted parts we have on the discs. For example, take a look at the Port & Basecamp tracks on the disc. There are 6 altogether totalling in at around 17 minutes, which means approximately 13 minutes of audio has not been included on the disc for this area. It is likely these are "filler sections" to help transition each of those 6 tracks together into one big version without any noticeable pauses or silent sections present. • If I were to have a single 30-minute file to listen to, what if I want to scrub to a point I like the sound of when listening to it? How do I know whereabouts in the track I need to be in order to find it other than guessing or remembering a certain point? Having a long track split into several smaller ones makes it much quicker and more convenient to find the moment I am after when I'm either listening or editing a video for example. • Something I really like a lot with some of the tracks is they have been remixed together in a way which sounds better compared to hearing them at the park itself, the perfect example being Big Top's theme. The version on the disc has clearly been remixed to include all the variations played inside the maze into one file and honestly, I love it! Works much better to have just one file with all the variations put together into one, as opposed to having at least 3 separate versions of the same 2.5 minute melody. Also, I don't know why people are surprised the full versions are not on this disc, because if you look at every single album IMAscore has made (minus Kärnan), not a single one of them features the full versions used for their respective attractions. Not one. The Klugheim and Chiapas albums don't have all their audio on them, nor does Heide Park, nor does Liseberg, nor does Magic Valley etc. As things stand as an enthusiast, of course I would love to hear every one of these tracks fully, but I'm just glad we've managed to get something out of this audio changeover more than anything as I thought it would never happen. Heck, people are still waiting for more of The Smiler's 75-minute audio and it's been nearly 5 years of waiting so far! So I'm thrilled with what we have and hope Alton Towers are next to follow.