thedazza

Some POV footage of the Guardians of the galaxy prototype here.

The unknown mini coaster is a Zamperla Junior Twister, or a Golden Horse knockoff of one.

Looks like fun.

No need to shout, young man. What makes you think I'm shouting? My text was in large and bold. It just makes it a bit easier to see and emphasises my point. I do apologise if it came off that way. But yeah, I agree with what Baffles is saying on the name. The park brought all this confusion on themselves in naming it what they did. Nevertheless, I'm sure in time we'll get used to it. It's quite clever really when you think about it. Because a lot of people are aware of the movies they are just going to assume it is based on them. So they basically have all the benefits of an IP, without actually having to pay for one.

It looks to me like it will be a launched model. The only straight part where the brakes and station could be is before the steep incline without the chain lift. It looks likely that it will launch backwards up the hill, then another launch forward through the course, chain lift up the second hill then backwards through the course back to the station. Possibly while spinning.

They didn't go with any I.P. This has nothing to do with either of the movies of the same name. It just happens to be based on the same druid rituals that those movies are. They paid nothing for any I.P.

They are saying that it is "The world's first rollercoaster experience fusing wood and fire" (pretty sure Wodan and Apocalypse are also Woodies that have fire effects though) so it will be real.

Alton Towers have finally confirmed what we have known for quite some time.

Yes they will.

They did say when T-Rex and Raptor track rides were first announced that Raptor track was going to be a "Cookie Cutter" layout, so this is an off the shelf layout so will likely be more built with the same layout at other parks.

Having seen the video again the floor does indeed seem to be in the correct position, was down in the v shape, was looking at it wrong before. It doesn't hit the floor so yes it is most likely metal fatigue. By the looks of it the gondola separates and then hits the gondola opposite it, breaking the restraints causing people to fall out. The restraints didn't fail. No-one was falling out until the gondola hit the other and broke the restraints.

On the video it looks like one side of the floor had raised back up and that was what the row hit. Something had gone wrong somewhere to allow that piece of floor to raise back up while the ride was in motion.

They haven't specifically said World First, but "groundbreaking" does suggest a first of some kind, and they do like their big new rides to have a unique selling point. The price of the ride is a lot more than a typical GCI woodie, especially for it's size, although I would think it will have extensive themeing which will be part of the budget. And placing a ride with a Wicker Man theme in a Pirate themed area may mean a full area re-theme which may also be part of the budget. Although maybe not given that the ride it is replacing was themed to baths and rubber ducks, which wasn't exactly Piratey.

Well... Well what? Is that the only part of my post you read? Keep reading, Lightning Rod is mentioned. While I agree that that Lightning Rod is the World's First, I wouldn't put it past Alton Towers to claim theirs as the first all wooden coaster with a launch due to the amount of steel used on Lightning Rod.

Fire wouldn't be a World First, but I do think the trains will be fire themed, with possible fire effects on the Wicker Man after the train passes through it. We know the lift is going to be magnetically propelled rather than a chain lift so I would assume the World First would be first wooden coaster with a launch. I assume they would go for the World First marketing rather than European First with their reasoning being that Lightning Rod isn't a true wooden coaster because of all the steel used. It could well be that Wicker Man was maybe a codename or working title for the design, with it being a woodie. And they probably liked the idea of it and designed a theme around it. The SW prefix is used more for marketing and hype these days. Their design team will be designing potential rides for certain parts of the park all the time, they will all have different project names. They will just get the Secret Weapon number as and when the ride is confirmed to be the next one to be built and the final plans are submitted for approval.

Yes it does hint at a Japanese theme. By the way, the Japanese emblem in the logo means "Speed".

When photos of The Flume being demolished were put on twitter, or facebook, can't remember which, they had a caption saying something along the lines of "clearing the area for "The Wicker Man" ride". The post was quickly deleted, and there was speculation at the time that it would be the name of the coaster, I thought it could just be a codename they were using (SW seems these days to be geared more towards being something they use to hype up enthusiasts rather than an in-house project name). But I think this trademark application all but confirms that it will be the name. I know it is quite an unusual name for a coaster, but remember this is the same park that called their last 3 big coasters RITA, Th13teen and The Smiler. It will most probably not be themed to either of the movies but to what the movies were based on, Pagan and Druid rituals. There is supposed to be a big themeing element where the old flume station was. My guess is that will either be a wickerman statue, or possibly a model of stone henge. On the plans the entrance to the queue line is in Mutiny Bay. Not sure how this would fit into a Pirates theme, so could be seeing a re-theme of the area. Seems quite a dark theme for a family ride. Hopefully they have learnt from their mistakes with Th13teen when it comes to marketing it.

Thorpe Park have announced that I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Maze will be closed on the following dates during the 2017 season: Friday 31st March – Monday 1st May, Saturday 27th May – Sunday 4th June, and Friday 30th June – Monday 4th September. So if you do really want to go on it then hopefully you weren't planning to go any of those dates. It really isn't much of a loss if you don't get to do it, it is as bad as people say it is.

Yeh the next coaster will probably replace Logger's Leap. They said it was closing for refurbishment, but i've got a feeling it won't re-open. I know there were plans for a GCI Woodie, but that was planned to go where Saw is now. Maybe they do have a 2 ride deal with GCI.

Yes you are correct about the height restriction. Like you say Stealth is 205 ft tall so a hyper is a possibility, but it wouldn't be much, if any, taller than stealth. For the next coaster I would guess at an RMC, or a B&M Launched Flying Coaster. Here is the original rough plan for the area, this is from quite some time ago with the layout on the right being what eventually became The Swarm. The layout on here isn't that much different from the finished design, so the other coaster's layout may not be too different to what is eventually put there. But obviously plans change all the time so who knows.

There was a formal screening option submitted in march 2015 for a coaster in forbidden valley made from timber truss, which if rumours are to be believed was going to be an RMC launched woodie, like Lightning Rod but with inversions and was probably going to be built to open next year. That would have been easy for them to market as could have been advertised as Europe's first launched woodie, or World's first launched inverting wood coaster (they would have gone with the World first marketing, it is Merlin we are talking about afterall). Then The Smiler crashed and a looping launched wooden coaster became the wrong choice given the general public's safety concerns, so they have gone with a family thrill coaster, but will still be Europe's first launching woodie so they still get the USP. It is a shame that they never built one while John Wardley was there, maybe this is one of his designs that they have modified to include a launch, but he said he's had nothing to with this ride, so probably not.

Yes they did send it round the big one with a driver in it. Looks like it is most likely the same car re-decorated. And most probably does point towards an F1 theme, possibly sponsored by an F1 team.