The Beast from the East may have blown itself out in London but as I arrive in Stoke-on-Trent to try out Alton Tower’s latest ride, Wicker Man, the Pest from the West is in full flow, with flurries of snow sweeping across the park. Obviously, I’m underdressed but if anything’s going to warm me up it’s a massive rollercoaster that fuses wood … and fire.
The £16m Wicker Man is a major addition for Alton Towers. It has been in development for four years, involving 500,000 man hours, 7,500 tonnes of wood, 1.8m screws and 65,000 bolts. As with any rollercoaster, it’s a significant feat of engineering – and, in this case, lots of special effects.
The team at Alton Towers has been keen to make a wooden rollercoaster for years. The Wicker Man is the first wooden rollercoaster to be built in the UK in more than 20 years. “They’re the origin of coasters,” says Bradley Wynne, creative lead on the team. “People have a perception of them as old fashioned or rickety but this one is just as advanced as the other kinds of ride you’ll see.”
This, I discover, is the kind of blue sky thinking you find in rollercoaster concept meetings. “It seems like a paradox: you really wouldn’t put the two together would you?” says Wynne. I’m unsure if this is a rhetorical question but he (and everyone else from the park) spends a lot of time reassuring me that at no point does any wood come close enough to any fire to actually, well, burn. And while the track is made out of wood, the six-storey Wicker Man effigy the track flies through is actually made of concrete and steel. So … we’re good?
I have time to mull this over as I take a seat in the 12-car train and await my fate, having just been told by a booming voice that we are about to be sacrificed to the spirit of the Wicker Man that rules the land. The ride concept has no relation to the film, in case you were wondering, so although spooky folk music is pumping through the speakers while you wait, no one is doing a naked dance.
Moments later, I’m flying down the track, the train clattering along, twisting, turning and plunging, then diving through the flaming Wicker Man effigy, which has a face on one side and a ram’s head on the other. While the rush doesn’t compare with that of a high-G-force, cheek-quivering thrill ride, there’s an intensity that comes from hurtling around a track that looks like a delicately arranged pile of matchsticks.
There’s also a sense that the new ride will mark the end of a challenging period for the park, marked by the tragic Smiler crash in 2015.
“Any business that has gone through an incident such as what happened here … it wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t feel that pain,” says Francis Jackson, director of operations at the park. “There’s been a lot of learning, not just for Alton Towers, but the wider sector. Our safety standards are now higher than industry standards.”
As for what impact the ride will have on footfall, Jackson is guarded. “We’re not just focused on the dollar,” he says. “If the experience is right, the guests will come.”
Wicker Man isn’t the only rollercoaster vying for the the attention of thrill-seekers this year. This spring also sees the opening of Icon, a highly anticipated ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It will be the UK’s first ever “double-launch” ride, meaning the it includes two powerful acceleration boosts and those on it will experience a G-force level comparable to that felt by a Formula One racing driver. Meanwhile, Thorpe Park is opening its “multi-sensory” zombie-themed ride based on hit TV show The Walking Dead.
- Wicker Man opens at Alton Towers on 17 March
