BBC News School Report @ LCS

With the new theme park seasons peeking around the corner, Alton Tower’s newest ride ‘Wicker Man’ will be the very first to incorporate wood and fire in an attraction. There has been some controversy over how Merlin Industries will keep this ride from going wrong like The Smiler did, but as the newest attraction has been testing since December 2017, hopefully they will have found and corrected any faults in the ride system.

‘Wicker Man’ is the first wooden coaster in England for 21 years. With an original codename of SW8 (Secret Weapon Eight) it will be of the greatest rides in the park, also turning Alton Tower’s famous big six, into a big seven. Originally there was some controversy on closing one of the most loved rides in the park, the Flume, but now it is thought that the new ride will calm the hard feelings. Costing £16m to create, £2m less than The Smiler, it should be a brilliant experience for all.

This attraction had an interesting way of advertising with most of the videos and interviews being on YouTube and it even had its own language and letter characters for people to work out; this USP works wonderfully to not only interest the audience but to get them involved.

Some people are expressing some concerns about how the wood and fire will work together and how the ride won’t burn down. ‘’It’s scary because it involves wood and fire, it wouldn’t take that much of a spark for wood to go up in flames’’ said an adult in school. ’’I’m looking forward to it because I love Alton Towers and I’m sure the quality will carry through to this ride’’ said a teacher. On the other hand, the majority of the people we interviewed were very excited to experience this world’s first coaster. All we can do now is wait…