Went yesterday (20/09) and was open with 2 trains trains running.

And just to add..
What an Amazing ride!

I had my first back row ride on it a couple days ago and I have to say, my opinion changed significantly on it. The first drop and the first air time hill were nothing short of incredible. The speed I felt was beyond stupidity for a ride of its caliber and to top it all off the fire effects were working properly. Definitely worth waiting 90 mins for

Hiya, just asking a quick question it's probably very obvious, I was at Scarefest and was watching the Wicker Man at night and noticed inside the head there is water sprayed out when a car has gone through just wondering if it is water and why? All I can think is heat from the cars on the track but other coaster's don't do this. As well I noticed some of the screen's showing fire though the wood on the head seem to be damaged. And a big shout out to a really nice TowersTimes member me and my friend met on the 5th outside Cloud Cuckoo Land Sky Ride station who gave us TT badges I never got your name! But thank you Sorry for the long post

Could it be an issue with the system that sprays the mist on the ride? 

Smiling.Always wrote:

Hiya, just asking a quick question it's probably very obvious, I was at Scarefest and was watching the Wicker Man at night and noticed inside the head there is water sprayed out when a car has gone through just wondering if it is water and why?

It’s water vapour that creates a mist effect which is designed to make it look like the Wicker Man structure is burning.

Bexa wrote:

Could it be an issue with the system that sprays the mist on the ride? 

I didn't think of that, I looked at my day photo's then my night photo's and yes there was no mist inside. Thank you

Dan wrote:

Smiling.Always wrote:

Hiya, just asking a quick question it's probably very obvious, I was at Scarefest and was watching the Wicker Man at night and noticed inside the head there is water sprayed out when a car has gone through just wondering if it is water and why?

It’s water vapour that creates a mist effect which is designed to make it look like the Wicker Man structure is burning.

Ahh brilliant, thank you so obvious now people are saying!

I got my first back row ride on Wicker Man today, it was a morning run but a nice ride with good airtime!

Got on it on Friday, front seat. Wonderful ride, I definitely like the pre-show.

Out of curiosity, do we know if the usual GCI winter maintenance addresses areas of roughness on the coaster?

I found Wicker Man to be borderline unbearably uncomfortable on the turn after the twisted double down toward the latter half of 2019, even opting against riding it on more then one occasion due to it actually hurting my back. Hopefully this will get addressed because my appreciation for the attraction has already began waning because of this and I do enjoy the ride overall...

Owen wrote:

I found Wicker Man to be borderline unbearably uncomfortable on the turn after the twisted double down toward the latter half of 2019, even opting against riding it on more then one occasion due to it actually hurting my back. Hopefully this will get addressed because my appreciation for the attraction has already began waning because of this and I do enjoy the ride overall...

Hopefully!  I also found that area really rough over the second half of the 2019 season. I hope Alton do some trackwork otherwise it's just going to continue to get worse.

Owen wrote:

Out of curiosity, do we know if the usual GCI winter maintenance addresses areas of roughness on the coaster?

I found Wicker Man to be borderline unbearably uncomfortable on the turn after the twisted double down toward the latter half of 2019, even opting against riding it on more then one occasion due to it actually hurting my back. Hopefully this will get addressed because my appreciation for the attraction has already began waning because of this and I do enjoy the ride overall...

I believe there is a scheduled service after a certain number of years that would replace the metal topper of the track. I don't know what the schedule for Wicker Man would be, but if it's the topper causing the issue it would likely be done when that service was due.

I just had a thought. Wicker Man starts with a few dozen people crowded into a hut like area, to watch a video (as I’m sure you all know)

Who wants to take bets on the video not being used in 2020?

wamdue wrote:

I just had a thought. Wicker Man starts with a few dozen people crowded into a hut like area, to watch a video (as I’m sure you all know)

Who wants to take bets on the video not being used in 2020?

It’s a fairly reasonable assumption to make that the Wicker Man pre-show won’t be running when the park re-opens. The station buildings will be classed as enclosed spaces so the social distancing measures in those areas will need to be perfect.

Wicker Man is currently having one of its turns rebuilt from scratch from what I can see. Specifically either the turn after the first drop or the turn out from the airtime hill through the centre of the effigy.

I have to admit, whilst I like Wicker Man it’s become somewhat painful in places and for a ride that’s barely 3 years old, the fact it’s having to be rebuilt is highly concerning to me. Could we be seeing a lawsuit filed against GCI for creating what could be argued as a faulty product or even an unsafe one?

On the plus side, looks like we might have an answer to which SW will go first, as well as the fact we may be getting an RMC at towers far sooner than anyone thought!

UPDATE - The track seems to have been sorted however from the limited view from the sky ride I can’t be 100% sure!

UPDATE 2 - I’ve tried to get some photos of the track however those I managed to get aren’t great quality due to the sky ride’s position in relation to the element. In summery, yesterday we saw a large white tent coving the track piece the entire day, today I am almost certain the track was at least stripped down to the support structure but don’t take this as gospel as on leaving the track layout seemed to be together again, albeit the section that looked to be removed had much lighter wood then the rest of the coaster now (supporting its been replaced). Whatever has happened it’s a big deal as not only has Wicker Man itself been blocked off the surrounding area has also been fenced off stopping from pictures being taken.

Fingers crossed it’ll operate again soon!

Watching Expedition Extinct (and similar channels), it's pretty common for coasters to get that sort of treatment when long term wear and tear or ride comfort issues become apparent. A wooden coaster is cheaper to rebuild sections of so they'll have smoothed out the forces on it or put more durable/stronger track/supports there. Definitely preferable to slowing the whole ride down through aggressive trim brakes.

Wicker Man has re-opened after its recent period of downtime