Wicker Man, Alton Towers - Review

The ride is the first to blend both wood and fire, and is also the first wooden roller coaster to have been built in 21 years.

Revellers gathered inside the imposing Alton Towers Hotel to wait for transportation to the ride when the whimsical Beornen - a secret community of people that are said to 'live in the woods around Alton' - turned up to address the crowd and inform them that they were the 'chosen' ones.

A short hop on a coach to the main Alton Towers theme park - which was ominous and imposing as the sun began to set - began the crowd's exciting journey into strange world of Wicker Man.

Attendees followed the gloomy path, illuminated by neon orange bulbs and accompanied by spooky music, until they caught their first glimpse of the awe-inspiring ride.

Wicker Man, named after the 1973 film of the same name, is a whopping 57.57ft high and incorporates eerie sculptures of a ram's and a man's head with nerve-inducing flames erupting around them at a moment's notice.

The Beornen, played by incredibly talented actors, greeted eager thrill-seekers upon their arrival with gifts of floral headbands, wicker balls and lavender, as well as inviting them to watch fire-breathing performers as they waited to board the ride.

Adrenaline junkies headed straight for the entrance to Wicker Man however, and embarked on the winding path towards the start of the wooden coaster.

This walk aids in upping the anticipation for the attraction ahead, as it is accompanied by atmospheric music, dim lighting, and stunning views of the 2000ft track.

Once at the start of the queue fear fans were bundled into a cold stone room and plunged into sudden darkness

A screen sprung to life to tell the story of the Beornen and how they must find a sacrifice to appease their gods - and that, of course, was us.

This cloth partition dropped to reveal a stunningly-detailed 3D projection of the Wicker Man himself, as runes around the room ignited and sent shivers down everyone's spine.

My heart was certainly pounding by this point, and I could feel my palms beginning to break a sweat as I boarded the roller coaster cart, joined by 23 other passengers across 12 carriages.

The ride began slow, as the train wound through a smoke-filled wooden tunnel. Wicker Man began to gather speed and pulses began to race as we sped around winding bends at death-defying speeds, before ascending the wooden track to enter the ride's human head effigy.

At the highest point flames erupted into the air and caused the whole train of passengers to scream, before the ride picked up top speeds of 44mph in a chaotic wave of twists, turns, water vapour and fire that brought the horrific back-story of the ride to life.

The disorientatingly-fast ride began to slow down and culminate with another trip into the human head filled with mist, before a flame effect created using water vapour and lights exploded in-front of riders faces for one last fright.

Wicker Man certainly lived up to Alton Towers' promise of being 'most immersive roller coaster experience to date' as it utilised ground-breaking special effects and classic roller coaster technology to create a spine-tingling and meticulously detailed ride.

The attraction was set to open to the public today, but has been postponed due to poor weather conditions.