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The Smiler - your thoughts?

Rode it on Thursday before it started bolt popping.

In short, the ride itself is a complete mix of smooth, not-so-smooth, intense and dead spots. The inverted drops are quite fun, but the second drop has a big shudder on the way down. The theme is quite good - it certainly fits the actual ride more than 13's theme ever did, and they've pulled the design concept off much better. But the best thing about this ride is that it'll keep the queues away from Nemesis - when it's open.

Had the various breakdowns and delays not happened, and the ride opened on time, Alton Towers would have had a much bigger marketing success on their hands. But the numerous opening delays have put paid to some of that. So not for the first time in Merlin's history, it's been a bit of a balls-up with a Gerstlauer. But it's still a better job than 13 ever was.
 
Just been today and it was closed roughly around 11am because one of the bolts had sheared and the track was slightly dislodged from the joining piece of track. I found this out from a woman who had been in the queue when it happened and her daughter and husband had been hit by shrapnel from the bolt shearing. She was close to going inside so it must be near to the final two heartlines? I tried to get a picture but it was too far away and they obviously weren't letting anyone in the queue line and weren't giving away any information to anyone asking. Hopefully someone has pictures?
 
Apparently a bolt came off the track today on inversion 7 and the ride is ****, anyone know anything else to confirm this?
 
Someone died falling out of the Texas Giant which has Gler restraints. Possibly ride ops error though I hear.
 
A bit late to the party, but I finally got to the park and got on it today.

I really, really like the atmosphere and look of the ride (except for the station, which is awful), but it rides like crap. I only banged my head a couple of times, but it was so rattly, repetitive and just made me feel dizzy. It was exactly what I expected (although the airtime hills were better) so I wasn't disappointed or anything.

Fab ride for the park to have, but I won't be rushing back on it.
 
This whole project has been a disaster from day one. It also has to be said that three months(?) in, and the ride is already becoming quite unbearable when sitting in certain seats/trains.
 
Glennderp said:
I think Gerstlauer made a mess of a coaster. As much as I love Alton Towers, they should have gone with Mack.
Click to expand...
Corrected.
 
Half of the ride's problems seemed to have stemmed from the surveyors getting the land type completely wrong...

Hence the concrete base, which can't drain anything and a pump now being called in, causing another ride closure...

Sue has a lot to answer for...
 
It's a combination of everything. If anyone watched the John Wardley documentary, the inversions are packed in so tightly, there's less room to smooth out the flow between the loops. With that layout, it would be rough regardless of who builds it.

Merlin rely on world firsts as a unique selling point for a ride. Sometimes it works, but other times it leads to PR disasters. But until the marketing department starts to consider quality over quantity (which isn't going to happen at Merlin without a serious shake up in how their business model operates) they'll keep churning out unique, world-beating rides that aren't that good. But if they're making money and hitting their targets, they have no need to change how they do things.
 
^Here's the thing though, they really didn't make a huge deal about the world record in their marketing. It almost seemed like an afterthought.
 
Wardley alludes to that being intentional from the PR guy at Alton. Which I'd love to believe. But how well is Alton doing with attendance?

As for "Smiler would be rough whoever built it". Does that come with warnings? Does no one at Merlin stop and worry about the future?

I'm not sure it would be, because whilst Smiler's design must have been a nightmare to construct, at the end if the day, track didn't line up. It was manufactured poorly. Does it just notice on a ride like Smiler? Are all Gersts creations actually like that? Surely that makes them idiotic for agreeing to build such a layout, knowing full well its impossible?

It's the right thing for Alton I think. But at what cost? I bet they rework a tonne of it this winter.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using Tapatalk 2
 
The attendance has increased to quite high levels, even during the usual dead midweek days having busy queues (especially pre-summer, and even atm it's getting 30 minute queues on a few rides)...

It's done wonders for the attendance after the delay, although probably not get for PR with the issues and angry guests... Towers' KPIs are apparently bad this year as a result...
 
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