The Smiler - General Discussion

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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RobStandley
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Kirsty25 wrote:
RobStandley wrote: Can you get on The Smiler before 10am? (Season Passes etc..) Will be there with my Sun Free tickets tomorrow and obviously will be heading straight to the que, any ideas what sort of que time to expect at 10am when everyone else can head there?
no the smiler is not on early ride time this season. As far as I know though people can begin forming a queue from park opening at 9am.
Will they be queueing actually in the ride queue or temporary queue or just outside the ride queue?
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MatthewR1990
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The smiler queue is much bigger than 100 mins believe me. Single rider is about 20 minutes though.. RE- RIDE muhahaha
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Dan
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RobStandley wrote:
Kirsty25 wrote:
RobStandley wrote: Can you get on The Smiler before 10am? (Season Passes etc..) Will be there with my Sun Free tickets tomorrow and obviously will be heading straight to the que, any ideas what sort of que time to expect at 10am when everyone else can head there?
no the smiler is not on early ride time this season. As far as I know though people can begin forming a queue from park opening at 9am.
Will they be queueing actually in the ride queue or temporary queue or just outside the ride queue?
Temporary queue outside the actual ride queue. With the exception of the ERT rides the queue lines don't open until 10
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JayTricky
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Has anyone been lucky enough to ride single rider with friends and yet find themselves sitting in the same car as their friend?

Reason I ask is its happened to me quite a few times. Not on purpose of course but when a two is required to fill the car and people in line are in fours, you get lucky.

Definitely going to go SR when I go in two weeks if the queue is any longer than 2 hours!
Gax
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Just wondering...

Why does it matter if it was the train or the track which caused the stall?
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bbooth2
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Gax...

because if it was the track that caused the stall then we would have a very major problem here. that could potentially end with dismantling parts of the track
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mikecloud1984
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A track issue would see a full closure of the ride for the forseeable future and a complete new testing plan once the new piece of track/amendment had been made.

But this was a train issue - simply pick train up, stick it on a flat bed van and drive away.

The reason the whole of X Sector was closed was because the train yesterday had to be manually pulled throughout the rest of the circuit before reaching a break in the track (I am assuming the switch track for the maintenance shed) before being taken away - as pictured.

Because this was just a train issue then The Smiler has been able to open today.

Can anyone on site state whether it appears to have sped up since this morning when the trains looked like they would stall - yet didn't and completed full circuits before the ride opened at just befor emidday.
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SamPowell
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Long time lurker, few time poster ha,ha......

Can anyone tell me the approximate Q time for the Single Riders through this week?? Cheers

:D
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JamieH93
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Bugger the normal queue single rider for me if its true youre only waiting half hour :)
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RobStandley
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What time have they been closing the Queue for The Smiler?
Kirsty25

RobStandley wrote: What time have they been closing the Queue for The Smiler?
I would guess they have been closing entrance to the queue at park closing, as they do with all the rides, then keep the ride running until all the queue has gone based on the fact that I've heard people still riding the smiler at 6.30-7pm
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dazza4783
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Am going next Thursday, does anyone know if there are any more school holidays next week? Also what do people think the queue for the smiler will be like then? Me and a friend are going, will we be better getting in the single rider queue as don't mind going on separate trains if it means a much reduced queue time, or queueing normally?
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bbooth2
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Kirsty25 wrote: based on the fact that I've heard people still riding the smiler at 6.30-7pm
on opening day they left the smiler queue open till 6, which was pretty good :) didn't leave the park till about half 8
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zenith
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mikecloud1984 wrote:
The reason the whole of X Sector was closed was because the train yesterday had to be manually pulled throughout the rest of the circuit before reaching a break in the track (I am assuming the switch track for the maintenance shed) before being taken away - as pictured.
They don't seriously have to pull the train all the way round the track do they? Surely they'll of just removed the wheels and lifted it off or at least pulled it back to the top of the last high point and release it?
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mikecloud1984
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zenith wrote:
mikecloud1984 wrote:
The reason the whole of X Sector was closed was because the train yesterday had to be manually pulled throughout the rest of the circuit before reaching a break in the track (I am assuming the switch track for the maintenance shed) before being taken away - as pictured.
They don't seriously have to pull the train all the way round the track do they? Surely they'll of just removed the wheels and lifted it off or at least pulled it back to the top of the last high point and release it?
To be fair, I have no idea.

I guess deattaching the wheels would be one way of doing it, but it would not suprise me either if they had to get the train to pull it around its full circuit to get it back to the maintenance shed.....
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Chaz
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^The wheels are one whole unit, so yes, unless there is a major faulty wheel (and I am NOT joining that argument), then they would have to do a pull-through to the next brakes yes.
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deeve
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The ride will be popular for sometime to come as its alton towers new baby. It is a simple problem the wheels relationship with the track are eating up the kinetic energy required to get round the circuit. Merlin are being very good offering to allow people to come back on another day due to the Smiler not running. The tickets state attractions maybe closed or not available. My stag trip to thorpe park to ride stealth was dealt a blow as it was broke for a whole weekend. Same thing happened six flags new england when ride of steel was busted. This happens.
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singhters
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Me and the mrs went today, got there and the que for smiler was 180mins, went to get fast track and they were sold out as well.

Never seen it so busy ever, nemesis 70mins, rita 90mins, thirteen 70mins, so we had a drink something to eat and had a good time playing crazy golf just before leaving for home, good thing is we have annual passes so can return in the near future bad thing is £30 petrol loss but hey ho.

Just can't believe so many people were in i think a lot of scottish think it must scottish half term.
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Owen
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Erm if you ment a smiler fastrack...there not being sold...
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Danny
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Was going to say, when did smiler fast tracks start selling?!
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