The Smiler - General Discussion

[RubyGaga]

Was gonna propose on the smiler tomorrow....
Is this an omen?

[bbooth2]

every time I have ridden the smiler, it has broken down the day after

[sully1311]

On park now, they're starting the effects. Two cars have done a complete circuit

Edit: it's gone around about 10 times now, everything seeming fine!!

Edit 2: WE ARE OPEN!!

[tallicay2k]

You have to give the staff some slack, I personally think they have coped really well considering how many angry customers have stormed over to them and wanted to wave their magic wand n make it open.

Staff customer service had improved..a lot over the last year or 2 and due to this ride braking down they can't seem to win.

I feel sorry for them, it's not their fault but in the end they get the brunt of it.

[JW599]

Even when it's open they get slack.

I was waiting at the entrance for the single rider queue, within 10 minutes they were constantly asked the same questions over and over "Can I buy fastrack?", "How long is the single rider queue?", "Why are people going down the fastrack entrance?", "What is the queue time?", "[angrily] Why is the queue so long???".

I don't know how she could stand there for hours at a time in 20 degrees sunny weather wearing that outfit and yet she appeared to be the most relaxed and happiest person there really making an effort to keep everything moving while being hassled.

[carlbrim]

On park also, just come off.
What an amazing ride! Looks slow off ride but by Jesus she's fast when your on it. And it's huge like everyone said but didn't prepare myself for the size of the track and the amount of it!

Arghhh so awesome!

[GigaSurimi]

What I've noticed is, if the trains really are so "close to the edge" in terms of making it around the circuit when empty, why are they only half (at most, just 2 dummies at least) filling them with dummies for testing?

My pic of stalled train.... 

That's because if the whole coaster is works fine, a train should make it round without stalling regardless of how much it weighs. Once AT gets everything sorted (which I hope they do), the coaster should behave the same no matter how full or empty the trains are.

That's why they also test it while not being full of dummies. It does work when it's full, and it should also work when it's empty. They can't just say "oh it works when it's full anyway, so let's not worry about empty trains, we'll fill all of them and add dummies when there are not enough guests".

[Hitch]

Weight isn't the issue here? The trains have been over trimmed when going over the air time hills and thats what caused them to stall, all these issues started to occur after they installed the trim brakes.

[Martin Gregory]

Was gutted that on my only available day the ride had an unforseen closure.

Towers kindly revalidated tickets which was something we were impressed by as we travelled down especially for the ride.

Well done to towers 

[sam_ph777]

Is the smiler opening at 10am now?

[sully1311]

Opened at around 10.45 today

[Hari]

Smiler fastrack, is it worth it? Any1 got any pictures of where they are selling them? Or are they at the normal place?

[Reedie]

Smiler fastrack, is it worth it? Any1 got any pictures of where they are selling them? Or are they at the normal place?

I rode the smiler today and was tempted by the fast track. The main queue we were advised was 2.5 to 3 hours so two of us joined single rider we had to wait 40 mins  and got the front row two seats together it was awesome. We were lucky to get seats together though was just the way it worked out.

So I would recommend single rider over fast track if you are ok with your group being split.

[Th13TEENGUY]

Was gonna propose on the smiler tomorrow....
Is this an omen?

Im sure everything will be fine best of luck with the proposal :moj

[Deejay]

Was gonna propose on the smiler tomorrow....
Is this an omen?

Best of luck with the proposal! Let us know how it goes 

[Wedjie]

Was gonna propose on the smiler tomorrow....
Is this an omen?

Have you let the towers know? They can help out!

I was there last month when they stopped the oblivion train over the drop. The whole of X Sector was watching this poor guy...They wouldn't let it drop until she said yes.

Think there's a picture on Facebook somewhere.

[JW599]

Was gonna propose on the smiler tomorrow....
Is this an omen?

Have you let the towers know? They can help out!

I was there last month when they stopped the oblivion train over the drop. The whole of X Sector was watching this poor guy...They wouldn't let it drop until she said yes.

Think there's a picture on Facebook somewhere.

They had the whole ride to themselves  - http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Alton-Towers-marriage-proposal-Oblivion/story-12487073-detail/story.html#axzz2VzdbKv51

[Paul007]

Smiler fastrack, is it worth it? Any1 got any pictures of where they are selling them? Or are they at the normal place?

I rode The Smiler for the first time yesterday, front row and have to say me and my non-enthusiast friends thought it was top class! Well and truly corrected!

In regards to fastrack tickets we arrived at X-Sector to find the queue at the 2 1/2 hour mark up by the towers. The ride had just opened so thought we would try the kiosk opposite the golf game on the lake. Managed to get 3 fast track tickets (People were buying for bigger groups of 8-12 too) for £6 each for the 12:30-1:30 time slot.
After a few goes on Oblivion and a wonder over to Rita and Thirteen we arrived at the fastrack queue at 12:30, walked straight through the queline, on to the front row and I promise you that is not an exaggeration! We couldn’t believe it ourselves to be honest!
There were a few people at the fastrack queue entrance complaining that fastrack tickets were no longer available so they may still only be doing limited numbers in the morning? I know it was mid week but it saved us a massive wait, hope that helps.

[zenith]

Having loosely followed the construction I was under the impression that there was a secret element to the ride that was censored in the construction photos. Obviously what was censored was the indoor inversion part of the track, but I can't understand why they were censored, other than to hide them from the public so that it comes as a surprise to people when they ride for the first time? Is this the case or was there some other reason for this?

[GigaSurimi]

Having loosely followed the construction I was under the impression that there was a secret element to the ride that was censored in the construction photos. Obviously what was censored was the indoor inversion part of the track, but I can't understand why they were censored, other than to hide them from the public so that it comes as a surprise to people when they ride for the first time? Is this the case or was there some other reason for this?

There are many possible explanations:
- generate/grow some hype around the construction.
- create surprise for the GP when first riding the coaster
- prevent enthusiasts and potential competitors from knowing that AT was going for the most number of inversions in early stages of construction,
- troll us enthusiasts and keep us excited
- ...