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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Danny
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It's the fact that google translator is crap and certain words won't translate fully, nothing to do with gerstlauer
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themealgang
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jackandylan123 wrote:
themealgang wrote: On a completely different note, The Smiler now has a technical name/ coaster style! Gerstlauer have named it the 'Infinity Coaster'. Interesting. Wonder how many more of these will be built!

http://www.gerstlauer-rides.de/referenc ... ler-en-US/
Been mentioned above ;)
Oops! Sorry if I was late! :shock:
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themealgang
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themealgang wrote:
jackandylan123 wrote:
themealgang wrote: On a completely different note, The Smiler now has a technical name/ coaster style! Gerstlauer have named it the 'Infinity Coaster'. Interesting. Wonder how many more of these will be built!

http://www.gerstlauer-rides.de/referenc ... ler-en-US/
Been mentioned above ;)
Oops! Sorry if I was late!
But the description given of the coaster type obviously confirms Merlin requested OSRs...    :shock
Last edited by themealgang on Fri Sep 20, 2013 9:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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sully1311
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themealgang wrote: On a completely different note, The Smiler now has a technical name/ coaster style! Gerstlauer have named it the 'Infinity Coaster'. Interesting. Wonder how many more of these will be built!

http://www.gerstlauer-rides.de/referenc ... ler-en-US/
You need to read this page and last.
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Fish777
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When I went on it today, there was quite a big jolt near the start (can't remember exactly when or what car I was in) and it was a very rough ride today. My head has bruises  :|
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vesty21
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Therideman11 wrote: When I went on it today, there was quite a big jolt near the start (can't remember exactly when or what car I was in) and it was a very rough ride today. My head has bruises  :|
The first inverted drop has a bit of a jolt
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JammyBand
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It is interesting that Alton went with the OTSR's instead of lap bars. The lap bars would have made it so you don't hit your head on the restraints as much from the rattling! They had to choose 4 rows as they really needed that vertical lift (due to space). It would have been much more exciting with lap bars, but there could have been some sort of safety issue, or maybe Alton Towers thought that the general public would be put off riding a big coaster with only lap bars. (Infinity Coaster 1 looks too intense for me)
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ST-Chris
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a coaster with 14 loops, vertical lift hill and lap bars

get real... obviously due to safety issues is why its got shoulder restraints

i'd rather be safe than buzz off having a lap bar haha
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Jamie
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ST-Chris wrote: a coaster with 14 loops, vertical lift hill and lap bars

get real... obviously due to safety issues is why its got shoulder restraints

i'd rather be safe than buzz off having a lap bar haha
A lapbar would, if designed correctly, be safe.
There are lots of inverting coasters out there with lapbars, and some coasters with a vertical lift hill that have lapbars.
The number of loops won't make any difference...
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Jamie
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Scooby252 wrote: Hello there ,I'm planning to go to alton towers midweek in mid October but because of certain reasons I can't arrive at alton towers until 11.30am and not fond of waiting more than 45 minutes for the smiler riding together would anyone recommend me to purchase a fast pass from their website ? . Looking at the current ride times if it's dry they still go up to 90 to 100 minutes at around midday but in 3 weeks time I'm not sure. Any help would be appreciated thanks people .
You could always use the Single Rider queue.  It's free, but you probably won't sit next to your friends.
What it doesn't do however is stuff up the main queue for the purpose of money grabbing - it fills the empty seats :)
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Fish777
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Went on it again today and I felt another massive jolt near the end. My bruises have doubled in size and amount  :|
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Alex
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ST-Chris wrote: a coaster with 14 loops, vertical lift hill and lap bars

get real... obviously due to safety issues is why its got shoulder restraints

i'd rather be safe than buzz off having a lap bar haha
Blue Fire has a lapbar and it has a pretty intense zero g roll in it so obviously lapbars are safe otherwise that wouldnt be allowed
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Jack
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Ready_23 wrote:
ST-Chris wrote: a coaster with 14 loops, vertical lift hill and lap bars

get real... obviously due to safety issues is why its got shoulder restraints

i'd rather be safe than buzz off having a lap bar haha
Blue Fire has a lapbar and it has a pretty intense zero g roll in it so obviously lapbars are safe otherwise that wouldnt be allowed
yes, and also the fact that only incredibly large people would have to worry, for everyone else, they are as safe as OTSR's
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From what it looked like today, the flooding in the indoor section is really quite bad, they've tried to contain it with sandbags an piles of dirt but I think they will mpneed to do a lot of work over closed season
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TheOutpatient
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the other thing about lap bars is they could be painful. Any forward force on the body is going to be received by them.
Theres a limit to how big and squishy they can make them because to much squishy can be pushed against by the rider and they can sort of wriggle out of it.

Interestingly I think the potential for soft restraints is greater with OSTs, because aslong as your head is sticking out the top of them and with the way they meet the "horn" of the seat you are sort of clamped in.
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Danny
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I think to end the lap bar discussion we can safely say: the smiler could of had lap bars, they would of been comfortable and safe. The reason they didn't go for them is because more people would be put off for feeling unsafe.
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TheOutpatient
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Not necessarily. Remember, for some people- fear is the selling point.
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Jamie
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Anyone saying that people would find it unsafe is just silly.  For heaven's sake, Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point (basically Stealth X2) has lapbars!
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Danny
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It is pretty much fact that if the public, who don't know much about safety or rides etc; see a ride that has lap bars over a ride that has OTSR's they would think the OTSR's are safer as your whole body is held in. A lap bar does too but people don't know that
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Jamie
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danny.g97 wrote: It is pretty much fact that if the public, who don't know much about safety or rides etc; see a ride that has lap bars over a ride that has OTSR's they would think the OTSR's are safer as your whole body is held in. A lap bar does too but people don't know that
I'm sure that people would still go on it.
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