The Smiler - General Discussion

[Themeparksandy1981]

Is all effects still working?

[Sr88]

In all honesty none of the effects have ever worked for me :/

[CoventryBee]

We had car number 3.1 on Friday when we rode The Smiler. I was sat on the back row, far left. I didn't find the ride itself rough personally, however you can feel it jolting about underneath you, and after the indoor inversion you don't half hear a massive 'clunk' at the back. Would be worrying to some new riders.

[DanMcSUFC]

Off to Alton Towers next Wednesday & Thursday, went there last year especially to ride The Smiler (managed to get 3 rides in due to queue times), and can't wait again to ride it again! I have a few questions for you guys;

1. How's the queue times been midweek? I would imagine it would be a little quieter than normal now after the main hype of last year, but still would expect it to be a popular destination to head to in the park considering it's the newest ride there.

2. When's the best time/quietest time to queue? We did 2 days last year and went round the park (From Air & Nemesis, to Rita, 13, and Oblivion before The Smiler) on the first day, and then headed straight down to X-Sector to queue up first thing the next day in ERT before heading to Nemesis & repeating Day 1 again. Is there a particularly quiet time for The Smiler, or is it just hectic queues all day long?

3. Amongst searching for Bounceback prices for entry to the Theme Park again (couldn't find a single thing on their website in the end), I stumbled across someone who was talking about an "Official DVD" of The Smiler (kinda like the "My Day" thing which I very vaguely remembering AT having a good few years ago now). My question to you guys is do you know if Alton Towers now offers this regularly, or was this a one off trial or something? I've seen nothing advertising this on their website, or Social Media sites either!

4. Have all the effects been working in recent weeks? I noticed last year when I visited that they turned off the smoke from "the giggler" and the water jets from "the inoculator(?)". Would be great if they were all working, and a shame if they weren't maintained as it's what made the ride look so fantastic!

Anyways, I'm looking forward to my visit in a few days time, any help or advise that anyone can give me about the above questions would be much appreciated!

[Dr.Kelham]

Queue times I high no matter what time of the week you go, we went on in the morning on Thursday and waited about 45 minutes, later on it went to 100 minutes. Best time to queue is either first thing during ert or later on during the day.

Bounce back price is £9.60 iirc
The smiler did is permanent but is currently experiencing technical difficulties might be fixed when you go. Also no dvd for front row riders, effects are almost non existent which is disappointing

[DanMcSUFC]

Queue times I high no matter what time of the week you go, we went on in the morning on Thursday and waited about 45 minutes, later on it went to 100 minutes. Best time to queue is either first thing during ert or later on during the day.

Bounce back price is £9.60 iirc
The smiler did is permanent but is currently experiencing technical difficulties might be fixed when you go. Also no dvd for front row riders, effects are almost non existent which is disappointing

Cheers for your response. Of what I've seen, times bounce between 45-60 mins but I wasn't expecting very short queues! As I said earlier, I went from Nemesis/Air going around the park, working back to The Smiler, sounds like that's most likely the best way to go about the park again this time round.

Shame about the effects really, is it all the effects inside and outside, or just the ones outside? Also, regarding DVD's, does anyone know whether or not they have been in operation recently? Would definitely be interesting to see what you look like going around the track! Surprised it's not been advertised heavier by AT - maybe a quiet introduction to test out the tech before officially announcing it?

Many thanks for letting me know about bouncebacks also, ended up tweeting them earlier this afternoon to find out more about them as I can't find a single thing on their website about them!

[Aidan Lowe]

There are some notices while queuing about the Smiler DVD, tbh it isn't worth your money but if you want to take a souvenir of you riding it then I guess it's nice.

The only effect you ever notice on The Smiler is the mist and even then it's only noticeable when riding the front row. The rest just give it a central focal point and eye candy.

[Altontowersbarlow]

Shame about the effects really, is it all the effects inside and outside, or just the ones outside? Also, regarding DVD's, does anyone know whether or not they have been in operation recently? Would definitely be interesting to see what you look like going around the track! Surprised it's not been advertised heavier by AT - maybe a quiet introduction to test out the tech before officially announcing it?

All effects on The Smiler have long periods of Downtime with the inside Smoke Screen being the most temperamental however I don't believe any effects have been turned off permanently. In regards to the on ride DVD's I don't think the technology is working as expected however I am unsure if they have been in operation recently

[Alex]

Im sure I heard the inside smoke was turned off due to it causing damp issues inside, im sure someone else can clarify this better.

[DanMcSUFC]

Few interesting comments on the effects, personally can't see why they turned some of them off. Like I said, the smoke on the giggler and the water spray on the inoculator(?) weren't working/switched off when I last visited back in July, which was a shame really. If they all worked fine every time, this would be great, as I think the effects really make the ride look great!

Regarding the DVD, I personally think it's a nice feature to have - shame it's not yet available for the front row however! I think it's down to personal preference whether or not to buy the DVD really - some people think it's good, others don't see the point in it. With the whole theme (security cameras etc), it's kinda fitting really to have a camera filming your "marmalisation" process.

[Lotty]

We went today, and put this way by the time we left the smiler I had no enthusiasm to smile. We joined the queue with 70 mins on the clock. Finally came out after 2 very short break downs 2 and half hours later!!!

Can honestly say normally even after all that time once seated I would have felt happy I was on it and smiling, but the ride was very rough and did sound like it was more like 25 years old rather than 1. Very disappointed to say the least. Only hope I can experience a smooth ride again in October. And must say very unusual of the staff there the guy who served me in the smiler shop was a bit rude. Never mind better time next time hopefully.

[KevBales]

They do need to sort out their queue time estimation, we went on Sunday same thing happened, said 90 on the board but we queued for 2 hours 15 mins! There wasn't any down time either the only thing I can remember was 10mins for putting a new train on the track. Also they need someone to tell people in the queue to move along if they aren't buying anything from the queue-line shop as that certainly made the wait much longer!

[Lee]

The shops are positioned so they don't affect the queue. It's only polite to wait while people purchase as they're not affecting your queuing time as there's still a queue in front too.

I've usually found the queue boards a bit sketchy, but the smiler queue line time is normally quite accurate. Interesting that it seems to have become innacurate.

[Towers jamie]

Ive always wonderd how the queue times work, is there sensors that know where the end of the queue is or something?

[Sentri558]

Ive always wonderd how the queue times work, is there sensors that know where the end of the queue is or something?

I always thought it worked on one of three ways, this is not confirmed to ANY DEGREE so don't quote me :P
1- Sensors. Pretty obvious what I mean
2- Manual. Some staff member guestimates the amount of time in the queue
3- Advanced mathematical system based on an overview of the line as well as the riders per hour count. Maybe... Maybe not ^.^ hopefully someone here knows

[Danny]

When we rode on its opening day they were handing out pieces of paper with the time they joined the main queue line. I think they done this for the first week it opened, so using cameras they have a rough idea how long the wait will be judging by how long the queue is. Usually they are pretty accurate. The queue time boards that show all rides queues are not as reliable as they are not update as often and the ride ones are

[looptheloop]

Visited yesterday and rode the Smiler twice, such a brilliant ride. Queue times were 2hr and 1hr 20.

[Aidan Lowe]

Took my nephew today. He is only 10 and other than going for the fireworks last year where we did, hex, duel, charlie, ice age and nemesis sub terra he hasn't been on any major coasters.

Got him fast track silver + so we did air, rita, th13teen, oblivion, nemesis & Smiler and here is his face bless him. Very proud of him for going on them despite his fear.

[stageshoot]

lovely weather at Alton today,

Vicky (The Mrs), decided to stay on the smiler all day, from first car at 10am (well 10.10 by the time it started) to 6pm she managed 38 complete rides using fastrack. (Would have been more but there was a 20min tech and 2 puke cleanups!!)

Is now totally knackered!

But was a lovely day..

[Aidan Lowe]

Woooow, surely that must be a record for a daily visit Well done to her, I love the ride but don't think I'll be able to handle that amount of rides in a day, got purple bruises on my biceps as is