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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Justin
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I must agree, The Smiler, along with the rest of X Sector needs some work.

The projectors in projection room needs to be aligned correctly with foam edging replaced along metal beams. The exit corridor seriously needs to be touched up or repainted and the screens need to be fixed, including the one at Half Way as minimum. I would like to see the trains touched up to bring it to the same standards as Train 4. In an ideal world, the track would be repainted too!
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Zach
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The only issue with regards to the projectors in the ceepa room is that the track runs directly above them. So they are forever vibrating and jiggled out of position so they could be reset and then they will move again it's fighting a losing battle.
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Rita Fan
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Will a 5th train be ordered over closed season?
Erm, change of plan, I prefer The Smiler. Rita's rubbish. Should have thought of that...

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Zach
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Rita Fan wrote:Will a 5th train be ordered over closed season?
No, a 5th train won't added from what I've heard
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Tom170499
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Rita Fan wrote:Will a 5th train be ordered over closed season?
I doubt it. It rarely ran a 5 train service before the crash, that and current cost cutting probably won't allow for it. Although, it has proven to still be popular so, you never know...
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MakoMania
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They wouldn't even run it on all 4 trains this season, so a 5th is highly unlikely.
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Nickolai
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But then, surely if they order a 5th train, then they will run 4 trains more often. I doubt they will get a 5th however, and I want them to run 4 trains more often. My main concern was in summer when they were running 2 trains on a 3hour queue. If they had 5 trains and one went down, then they could still run a a very good throughput. :)

Also can't it run four trains at full capacity as a train will always be in the station? I have tried on NL2 and I think it's possible. What do you people think? :)
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Chris
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Last season, with the ride still being in focus for concern, it was decided to play it safe and run two or three trains which caused far less shutdowns.

You all saw what happened when the piece of debris fell from the vertical lift - hell broke loose in the papers again. Much safer to run three trains until the ride is not so much in the spotlight any more.

Four were running for the majority of Scarefest which does not make a massive difference to the throughput. As mentioned, the fifth train would sit stationary to ensure there is never a gap before the next train pulls in to load.
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MakoMania
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Baffles wrote:
Four were running for the majority of Scarefest
Really!? I must have been really unlucky! Went on 15th & 21st and both days had massive queues with only 3 trains running.
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Chris
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Haha, okay *some*
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Nickolai
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I never thought of it from that perspective, thanks Baffles!
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owenrita121
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The Smiler didn't run 4 trains all of last season...

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Capt.Barnacles
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As far as I know, this is true. ^
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Sawboss
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I was wondering, we all know the Smiler projectors have issues. When they are all aligned properly and working it gives the queue a very effective creepy and trippy vibe, but this is rarely the case.
I've heard this is possibly due to vibrations from the ride vehicles passing by above, I don't know, but it made me wonder about what could conceivably be put in that room as a more reliable alternative. Some more TV screens would work I suppose but would make the room feel basically the same as the rest of the queue.
I don't really know so I thought I'll throw it open to you fine peoples and see if you've got any ideas!
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Nickolai
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If you have ever been in the New Balance shop in London they have huge LED panels that can produce any sort of graphics and I thought these look very good. The could also work for the indoor drop section too. Besides the stairs and the products in the shop the screens are constantly moving and look really cool. With similar illusions and patterns a similar effect could be produced.

I just put it in a spoiler so it doesn't take 15mins to open... :lol
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Adam.W
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I was maybe thinking something similar to Oblivion: The Black Hole over at Gardaland. You could have screens etc with random things about how it will marmalise your mind or whatever, maybe similar in a way to the screens we see around the rest of the ride. This combined with random lighting effects and illusions like we see at Gardaland would make that part of the queue brilliant for me, rather than mediocre.
A queueline walkthrough of Oblivion: The Black Hole
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Nickolai
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I think features of Oblivion: The Black Hole's queue line could really fit in to The Smiler well because they use similar styles of theme in my opinion so I think that would be a great idea!
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Owen
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If I'm honest I'd be extremely disappointed if this happened. I'd much rather they find a solution to avoid the projectors from moving so much as the use of the projection mapping is fairly unique and different to anything else out there. Whilst I think some aspects of Oblivion: The Black Hole's theming is impressive the screens are certainly not the stand out for me, as it's quite bog standard to chuck in a few screens and have done with it. This is why I was pleasantly surprised with the unique take The Smiler has on the projection aspect, not to mention having the light shining onto something means the rest of the room remains darker as opposed to having light blaring out a bunch of screens into the middle of the room. :lol

I can't imagine it'd be too expensive to create some sort of stand or housing inside the current projection boxes to ensure they stay put, and for the reasons above I'd much prefer this solution personally! :P
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xylyx
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Gotta agree with Owen here, I would prefer they sort the misalignment and vibration issue than replace them with screens. The indoor queue was bizarre and unusual when it was working properly. If they can find a way to get that back they'll be on to a winner with this monkey. :)
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Sawboss
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I agree the projectors are unique and I think they should stay, I was just curious what else the park could conceivably do. The ride is now in it's 4th(?) year so much expense isn't likely anyway.
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