The Smiler - General Discussion
-
Capt.Barnacles
- Member
- Posts: 616
- Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 7:19 pm
- Location: Stoke-on-Trent
Sooooo, the changes made. I can confirm that the projectors are realigned in the Seeper room. However today two of them were off and there was no sign of the strobe being functional again. The indoor drop strobe was functioning perfectly fine. One needle of the Inoculator working. Flasher working fine. Giggler was intermittent. Still no TVs at lift 2 and no other real noticeable updates. This ride still has a long way to go to live up to what it once was.
-
streetmagix
- Member
- Posts: 147
- Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 1:31 pm
- Location: London, UK
Both monitors were working fine last week, probably a one off failure. One is obviously newer than the other, you can see it. Good to see they are working on the effects, Towers seems much busier than this time last year, maybe they are finally getting the revenue/income to actual work on the park. I would prefer they spent it on hiring / training new engineers to keep the rides more reliable but that's a longer term thing.
-
Robert.W
- Member
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 12:38 am
Pretty sure I saw the strobe in the tunnel before the first lift hill when I went on it on April 11th...
Also, interesting about the Marmalizer... I actually had no idea that some of these functions existed... first time I went was in 2014, but I just don't remember any of these! Good to hear that some of the effects are back working. I suppose it's better than nothing.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, I do remember some of these effects working at some point or another. :lol
Also, interesting about the Marmalizer... I actually had no idea that some of these functions existed... first time I went was in 2014, but I just don't remember any of these! Good to hear that some of the effects are back working. I suppose it's better than nothing.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, I do remember some of these effects working at some point or another. :lol
-
PhNx Survivor
- Member
- Posts: 433
- Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:03 am
- Location: - Unknown -
I’m sorry.. but the ride will never get fully restored until that second lift has the announcement “Halfway Corrected” back!
One day, I hope it is restored..
One day, I hope it is restored..
“A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one”
-
Dan
- Member
- Posts: 2339
- Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:08 pm
Yesterday both monitors at the base of lift 2 were working, as were the strobes in the correction block and first inversion tunnel.
The projectors in the correction block are still aligned correctly, however the one on the left hand wall as you walk in was displaying a blue error message.
The ride itself was running fairly well. I had some smooth front row rides, which were a far cry away from the rattly ones I had a month ago. The Marmaliser is still having issues: no movement on The Tickler and only 1 needle on The Inoculator working. Hypnotiser & Giggler working fine and I didn't notice any bulbs out on The Flasher, although to be honest I wasn't really paying that much attention :lol
It still needs a damn good clean though. The queue line and station building are in an awful state.
The projectors in the correction block are still aligned correctly, however the one on the left hand wall as you walk in was displaying a blue error message.
The ride itself was running fairly well. I had some smooth front row rides, which were a far cry away from the rattly ones I had a month ago. The Marmaliser is still having issues: no movement on The Tickler and only 1 needle on The Inoculator working. Hypnotiser & Giggler working fine and I didn't notice any bulbs out on The Flasher, although to be honest I wasn't really paying that much attention :lol
It still needs a damn good clean though. The queue line and station building are in an awful state.
-
Dungeon-X-Smile
- Member
- Posts: 229
- Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 5:20 pm
- Location: Ministry of Joy
The queue line videos are really smart and I don't think they get the credit they deserve. Last time I was on the Smiler, I noticed one of them would count up every loop and have a corresponding image to represent the name of the type of inversion. I thought it looked stylistically awesome and was really interesting. I don't think I've seen a ride do something this smart and I really like it but never hear people say anything about it.
-
Nutty Man
- Member
- Posts: 98
- Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2017 6:00 pm
- Location: Somewhere
I noticed this earlier this year, kept watching the screens to see it again, but didn't get to!saw-x-smile wrote:The queue line videos are really smart and I don't think they get the credit they deserve. Last time I was on the Smiler, I noticed one of them would count up every loop and have a corresponding image to represent the name of the type of inversion. I thought it looked stylistically awesome and was really interesting. I don't think I've seen a ride do something this smart and I really like it but never hear people say anything about it.
I got on it twice this year, and because I haven't been to AT for ages, I was quite surprised at how rubbish the smiler looked.
Two of the projectors weren't working in the queue line, although the strobe was, the stairway in the queue was in a state with dirty footprints all over the walls.
Indoor strobe wasn't working, TV screens at second lift hill not working, both inoculators not working, laughing gas audio not working, 2 of the hypnotiser discs not spinning and the tickler not working at all.
I know it sounds like I'm moaning loads about the ride, but it is still one of my favourite rides and I still LOVE the exit from the ride!
Complete credit goes to the bubbleboi
-
DerpyQuark
- Member
- Posts: 71
- Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2018 9:05 pm
- Location: Earth
Happy 5th birthday, Smiler! I hope you continue to thrill and excite people for many years to come! 
-
Aidan Lowe
- Member
- Posts: 1778
- Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2013 4:08 am
How old does that make everyone feel.
Can't resist a ride on The Smiler, the rickety mass entanglement of steel that it is.
Can't resist a ride on The Smiler, the rickety mass entanglement of steel that it is.
Formerly known under username Andy Mc
-
Swarm Chris
It's far from the shakiest thing Merlin own in the UK.
I was surprised how smooth it was in April, although it was pretty cold then!
I was surprised how smooth it was in April, although it was pretty cold then!
-
Dan
- Member
- Posts: 2339
- Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:08 pm
Despite the state of the pit, and the track, and the Marmaliser, I still love the thing.
Wicker Man may have overtaken it as my top coaster but it still sits at a solid second. I just wish the park would give it a proper refurbishment, and I don’t mean like the patchy paint job they did on the supports a couple of years ago.
On my visit this week, I was disheartened to see the state of the Marmaliser. No Tickler, Giggler or Inoculator effects at all. I did see a comment further back in this topic that not all of the discs on the Hypnotiser were spinning, but from what I could see, all the discs were spinning that are meant to.
They also need to turn the music back up to the volume it was at pre-accident. Now, even when you walk into X-Sector, you can just about hear the music at the bottom of Oblivion’s drop over The Smiler soundtrack, which never used to be the case. They have the Wicker Man soundtrack blasting out over that area, so I don’t see any reason why they can’t turn The Smiler’s back up.
Wicker Man may have overtaken it as my top coaster but it still sits at a solid second. I just wish the park would give it a proper refurbishment, and I don’t mean like the patchy paint job they did on the supports a couple of years ago.
On my visit this week, I was disheartened to see the state of the Marmaliser. No Tickler, Giggler or Inoculator effects at all. I did see a comment further back in this topic that not all of the discs on the Hypnotiser were spinning, but from what I could see, all the discs were spinning that are meant to.
They also need to turn the music back up to the volume it was at pre-accident. Now, even when you walk into X-Sector, you can just about hear the music at the bottom of Oblivion’s drop over The Smiler soundtrack, which never used to be the case. They have the Wicker Man soundtrack blasting out over that area, so I don’t see any reason why they can’t turn The Smiler’s back up.
-
Stan.H
- Member
- Posts: 1037
- Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:04 am
- Location: astroworld
Got on The Smiler once on Friday, and I must say it was a very smooth ride, and the last 2 inversions were far less jolty than usual, perhaps it was the warm weather?
A few things that bugged me though... Had a very long wait for it (which ultimately was my decision, however, all the coasters had queues in excess of 90/120 mins), the queue was backing up to the top of the stairs at some points during the day, with the extensions open. 3 of the projectors in the queue were switched off and none of the effects on the Marmaliser were working either. Also, the ratio of fastrack to stand-by visitors still isn't good enough (it's not just on The Smiler, this is on all rides that offer the fastrack upgrade).
However, the queue line looked a bit cleaner than usual but by new means opening day standards - it's been said before, and I'll say it again, just jet wash the entire queue and that'll at least bring the standards up quite a significant bit. Also, both (YES BOTH!!) halfway point screens were on, and working! Finally, 4 train operation as well, so, trains were going in and out the station quite quickly, but the new baggage hold really does slow down the process quite a bit and the ride hosts were spending quite a while shouting down the staircase looking for single riders to fill the trains.
Adding to that, I must agree with Dan. I really hope they turn the audio back up around the area as it used to add so much to the experience, so fingers crossed they'll consider this in the very near future.
A few things that bugged me though... Had a very long wait for it (which ultimately was my decision, however, all the coasters had queues in excess of 90/120 mins), the queue was backing up to the top of the stairs at some points during the day, with the extensions open. 3 of the projectors in the queue were switched off and none of the effects on the Marmaliser were working either. Also, the ratio of fastrack to stand-by visitors still isn't good enough (it's not just on The Smiler, this is on all rides that offer the fastrack upgrade).
However, the queue line looked a bit cleaner than usual but by new means opening day standards - it's been said before, and I'll say it again, just jet wash the entire queue and that'll at least bring the standards up quite a significant bit. Also, both (YES BOTH!!) halfway point screens were on, and working! Finally, 4 train operation as well, so, trains were going in and out the station quite quickly, but the new baggage hold really does slow down the process quite a bit and the ride hosts were spending quite a while shouting down the staircase looking for single riders to fill the trains.
Adding to that, I must agree with Dan. I really hope they turn the audio back up around the area as it used to add so much to the experience, so fingers crossed they'll consider this in the very near future.