The Smiler - Speculation

Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:40 pm

I think you'd be surprised at the number of people who would complain if you took pictures of SW7 construction from on-ride, and those complaints would be justified.

Longy · Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:12 pm

Possibly a time-lapse from Oblivion's lift hill?

Anyway, this is good news!
It gives me more excuses to visit this year, let alone next year! :P

AT are bringing the magic back now!

Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:16 pm

If you do want to use your mobile/camera you'll want to ensure it's properly strapped to your wrist. I wouldn't do it though but I'm sure some people won't be able to resist snapping some construction pics from the top of oblivion, oh well, I like seeing construction images..

Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:27 pm

Longy wrote:

AT are bringing the magic back now!

How..?

Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:39 pm

CoasterCrazyChris wrote: How..?

Um... have you failed to notice the theming of this ride?

We have a world-first, multi-inversion well-themed coaster.

If you can't see the AT magic in that you may as well hand in your enthusiast badge on your way out of this forum!

Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:59 pm

adsyrah wrote:
CoasterCrazyChris wrote: How..?
Um... have you failed to notice the theming of this ride?

We have a world-first, multi-inversion well-themed coaster.

If you can't see the AT magic in that you may as well hand in your enthusiast badge on your way out of this forum!

Thats a bit harsh dont you think? The plans may be fantastic but they havent been executed yet and budget cuts later on my lead to the finish result being a disapointment. Also, there is more to 'the magic' than one well themed coaster. Things like shows, atmosphere, cleanliness, the feeling of excited.....as much as i love AT i do feel the last few years have seen the attitude of 'lets milk as much money out of you as we can' rather than trying to offer the guest i unique and memorable experience.........

anyway, going off topic now.

Really pleased the plans are passed but never had any doubt they wouldnt be.

Longy · Fri Mar 16, 2012 5:02 pm

jb19852 wrote:
adsyrah wrote:
CoasterCrazyChris wrote: How..?
Um... have you failed to notice the theming of this ride?

We have a world-first, multi-inversion well-themed coaster.

If you can't see the AT magic in that you may as well hand in your enthusiast badge on your way out of this forum!
Thats a bit harsh dont you think? The plans may be fantastic but they havent been executed yet and budget cuts later on my lead to the finish result being a disapointment. Also, there is more to 'the magic' than one well themed coaster. Things like shows, atmosphere, cleanliness, the feeling of excited.....as much as i love AT i do feel the last few years have seen the attitude of 'lets milk as much money out of you as we can' rather than trying to offer the guest i unique and memorable experience.........

anyway, going off topic now.

Really pleased the plans are passed but never had any doubt they wouldnt be.

Look at the things AT have this year, and what they're getting!

Honestly...

No more about this now, but let's just be excited for SW7 now!

.Will · Fri Mar 16, 2012 5:06 pm

jb19852 wrote:
adsyrah wrote:
CoasterCrazyChris wrote: How..?
Um... have you failed to notice the theming of this ride?

We have a world-first, multi-inversion well-themed coaster.

If you can't see the AT magic in that you may as well hand in your enthusiast badge on your way out of this forum!
Thats a bit harsh dont you think?

No. Nitpicking is very annoying, since we know very little it's makes sense to let something happen before we pass judgement on how 'magical' something is.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 5:13 pm

adsyrah wrote:
CoasterCrazyChris wrote: How..?
Um... have you failed to notice the theming of this ride?

We have a world-first, multi-inversion well-themed coaster.

If you can't see the AT magic in that you may as well hand in your enthusiast badge on your way out of this forum!

Magic? All we've seen is a few plans! :P

The spider structure looks great and how the track interacts with this, but other than that all I see is a van and one spikey near miss.

The station building has to be discounted because it is just horrendous in every sense of the word.

HOWEVER, the inside could provide something interesting, and the ride itself will be insanely thrilling there is no doubt about that with all those inversions.

But I care not about the number of inversions, unless the ride is a prototype of a new breed of Eurofighters which is smoother and better built those 8 inversons will be painfully rough. It would just be like enduring SAW's outdoor section...but for a longer amount of time.

I'm not discounting the ride based on those plans alone, but there is little magic to be had yet.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 5:31 pm

Coaster_Dude wrote: I think you'd be surprised at the number of people who would complain if you took pictures of SW7 construction from on-ride, and those complaints would be justified.

Why? I understand if it causes a stop and or delay and messes about the ops, but how else could it offend anyone? if it strapped to your wrist for example. Infact I'm sure a lot of people, myself included, would more than welcome any construction pics as unfortunately we cant be there all the time.

With regards to the 'magic' I think if The Swarm was at AT then we would say that is the 'magic' back? so if merlin do it for TP then they will do it again, only better, for AT (their flagship UK park).

If indeed they wanted TP to claim the 'UK;s no1' then they wouldn't keep pushing AT as just that.

^^^ A few plans...? No; we have seen the full outside plans for the ride, which in anybody's book is a good, lengthy and thrilling coaster. We are still to see the indoor plans / worlds first element so things can ONLY get better.

Also, since when has SAW been the only Eurofighter to compare to? (not a great example)

I do think this & terry are proof enough to everyone, apart from pessimists, that the magic is on its way back.

If it fully 'arrives' though is a different matter.

Big Dave · Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:31 pm

Im 99.9% certain Alton will want to keep this SW as secret as they possibly can. This is one major investment and they want to create as much hype and mystery around it as possible.

Sat Mar 17, 2012 4:26 am

The magic won't fully return until there is a decent show with a healthy budget...

Struggling to be majorly excited for this, but I welcome it. I'm perhaps not the biggest of coaster fans though, I enjoy them but there's only a couple I've been on that have left me with messy pants

However I can see the scale of the investment and I'm pleased with that, much more excited for Terry though!

Sat Mar 17, 2012 4:42 am

The 'magic' is not created by large ride investment alone.

Good maintenance, guest satisfaction, entertainment and overall attention to detail is what makes a theme park special.

Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:09 am

CoasterCrazyChris wrote: The 'magic' is not created by large ride investment alone.

Good maintenance, guest satisfaction, entertainment and overall attention to detail is what makes a theme park special.

This.

But there have been glimpses of magic over the last few years. Th13teens opening weekend saw some of the magic return. With the Wraiths prowling the Dark Forest, the Corkscrew re-instated over the entrance and just a really good buzz it felt magical. But it didn't last long as small elements like the Wraiths disappeared. I'd also say the return of the fireworks was a step in the right direction. But most of the good work done in 2010 was undone by the Fanta Fiasco last year and the lack of new investment.

In my opinion the only Magical aspects I've seen for SW7 is that huge spider like thing, the rides duelling nature and the general setting in the re-landscaped Black Hole pit. Besides that the theme is nothing spectacular (unless there is a lot more of it that we are not seeing). The ride looks to have a great layout but I think it could swing either way. From my experience with Saw (which is all I can compare it too) I don't feel Gerstlauer's inversions pack much of a punch so having 8 of them doesn't really inspire me. In fact the Euro-fighters that tend to be really popular are all rated highly because of the indoor thematic sections and not their track layouts.

But unlike the previous applications made by Merlin I feel these plans are the most vague. I feel that come construction this could look quite different to the plans so I don’t want to make any more judgments until we start seeing this thing take shape.

Dormiens-Dave · Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:54 am

My one point about making assumptions based on the plans is that they only indicate the large theming objects. As is the case with The Swarm you could see the station, plane, helicopter and firetruck but the TV's, the army boxes and the way the path has been warped where the crash site is, plus the water splashes and the audio give much more to the theme.

As for the station on SW7 i personally think it looks a bit out of place in x-sector but the scheme of finishes makes a big deal about the cladding on Oblivion been used for parts of the station building so maybe it wont look so out of place when built, and i have a little more trust in Merlin Studios after The Swarm so we will see where they take us.

And as for the magic being back, who really knows, this forum is made up of "fanboys" as well as those who seem to not want the Towers to do anything right and that allows for interesting discussion, but i agree with Chris that big investments rarely affect the magic factor. Infact i would say its the quality of Sub-Terra that will be a bigger indicator of the magic at the park.

Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:17 pm

The definition of 'Magic' is so subjective!

If you look at the investments during the so-called 'magic' period there is a general trend. What I mean is the themes were always a unique take on an original story or idea - never copied or done anywhere else. More to the point, they were consistent!

I'm not sure that that SW7 is consistent but then again it does appear to be unique. I just hope they invest in the same detail and quality that they seem to have done with Swarm, and include a story or idea to back it up!

Dormiens-Dave · Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:29 pm

aru wrote: The definition of 'Magic' is so subjective!

If you look at the investments during the so-called 'magic years' period there is a general trend. What I mean is the themes were always a unique take on an original story or idea - never copied or done anywhere else. More to the point, they were consistent!

Actually during the "magic" between 1990 and 2001 nearly half of the park was un-themed for most of it and some of those themes where completely unoriginal (african village, medievil, haunted wood)

What differentiated then and now was a drive to theme new attractions and do it quite well, we lost this mid-way through the 00's and it came back with the beggining of Merlin but then fell flat on its face with th13teen and last year.

Hence why i think this season will be the big deal regarding magic and next year will show us what they can do with the parks Secret Weapons.

Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:41 pm

does seem very strange my mate an i visited in july 10 an the front car of black hole not sure which number was still there it might be put up for sale this year like corkies

Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:43 pm

Dormiens-Dave wrote:
aru wrote: The definition of 'Magic' is so subjective!

If you look at the investments during the so-called 'magic years' period there is a general trend. What I mean is the themes were always a unique take on an original story or idea - never copied or done anywhere else. More to the point, they were consistent!
Actually during the "magic" between 1990 and 2001 nearly half of the park was un-themed for most of it and some of those themes where completly unorigional (african village, medievil, haunted wood)

What differentiated then and now was a drive to theme new attractions and do it quite well, we lost this mid-way through the 00's and it came back with the beggining of Merlin but then fell flat on its face with th13teen and last year.

Hence why i think this season will be the big deal regarding magic and next year will show us what they can do with the parks Secret Weapons.

True that some of the themes were not fully original - but I would say that the park did everything possible to make them less conventional. Detail, quality and quirkiness set them apart.

Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:47 pm

I don't think we will ever see the "magic" days again to be honest. Bosses saw that they could never recreate the "magic" of Disney (for example) so moved away from that image. Until we start seeing a much and I mean MUCH bigger investment in all areas of the resort the magic will never return!

But yeah... glad its all been given the green light and look forward to seeing the Construction Fences...