The Smiler - Train Discussion

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Do you like The Smiler Trains?

Yes
250
58%
No
65
15%
I'll wait until I see them in person before making a decision.
119
27%
 
Total votes: 434
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DoubleOh7
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re someone saying wether or not they think all the seats will end up facing the same way - I think it would be pretty cool for say at a certain point on the rollercoaster for your seat to turn around and face the other people riding with you - would make me smile anyway....!
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youarecorrectsir
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DoubleOh7 wrote: re someone saying wether or not they think all the seats will end up facing the same way - I think it would be pretty cool for say at a certain point on the rollercoaster for your seat to turn around and face the other people riding with you - would make me smile anyway....!
...Unless they throw up all over you. Which, looking at the Smiler, might not be too far from reality!
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Coasterfan312
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The splitting clearly won't happen, and would annoy so many people.

Think about it:

People queue for front row, hoping to get that good view and amazing feeling.
They get to the tunnel.
They get moved to the 3rd row or whatever.
Long queue for front made pointless.

And don't get me started on physics and pricing.
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astralAndy
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I cant see any point in 'splitting trains' at all. Has anyone actually got any reason for why they would do that? Why does anyone even think that it would be good? Would you get excited seeing the front rows leave without you? And then super excited once you join together again?  :lol: Sounds like a total waste of time to me, lots of effort for absolutely nothing.
I cant see it myself, but would love to know why people even consider it a possibility in terms of having any point at all. If the trains do turn out to split I'll give myself a Chelsea smile.  ;)
Last edited by astralAndy on Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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clayj
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I'm not saying any of it will happen, but it gets me how some people won't entertain any ideas which arn't their own. The entire point in a forum is to banter ideas back and forth. Now, just to get my point across, I don't think it would happen but after reading other people's crack pot ideas I made an educated guess against what we have infront of us at the minute. I don't know if you have read my post yesterday at 08:44 PM but the only way I could see of fitting it in would have been under the maintenance shed.

The point I can see in splitting the trains in the way I previously mentioned, was it would be a total surprise to anyone riding as this would happen out of sight. It would come as a shock to the system if they genuinely thought they were going to crash into another car. As far as the GP would notice a full train enter & exit the station - why would they expect it to split ? Mechanically speaking, it could easily be done with modern day breaking systems on a flat space, say the area under the station. Would be completely unique and never done before.

But again, I don't think it will happen....
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youarecorrectsir
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clayj wrote: I'm not saying any of it will happen, but it gets me how some people won't entertain any ideas which arn't their own. The entire point in a forum is to banter ideas back and forth. ]
Couldn't agree more! It sort of annoys me how ready people are to shoot down other people's ideas. It's a speculation thread... if you see an idea you think is ludicrous, what do you gain from shooting down someone who has been brave enough to suggest something? If you don't agree, fine maybe keep it to yourself and suggest what you think will happen. I say the more ludicrous ideas, the better! Otherwise nothing would ever change from being ordinary.

At this rate no one will post ideas for fear of being humiliated!
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astralAndy
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clayj wrote: I'm not saying any of it will happen, but it gets me how some people won't entertain any ideas which arn't their own. The entire point in a forum is to banter ideas back and forth. Now, just to get my point across, I don't think it would happen but after reading other people's crack pot ideas I made an educated guess against what we have infront of us at the minute. I don't know if you have read my post yesterday at 08:44 PM but the only way I could see of fitting it in would have been under the maintenance shed.

The point I can see in splitting the trains in the way I previously mentioned, was it would be a total surprise to anyone riding as this would happen out of sight. It would come as a shock to the system if they genuinely thought they were going to crash into another car. As far as the GP would notice a full train enter & exit the station - why would they expect it to split ? Mechanically speaking, it could easily be done with modern day breaking systems on a flat space, say the area under the station. Would be completely unique and never done before.

But again, I don't think it will happen....
I personally do entertain ideas which aren't my own, and joining in with the banter is exactly what I'm doing!  :) I personally really couldn't see any point in trains splitting and was asking if anyone could say what would make it good in their opinion, as it seemed some posts were just talking about trains splitting and rejoining without any thought for why and how that would be fun. The fact people think it's a possibility genuinely confused me as I can see no fun or thrill with it being a one track coaster, hence my post (with a little humour). You've stated your point which is the kind of response I was looking for (minus the telling off  ;) ) - I still think that it would not be a worthwhile thing to do even if done like in your description, I cant see the splitting and nearly crashing thing working effectively, to be surprising and fun enough to be worth doing. Sorry if it's annoyed you, there is really no need to be!

If anyone has other ideas as to why they think splitting trains is something that Alton would want to do, then enlighten me! I may still be missing the point  8)

EDIT : In relation to the above post by youarecorrectsir, I do hope that nobody would think my comment is 'shooting anyone's idea down' or 'humiliating' anyone, cant see how that could be construed from what I wrote. I think people should suggest whatever ideas they like, we all have opinions and that's the whole  point! I was asking the question 'why' and nothing more, which is totally fair. If anyone thinks a particular idea wont happen or doesn't understand why others think something, I don't think they should not be allowed to ask why. I just didn't get what the point of splitting trains would be. Peace  8)
Last edited by astralAndy on Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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youarecorrectsir
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astralAndy wrote:
EDIT : In relation to the above post by youarecorrectsir, I do hope that nobody would think my comment is 'shooting anyone's idea down' or 'humiliating' anyone, cant see how that could be construed personally. I think people should suggest whatever ideas they like, we all have opinions and that's the whole  point! I was asking the question 'why' and nothing more. I just didn't get what the point of splitting trains would be. Peace  8)
Sorry if you thought I aimed that at you :) I can promise you it was aimed at no one in particular and was in no way meant to be offensive or angry. I have seen it a couple of times and just wanted to say something to remind people that some members might not be confident as it is! You know?

So yeah sorry if you thought I was singling you out I promise I wasn't! Anywho, back on track with speculation!!

I personally have NO idea what Alton Towers are planning. I havent fancied any of the ideas yet really, therefore I can only assume that they are keeping something very secret. I refuse to believe John Wardley is lying to us, we will need to ride it to find out! No sooner :P
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I'm just gonna throw it out there.. It's been touched on before but just after you leave the underground barrel roll there is that weird track that leads you outside then on to the lift hill. I think that this track that will move the car slowly whilst there is a little bit of a show going on... And the ride will interact with the show by stopping and starting as you go through. Until eventually it will finish the show and hook you onto the chain lift and into that amazing track. What you reckon. I can't inderstand what else that weird track could do?
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Shiala_towers
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MatthewR1990 wrote: I'm just gonna throw it out there.. It's been touched on before but just after you leave the underground barrel roll there is that weird track that leads you outside then on to the lift hill. I think that this track that will move the car slowly whilst there is a little bit of a show going on... And the ride will interact with the show by stopping and starting as you go through. Until eventually it will finish the show and hook you onto the chain lift and into that amazing track. What you reckon. I can't inderstand what else that weird track could do?
I think you could be bang on here I mentioned it in another topic, I think the area will be themed much the same as the white room in the sanctuary scare maze, inflicting water spray, wired smells and 4D effects within the train.
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youarecorrectsir
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Yeah I mean the only thing I can imagine so far being anything special is that certain section of track! I mean nothing else is looking special, and it sort of fits doesnt it? There is a designated space, strange track and its also the site of where we always thought the secret element would be. Instincts are usually pretty good so I agree with you. As to what it does and what the effect will be - I dont know. A pre show wouldnt really take me as a good secret world first element. Its going to have to be something pretttttty cool to convince me :P
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clayj
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Is the track "special" ?? Looks to be the same as the other two break runs ??

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In saying that, I do believe that something is going to happen in that space under the maintanence shed. I listed ages ago about the cars being moved forward & back with scene setting & effects.. I'd love to see them inside of a vortex tunnel but from recent construction, I can see it fitting in :(
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Setebos
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This is my first post, so hi everyone!

I don't think this has been mentioned at all (it's probably nothing) but what do you think of the circled part below?
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Could it be some tiny camera lens, or is it just an oddly-placed fastener? It's in a weird place compared to the other screws on the optical illusion. Sorry if this is nothing notable, I'm new to coasters :oops:
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Setebos wrote: This is my first post, so hi everyone!

I don't think this has been mentioned at all (it's probably nothing) but what do you think of the circled part below?
Image

Could it be some tiny camera lens, or is it just an oddly-placed fastener? It's in a weird place compared to the other screws on the optical illusion. Sorry if this is nothing notable, I'm new to coasters :oops:
could be anything from a fastening or camera or even somewhere water sprays out possibly?
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Setebos
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JayJay90 wrote:
could be anything from a fastening or camera or even somewhere water sprays out possibly?
Good point, water or something similar might make more sense because it's so off-centre. A camera probably wouldn't work well from that place, but water being shot out next to your face is a good idea because then it wouldn't go into people's eye/nose (as long as it's done on a fairly straight piece of track)
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Boz
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I strongly suspect it is something as simple as an indicator light point. Anyone Familiar with Saw will know that on the back of each seat is a green indicator light, which illuminates when the restraint is locked. It's in pretty much the exact same position too.
Last edited by Boz on Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Setebos
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Boz wrote: I strongly suspect is is something as simple as an indicator light point. Anyone Familiar with Saw will know that on the back of each seat is a green indicator light, which illuminates when the restraint is locked. It's in pretty uch the exact same position too
Ahh okay, thanks for that info. :D I don't ride Saw any more whenever I'm at TP, I'm short so my head is just between the 'shoulders' of the restraints; nasty headaches!
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Boz wrote: I strongly suspect it is something as simple as an indicator light point. Anyone Familiar with Saw will know that on the back of each seat is a green indicator light, which illuminates when the restraint is locked. It's in pretty much the exact same position too.
you are literally a fountain of coaster knowledge :) thanks for clearing that up, I was about to say though, if you're on the front, you're not really going to get water sprayed so that threw my guess out straight away.
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colossus at thorpe park is far rougher than Saw.  my other half hates colossus because it bangs her ears on the restraints, but she loves Saw it doesnt hurt her at all?? and shes quite short?
I think saw is fine, no worse than most the coasters ive been on over the last 16 - 20 years.
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lewis97
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simononestop wrote: colossus at thorpe park is far rougher than Saw.  my other half hates colossus because it bangs her ears on the restraints, but she loves Saw it doesnt hurt her at all?? and shes quite short?
I think saw is fine, no worse than most the coasters ive been on over the last 16 - 20 years.
I share exactly the same opinion, I have never found Saw rough enough to be unenjoyable, and it's infact one of my favourite rides at the park. But it's been 4 years since Saw so I'm sure Gerstlauer will have learnt from their past errors and improved their technology, and with a 14 inversion coaster they can't afford any mistakes, that could make the ride uncomfortable.
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