The Smiler - General Discussion

[audiobookman]

We finally got to ride it over the weekend. (4th visit this year for this ride). We jumped on the queue at the start of the day and walked on the ride. I felt very unimpressed with the ride, my wife also felt the same.

We decided to give it another go later in the day, and I now hate the ride with a passion now. The queue is horrible to the point that we were going to leave it if it wasn't so hard to find our way back. The cages are a terrible idea, the line is a joke I found we were lost with the maze they made, the music became so irritating I wanted to scream.

The worst part was Fastracks. Alton Towers needs to re assess the amount of Fastracks they sell. We were queuing for over 2hrs, barely moving, until they closed the queues for the fireworks. Once the queues were closed the line actually moved at a reasonable pace.

The ride itself felt very much like a smoother Saw ride, with less force (sorry I found very little air time, I expected at least the same amount as Rita). I really really wanted to love this ride, but all it did was ruin the day for us, the queue was unacceptable and we ended up leaving the park after this ride missing the fireworks we went up for.

The Fastracks, and queue ruined what could have been a semi good ride. They really need to put in toilets in the longer queues for people with child sized bladders like my wife, even the best rides cannot justify over 2 hours with no where relieve yourself. One thing it has done though is allow us to get on the quality rides much more quickly (Nemesis you're still the king!).

Sorry I am not trolling, just my observations which I am sure many others have also seen. The ride may be ok when the hue and cry dies off, but then again being a Gerst it will most probably be too rough to ride by then.

[jon18uk]

The worst part was Fastracks. Alton Towers needs to re assess the amount of Fastracks they sell. We were queuing for over 2hrs, barely moving, until they closed the queues for the fireworks. Once the queues were closed the line actually moved at a reasonable pace.

The ride itself felt very much like a smoother Saw ride, with less force (sorry I found very little air time, I expected at least the same amount as Rita). I really really wanted to love this ride, but all it did was ruin the day for us, the queue was unacceptable and we ended up leaving the park after this ride missing the fireworks we went up for.

The Fastracks, and queue ruined what could have been a semi good ride. They really need to put in toilets in the longer queues for people with child sized bladders like my wife, even the best rides cannot justify over 2 hours with no where relieve yourself. One thing it has done though is allow us to get on the quality rides much more quickly (Nemesis you're still the king!).

We also were in the queue shortly before it closed for the fireworks (although we also got Oblivion in  before X Sector closed at 6pm). The queue board stated 120 minutes but we were on and off the Smiler within 90 minutes which I thought was quite quick for a new ride on fireworks Saturday. There was a big gap in the queue after the shop though!

I agree that Nemesis is a much better ride, but the Smiler is fine and I really cannot see why this stopped you watching the fireworks? We had plenty of time to get a coffee and get through the mud on the lawn!

Also a 90-120 minute wait with no toilets shouldn't be an issue, this is the same as going to the cinema or some theatre shows! Nemesis, Oblivion and Air all had 2 hour plus waits in their opening years and there wasn't a need to put toilets in queuelines!

[Capt.Barnacles]

There was a big gap in the queue after the shop though!

Always is. I remember my first ride on TH13TEEN (Only this summer would you believe it!) and we got to the shop, and could literally run to the next group of people after that. The Smiler was the same last month for us too. I have a video showing this massive gap in the switchbacks after the first shop visit opportunity. I do like how they've given you two opportunities to get something like a poncho.

[Vladimir Bobinski]

Just saw this on Theme Park Review's twitter, from the Gerstlauer stand at IAAPA 2013

[Danny]

Wow that's a really impressive model there. Do the cars actually complete a circuit on their own?
However maybe this could mean we could see the track layout in other parks over the next 5 years or so

[Jack]

those trains on the model remind me of the fact that it could have had lap bars

[Alex]

I wonder if it has built in jolt on the cobra roll.....

[Roodlesnouter]

I want one. Santa, if you're reading 

[sully1311]

Would the Smiler look better in yellow?

[lewis97]

Would the Smiler look better in yellow?

Quite simply, no. Yellow is the secondary colour, and there's enough of it around the ride to get that across. If the track was yellow, it would look completely out of place in X-Sector, and appear too garish.

[Danny]

It's already turning yellow from the wear that you'd expect to see on a several year old roller coaster, not one that's been operating for [let's say 5 months, as it's spent at least a month SBNO].

[Joshysqaushy]

Just saw this on Theme Park Review's twitter, from the Gerstlauer stand at IAAPA 2013

Any videos of it in action??? 

[Rollercoasters4Life]

As far as I know it's a static model. As you can see, there are four trains on the track and they are fixed into place. Even so, it's a nice looking model and would love to see it in my house - Shame, I bet this costs a fair bit as the coaster dynamix sets did and these are all customer sections. Gerstlauer should have painted it black and it would have looked perfect but I am guessing the reason it is yellow, is to make it stand out. Such a shame we didn't get lapbars though. Sigh.

[tallicay2k]

Would the Smiler look better in yellow?

Quite simply, no. Yellow is the secondary colour, and there's enough of it around the ride to get that across. If the track was yellow, it would look completely out of place in X-Sector, and appear too garish.

My god how bright would that be. Think of our poor eyes!
The Blinder. No doubt would see it from space lol.

[Ladyofthelake]

Google have updated their maps and Google Earth so The Smiler is now showing:



Looks like they chose an interesting day to fly over (I believe it was June 4th). Not sure this would have been the image AT would have picked to go on Google Earth

[Roodlesnouter]

LOL, with the amout of problems I guess the chances of photographing a problem was pretty high.

Red faces for AT.

[Lottie.]

Haha! How awkward :P

[tallicay2k]

It's no problem, for the people who don't know we will just say it's part of the ride shhhh

[Thorpe Towers 13]

That photo has made my day! hahaha!

[Lucieloo]

Sadly its not totally updated.. just put the Blue man on the street view and the black hole tent appears.
Also Dark Forest is still Ug Land!