The Smiler - Construction Discussion

Sun May 26, 2013 4:41 pm

Has anyone seen (or taken photos of) any work that has been done on that first support after the first lift? Last time I saw a photo of it, it was rather crudely held together with spacer bolts, and there were photos very recently of people doing some more work on it. Would love to know what has happened there!

Sun May 26, 2013 4:45 pm

I haven't got a photo but i do know they have done work as i saw them when i was there yesterday

Sun May 26, 2013 4:46 pm

Obnoxious tweets are probably justified in this instance, the way the whole thing has been handled is a complete shambles and their latest stance of "the Twitter team don't know" is another cop-out. It's not the social media team's fault that whatever has happened has happened, but there are clearly some communication issues that need dealing with.

Sun May 26, 2013 4:48 pm

cookejj1 wrote: I haven't got a photo but i do know they have done work as i saw them when i was there yesterday

Nothing has changed on it, all they did was look, poke and scratch their heads. The bolts are still bent and the gap still exists. They did not work on it.

Sun May 26, 2013 4:50 pm

It's not like the managers of the company cant send info to there PA's to tell the rest of the company through e-mail.

EDIT FROM PREVIOUS POST: i must of seen them look at it but no work being done sorry for giving false info

Sun May 26, 2013 4:51 pm

aircanman wrote:
MatthewR1990 wrote: Alton towers Are touchy when you mock them for the failed opening times.

[img]http://imageshack.us/a/img585/8648/imageowpl.jpg[/img

(Yes I'm aware i missed the "is" in my tweet, I feel stupid enough don't mock me lol)

EDIT: new reply from them

[img]http://imageshack.us/a/img824/2811/imageqou.jpg[/img
Sorry I think you are being a bit obnoxious tweeting to them like that. Just my opinion.

Obnoxious to contact a customer service outlet to ask as to why people are paying Alton towers good money, for one of their main attractions to of missed not one, but two release dates? Obnoxious is thinking that people arnt able to complain. As its been stated many people spend a lot of money and time and effort to get to Alton towers. Booking holidays, booking travel even child care to get there. To advertise the opening of one of their attractions and then miss it and NOT inform their paying customers as to what the actual hold up is. Well that, that is obnoxious.

"just my opinion"

Sun May 26, 2013 4:51 pm

Roodlesnouter wrote:
cookejj1 wrote: I haven't got a photo but i do know they have done work as i saw them when i was there yesterday
Nothing has changed on it, all they did was look, poke and scratch their heads. The bolts are still bent and the gap still exists. They did not work on it.

Thanks, Roodles! I knew as soon as I saw those spacer bolts that they would never hold, I posted about it weeks ago. I assumed they'd get some sort of plate made to fill the gap, or perhaps insert a section of support atop, as they did with another one. They'll get there soon, I'm sure!

Sun May 26, 2013 4:59 pm

Is that all that's holding the opening up or is it more like the netting not being in place and other non technical things

Sun May 26, 2013 4:59 pm

Public's reaction to this is just embarrassing and classic example of how obnoxious and rude people can be. AT, I'd keep it closed on purpose now. Make people wait.

Sun May 26, 2013 5:18 pm

Oblividoom wrote: Public's reaction to this is just embarrassing and classic example of how obnoxious and rude people can be. AT, I'd keep it closed on purpose now. Make people wait.

Don't ever go in to marketing.

Sun May 26, 2013 5:19 pm

probably is a cover up if it was only revealed 20 hours before hand it would seen stupid if they knew about it 48 hours before but only told us with 20 hours until opening.

EDIT: were did Adams post go?

Sun May 26, 2013 5:25 pm

I'm starting to think maybe towers were still planning to open the ride on the 23rd knowing it wasn't ready or finished, but were forced last minute to change their minds by a higher power. Would explain the late announcement on the 22nd. Also with the entire X-Sector closed on Friday, I can only assume something serious happened on the site to cause that.

Sun May 26, 2013 5:27 pm

Powercut maybe as there was some photos on here of them sorting out the power lines underneath the floor near the rehydrator

Sun May 26, 2013 5:29 pm

Hurri wrote: Obnoxious tweets are probably justified in this instance, the way the whole thing has been handled is a complete shambles and their latest stance of "the Twitter team don't know" is another cop-out. It's not the social media team's fault that whatever has happened has happened, but there are clearly some communication issues that need dealing with.

I don't think the 'twitter team dont know' comment is a cop-out. I work in the communications arm of an organisation and whenever there is a problem that we have to broadcast and deal with via social media we are given specific lines that we are permitted to tell the public and given little other information. That is just how these things tend to work unfortunately.

That is not to say however that the 'higher powers' at Alton Towers are not at fault for not passing more in depth information on to the communications department.

Sun May 26, 2013 5:30 pm

Just seen more adverts regarding AT and The Smiler... all they say now is something like "Experience the Smile at AT, Book Now"

Kind of annoying that they are advertising it when there is no word on when it will be complete.

Yesterday I walked past a guy cementing the steps down to the queue line which surprised me. I just wish they would publicly announce some kind of apology stating that they just didn't get it finished in time as things were more complicated than originally thought. That would be great and they would look honest! Keeping people in the dark leads to silly speculation and bad press.

What worried me is that when I got my ticket re-validated the woman at guest services (who by the way was not only an incredibly welcoming and empathetic customer service rep... but also smoking hot) made a point that the ticket will last not only this season but next season too... If the smiler takes this long it might not end up being a worlds first! haha

Sun May 26, 2013 5:33 pm

Adam wrote: Also with the entire X-Sector closed on Friday, I can only assume something serious happened on the site to cause that.

I was told this was because they wanted to get as much work done on the Smiler as possible, they needed the extra space to work which they wouldn't be able to do comfortably with people there (H&S etc)

Sun May 26, 2013 5:46 pm

surely they could of opened the x-sector but moved were you go to the rides were?
as shutting down the whole x-sector seemed a bit stupid when i heard about it

Sun May 26, 2013 5:54 pm

MatthewR1990 wrote:
aircanman wrote:
MatthewR1990 wrote: Alton towers Are touchy when you mock them for the failed opening times.

[img]http://imageshack.us/a/img585/8648/imageowpl.jpg[/img

(Yes I'm aware i missed the "is" in my tweet, I feel stupid enough don't mock me lol)

EDIT: new reply from them

[img]http://imageshack.us/a/img824/2811/imageqou.jpg[/img
Sorry I think you are being a bit obnoxious tweeting to them like that. Just my opinion.
Obnoxious to contact a customer service outlet to ask as to why people are paying Alton towers good money, for one of their main attractions to of missed not one, but two release dates? Obnoxious is thinking that people arnt able to complain. As its been stated many people spend a lot of money and time and effort to get to Alton towers. Booking holidays, booking travel even child care to get there. To advertise the opening of one of their attractions and then miss it and NOT inform their paying customers as to what the actual hold up is. Well that, that is obnoxious.

"just my opinion"

Yes obnoxious, and childish if you ask me. How many hundreds of people do you think have tweeted and moaned the same thing? It's not big or clever to be honest. All it does is spread negativity through the whole concept of entertainment. It's a business at the end of the day, and by you tweeting like that just makes them laugh out loud.

Sun May 26, 2013 5:59 pm

aircanman wrote:
MatthewR1990 wrote:
aircanman wrote: Sorry I think you are being a bit obnoxious tweeting to them like that. Just my opinion.
Obnoxious to contact a customer service outlet to ask as to why people are paying Alton towers good money, for one of their main attractions to of missed not one, but two release dates? Obnoxious is thinking that people arnt able to complain. As its been stated many people spend a lot of money and time and effort to get to Alton towers. Booking holidays, booking travel even child care to get there. To advertise the opening of one of their attractions and then miss it and NOT inform their paying customers as to what the actual hold up is. Well that, that is obnoxious.

"just my opinion"
Yes obnoxious, and childish if you ask me. How many hundreds of people do you think have tweeted and moaned the same thing? It's not big or clever to be honest. All it does is spread negativity through the whole concept of entertainment. It's a business at the end of the day, and by you tweeting like that just makes them laugh out loud.

Yes it is a business, a business that should be aware that they are fobbing their paying customers off with crap excuses such as "teething" the DAY before the release. When thousands of people have made their plans. in many cases spending a lot of money.

Sun May 26, 2013 6:10 pm

Oblividoom wrote: Public's reaction to this is just embarrassing and classic example of how obnoxious and rude people can be. AT, I'd keep it closed on purpose now. Make people wait.

You must be the only person that's not complaining, my friend.

We've all got more than enough reason to moan. It's not because the ride is delayed, it's because of AT's poor communication with the public on the matter.

As far as I can gather, AT said 23rd May right up until the 22nd in which it kept stalling release daily until it now can't even be predicted. If its this serious, they must have known weeks ago. It doesn't put me off the ride, but it certainly makes me question the quality of AT's internal communication. I think people have to give up the positivity act and admit that this whole fiasco is a shambles.

Just my opinion.