The Smiler over closed season 13/14

Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:28 am

JammyBand wrote: I'm confident over the closed season they will get an On-ride rider camera, available to buy in 'Buy the Smiler'. On certain trains, you can see the on ride cameras in front of you and you can see a black box towards the bottom of the train which says something along the lines of 'On ride camera'. It will be very similar to Saw: The Ride's on ride camera. I hope it has sound though.

I also expect that like Saw that only after a few seasons the camera will stop working or be removed completely. Why are Merlin so rubbish at maintaining ORP and ORV?

The number of sttractions which had ORP or ORV and now have them removed is shocking.

I have ORP of me on Ripsaw back in the day, X, Detonator, Depth Charge all had ORP and Saw had ORV and it won't be long before The Swarm has a 'technical issue' and the ORV stops working on that and they can not be bothered to fix it.

IMO all rides should offer ORP and as many as they can offer ORV. Nemesis would be great for this.

If the number of ORP is low on a ride, then why not have a self service kiosk, have a look at the photo, select it on a computer screen, take a ticket and then go to either another photo kiosk and order the photo from there?

Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:55 am

Apologies if I am repeating what has been said - I was too lazy to read it all. For me the only improvement to The Smiler would be to develop the first drop and twist. It could be so awesome with some lighting that would make the first spin really disorientate everything - AND it would then live up to the expectations created by the marketing. A bit of extra landscaping around the pits wouldn't go amiss but for me the part that needs improving is the (SPOILER) first indoor drop. Apart from that if they can remove the jolts, then yay...doubt that though, seems like a lot of work.

Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:33 am

here_since_the_Screw wrote: ...the part that needs improving is the (SPOILER) first indoor drop. Apart from that if they can remove the jolts, then yay...doubt that though, seems like a lot of work.

This is the first I've heard anyone comment on the smoothness of the indoor drop, and the jolts aren't something I've experienced. I would say that there are some far more significant jolts around the layout (first inverted drop, exit of cobra roll, entrance to penultimate heartline), which have been identified and repeated numerous times. So, it is these which need to be looked at first if they are going to consider resolving them.

Wed Dec 18, 2013 12:56 pm

I agree Lewis, the indoor section has always been smooth for me as well. I think some lighting in there would enhance it a lot and if the park could iron out those jolts, it would be great too

Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:13 am

bensaund wrote:
Why are Merlin so rubbish at maintaining ORP and ORV?

Merlin don't maintain any of the Photo stuff. Tussauds contracted it all out to PicSolve, they are responsible for all the equipment and for making the money from it. Therefore if people aren't buying the product, what is the incentive for PicSolve to keep offering it?

Mon Dec 30, 2013 1:11 pm

Now that we're well into the closed season, does anyone know if any work is actually underway on The Smiler? Have there been any inside reports or fly-overs?

Mon Dec 30, 2013 9:02 pm

Nope, Smiler intel has been very quiet over closed season, which could be a bad or a good thing. I'm almost certain she's getting work

I think earliest we'll get word of any work is February half term, and then obviously opening weekend.

Sun Jan 05, 2014 1:10 am

I personally would love to see them do something about the trains screeching and also maybe fix the tracks wheel marks as they are terrible

Topics merged ~Kimberley

Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:41 pm

Does anyone know if any work has been taking place on The Smiler? I sincerely hope so, as operations and reliability on it were absymal last season.
Hopefully they'll have it up to a good working standard this year, as it really is a fantastic coaster.

Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:43 am

Stop it sinking and sue whoever did the foundation work if that is indeed true...

Wed Jan 22, 2014 5:09 pm

chrisjoneswxm wrote: Stop it sinking and sue whoever did the foundation work if that is indeed true...

Barney from blue peter did some foundation work. I say we blame him! (I'm joking of course)

Seriously though, I would love to hear any scoop on the smiler for the closed season

Wed Jan 22, 2014 5:13 pm

hopefully then paint the floor beneath the bat wing and cobra roll, make it smoother and fix the outside queueing issue.

Wed Jan 22, 2014 5:13 pm

If alton keep have to spend more money on The Smiler after the closed season works. They should be within their rights to sue Gerstlauer.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 1:29 pm

Pics are on TS Forums of Smiler in the closed season. A lot of work happening to it!

Sun Feb 02, 2014 1:46 pm

sully1311 wrote: Pics are on TS Forums of Smiler in the closed season. A lot of work happening to it!

I've seen them, it looks in one photo that they've dug up at least one of the supports at the top end of the site (possibly to reconfigure it and sort out the structural problems)

Mon Feb 03, 2014 2:43 pm

BenBowser wrote: If alton keep have to spend more money on The Smiler after the closed season works. They should be within their rights to sue Gerstlauer.

A lot of the issues are to do with the ground work and the builders, nothing to do with Gerstlauer.

Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:37 pm

The fences that stop people entering the ride area have been moved back behind the stones. They looked very odd just stood in front of the stones.

Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:54 pm

I don't know if this will happen but make the queue more of a comfortable environment. It's awful.

Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:25 am

^ I have to agree. The queue line is god awful.

Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:11 pm

Few things I've noticed:
Main track seems to be a different colour. It's a very dim orange, so it's certainly not been deliberately painted - the only other option is that it's wear & tear. The ride has been operating for only a few months, enough wear and tear to faintly rust the track is completely unacceptable (on Gerstlauer's part).
Also it appears that something is being worked on near the top of The Smiler, next to the toilets. Could we be seeing something like the Jetty from the original plans being worked on?

Other than that I'm incredibly sad to see that nothing has been done with the building façade and queue line - still looks incredibly boring and, in the case of the queue line sign, cheesy as heck.