HermanTheGerman

Its no secret that The Smiler was a disastrous project. Aside from the fact that the ride system is a prototype, the coaster ended up two and a half months delayed and five million pounds over budget, not to mention the countless faults since. Teething problems yes, but that doesn't cover the fact that the ground works were completely wrecked resulting in a weak track structure that will undoubtedly need significant work in a few years. (remember how many cracks they found in the supports in the first year...) The ride was rushed and pushed to the point where they were adamant that it would open in 2013, meaning that they significantly cut corners, thankfully though, numerous people have been sacked/not asked back since, so another Smiler style failure is unlikely to happen again. Saying that though, the ride has certainly been one of Merlin's best investments. Similarly to Saw funnily enough, The Smiler is currently ranked as the No.1 coaster in the park on guest surveys (I think?), couple that with the fact that it does have a very strong brand and you've got the ideal crowd puller. Such a shame that it may struggle in the long term.

Well I doubt that's true, especially when considering the ride has stalled there multiple times before, you'd think they'd have that area covered most.

The Guardian are blaming Human Error as a "major" contributor the accident, saying that the staff shouldn't have dispatched the loaded train with the other not having completed the first section. Stupid really, I doubt it would have stalled before they dispatched. I just feel bad for the staff now really, they're probably feeling bad enough about what happened, the last thing they need is for a national newspaper to jump to conclusions.

Just watched the interview, and to be fair, he seemed just about as shocked and saddened as the rest of us. It was nice to hear him say that he hadn't given the slightest thought to the fall in Merlin's share price too.

Oh dear. This really is horrible now. [emoji20] At least they're being ethical about the whole thing. Varney has already arrived at the park, and he has apparently apologised for one of his parks injuring people.

Well no, that would be entirely pointless. It's just because the ride didn't exactly have the best reputation beforehand, and now with this incident being exaggerated beyond belief on social media, I do wonder, depending on the outcome of the investigation, whether or not the attraction is deemed safe by the public. If it does turn out that it was the computer's fault, then the ride itself is to be blamed, which won't look good in many people's eyes. Of course they could just close it for a while and let the whole thing blow over. This'll reassure the public that it's safe, and then it can continue from there on out. I expect this is what they'll actually do.

Oh Gerstlauer... :roll: This really is a horrible incident, for the victims and the park. Imagine the impact this will have though. If one girl being injured at Chessington resulted in a law suit, a H&S investigation of the entire park, and massive panic surrounding anything that could be a potential threat to safety, resulting in mass theming demotions and slow operations on certain attractions. (Vampire for example.) The fact that the ride system itself failed to stop the carriage twice (remember there is not only the lift hill, but the emergency trims under The Flasher also) then I fear that this might just be the end of The Smiler. Especially seeing as the public's and no doubt the HSE's view of the ride has been low from the start. It's a shame, I really liked The Smiler. [emoji20]

And people said this thing would last five years... Hopefully everyone makes a full recovery though, as you can see blood in a couple of the photos.

Well, the ride has been down for most of the week, so I assume it is linked to that.

Ha! Canopy Capers won't be at 90mins. It's most likely a glitch on the website. Aside from the fact that it's effectively a climbing frame, it's also located in Land of the Dragons, which means that only about 3% of park goers actually know it exists. I'd be very surprised if it has ever had a queue.

Errgh! I hate one host opp. It just slows things down immensely. Especially seeing as Kobra and Rameses are down. Those staff should be distributed around the supporting flats.

Plans to sort out traffic are being worked upon. As Benin said, there isn't the space to build to a wider road, so instead the issue will hopefully be rectified by redesigning the car parks so that they can have a faster intake. Of course its the council's fault really, they complain about the traffic, yet they wont let the park concrete the grass areas. And the fact that its on a hill causes only makes matters worse.

Well, the thing is that Chessington have all of Zoo Days included in their figure, as it's based on total annual attendance. (hence why after a poor year, Thorpe have suddenly started doing FHT again...) Also, last year was just genuinely really busy. Second most attended year ever I think after 1995? The Easter period had an average attendance of 15,000, with a couple of days hitting 17,000... Then of course was Howl'O'Ween, with 16,000 on a few days as well. Scorpion Express clearly had the impact that were hoping for, but you also have to factor in that for the first three months of the season, Chessington were the only park with anything new.

Obviously the problem of throughput stems from the fact that they've spent the last 15 years getting nothing but a 600pph spinning coaster and a 500pph Disk'O. Meaning that they are relying on rides which would have been deemed "efficient" in the early 90s as their main attractions. Then of course you've got the park attendance sky rocketing over the last two years, meaning that a park with only one 1000pph ride is now attracting 2 million people. It's really something that does need to change. They are aware of that too, I think Summer 2013 was a bit of an eye opener...

I think Samurai is almost certainly on the way out. Its just so unreliable these days; you can tell it wasn't meant to last the sixteen years that it has. Its meant to be a fair ground ride damn it! I'd be glad to see it go, its not like it runs decent settings either... Slammer on the other hand, well, that's just a massive shame. I'd love for it to last forever, but that surely wont happen. I reckon they'll be seeing how much they can improve the reliability before they start giving it a greater marketing focus. And if after all this work (adding new supports etc.) its still breaking down, then well, I doubt it'll out live Samurai...

If her child is scared by this, then they'd probably die watching Pinocchio transform into a donkey. Early trauma is what childhood is for.

Haha! Really? I can't believe people are actually calling the show inappropriate, presumably because of the stockings? It just goes to show how overly 'politically correct' and toned down our society has become.

Nope, that was only in 2013. Train 1 (the one that was cannibalised) was actually the train they were using over April with the timed tickets. So all trains are being built this year with the slightest possibility of three train operation.

Flug would have been well into development by the time Merlin got the results on The Swarm, I doubt they would have time to change the entire plan and start again.

Actually, last season they seemed to be doing quite well on two trains. There was a team who rarely let it stack. Trains were often waiting to be dispatched. So hopefully, they can do just as well this year on three!

Sorry, but no. That was the plan a few years back, but since then a new management team has taken over, and they feel differently about the future of the ride.

I really cannot be bothered anymore. Market Square wasn't entirely for H&S you know! They have far better upkeep than Thorpe or Towers, look at Runaway, Colossus, Rumba, Nemesis, Loggers, Flume, Blade, Smiler, Inferno and the list goes on. Clearly they can keep pulling people in, last year was the second busiest on record... Work is being done with the council too, so don't rule out major developments.

Yep, £8 million was spent last year, purely on making the park safer and more aesthetically pleasing. A further £23 million was then spent on the Hotel. Anyway, I wasn't talking about investment into new rides (that'll have to wait), more general maintainance, which is horrifying in itself.

They have the highest annual budget of any Merlin park. And yes, it does have the most potential, you don't see the other park's attendance rising by 15.4% each year do you.

Why do people bother with Alton Towers? Every thrill area is depressing. They're removing all flat rides. Most areas have received no maintenance since opening. Close Nemesis, Oblivion and Hex and your left with a bunch of very mediocre rides with rotting scenery and cheap theming. The park is full of mostly pointless gimmicks. They have some the worst opening times for a major park is Europe. The hotels are totally left to rot. The only decent addition since Hex is due to rip itself apart in the next five years. They stagger openings for fairly important attractions (see Skyride). They don't seem to care about guest experience (when the last time they've actually extended opening hours?) Scarefest is becoming frightful dull and samey. Almost every new attraction needs to have oil drums for bins. The point is that you can pick out bad parts of every park. But you don't see Alton Towers spending over £1 million on a new show do you? Chessington might not be your cup of tea, and that's fine. Just don't label it as a "sad state of affairs". For two years on the trot now its had a massive attendance increases, clearly the park with the most potential. Sure, I'd be mad to say Chessington is without flaws, and that it didn't suffer from ten years of neglect, but to say the place has "fallen" is more than a little extreme. EDIT: Compare Alton's new Enchanted Village to the quality of the new Madagascar hotel rooms at Chessington: