The Smiler

[Coaster Lewis]

Yes! Its almost as good as the flying fish ride although you do have to pay extra for the bus if you want to go round twice

[RobF]

19 hours ago, pognoi said:

Fascinating, I never knew that the 446 bus could take you to thorpe park. I always nag my wife for caramel hob nobs but we're trying to save for the new merlin pass so we can play unlimited extra-ordinary golf. Lovely t-shirt, DMT is a personal favourite of mine. Stay safe!

Lots of love,

-wegloo

 

 

 

Stop saving now off peak pass just £69pp

[MattyMoo]

Random post alert - credit to Towers Times for this picture from back in the archives - whatever happened to these Smiler logo graphics on the backs of the trains?

[Matt N]

On 6/27/2022 at 4:07 PM, MattyMoo said:

Random post alert - credit to Towers Times for this picture from back in the archives - whatever happened to these Smiler logo graphics on the backs of the trains?

Sorry to reply to a 2 month old post, but I think the illusions and Smiler graphics on the back of the trains were removed in favour of clearer safety signage following the crash. The back of the seat in front where the illusions were is certainly where the safety signage now sits, and I seem to remember that changing after the crash.

[RobF]

It was only ever the back row ??

[Matt N]

36 minutes ago, RobF said:

It was only ever the back row ??

The Smiler graphics were only ever on the back row, but for whatever reason, they went and never returned after the crash. The illusions on the seat backs in front were replaced with clearer safety signage, but I'm not quite sure why the Smiler graphics went...

[Inferno]

It’s been 10 years today since the horrific Smiler collision.

 

BBC News are running coverage about the accident, but for some reason are glossing over the fact that the 2 injured riders raising this are doing so to raise money for the air ambulance charity who helped save many lives that day.

 

I still can’t get over that it actually happened to be honest. I remember seeing the footage on the news and feeling devastated that it happened at Alton Towers of all places - somewhere many people cherish as somewhere filled with joy and happy childhood memories.

 

I also remember visiting in the week after the park re-opened, and how empty and weird it felt being there after what happened.  A very sad time for everyone involved, and for all the staff.
 

I can’t help but wonder what Alton Towers would be like today if this incident hadn’t happened.  To this day, their reputation is damaged, and they certainly took a huge hit in the months and even years after the incident.  Perhaps the park would have been prosperous if this hadn’t happened, or perhaps an incident was waiting to happen anyway given the shortcuts that were being taken.

[Cal]

I still remember my exact location watching it on the news for my first time too! 

 

Is an interesting thought what the park would be like now if the incident didn't happen, as it certainly was the start of Towers downfall in my opinion. 

 

10 years later, the park continuous to have one of the worst opening hours for a major theme park worldwide, 10-4pm midweek...

[Benin]

It was a huge balls up from the staff at the time. But like with many things, the safety procedures weren't entirely up to snuff and the way it which the park was being run arguably led to the mistake being made.

 

It changed the course of the park and Merlin a LOT. Sadly it caused a major hit for the industry that it has struggled to recover from (mostly as, in my opinion, Merlin went into damage control mode rather than focusing on getting the parks to a level of quality again). Combine that with the general state of the world in those 10 years and its no wonder we're sat here begging for Universal.

[JoshC.]

It is one of those "you remember where you were when you heard about it" moments. 10 years ago is crazy though. 

 

I only ever worked for Merlin post the incident, but I've seen and heard of many of consequences, aftermath, etc that it resulted in. Some ideas have been frankly ridiculous and damaging to the parks further. Equally, some have led to Merlin being significantly safer and if an incident like that was to ever happen again at a major park, the probability of it happening at a Merlin park is surely the lowest. 

 

One does wonder though, what shape would Merlin (and Towers in particular) be in if it never happened.

[Matt N]

It was definitely a seismic event for the UK theme park industry, and I often wonder what the parks would be like had it never happened.

 

Would we have seen cuts at the likes of Alton Towers as we did? Would the likes of The Flume, Logger’s Leap and Ripsaw still be here? Would we have seen different investments? There are so many questions!