Matt 236 Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 Great little touch of improving the area of the ride. I remember similar boars around the deceased Jungle Coaster explaining statistics of the ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 People want to have fun on the ride, not be told a lot of facts and made-up text... I thought? It depends what you want in a ride - some people just want to ride them without caring at all about the theming whereas other people (like me) like a little bit of background information displayed to add to the enjoyment of the ride/queuing experience. Personally I like these signs, they aren't doing any harm and those who want to read them can do so. Tom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 It's really not like that because these signs aren't "theming". These signs aren't entertaining anybody, are they? They're just there to promote the ride (unnecessarily, as I think the ride looks convincing enough without knowing what track length it has yawn) and cover up the ugly concrete/metal gaps that shouldn't really have been built like that anyway. What I mean is - a great theme ride experience is more exciting than signs with words on them. Surely? Apart from that - yes - who cares indeed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 If it means having to look at that lovely concept art then I approve MattyMoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Smiler... currently closed... yada yada... EDIT: Maybe it's closed as they need to remove that extra "N" from "Innoculator" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Has anyone else noticed, it's getting rougher and rougher? Since I rode it back in June, I've ridden it at least once a month since, and my latest trip was 4 rides. None of them where comfortable, none of them where even moderately smooth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretchy Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I totally agree Ricky. At the start only 1 of the cars was rough, now all are rough and there are 3 noticable jolts not 2. The third one isnt as pronounced but is where the bolt fell from, I dont think they smoothed the rejoined bit out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 The main ones I noticed are, The Inverted Drop, entry to first Dive, Entry to Dive in Cobra Roll, and entry and exit of the first Inline Twist. However the ride itself is now much more noticeably rattly over the entire circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 A ride getting rougher as it gets older? SAY IT ISN'T SO! Wouldn't be surprised if the original one or two jolts around the Cobra Roll exit/Inverting drops are the cause of this... Be interesting to see how rough it's gotten... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Han30 Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 My first ride on The Smiler was at the beginning of July and, although not smooth it was nowhere near as rough and jolty as what I experienced last week, although my second go on the same day (in July) was pretty rough but I think we had a bad car. The last ride out of 3 last week was REALLY painful - my head was so smashed about that it made the fact that I stupidly walked face first into a rock earlier that day seem like nothing (and THAT friggin hurt). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidders Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 A ride getting rougher as it gets older? SAY IT ISN'T SO! Wouldn't be surprised if the original one or two jolts around the Cobra Roll exit/Inverting drops are the cause of this... Be interesting to see how rough it's gotten... Obviously it will get rough, but I think the reason some are mentioning it is because the ride has gotten considerably rough over a very short period of time - less than a half a season in fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Yeah, basically what Sidders said, you would expect a ride to age over years not weeks... When you consider Nemesis is 19 years old and is actually still rather smooth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC! Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I hope Merlin sort this out because by the next roller coaster they have unless they do something Smiler will be unrideable (a la Goudurix) I just hope they sort this because its a great ride with great layout but it is let down by how rough it is. Speed (sorry to reference oakwood again) is smoother and that is 7 heck even Saw is smoother, Fix this Alton! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I didn't personally find it excessively rough back at the start of August mind, but I did realise the whole shock that it's not even been half a year... Whether or not it's up to the same levels of Saw, I cannot say yet... Saw was bearly rideable for me in it's first season, so it's all going into personal opinions here... Then again, with the heavy amount of work the cars have to go through on a daily basis, it can't be that big a surprise that they're wearing down a lot faster compared to other rides... Hell, it probably does a lot more work than Nemmie does... But that can't be compared since B&M actually think through their designs... It's a weird one how the two Merlin Gerstlauers are quite bad for roughness, as even Mystery Mine with it's set-square corners isn't awful... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornflakes Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 When I rode it on 1/9/13 I didn't find it very rough at all, there were a couple of small jolts followed by the always horrible cobra roll jolts and there was a slight vibration in the train, but nothing seriously painful or anything that could ruin the ride. It wasn't B&M smooth by any means, but nowhere near as bad as some others have been saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Post and photo on TTF shows work being done on the vertical lift hill. Again. All I know is, when I go on 22nd October, I am heading straight for the Smiler queue with it's current track record Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 It's not very good to hear that it's getting noticeably rougher as well. I think that Alton Towers management need to get on the phone to Gerstlauer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Ah this reminds me of saws first season sating how they must fix it and what not. They won't and it will just get worse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Ah this reminds me of saws first season sating how they must fix it and what not. They won't and it will just get worse I wonder if the 'will it get retrakced?' debate will crop up over closed season? MattyMoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Towers Street have just posted a photo of a pump truck on site - reported drainage issues at the bottom of the lift hill. Facepalm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted September 10, 2013 Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 Well that's a surprise when they had to put in mass amounts of concrete into the area because the earth survey people goofed up originally... As we all know, concrete is a natural drainage solution... I swear half of the issues with Smiler have been as a result of the surveyors getting it wrong... Bubbles1 and Inferno 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkadder312 Posted September 10, 2013 Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 as long as its rectified by 28/29th Sept I will be happy as I still never been on Smiler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inferno Posted September 10, 2013 Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 Panic over! The Smiler is open again this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 ... and closed again Inferno 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan9 Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Alton Towers @altontowers20h The Smiler queue line will be open tomorrow from 9.30am, the queue will close at 12noon for planned maintenance. Inferno 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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