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The Smiler


th13teen

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When I went, it was when The Smiler first started taking a fancy to having a rest mid-circuit in the batwing. The result of course was not only Smiler down. but Oblivion, Enterprise and Submission too. Add to that that on the second day me and Mikey were there they also had Th13teen intermittently down, Air down the whole day, and Spinball on three passengers a car and it's really worrying to think how long to piss-poor reliability has been going on.

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Apparently down all day today too, They should really make it clear on their website and what not that it will be down, a lot of people will be going just to ride The Smiler and will end up being disappointed.

And yes I know they have over 50 rides and attractions ;)

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It's strange that they're the only Merlin park that doesn't have some form of closed ride scroller...

Maybe it's the different website style, or perhaps they're just not as used to having half their park closed at once?

The social media person has probably quit or gone on holiday, hence why there's been no mention of it being shut...

Hopefully though, whichever support is being worked on is a quick(ish) fix, like every other major breakdown that has happened recently...

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Apparently down all day today too, They should really make it clear on their website and what not that it will be down, a lot of people will be going just to ride The Smiler and will end up being disappointed.

And yes I know they have over 50 rides and attractions ;)

Totally agree ^^ there are going to be some very disappointed people particularly if they have gone just to ride The Smiler. I was lucky that it was open when I went, and I would have been disappointed had it been closed but it was my first ever visit to Towers so the other rides would have made up for that a little bit. Really feel for people who have travelled long distances to ride Smiler only to find out it is not open.....again

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Know what I find really weird, only Saw and Smiler have had such problems for Gerstlauer coasters...

Yet meanwhile, things like Karacho are running fine (though unfinished, but that's the German way sometimes)...

Did Takabashi even have over the top problems during it's opening months? If so, there's something strange about that only two Gersts have major issues...

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To be fair though, both Saw and The Smiler are classed as prototypes, Saw was the first Eurofighter to dual load and offload and The Smiler is a Infinity something or another. Saw's first major problem happened to be a manufacturing discrepancy then after more manufacturing discrepancy causing frequent checks to be made in certain areas. Same with Smiler, I hear they are having to replace a part every week or so. Whilst both seem to be having/have had manufacturing difficulties it's made worse by the fact they both have/had teething problems which happens on all rides, after all!

They should take a leaf out of B&M's book, *If you decide to build a new concept don't release or build it until you have perfected the systems and manufacturing of the ride* - The Swarm is still yet to of had a full day closed.

Shame Smiler is having so many of these issues though, it is a fantastic ride, whereas these days you look back at Saw's opening year and think "Yeah I don't really care if it spontaneously combusted"

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But on the other hand, aside from Fluch's theming taking over a year to do because of snow (excuses eh?) with both a LSM launching system and vertical lift/drop could that not also be termed as a prototype? Can also look at Lynet and Wild Hog for other prototypes... Though it's hard to say if they were unreliable tat breaking down every 5 minutes because of being in parks that are very rarely looked at...

It seems clear that they've moved away from the dual loading system now, even Takabisha doesn't have it... Even that can be termed as a prototype with the amount of brakes at the top of the lift for the however many degrees drop...

Atm with Smiler, it seems to be a support issue that has kept it closed currently (aside from the lift hills when I visited)... Now, is this down to Gerstlauer? OR the construction team externally brought in for the job? Indeed, a fair few of Smiler's issues had nothing to do with Gerstlauer (or least, I doubt they have anything to do with checking the type of soil on site), and the flying bolt of freedom isn't a specific manufacturer issue and clearly a result of the harsh weather changes (hooray for metal expanding and contracting!)

It is a shame because the more issues have the more it paints a picture on Gerst (although, the Texas Giant issue will do more for that than anymore bolts flying off Smiler), as it's their biggest project and their rides are actually good (Saw being the exception) and as a still young and growing company they do provide something different... Perhaps though they are being too Intamin-like for their own good what with their new ideas being broken when used in the actual environment...

Overall, it's not a good year for Towers either, everything seems to be breaking simultaneously, with Runaway's motor dying, Thirteen's hydraulics being sprayed everywhere, Oblivion's lift hill, Rita being Rita... It's on the cards for the Valley to take the next hit...

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Rita was down first thing this morning and reopened like lunch time with 50+ min queues with single rider closed. The Smiler does have a little slight possibly will open tomorrow but probably working Sunday as is still waiting for the part as of today. Thirteen is back up and running and I confirm that the shutters worked it was pitch black when I went into it also being my first ever go on it I love it also forgot to mention Ripsaw the engineers was working on it throughout most of the day might reopen tomorrow.

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