After being heavily rumoured to open today, guests arriving on park this morning were overjoyed to hear the good news everyone had been waiting for – the Smiler was to open after all!
The ride opened at around 12:30 this afternoon after final checks were apparently completed on the ride and several test runs took place. Some lucky staff then quickly found themselves subjected to a test of the Marmalisation process, with the ride opening to the public shortly afterwards.
Much praise has been given to both the ride and perhaps most importantly the organisation of the opening day by the Resort. It was clear that a lot of planning and organisation had gone into the opening process despite previous hitches that prevented the original planned opening, and the feedback from the guests was positive throughout.
The Resort had established a temporary queuing system using barriers to hold guests waiting to ride the highly anticipated ride strategically woven around X-Sector, with staff on hand to help control and organise guests whilst waiting. The full queue underneath and around the ride was not fully utilised – thought to aid guests in the event of an unexpected ride breakdown and a queue line evacuation – however guests were instead batched into groups to enter the station from the temporary queues.
Staff were also on hand providing refreshments for sale to guests stood in the queue in the warmer weather which was appreciated by many in the hot sun!
The general ride operations were also praised by many, with ride staff working quickly and efficiently – even though it was the first day – to keep the queue down as best possible despite a busy day on the park during half term. Queues were reported to be around 2 hours on average for most people wanting to get corrected for the first time.
The ride also held up well mechanically with comparably very little ‘downtime’ reported and experienced by guests for a new attraction of this scale, a testament to the engineering, construction and ride teams who have clearly worked hard to deliver a great first time experience to guests.
Of course, it goes without saying that many people were more than pleased with the ride, and both social commentary and reactions of people after riding were also very positive, with many smiles all round. Despite the earlier issues delaying the opening, it really does seem that the people behind the ride and at the Resort have worked hard to pull a fantastic ride – and opening day – truly out of the bag, and we can’t thank them enough!
We won’t spoil the ride experience for you, however you can catch reviews of the ride from our members on our discussion forums over the coming days. And if you’ve not got your date set to get corrected – we recommend you make an appointment as soon as possible!
Remember… SMILE. ALWAYS.
