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The Smiler - General Discussion

Ethan said:
I think it'll take something special to beat the smiler
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I think SW9 could be that special something, whenever it comes! A lot of the rumours being tossed around seemed to suggest that some sort of Intamin Blitz Coaster was in the works, but we can't be sure until something is seen.
 
It depends on how you define "beating The Smiler". Wicker Man is far superior for example in terms of comfort, story-telling, theming and the queue line experience; plus it's a far better all-round coaster that more people can experience.

It really doesn't need much to overthrow a dilapidated looking mess that is uncomfortable and has aged poorly in the space of eight (yep, time really has gone that fast) years.

I almost wish Wicker Man had been built first as compensation to the marketing sham of Thirteen. That would have given an extra couple of years for Towers to have seen what Karnan could do or at least get a whiff of Steel Curtain's plans and pull off something similar.
 
Beating The Smiler?

They already did, years prior.

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I think the thing here is that it depends upon what sort of thing you like in a ride. For someone who loves inversions and a really intense, fast-paced experience, then I can see why someone would rank The Smiler as their favourite coaster in the park.

For me, however; I personally like a fun, smooth, comfortable, rerideable coaster that is forceful enough to provide a good thrill, but not intense enough to make you feel nauseous or grey out/black out for an extended period of time.

For this reason, The Smiler does not rank particularly highly among my Alton Towers coaster ranking (7th, to be exact); while it's not as rough as the likes of Saw and Speed, I still think it has quite a noticeable judder to it and some pronounced jolts in places. I also don't find it very rerideable, as I personally find that the sheer intensity of it has made me feel somewhat nauseous when I get off in recent years; do any of you feel like this upon getting off Smiler, or am I just weak in terms of my g-force tolerance?

Don't get me wrong, I think The Smiler's layout is a good one, and it's a sheer spectacle to look at and in terms of the engineering of it, but as it stands, my love for it as a ride experience has waned a lot over the years. This is probably in part due to my taste in coasters changing somewhat as I gain more experience, but I also find that the ride itself has grown less comfortable with age.

For those of you interested, my Towers coaster ranking is as follows;
  1. Wicker Man
  2. Nemesis
  3. Galactica
  4. Oblivion
  5. Thirteen
  6. Runaway Mine Train
  7. The Smiler
  8. Spinball Whizzer
  9. Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure
  10. Rita
 
Matt N said:
I think the thing here is that it depends upon what sort of thing you like in a ride. For someone who loves inversions and a really intense, fast-paced experience, then I can see why someone would rank The Smiler as their favourite coaster in the park.

For me, however; I personally like a fun, smooth, comfortable, rerideable coaster that is forceful enough to provide a good thrill, but not intense enough to make you feel nauseous or grey out/black out for an extended period of time.

For this reason, The Smiler does not rank particularly highly among my Alton Towers coaster ranking (7th, to be exact); while it's not as rough as the likes of Saw and Speed, I still think it has quite a noticeable judder to it and some pronounced jolts in places. I also don't find it very rerideable, as I personally find that the sheer intensity of it has made me feel somewhat nauseous when I get off in recent years; do any of you feel like this upon getting off Smiler, or am I just weak in terms of my g-force tolerance?

Don't get me wrong, I think The Smiler's layout is a good one, and it's a sheer spectacle to look at and in terms of the engineering of it, but as it stands, my love for it as a ride experience has waned a lot over the years. This is probably in part due to my taste in coasters changing somewhat as I gain more experience, but I also find that the ride itself has grown less comfortable with age.

For those of you interested, my Towers coaster ranking is as follows;
  1. Wicker Man
  2. Nemesis
  3. Galactica
  4. Oblivion
  5. Thirteen
  6. Runaway Mine Train
  7. The Smiler
  8. Spinball Whizzer
  9. Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure
  10. Rita
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I'm not a fan of Rita myself, but come on its not that bad. In terms of the big 7 I'd say:
1. The smiler
2. Wicker man
3. Nemesis
4. Galactica
5. Th13teen
6. Oblivion
7. Rita
 
Ethan said:
I'm not a fan of Rita myself, but come on its not that bad. In terms of the big 7 I'd say:
1. The smiler
2. Wicker man
3. Nemesis
4. Galactica
5. Th13teen
6. Oblivion
7. Rita
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It depends entirely on personal taste; I've always said that I would prefer a gentle coaster to a rough one, simply because I don't like major headbanging or pain on coasters. For me, Rita's launch is great, but the rest of the ride is just too painful.
 
Rita has always felt redundant to me, not because it's a bad ride, but because you literally go faster on Oblivion. Not only that, Oblivion is the more intense and forceful ride. It's not a bad ride at all, and in many other parks, it'd be a decent ride, but it has always felt out of place at Towers.

The Smiler is decent. It's an impressive ride and it draws crowds in. It's fairly fun to ride, but I can't help but come away from it after a ride and wish it was more. I don't find it particularly intense or forceful, and the only standout moment to me is that second airtime hill. If the queue leading up to the ride was better themed and conveyed some sort of story, the ride would be far higher in my ranking as it would make more sense as an overall package. If they sold the whole "Marmalisation" thing within the queue, then the ride itself would be more enjoyable in my opinion, and it would be worth a much longer wait. But I just find myself enjoying it less and less with every visit, and despite riding it each time I visit Towers, I'm finding myself questioning more and more whether my time would be better spent getting more rides elsewhere rather than wait in that battery farm of a queueline.
 
To be fair, I think the only reason they don't do marmalisation more in depth is because they didn't want it to look insensitive after the incident, so they removed all of the major references to correction and marmalisation.
 
Matt N said:
To be fair, I think the only reason they don't do marmalisation more in depth is because they didn't want it to look insensitive after the incident, so they removed all of the major references to correction and marmalisation.
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Which meant removing half the audio and visuals.
 
TheAverageNerd said:
Rita has always felt redundant to me, not because it's a bad ride, but because you literally go faster on Oblivion. Not only that, Oblivion is the more intense and forceful ride. It's not a bad ride at all, and in many other parks, it'd be a decent ride, but it has always felt out of place at Towers.
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While I prefere Oblivion as a ride, I am sorry but the launch on Rita is more forceful. The rate and power of those hydraulic launches is insane. Even on the tamer ones such as Rita.
 
Matt N said:
To be fair, I think the only reason they don't do marmalisation more in depth is because they didn't want it to look insensitive after the incident, so they removed all of the major references to correction and marmalisation.
Click to expand...
Just out of interest, do you think this theming should return?
 
Personally haven't had a rough ride on this since opening year, apart from the jolt on the second inversion and coming out of the cobra roll I'm yet to experience the uncomfortableness that people report, and mainly riding on the back row as well I just don't experience it.
 
WRT the themeing returning I think they should bring it back, it's been long enough and considering it was there prior to the accident it's not like it's mocking the victims. I do think however it needs dire improvements as well, less bare concrete and better drainage. But let's face it, that doesn't make money so Merlin aren't interested
 
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