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The Smiler - General Discussion

Danscott22 said:
3 rides on this today - riding fantastic, still my fav, I don't get the whole roughness thing with this at all! 2 on row 2 and 1 on row 3 for anyone wondering. The only jolt I felt was on the second inversion - I love this thing.
However, let's talk about how it looks. My god is it in a state. It genuinely looks absolutely disgusting. How they've let it get just quite this bad is beyond me. Heck, how they've been allowed to let it get like this is absolutely astonishing.
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Couldn't agree more
 
This is the problem. But because they have left all of their ride hardware to get into such a state, with each passing year, the money required to bring them back up to acceptable presentation will be growing. Rather than keeping on top of it, and having a much smaller dent in a year on year budgets.

They have dug themselves a hole, which will be very difficult to get out of. But having rides such as the Smiler in such a state, does not bode well from a guest perspective. I am genuinely surprised the vicious papers have not got wind of the state of the ride and used it to twist a story about how the state of it makes it look unsafe. Maybe that is what they need, to give them the kick up the backside to bring all of their attractions up to an acceptable level of presentation.
 
Genuinely, I couldn’t believe how black they’ve let the outside of the station get. At the halfway lift hill, the walls are atrocious. The camera “theming” they’ve got installed there are covered in mould and dirt. The “You Belong to The Smiler” wall on the station return is peeling. As you come into the brake run you notice how dirty and grimy the concrete is. I could go on, but I’d be here all night. It’s such a shame, because I love the ride and today’s rides proved why, but it is absolutely vile to look at. The worst it’s ever been.
 
I would think it’s marked down for some work for when Nemesis is back. They have done their biggest priority ride first, they were tidying up RMT this closed season I would hope Smiler is next. Possibly even to look at the janky second half of the ride to do some adjustments to the track.

It can’t be left like this another season. I had a couple of bad/rough rides last weekend on it, as did the people next to me on the ride at the front.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
I would think it’s marked down for some work for when Nemesis is back. They have done their biggest priority ride first, they were tidying up RMT this closed season I would hope Smiler is next. Possibly even to look at the janky second half of the ride to do some adjustments to the track.

It can’t be left like this another season. I had a couple of bad/rough rides last weekend on it, as did the people next to me on the ride at the front.
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The longer you let it deteriorate the more you have to spend on it, sorting drainage and aesthetics won't change the janky ride though. It needs a bigger investment than that to make this a top rated all round experience.
With what they spent on it originally and the compensation pay out it really is baffling as to why they've let it go like this.
 
Connor98 said:
But the parks director has done a very honest interview so there’s nothing to worry about I’m sure🙄😂
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I think that’s a little unfair. Clearly there are tonnes of deep-seated issues across the resort - the general state of The Smiler being just one - and the brand new management team will be discussing in depth how to go about fixing things, I’m sure.
 
Burbs said:
I think that’s a little unfair. Clearly there are tonnes of deep-seated issues across the resort - the general state of The Smiler being just one - and the brand new management team will be discussing in depth how to go about fixing things, I’m sure.
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Agreed however mold spores in a indoors area should realistically sorted very fast, it's not a issue that has to be discussed in depth about how it'll fit into the budget within the long term development plan.

it's a simple case of saying 'well this breaches health and safety and is damaging our brand, Steve get the bleach out and give it a good scrub with some elbow grease tonight'.
 
It's simply about pride these issues like the mould problem, start at the top. Because they have let all the small things get out of control, no one can be bothered to do anything.

I won't repeat what I think of the dirty shelter in Galactica extended queue or the state of the Obvillian queue line. However, staff at for example Phantasialand would sort out a small issue like Mould, as they feel pride in their park. In my opinion, it's a cultural thing. Merlin is trying to operate towers like Thorpe park/Chessington but towers is so different.
 
George W said:
Agreed however mold spores in a indoors area should realistically sorted very fast, it's not a issue that has to be discussed in depth about how it'll fit into the budget within the long term development plan.

it's a simple case of saying 'well this breaches health and safety and is damaging our brand, Steve get the bleach out and give it a good scrub with some elbow grease tonight'.
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But why has it taken months for Steve to get the bleach out???
No elbow grease required, treatment, not scrubbing, does the job.
If they can't keep up with the jobs that cost pennies...
 
Ben Anderson said:
It's simply about pride these issues like the mould problem, start at the top. Because they have let all the small things get out of control, no one can be bothered to do anything.

I won't repeat what I think of the dirty shelter in Galactica extended queue or the state of the Obvillian queue line. However, staff at for example Phantasialand would sort out a small issue like Mould, as they feel pride in their park. In my opinion, it's a cultural thing. Merlin is trying to operate towers like Thorpe park/Chessington but towers is so different.
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I think staff would have more pride if they were paid more. Merlin don't exactly pay well. Not sure how they haven't realised that given that they struggle to recruit
 
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