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Little Changes: What would you do?

Restore the original Smiler theming, and just give it TLC in general.
They did a fantastic job with Nemesis, so there's no reason that the Smiler can't have the same treatment.
Smiler's theming needs rebuilding to be maintainable first off! Cheaply produced and not designed to last at all.

Smiler could be immense if it was value engineered as an attraction!
 
Smiler's theming needs rebuilding to be maintainable first off! Cheaply produced and not designed to last at all.

Smiler could be immense if it was value engineered as an attraction!
Well, even with the odd dead-screen, the marmaliser still looks fantastic. It's just the inside section which lets it down IMO.

If the projection mapping is too hard to maintain then maybe they should replace it with some other theming. Perhaps regular screens instead. I'd love it if they made a pre-show for the inside queue! :D

And to add the 'half way corrected' announcement at the base of the vertical lift.
 
Return all lost themeing, add themeing and clean all themeing

Ban Fastrack, Improve operations (all rides max throughput all day), return some SRQs, install bag drops

Sort out the RAP problem

Remove staggered openings on peak days
 
Return all lost themeing, add themeing and clean all themeing

Ban Fastrack, Improve operations (all rides max throughput all day), return some SRQs, install bag drops

Sort out the RAP problem

Remove staggered openings on peak days

Can I just ask what RAP stands for? Seen it referred to a few times now, excuse my ignorance!
 
Why should us that decide to visit on off-peak days be punished :eek:

ERT should return to 1 hour no matter what days

And Staggered openings should be banish for good, they don't work on off peak days either

Well, generally speaking off peak days are very quiet, people have no problem getting on the rides multiple times, provided they get there first thing in the morning for opening and there are no staggered ride openings!
 
Switch the smoke machines on. All of them: The Smiler, Oblivion, Rita, Galactica, Nemesis Gun, Nemesis Bus, Wicker Man. Keep them all on.

YES oh YES

Also why on peak only? I think say Forest and the water rides opening at 11 is okay if its an off peak day, trying to think in a reasonable way. ERT every day though. I'd love the entire park open all day every day but I can't see it happening any time soon
 
Well, generally speaking off peak days are very quiet, people have no problem getting on the rides multiple times, provided they get there first thing in the morning for opening and there are no staggered ride openings!

You tackle quiet days by running less trains/cars rather than reducing the opening times. By the time you walk to the rides for ERT and then they let in the non ERT guest in earlier than they should, you are then left with very little ERT time as it is.
 
Just don't do a Thorpe and operate 1 train on everything until it gets a 1 hour queue then delay adding the second train as it isn't signed off. Sign off all trains and have them ready to add and go.

Fair point on ERT, make it every day
 
Single riders
Opening later
More outlets to be open
Get the god damn elements working (oblivions smoke tunnel, rapids waterfalls etc.) and keep them maintained.
Speaking of maintaining.....Keep the overall park up to standard.
ERT earlier





Give the park a new owner.
 
Switch the smoke machines on. All of them: The Smiler, Oblivion, Rita, Galactica, Nemesis Gun, Nemesis Bus, Wicker Man. Keep them all on.

Last Sunday all the haze based smoke machines were on, Nemesis gun caught me by surprise that it was on and the Wickerman area was full of haze. But the water based misters on Oblivion and the Galactica portal weren’t on.
 
  • Increased opening times/days
  • SRQ return (seeing empty seats is painful)
  • Clean the place up (including the Stepping stones, they're overgrown to the point you can't see any water)

None of the above will probably happen, but they could at least return Oblivion to its former glory. Get the steam working again, ALL shuttles hang for the originally intended 4 seconds and bring back the audio at the drop "don't, look, down"

Enough dreaming for me today, in the words of Paul Mckenna, "Wakey Wakey, rise and shine"
 
Last Sunday all the haze based smoke machines were on, Nemesis gun caught me by surprise that it was on and the Wickerman area was full of haze. But the water based misters on Oblivion and the Galactica portal weren’t on.
Wicker Man is water too, Oblivion and Galactica are broken and havnt been repaired for whatever reason.

That Galactica's portal lasted only about 2 years is a bit silly
Well, even with the odd dead-screen, the marmaliser still looks fantastic. It's just the inside section which lets it down IMO.

If the projection mapping is too hard to maintain then maybe they should replace it with some other theming. Perhaps regular screens instead. I'd love it if they made a pre-show for the inside queue! :D

I'd love some kind of preshow experience but personally I've never thought video preshows in Merlin parks actually add anything. Especially when almost every ride seems to have a preshow video now, it's like "whats the video gonna be to tell us the theme on this one?".

The way Merlin often do them, they interest only geeks who read backstories on Wikipedia and don't actually add anything to your anticipation of the ride.

But look at Wicker Man on how to do a good preshow for a themed coaster, it's as much about the room and the theatrics (all simple stuff but done well) and the video on the cloth just makes it feel much more in keeping with the theme. Or Hex, because the video is actually worth watching. Great parks abroad tend to make better theatrical/scenic buildup that don't necessarily have a video on a screen in an empty room.

I think Smiler's interior queue and station shouldnt be empty breeze block rooms for a start, then there could be really cool setup to the coaster ahead.
 
I'd like to see some more interesting planting around, and a bit more care taken of the greenery and the sightlines. (Inside the gardens and around the park generally too)

For example, pulling up some bricks and planting the occasional tree down the main walk way of dark forest might actually make it feel a bit forrest-y.

Also some ivy growing up the fence (as I'm sure was promised at some point in TLC). And not the fake plastic crap.
 
The problem with real ivy is that it very quickly gets out of hand if left unchecked. Something tells me it would not be pruned on a regular basis.
For proof, just look at the Nemesis pit. Once upon a time, that was all bare rock. Now it's totally overgrown with ivy.

... Of course, the problem with plastic ivy is that it turns blue in sunlight....
 
Adding my name to the list of people calling for a return of bag stores on Smiler & Thirteen (even if it's on peak days only) and for SRQs to come back where they do not require additional staff - Spinball, Oblivion, Galactica as a minimum plus Smiler and Thirteen when bag stores are open.

Also:

Reopening of Toadstool/N:ST. No other rides removed/SBNO.
Opening of a fast food option in FV in addition to existing snack outlets (either BK or something else using that space) - RR is a welcome addition to the sit-down options but the park lacks F&B capacity on peak days and FV in particular has few options.
Improved operations on monorail - anything to allow the bays to be filled prior to trains arriving to ensure trains spend less time in the station and are as full as possible
 
The problem with real ivy is that it very quickly gets out of hand if left unchecked. Something tells me it would not be pruned on a regular basis.
For proof, just look at the Nemesis pit. Once upon a time, that was all bare rock. Now it's totally overgrown with ivy.

... Of course, the problem with plastic ivy is that it turns blue in sunlight....

Behind the fence is mostly dead bushes anyway. I don't know much about plants, but I suppose it depends on their container. If they used trough planters on the customer side of the fence, the ivy would be limited by the size of the planter?

Other climbing plants are available, but I wouldn't mind seeing that entire fence consumed by ivy ... That is the theme is it not?

But my point was also that generally the plants look a bit uncared for and scruffy, which is a shame as I think they help an area to realise it's theme.
 
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