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The Smiler - General Discussion
- Thread starter Scott
- Start date
Same they're my top 3 too. I normally try to get on them and oblivion and then I'm happy
Rick
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Crux
Are there? I haven't noticed any ranking threadsLet's try and keep this on topic please folks! We all love a good rank but there's plenty of other threads created for discussing such things.
pluk
TS Member
Haven't need to or haven't been able to?
Anyway, The Smiler gets too much love here, so for the sake balance. It's junk.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
The issues around whether anybody likes or dislikes the Smiler is immaterial. The fact is that the ride is one of - if not the most - popular rides at Alton Towers and in the UK. As a consequence, queues for the ride often outstrip its capabilities.
The experience of riding Smiler currently is absolutely awful. The queue line is overcrowded and, as a consequence of RAP and Fastrack on top of already lower than reasonable throughputs caused by the loss of the baggage cage - you are quite honestly taking a giant leap into the unknown upon entering the miserable, wretched queue line.
Baggage needs to return - that would give the ride an extra 4 or 5 dispatches an hour - and the queue line needs improving.
It's a disaster. Waiting for rides like Wicker Man, Nemesis and Galactica is a pleasure by comparison.
The experience of riding Smiler currently is absolutely awful. The queue line is overcrowded and, as a consequence of RAP and Fastrack on top of already lower than reasonable throughputs caused by the loss of the baggage cage - you are quite honestly taking a giant leap into the unknown upon entering the miserable, wretched queue line.
Baggage needs to return - that would give the ride an extra 4 or 5 dispatches an hour - and the queue line needs improving.
It's a disaster. Waiting for rides like Wicker Man, Nemesis and Galactica is a pleasure by comparison.
I personally think the smilers queue is one of the best. May be crowded, claustrophobic and a bit dirty, but the views from below the ride make it a unique experience
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
One of the best? Are you having a laugh? The views of the ride might well be interesting, but after 100 minutes in a non-moving, cramped, loud and dirty queue line - it's anything but one of the best. I am glad the park learned the lessons of Smiler with the Wicker Man queue line.
Out of the 700 coasters I have had the pleasure of riding in my life, Smiler's queue line and waiting experience will be bottom 10%. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Many of the sins of the Smiler's queue could be forgiven if the queue actually moved. During last season when you could be reasonably confident a queue to the entrance would take no more than an hour it wasn't really a big deal. Both times I've ridden this year have been shortly after opening and in each case it was clear that those joining 10-20min after us would have ended up waiting somewhere in the region of 2 hours.
Due to a combination of mediocre capacity, poor operations and a avalanche of FT/RAP the main queue is probably moving at a rate of only a couple of hundred people per hour which makes for an utterly miserable experience. As a coaster it's probably my favourite in the park but right now I wouldn't go anywhere near it except right at the start or end of the day.
Due to a combination of mediocre capacity, poor operations and a avalanche of FT/RAP the main queue is probably moving at a rate of only a couple of hundred people per hour which makes for an utterly miserable experience. As a coaster it's probably my favourite in the park but right now I wouldn't go anywhere near it except right at the start or end of the day.
It's not that bad. I did it last weekend and waited just under 40 mins. Queue seemed to be moving fairly quick for me
Danscott22
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
I think it's really gonna depend on fast track and RAP, my friend paid for fast track for this today because she didn't want to wait 80 minutes for it.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
I think a realistic rerouting would depend on if there can be a bridge installed behind the second lift.
Enter the queue as standard with the green arrows. If some kind of bridge could be added, follow the blue arrows out and back to form a more natural feeling queue of progress, and then return back to the queue as normal with the green arrows. If not, follow green as normal. Extend the queue past the main entrance and down toward the shop and back to create some space that isn't cattle pen. Then back down the steps as usual and remove all of the high fence cattle pen and replace with a lower fence and a non-cattle pen queue and raised path queue to help reduce the claustrophobia and flooding.
This combined with a bag room, removal of the gate and chain for the station ops (there's really no need for them) and replacement of the front station gates with something that isn't slow (permanently close the gates? or have the dispatch just release a locking pin in case of contact with a guest the gate just swings harmlessly before relocking when the train is clear?) should help make queueing pleasant and faster for the ride.
Combine the above with a clean, tidy up/fix of the themeing and some wheels that aren't triangular and maybe even a reprofile in the 12th and 13th inversions and it'd be much much better. Alas we can dream and it'll be a rotting mess of a missed opportunity.
Enter the queue as standard with the green arrows. If some kind of bridge could be added, follow the blue arrows out and back to form a more natural feeling queue of progress, and then return back to the queue as normal with the green arrows. If not, follow green as normal. Extend the queue past the main entrance and down toward the shop and back to create some space that isn't cattle pen. Then back down the steps as usual and remove all of the high fence cattle pen and replace with a lower fence and a non-cattle pen queue and raised path queue to help reduce the claustrophobia and flooding.
This combined with a bag room, removal of the gate and chain for the station ops (there's really no need for them) and replacement of the front station gates with something that isn't slow (permanently close the gates? or have the dispatch just release a locking pin in case of contact with a guest the gate just swings harmlessly before relocking when the train is clear?) should help make queueing pleasant and faster for the ride.
Combine the above with a clean, tidy up/fix of the themeing and some wheels that aren't triangular and maybe even a reprofile in the 12th and 13th inversions and it'd be much much better. Alas we can dream and it'll be a rotting mess of a missed opportunity.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
I think the reason they made the queue like it is was apparently creative; I heard somewhere that they wanted to highlight the contrast between the sadness of the queue and the happiness of the ride or something like that.
In terms of Smiler’s queue; I like the unique perspectives of the ride, but I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of it on the whole. Maybe waiting in it for over 2 hours last July didn’t help, but I’ve become less of a fan over time, for sure. I don’t know whether it’s all the concrete and steel, but it seems very hot down there (at least it did in the summer of last year, anyway), and it’s somewhat claustrophobic with all the cages. I know they have to be there for safety reasons, in fairness, but I’m not a huge lover of the big maze of steel that the queue is, on the whole. I find it very confusing to navigate; you don’t really know where you’re going, or how far you are away from getting on, and I often get confused as to which way I’m turning next. With a queue like Wicker Man’s, for example, I prefer it because you do get a sense of progressing towards the ride, and despite the fact that the fences are still quite high in places, it feels a bit more open.
In fairness, Smiler’s queue design may have been intentional in order to add to the disorientation of the ride, so I should probably applaud them for the subtle little creative touch, but I’m not personally a huge fan, I’ll admit.
The indoor queue is perfectly fine, and I quite like the station and exit corridor, to be fair. The only bit I don’t really like about the indoor queue is the strobe that goes off intermittently; it makes me wince every time!
On the whole, it’s probably not fair of me to criticise Smiler’s queue, as I don’t think the park was really aiming for a Wicker Man-style theming extravaganza, but I’ll admit that it’s not my favourite queue on park. On the whole, though, I think Smiler’s theming is perfectly good for what it is, and I particularly like features such as The Marmaliser; that really is a dominant centre point!
In terms of Smiler’s queue; I like the unique perspectives of the ride, but I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of it on the whole. Maybe waiting in it for over 2 hours last July didn’t help, but I’ve become less of a fan over time, for sure. I don’t know whether it’s all the concrete and steel, but it seems very hot down there (at least it did in the summer of last year, anyway), and it’s somewhat claustrophobic with all the cages. I know they have to be there for safety reasons, in fairness, but I’m not a huge lover of the big maze of steel that the queue is, on the whole. I find it very confusing to navigate; you don’t really know where you’re going, or how far you are away from getting on, and I often get confused as to which way I’m turning next. With a queue like Wicker Man’s, for example, I prefer it because you do get a sense of progressing towards the ride, and despite the fact that the fences are still quite high in places, it feels a bit more open.
In fairness, Smiler’s queue design may have been intentional in order to add to the disorientation of the ride, so I should probably applaud them for the subtle little creative touch, but I’m not personally a huge fan, I’ll admit.
The indoor queue is perfectly fine, and I quite like the station and exit corridor, to be fair. The only bit I don’t really like about the indoor queue is the strobe that goes off intermittently; it makes me wince every time!
On the whole, it’s probably not fair of me to criticise Smiler’s queue, as I don’t think the park was really aiming for a Wicker Man-style theming extravaganza, but I’ll admit that it’s not my favourite queue on park. On the whole, though, I think Smiler’s theming is perfectly good for what it is, and I particularly like features such as The Marmaliser; that really is a dominant centre point!
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Ian
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
Which is quite possibly the lamest excuse ever to try and cover up the fact that it is quite literally “the pits”. It is a product of necessity. Not creativity.
It simply is what it is. A compact queueline buried beneath a ride in a dank, concrete hole with little drainage. Impressive from a spectacle point of view when you’re first riding it, owing to the unique perspective of the actual coaster that you get, but utterly miserable after the first 15 minutes or so.
HermanTheGerman
TS Member
The Smiler would need proper money to truly sort out its miserable queue. The kind of money I doubt would ever be given.
What is realistic though, is for a proper pre-station baggage system to return, the whole thing jet-washed and repainted, and the dispatch gates getting sorted like others have said. Anything that helps the ride return to upwards of 60 trains an hour is very much needed.
The purchasing of a fifth train would help with this too, but is again something I doubt they'd ever be given funding for
What is realistic though, is for a proper pre-station baggage system to return, the whole thing jet-washed and repainted, and the dispatch gates getting sorted like others have said. Anything that helps the ride return to upwards of 60 trains an hour is very much needed.
The purchasing of a fifth train would help with this too, but is again something I doubt they'd ever be given funding for
Burbs
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Iron Gwazi
I don't think a 5th train would help would it? 5 trains results in usually 2 stacking rather than 1, although I suppose it'd be beneficial if they had a problem with one of them.