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2014: General Discussion

If they needed such fencing for the John Lewis day they would use the temporary barriers. These are fixed into the ground so are staying.
 
That extension is larger than the overspill queue they had for most of last season, so I can't see it being filled very often. Hopefully it'll open in 2 sections so they can use the out and back section up the hill without the cattle pen at the top. Having the whole lot full would now be well in excess of 2 hours, possibly close to 3.

Good to see Submission has been fully removed and the pit filled in. I was worried they wouldn't finish the job. Looks like most of the queue has been left it place - hopefully it won't be long before another ride utilises it.

Oh, and welcome back Twirling Toadstool!
 
Hands up whose face is 2 inches from the monitor looking at those pictures, and still can't see any detail? ;)
 
Woohoo! More cattlepens! Whoever designs queue layouts for Merlin attractions needs to rethink their life choices.
 
At least we have a permanent queue extension tucked out of the way.

Unfortunately it's a horrible cattle pen.
 
With this new extension it should hold a queue of about 90 to 120 minutes, which brings it in line with most of the othe major coasters in the park.

But, as with the other coasters, I can see the furthest extensions being barely used in the future. Eventually this new queue area will end up like Nemmy's area 3... :p

Poison Tom 96 said:
John said:
Oh, and welcome back Twirling Toadstool!
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Quick question: where the bloody hell did it bugger off to?
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It's taken apart and completely stripped down as part of its winter maintenance, same as most other rides in the park. You should've seen what Ripsaw looked like under all that scaffolding! :p
 
Perhaps they will use this extra extension more on really hot days than have excessive levels of queue-line in the pit?
 
Is it just me or on the photo of The Smiler, it looks very much like turf has been laid on the open patch of concrete floor that is in front of the SW7 painted sign on the station building. It's a very different colour to the other bare concrete that can be seen but strikes a remarkable resemblance to the turf underneath the lift hills and drops. If so, at least it breaks up the concrete.

Also, Towers have released their opening for 2014. The majority of days, including weekends are 5pm, the occasional 5:30pm, summer is 6pm and obviously Scarefest and Fireworks are 9pm. At least there are no 4pm closures... yet!
 
Well X-Sector certainly looks weird with ni Submission. I'm glad to see that they seem to be doing something with the pit though.

As for The Smiler, wow, it appears to be working! ;) It's hard to really tell exactly what the extension queue is like apart from it looks like there's a lovely cattlepen up at the top. However it means that The Smiler's entrance will now look even more stupid. It was already facing the wrong way considering where people enter X-Sector. Now it looks like it won't ever be the permanent queue entry. It's hard to tell how this new queue starts but I can't imagine it involving going through the main entrance first. The entrance to the ride should be something grand and it really isn't going to be, this is quite saddening and once again shows the poor planning of The Smiler.

:)
 
Give it 3 years, the entrance will be back in use and the cattle pen at the top will be left as an eyesore until The Smiler's demise.

Would be nice though when the extension comes to never being used they remove it and have the top area as a viewing area for non-riders. I'm not giving myself much hope though. :p
 
Why didn't they just have the queue go up there and round the back of the lift hill in the first place?!

The incompetence of the people involved with the design of this ride is beyond staggering, the whole thing reeks of lazy planning and little thought to guest experience.

The actual ride might be a success in terms of thrills, but this is only a small aspect of what makes a good attraction and The Smiler fails in pretty much every other aspect.
 
As I have said countless times no one at Merlin studios thinks about ride ergonomics. Smiler and Zufari both prove that (Zufari having an exit platform then then requires riders to cross the on load platform to get out).

I love The Smiler as a ride but it does provide a physical representation of Merlin's disfunction.
 
The thing that really irks me is that they have just installed this new extension queueline right into the main entry and exit route of X-Sector, severely reducing the width of this path. On busy days, even last year with the temporary extension this path became rammed. I'm sure there could have been a better way with more planning as others have said.
 
JAMMYD778 said:
The thing that really irks me is that they have just installed this new extension queueline right into the main entry and exit route of X-Sector, severely reducing the width of this path. On busy days, even last year with the temporary extension this path became rammed. I'm sure there could have been a better way with more planning as others have said.
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This! It was a nightmare last year (namely Scarefest) trying to get up and down that path when it was packed and the barriers were up. Also didn't help that people didn't have a clue where to join the queue so faffed about in the middle of the path. As Rob said, this could potentially be an even bigger problem now.

I suppose it will save staff a good 10 minutes of putting up the temporary barriers... ::)
 
I would say this should remove the confusing entrance issue, as they'll probably just use the extension from the off every day, and reduce it at an if-and-when basis...
 
I would assume that the queue entrance is still at the yellow arch. It looks as though it will be a loop up to the cattlepen before heading back down and through the arch into the pit.

Therefore if the queue is low they can shut off the new extension and just let people straight through the arch. At least that's how it looks on the photographs anyway.
 
At a stab in the dark I would assume it's for promotional pictures for their 2 for 1 campaign. Probably getting people to ride some of the coasters and such :)
 
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