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2016: The Smiler Reopening

Will you ride in 2016?

  • Yes

    Votes: 147 94.8%

  • No

    Votes: 8 5.2%
  • Total voters
    155
In light of the very serious incident, and The Smiler's other issues in the past, do you think it is less safe than other rides in the park? Obviously AT puts a lot of effort into safety, so all the rides are safe, I mean relatively speaking. For example when Air first opened it closed a lot, but I always felt that this was because it was being extra-cautious and not because there was any real risk. With The Smiler it doesn't necessarily feel that way, perhaps because its construction was rushed? (Although I believe Air's was as well, at least in terms of the themeing).
 
The Smiler went down this afternoon (not sure what time) but reopened at 4pm. It was running 3 trains previously but afte it re-opened, it only had 2 on. Resulted in a 35 minute queue from half of the cattlepen just outside the indoor section. :(
 
Pepper_Plant said:
In light of the very serious incident, and The Smiler's other issues in the past, do you think it is less safe than other rides in the park? Obviously AT puts a lot of effort into safety, so all the rides are safe, I mean relatively speaking. For example when Air first opened it closed a lot, but I always felt that this was because it was being extra-cautious and not because there was any real risk. With The Smiler it doesn't necessarily feel that way, perhaps because its construction was rushed? (Although I believe Air's was as well, at least in terms of the themeing).
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Personally, I've always thought it was ... let's say "lower build quality" than Alton's other rides. In fact, pretty much since it opened and I rode it, I've openly said it is only a matter of time before it kills someone. (Disclaimer: not that I want that to happen, even I'm not that sick). Unfortunately, the only thing that surprised me when the crash happened, was that there were no fatalities!

Weren't we supposed to know the results of the inquest by now?
 
I think the theme doesn't really help with this - I always feel slightly nervous before riding The Smiler, I felt this before the accident however. I think a combination of the theme, rushed construction and the already dented reputation of the ride does it no favours.

As for the accident, I was surprised we didn't see a derailment... especially if you look at the HSE photos. Of course, the accident could've happened on any other coaster so i think it gets a bad rep for all of the wrong reasons. It's only because of the previous incidents on the ride (which, let's face it, were only minor) that it gets such bad press. It may not be the best ride in the world, but to say it's not an amazing technological achievement would be silly
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Personally, I've always thought it was ... let's say "lower build quality" than Alton's other rides. In fact, pretty much since it opened and I rode it, I've openly said it is only a matter of time before it kills someone. (Disclaimer: not that I want that to happen, even I'm not that sick). Unfortunately, the only thing that surprised me when the crash happened, was that there were no fatalities!

Weren't we supposed to know the results of the inquest by now?
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Your right though. Even the probability of it was higher on smiler - it is (as far as I'm aware) towers only coaster (I'm not counting closed rides or rita, as that is designed to be able to stall if the launch fails) to have stalled other than RMT (and that didn't end well for towers either). Add to that that it's been one of two of towers' coasters to have a major accident (the wheels falling off, bolts falling from the track, the many stalls that have occured). Then just look at the build quality. You can tell just from riding that some of the tracks just been squeezed in. I don't think I even need to mention the ground works.

I'm sure if this happened on nemesis or oblivion there would be complete shock, and - if the injuries were the same as the smilers incident - then I'm sure towers wouldn't even consider closing them as it would obviously be a one off accident, rather than the worst of many.

Doesn't stop me riding though. When I was getting on the smiler last week, I could see in the op cabin. There was a monitor with the words wind checker or somthing like that that I've never noticed before. It's obviously got even more things in place now to prevent an accident or stall. It might never feel as safe as nemesis or oblivion, but there are far worse rides out there that are safely operating.
 
I really just prefer watching it than riding it.

The repetitiveness just bores me and makes me dizzy.
 
Can I just clarify, a stall is not an accident. A stalled car that is hit by a moving car is an accident.

I'm no big fan of Smiler, before or after the crash. When I got a news alert on my phone saying a roller coaster had crashed at Alton Towers, there was no doubt in my mind which ride it was.
 
Martin said:
I can see The Smiler getting the Hulk treatment sooner or later. Abysmal build quality.
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Could you really see Alton Towers paying for The Smiler again? It's becoming Merlins 'white elephant'. If a few pieces of track need to be replaced, sure - but if something as severe as a complete re-track was needed then I can't see it happening. I can imagine bosses would see cutting their losses, getting rid of negative publicity and adding a new ride as a better option.
 
GaryH said:
Talking of supports moving, I filmed this two months back...

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I've seen numerous documentaries about objects that are designed to flex.

Skyscrapers in earthquake zone's, suspension bridges in wind, aircraft wings. The movement actually absorbs the pressure, redistributing it from a single point to specially designed dampening areas that soak up the movement in a controlled manner, that prevents damage.

I have no doubt that AT would not be running the smiler if it had ANY structural issue that was performing out of the norm to ANY degree whatsoever.

That said, my admittedly untrained eyes have never seen another roller coaster support move in quite this manner.

Merlin need to go for the platinum standard in roller coaster engineering and get on the phone to B and M for their next steel coaster project.
 
Altonadvocate1 said:
Merlin need to go for the platinum standard in roller coaster engineering and get on the phone to B and M for their next steel coaster project.
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Merlin aren't averse to building B&M rides - but B&M seemingly didn't have a product that fit the bill for The Smiler.

In fact, they haven't built an E-Ticket roller coaster across the estate that wasn't B&M for six years, bar The Smiler - (Krake, Dämonen, Raptor, Oblivion TBH, SWARM).
 
rightbackgranty said:
Could you really see Alton Towers paying for The Smiler again? It's becoming Merlins 'white elephant'. If a few pieces of track need to be replaced, sure - but if something as severe as a complete re-track was needed then I can't see it happening. I can imagine bosses would see cutting their losses, getting rid of negative publicity and adding a new ride as a better option.
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I'm not convinced they wouldn't. Scrapping it in the short term (next 3-5 years) would lead to "told you it wasn't safe" across all forms of media. That would ultimately stop people coming to the park as they would assume that roller-coasters were unsafe. Longer term (5+ years) then they would probably run it down and it would barely be open.

Re-tracking it and building it properly, as long as they have a more restored line up, SW8 plus the return of hex etc.. Would be cheaper than building a new coaster and Merlin could spin it as TLC. Maybe even throw a bit of VR on it for good measure.

P.s.Nick if you are reading this I expect a cheque in the post, you're welcome!
 
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