Out of pure interest, what makes you reject the idea of a Smiler retrack with such certainty? Smiler is a very popular ride, it’s unique, you arguably couldn’t fit a more ambitious ride into the space, and it would surely be no more complicated to deconstruct and reconstruct than Nemesis, no? I know people talk about Smiler’s supports, but Nemesis’ supports are no picnic themselves; I believe that it’s already had supports replaced during its lifetime due to subsidence, and that pit is bound to be complicated to deconstruct and reconstruct supports within.
I don’t personally agree. I think it does have strong appeal with the public and could be seen as “iconic”. 9 years on from opening, 7 years on from the accident, and 4 years on from its successor as the park’s newest coaster opening, it does still seem to have considerable popularity and pull among the wider park visiting populace. It isn’t particularly new anymore, yet I’d argue that it is still among the park’s biggest draws for the wider park-visiting populace.