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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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I wonder why the screen in the middle was still running? Was it normally left on when the roller coaster wasn't in operation? (e.g. over night).
 
Pepper_Plant said:
I wonder why the screen in the middle was still running? Was it normally left on when the roller coaster wasn't in operation? (e.g. over night).
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I'd imagine that the health and safety executive demanded they handed over the site as it was meaning they couldn't turn anything off

Either that or switching the screens off was the least of their worries!
 
Scott said:
Christ... I know we all cry for the rides reopening and I truly believe it will be perfectly safe once it does but... Those images. They really are chilling. I'd almost forgotten how much so. :(
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This is what I was saying about the re-theme. That's exactly why. Not to hide what happened, but because it will be hard to let go of such imagery of carnage like that.
 
They could copy Blackpool Pleasure Beach and call it "The Smiler 2"

Seriously though, I don't see the point in a rebrand. It will always be known as "that ride that crashed", no amount of rebranding will change that. So, in my best shareholder voice, it makes better financial sense to leave it as is and weather the storm instead of wasting money on a new theme and name and new advertising.
 
Dar said:
They could copy Blackpool Pleasure Beach and call it "The Smiler 2"

Seriously though, I don't see the point in a rebrand. It will always be known as "that ride that crashed", no amount of rebranding will change that. So, in my best shareholder voice, it makes better financial sense to leave it as is and weather the storm instead of wasting money on a new theme and name and new advertising.
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It will be hard to keep something that had branding The Smiler, that had such chilling images attached.

I see your point don't get me wrong, I hope you did your best Rick Varney voice there ;)

But @Scott's reaction is one of someone who understands the industry intimately & know sometimes this happens, I think it may be hard for the public to get past it.

We'll see of course, I understand the "leave it" side of the discussion as well.

Pepper_Plant said:
As far as we know there won't be a re-theme will there?
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No I don't think there will be.

I imagine it will be toned down though.
 
Those images are chilling, no doubt, but they are images of the past. When are people ever going to see X-Sector that empty again, not to mention a train sat stationary there? I get what you're saying, I just think once the area is going full tilt again it will be unrecognisable from those news pictures and people won't care once they're there.
 
The smiler, as a brand, is the biggest thing towers have probably ever promoted. They even painted the logo on sheep! It would be incredibly difficult for them to try and rename the ride imo. Everyone knows it as the smiler. It will always be known as the smiler. For better or for worse.
 
Dar said:
Those images are chilling, no doubt, but they are images of the past. When are people ever going to see X-Sector that empty again, not to mention a train sat stationary there? I get what you're saying, I just think once the area is going full tilt again it will be unrecognisable from those news pictures and people won't care once they're there.
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I do think you may well be right, and I personally grew to love the theme and ride especially the logo - but I will be very surprised if it's not all toned down somehow.

It's a shame, ultimately it was a tragic accident, but if I'm not mistaken it wasn't even the rides fault.

For all I get on Merlin's case, I never expected anything of this nature at Towers, one thing I always felt there was safe.
 
TheMan said:
For all I get on Merlin's case, I never expected anything of this nature at Towers, one thing I always felt there was safe.
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Same here. It was such shocking news, especially the nature of it. As we know there are so many safeguards that are supposed to stop trains going into one another, particularly on such a new ride. I think I would have been less shocked if part of the train or track had broken.
 
Dar said:
Those images are chilling, no doubt, but they are images of the past. When are people ever going to see X-Sector that empty again, not to mention a train sat stationary there?
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There could be a train sat stationary there if it stalls again - does anyone know if they've done anything to try and prevent that happening? I know they put up the wind measuring devices (don't know their name!) and they have new measures that make sure staff are always aware if there has been a stall. But I don't know if it's possible to actually stop stalls happening given its design(?)
 
Stalls are impossible to completely prevent unless your vehicles have the ability to drive themselves along the track. Something could get gummed up in the wheels and stop the ride (Mumbo Jumbo at Flamingoland stopped when a plastic poncho did just that), something could go mechanically wrong that means the vehicle loses speed a lot quicker than it should. Stalling is not a fault, a system (whether that's electronic or a human process) that can't make the ride safe when a stall occurs is a fault.
 
It's interesting to see how many enthusiasts have forgotten the gravity of the accident that day. And we are people who look at coasters and such daily.

I don't think a rebrand is necessary. Maybe a tone down, not sure what that would entail. Maybe the laughing track stopped. It was annoying as sin anyways.
 
Ash123uk said:
It's interesting to see how many enthusiasts have forgotten the gravity of the accident that day. And we are people who look at coasters and such daily.

I don't think a rebrand is necessary. Maybe a tone down, not sure what that would entail. Maybe the laughing track stopped. It was annoying as sin anyways.
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I would be very disappointed if it was toned down. I loved the theme and even the loud music and it made it very imposing. You are either going to be happy to ride it or your not the theming isn't going to change that.

There is very little that could be seen as offensive and if people find it offensive then it would be a new low for this country.

It will be a long time before the public forget about this and changing the name will not accelerate the process but it might be seen as them trying to cover it up. Especially by a certain paper or two *cough*the mirror*cough**cough*the daily fail*cough* :rolleyes:
 
We are living in the age of outrage. Trust me, people will be "offended" when it reopens. Of course, as with all these things, they won't be personally offended, but they will cause a massive stink all over the internet on behalf of the people they think it is offensive to... while those people themselves couldn't care less.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
We are living in the age of outrage. Trust me, people will be "offended" when it reopens. Of course, as with all these things, they won't be personally offended, but they will cause a massive stink all over the internet on behalf of the people they think it is offensive to... while those people themselves couldn't care less.
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This is going to annoy me. You are so right dude.

It's not those people I gave a crud about but yup, I'd put money on you being bang on about this.
Alexsutton said:
Stalling is not a fault, a system (whether that's electronic or a human process) that can't make the ride safe when a stall occurs is a fault.
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Stalling can be a fault of course, bad design, but on the whole I agree.

Even though this was human error I believe, the fact this was still a factor is pretty shocking on a modern ride of such high profile/expense IMO.

I DO trust that measures have been put in place to prevent this happening again though, haven't they now said a senior management member along with an engineer will be required to override & place the ride in manual mode?

Sensible that IMO.
 
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this already and I'm
Sure it was taken off my the emergency services, but did you see the logo from the front of the car on the ground?
 
I don't think a major re-theme is needed although the hashtag getcorrected and "you belong to the smiler" may have to be changed. Also the drilling sound affect may need to "ahem" cut out.
 
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