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Smiler vs Nemesis

Smiler or Nemesis

  • Smiler

    Votes: 12 10.4%

  • Nemesis

    Votes: 103 89.6%
  • Total voters
    115
Connor98 said:
I think height plays into it at times too. I’m 6ft and find I can position my head away from the restraints easy enough to reduce any head banging. But my mother who is shorter really struggles to ride The Smiler and Saw as her head just becomes a pinball in between the otsr.
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I'm nearly 6ft 2 and it's not the head banging on Smiler that's really the issue it's just the general roughness of the ride. Last ride at scarefest was probably the worst I'd ever had on it, I actually came off with a bad neck. On a modern coaster that is unacceptable. Corkscrew was a head banger but it was a short ride and maybe that's the problem with the Smiler, it's too long?

It's theme appeals to kids that are tall enough to ride and teenagers but it just looks tacky to me.
 
Nemesis for me has always felt kind of alive. To me it doesn’t feel like a steel machine.

In my head the ride kind of played out a little story. As you come down the hill into the first corkscrew, then through the helix and over the station, I imagined that the monster had grabbed hold of me and was throwing me around. Then as you go around the turn around I felt like I had gotten free. Then the loop was me tying the monster up with chains or something. Then the last section and especially the last inversion, it felt like a little celebration.

(I know this doesn’t fit the official story).

There’s something just organic and raw about it. Like the sum is greater than it’s parts.

Smiler doesn’t make me feel anything. It mainly just makes me feel like I want a shower after being in the grubby queue.
 
Connor98 said:
There’s a feeling I get on Nemesis dropping off that lift hill and into the first corkscrew, it’s just so unique and magical it can’t be explained. The Smiler just doesn’t do that to me, my favourite part about cresting the lift hills on The Smiler is the views of the towers and beyond… not the layout that follows. One thing I will say for The Smiler, it has an amazing pre lift section.
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Totally agree with this.

The Smiler is a solid ride but it lacks the Alton Magic. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but it’s the least “Alton Magic” SW out of the line up. The theming/story telling build up was great, but the reality today is that it’s a decent coaster in a concrete pit with a rather unpleasant and unthemed queueline.
 
Ethan said:
Well this topic more than anything has made me realise enthusiasts are wusses and can’t handle a ride that throws them around a bit
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The vast majority of enthusiasts prefer Nemesis, get over it.

Even if you look at the facts and look at it subjectively, it comes out as a better attraction....by almost every metric you can measure it on!

I enjoy the ride, personally I don't find the roughness too jaring. But I don't find the attraction great, roughness has NOTHING to do with it.

Because people have now voiced their opinions which you still cannot accept, it is disappointing you now resort to personal insults. Says it all really.

Your reactions and comments over a long period of time prove that if YOUR subjective favorite ride was Nemesis and everyone liked The Smiler, you would more than likely call everyone woosies for some made up reason to try justify your prerogative of why YOU think your personal favorite should also be the favorite of everyone else.
 
Ethan said:
As legendary a ride Nemesis is what exactly could they replace it with anyway. Not like they had the option to remove it
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Connor98 said:
I’m pretty sure they actually considered it, I recall it being mentioned in a Q&A I attended, but it was quickly u turned on. As you say it’s limited layout wise as to what exactly would have gone in its place without some changes to the typography of the site, but I’m sure plenty of manufacturers would have jumped at the opportunity to give it a go.
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I don’t know why changes to the topography of the site would be a problem - they changed it to create the original… it’s not like it’s built in a natural environment or on a mountain etc.

It’s been rebuilt because it’s a quality ride that led the way for what came after it and it’s still insanely popular.
 
DistortAMG said:
The vast majority of enthusiasts prefer Nemesis, get over it.

Even if you look at the facts and look at it subjectively, it comes out as a better attraction....by almost every metric you can measure it on!

I enjoy the ride, personally I don't find the roughness too jaring. But I don't find the attraction great, roughness has NOTHING to do with it.

Because people have now voiced their opinions which you still cannot accept, it is disappointing you now resort to personal insults. Says it all really.

Your reactions and comments over a long period of time prove that if YOUR subjective favorite ride was Nemesis and everyone liked The Smiler, you would more than likely call everyone woosies for some made up reason to try justify your prerogative of why YOU think your personal favorite should also be the favorite of everyone else.
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Got nothing to do with my opinion of the ride. Fact is a lot of people complain about Smiler being rough in places even though it’s a literal roller coaster. They’re not supposed to be silk smooth they’re supposed to be aggressive and throw you around. Do you want a ride to be uncomfortably rough and jolty off course not but having the odd rough section shouldn’t be a problem
 
Stuie said:
I don’t know why changes to the topography of the site would be a problem - they changed it to create the original… it’s not like it’s built in a natural environment or on a mountain etc.

It’s been rebuilt because it’s a quality ride that led the way for what came after it and it’s still insanely popular.
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Yes that’s true, I guess when I say problem I am looking at it from a cost perspective. The retrack is a very costly project alone but to have to landscape for a new attraction instead would add even more to that cost I’m sure.

Anyway straying a little of topic, as I don’t see the smiler getting the nemesis treatment anytime soon or in its life for that matter.
 
Ethan said:
Got nothing to do with my opinion of the ride. Fact is a lot of people complain about Smiler being rough in places even though it’s a literal roller coaster. They’re not supposed to be silk smooth they’re supposed to be aggressive and throw you around
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Did you not read their post? He literally said it has nothing to do with roughness from his perspective

Edit - double post @rob666 … whippings?
 
Ethan said:
Got nothing to do with my opinion of the ride. Fact is a lot of people complain about Smiler being rough in places even though it’s a literal roller coaster. They’re not supposed to be silk smooth they’re supposed to be aggressive and throw you around. Do you want a ride to be uncomfortably rough and jolty off course not but having the odd rough section shouldn’t be a problem
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You realise that some of the best roller coasters on the planet are more aggressive/intense than The Smiler, throw you around yet are glass smooth to ride?
 
Ethan said:
Got nothing to do with my opinion of the ride. Fact is a lot of people complain about Smiler being rough in places even though it’s a literal roller coaster. They’re not supposed to be silk smooth they’re supposed to be aggressive and throw you around. Do you want a ride to be uncomfortably rough and jolty off course not but having the odd rough section shouldn’t be a problem
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There is a distinctive difference to being thrown around to the point you could cause injury to yourself and being thrown around in a smooth but just as / if not more intense and agressive manor.

Clearly you are unable to distinguish between the two.

One is bad one is good. All manufacturers try to move away from the bad type, companies that manage it charge much more for their rides. Companies than cannot manage it are much cheaper as they are literally incompetent at being able to design such a well designed ride.
 
Last edited:
Nemesis is better than Smiler pretty much across the board. I do like Smiler but rarely ride as unless you manage to fluke a quiet SRQ getting on the thing is a total misery.

The Ultimate was my favourite UK coaster, so I can handle the odd jolt.
 
You don't even have to leave the park to find another coaster that's more aggressive than The Smiler.

Wicker Man absolutely throws you around, and yet I don't come off it feeling like I've fell off the White Cliffs of Dover and have just woken up from a coma in a full body cast.
 
Burner said:
Wicker Man absolutely throws you around, and yet I don't come off it feeling like I've fell off the White Cliffs of Dover and have just woken up from a coma in a full body cast.
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Wicker man has very comfortable lap bars so can’t really compare to a ride with OTSR. If Smiler had lap bars guarantee everyone here would rate it a lot higher. But that’s the parks fault because I’m pretty sure Gerstlauer wanted it to have lap bars
 
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