[The Smiler] Construction Updates and Ride Speculation

[Mikey:SubTerra]

Well so far, it could be,

worlds largest track inversion count.
worlds most densely packed coaster
worlds first self duelling coaster. (still my theory on the worlds first)

In John Wardley's interview he the amount of track per metre, and said the world first element will be top secret until the ride opens - the fact he mentioned the amount of track, and its clear from the plans and track there is a number of inversions and the duelling aspect is hinted at by the two lift hills, I do believe the world's first element is going to be something unexpected, I'm not saying it could be the rumoured washing machine effect, but I think something new and interesting on this scale could be possible.

 

[Fredward]

So far everything "unexpected" the park has done, nerds have figured it out. But always thought, nah, it has to be more complicated, something we wouldn't think of.

Th13teen everyone dismissed the idea of it just dropping because everyone thought it was obvious and it has to be something unexpected. Of course it would be unexpected to everyone except nerds (unless they do marketing fails once more and tell everyone in an advertisement or daytime TV)

But I'm going for the simple yet obvious answer, because in my eyes it's the most likely.

 

[Niques]

Has anyone thought that the ride could be world beating AND a worlds first?

Lets say the inversion count will be the 'world beating' aspect of the ride. In the radio interview with John a few days ago he stated there would be a worlds first, one that has never been done before. If we were to look at it from this perspective they could have both a worlds first and an inversion count record. With only one of these being more prominent in marketing.

Of course I could be reading into this too much but then you never know, just throwing it out there.

This is also what I meant when I said that I think the world beating could be the inversion count & then the world first to do with the spider.

 

[TheMan]

I may have incorrectly responded to a couple of posts lol! This coaster is already creating confusion that we will need to #getcorrected ;D

I am pretty much certain as I say that we will be getting both. The way the marketing switched around in description has had me sticking by this for a while now. I also don't dismiss rumours, whether or not the team here are confident they are not going to take place.

The whole construction has been steeped in mystery, and indeed I'd say subterfuge by Alton Towers, drawing people in and releasing information bit by bit.

They knew plans would be read, research done, and SW7 would be under incredible scrutiny by a particular bunch of scavenge hungry coaster geeks in full internet plumage. The fact the competition happened, really to any doubters shows exactly how serious they take the community at times.

I have found the whole thing quite brilliant. What will make it complete now, will be if my suspicions I have had for a while are true, and they have still got some rather big surprises up their twisted metal sleevies.

Wardley wants another Nemesis... something considerably harder to achieve nowadays. Oblivion is fantastic, just brilliant, but wasn't quite another Nemesis.

Concerned about hype before, that is slowly being withdrawn, as each new picture and bit of information coming out has it's basis in facts and hardware, we are not having another SW6. This is understated. Full of genuine secrecy, not intrigue building hype machine - but genuine, what the...? secrecy.

That, in my opinion, will be for good reason!

 

[Alastair]

It is an absolute credit to the team behind the coaster that everything is still a secret even now. I'd say it's unusual that nothing tangible has been leaked in the months since construction began, but unusual in a good way. I wonder whether it will stay that way until opening though...

 

[Martin]

They'll blow it all two days before with a really badly filmed piece on the evening news like last time, probably.

 

[Alastair]

They'll blow it all two days before with a really badly filmed piece on the evening news like last time, probably.

Yeah, with a full lights-on behind the scenes view of any possible "secret element" as well

 

[TheMan]

They'll blow it all two days before with a really badly filmed piece on the evening news like last time, probably.

Yeah, with a full lights-on behind the scenes view of any possible "secret element" as well

I bet she did crap surprise parties ;D

There seems to be so much a better attitude this time around. It just feels more like really well considered marketing, ok, knackered up a bit no doubt by the construction (imagine what the marketing would be like right now?).

 

[Nemesis94]

Another day, another tweak of the No Limits recreation. I've added in the extra rolls that it seems likely that the ride will have, so long as the game is accurate. I've also changed the colours of the fencing to yellow, and updated some textures to include the logo as well as the spirals on the Marmaliser robot.

Unfortunately, I cannot change the area around the batwing/cobra roll easily. The 'pit' goes below level 0 in my recreation, so I would have to raise the whole model by about 4-5 metres to make it work and I'm not prepared to do that just now. So apologies that this is left as it was.

Entrance to the ride Plaza, beside the batwing/cobra element.

X-Sector entrance with the new inverted drop. Apologies for using a standard support here to save time.

Duelling track above the toilets, compare with photos taken within the last week.

The Marmaliser, in its new spiral graphics.

Corkscrew after the batwing. I always thought this would work better than the S bend hill.

Penultimate inversion above the queue-line entrance.

Inversion number 14(?!). I really hope this ride has lap-bars, could be a bit of a head-banger with OTSRs. :/

Oh, finally, does anyone fancy a POV? This was done very quickly on my antiquated home PC, so apologies for the low quality. Hopefully there won't be too many more adjustments to make between now and May :twirly:

THE SMILER - Alton Towers (Updated POV)

Edit: New widescreen video online.

 

[LiamC]

Awesome video and updates as per I'm still finding it hard to comprehend how relentless and intense this will be, I really can't wait ;D

 

[JAMMY_Jaunts]

It definitely will be one hell of a marmalising ride.

 

[cotda]

WOW! This is going to be insane!

 

[Alastair]

I like how there is at least 2 airtime moments preserved on the way to the batwing and cobra roll. The number of inversions though....!

 

[DiogoJ42]

Is there any point in me saying that the more inversions get added, the more boring this looks to me? Or is that just going to further enrage the blind fanboys who cannot bare the thought if someone not jizzing their pants over this?
The original layout had variety. This is starting to look like a child designed it in RCT to have "teh most loopdeloopz evvah!"

Inversions are boring. Air time and high Gs are what make a good coaster.

 

[Nick]

Is there any point in me saying that the more inversions get added, the more boring this looks to me? Or is that just going to further enrage the blind fanboys who cannot bare the thought if someone not jizzing their pants over this?
The original layout had variety. This is starting to look like a child designed it in RCT to have "teh most loopdeloopz evvah!"

Inversions are boring. Air time and high Gs are what make a good coaster.

I agree with everything said here. Some inversions I like- my favourites are the zero-G roll, dive loop and corkscrew (specifically, Nemesis' second corkscrew)- only because they actually can give you air-time. Vertical loops, cobra rolls, batwings and immelmanns are just plain boring for me.

I would have even been happy if only one of the pointless corkscrews at the end of each of the halves would have been for air, to keep some change from inversions, but it seem like thirteen inversions is not enough to Merlin. The drops as well looked absolutely fantastic, and they appeared to have a lot of air-time. If the corkscrews at the end of each half are slow, it will completely ruin the ride for me- because, the only inversions that need to be taken fast are zero-G rolls, corkscrews and barrel rolls, otherwise they are boring. All other inversions could benefit from being slower, for example Nemesis' loop, as they give you a bit of hang-time when taken slower.

The two bits of air in the middle of each half look incredible, from looking at the NL recreation, and my God do they look fast. The head choppers they provide are insane, but the rest of the ride looks as if it has none at all.

SW7 will still be great, but I'll ride it thinking what could have been if they hadn't changed the layout.

 

[Martin]

The thing with inversions is, they get boring quickly. Going up to the first one you're all "OMG we're going upside down, we're going to fall out and die!" but after 13, it won't really be the same. It'll just be repetitive. That's not just inversions, endless hills are the same. Variety is needed.

I think the drops are cool, but will they be better than a normal drop? The airtime is gone, the change of height won't be noticeable and it's taken away the headchoppers where the two halves pass under each other. The first dive loop rolling in the opposite direction seems a bit awkward. I do like the idea, it's unique and interesting, but maybe it would have been better to only have one?

The corkscrew instead of the s-hill makes the brakes very sudden. With the hill, it's a more gradual transition from high intensity inversions to the brake run, but now the intensity stays right up and then suddenly stops, it's a bit awkward and loses variety.

The double corkscrew at the end really looks repetitive, I'd have preferred to only have the last one and have the climb out of the pit without an inversion. Make the last inversion a surprise and as one final key element, like Blue Fire's. It also loses the symmetry of having the same number of inversions on both sides.

I'm not saying the ride is ruined. That's just me giving what I think is sort of the 'worst case scenario' with these changes based on the video. The changes may be for the better. The extra inversions might be what makes this go from being a good ride to a great ride. I'm on the fence because I like inversions, and Alton having a ride with more inversions than I can count on my fingers does excite me a lot. If Alton ever read this, they'd probably be a bit confused, we cry out for a ride with lots of inversions, they give us one, we speculate it may have even more inversions, they give us more, and now we say we don't want them.

I'm not going to decide whether they should have stuck to 9 until it's opened, I want to see just how brutal this thing is.

 

[Dave]

See i don't really get the whole inversions are boring argument if there are too many. It's variety that counts and a cobra roll is as different to an in-line as a loop is to a bunny hop.

To be honest i think the negative thoughts about the potential are pretty much down to Thorpe Park: one because their Gerst is rough as old boots and two because their inversion record coaster is a game of "lets tag the inline to the roller coaster".

To me this ride is full of different experiences and thats what counts. And based on the NoLimits recreation it still has two epic camel backs for airtime. I'm not going to say that this will end up at the top of Mitch Hawker but i think its going to be as good a ride experience as anything we have seen in this country for a long time (if it doesn't have Gerst Ache)

Is there any point in me saying that the more inversions get added, the more boring this looks to me? Or is that just going to further enrage the blind fanboys who cannot bare the thought if someone not jizzing their pants over this?

And i don't think people get miffed at you for not liking this (though trying to label people who like the look of the ride as "blind fanboys" is a bit rude), though i have never actually known you ever have a positive thing to say about Alton Towers but thats absolutely fine as we should have a mix of opinion here.

I do however, really disagree with you about the Smiler as i don't think a few additions of completely different inversions to what we had already make what you said was an interesting layout then suddenly dull but variety is the spice of life.

And you say Airtime and high G's make a good ride.... Well this looks to have both

 

[Quetzal]

I'm not too keen about the addition of these inversions, it seems like they're keen to cut out variety in order to get a record. I have to say I'm loving the corkscrew into the Brake run though.

I'm hoping the inside section is as special as it could be, for me that'll be what makes or breaks this as a ride.

 

[Dave]

I'm not too keen about the addition of these inversions, it seems like they're keen to cut out variety in order to get a record. I have to say I'm loving the corkscrew into the Brake run though.

I'm hoping the inside section is as special as it could be, for me that'll be what makes or breaks this as a ride.

Inside section is a left turning twisted drop raising back up again into an in-line before turning towards the lift. Doesn't at the moment look like anything else in regards to track happens but as its still to be built it might have something (but i doubt it).

Just because its annoying me though here is your variety

x1 in-line
x1 Cobra (2 inversions)
x1 batwing (2 inversions)
x2 Immelmens
x1 half loops with twist (2 inversions)
x2 Invert and drops
x2 Barrel Roll
x1 Corkscrews

plus 2 airtime hills, indoor drop and quite a bit of track not actually inverting

Here is Collosus variety

x1 loop
x1 Cobra (2 inversions)
x 2 Corkscrews
x 5 in-lines

plus one crap airtime hill, a single drop and a wiggly bit where they couldn't get 2 elements to quite meet.

I love bashing Towers when they deserve it but i'm in the pro camp for this one (if it don't have Gerst Ache).

 

[Nick]

See i don't really get the whole inversions are boring argument if there are too many. It's variety that counts and a cobra roll is as different to an in-line as a loop is to a bunny hop.

It's not really variety if the two drops are the same and there's three corkscrews. And the sea serpent roll is very similar to the cobra roll in terms of riding experience.

Everyone seems to completely slate Colossus, and that has a double corkscrew and a cobra roll, by calling it boring, when SW7 has exactly the same sequence of elements- it even has the air-time hill before the cobra roll.

The ride, before the changes, combined air-time (seven moments) with inversions (nine) perfectly, it was exactly what I had wished for from an inverting coaster. The reason I love Nemesis so much is that it has two of my three favourite inversions on any coaster I've ever ridden (the zero-G and second corkscrew, with only Hulk's zero-G anywhere near) but it also combines this with five other elements (drop, helix, stall turn, stall turn and final turn). These elements, like the inversions, are all completely different experiences and provide a very diverse ride.

For SW7, there will not be this variety, and therefore, the ride will get fairly boring with such similar experiences. There's only one turnaround as well, so we're literally only getting inversions. And considering the hills are likely to be trimmed to death, I'm starting to dread what the coaster will be like.