-
ℹ️ Heads up...
This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.
[The Smiler] Construction Updates / Ride Speculation Part 2 *SPOILER FREE*
- Thread starter Dave
- Start date
- Status
Scott
Former TS Team Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
It will stop the endless and irritating stream of rumours that get banded about... Doesn't have to be detailed and it isn't necessary at all but it would be nice to know just what has happened. Not saying that we have any right to know though. We don't.Dar said:
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
I'm not angry or even annoyed, I just find it all highly amusing now. However I do also see it as somewhat unacceptable for a major theme park. At this rate The Smiler will be remembered for its delays more than anything else.
I've said this a few times in the past but I'm going to say it again as it is ultimately the cause of all problems with The Smiler (in my opinion). The whole thing was planned too late, whether this be because of the original SW7 plans falling through or something else, this particular coaster on this site in X-Sector was planned later than it should be been. The lack of theming plans being drawn up when the plans were initially submitted confirms this for me, never mind the fact that these theming plans were clearly not final plans anyway. They started off on the back foot, it set the tone for everything. They have been pushed for time all along and because of this problems such as groundwork issues, H&S issues and ride technical difficulties have not been able to be resolved without a subsequent delay. It was meant to open on March 16th, then when May was open I believe that they originally aimed for May 4th, then May 18th, then May 23rd and now we don't know.
I think the original handover date for The Smiler was meant to be March 1st. If this had been met then there would have been 16 days to iron out issues, train staff etc. But as the site manager said to me, everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and I do blame a lack of good planning. Of course looking from the outside I could be completely wrong, but I feel that Towers will accept this is a big reason also.
I've said this a few times in the past but I'm going to say it again as it is ultimately the cause of all problems with The Smiler (in my opinion). The whole thing was planned too late, whether this be because of the original SW7 plans falling through or something else, this particular coaster on this site in X-Sector was planned later than it should be been. The lack of theming plans being drawn up when the plans were initially submitted confirms this for me, never mind the fact that these theming plans were clearly not final plans anyway. They started off on the back foot, it set the tone for everything. They have been pushed for time all along and because of this problems such as groundwork issues, H&S issues and ride technical difficulties have not been able to be resolved without a subsequent delay. It was meant to open on March 16th, then when May was open I believe that they originally aimed for May 4th, then May 18th, then May 23rd and now we don't know.
I think the original handover date for The Smiler was meant to be March 1st. If this had been met then there would have been 16 days to iron out issues, train staff etc. But as the site manager said to me, everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and I do blame a lack of good planning. Of course looking from the outside I could be completely wrong, but I feel that Towers will accept this is a big reason also.
BarryZola
TS Member
Jonathan said:
That could make sense. Dean stated an hour or so ago that the train was tied or strapped to the vertical lift this afternoon, and when I was there this morning the train was in that position with tech workers around it on a cherry picker messing with something (as I posted a few pages back or so). Could just be a side issue though of course.
E
electricBlll
Thanks for posting that. All this will be forgotten soon and we'll have an another amazing ride in the trees. Beautiful.
Obviously it is frustrating, but views like that make you wonder - how could anybody say anything bad about this place?
[/sentimental]
Obviously it is frustrating, but views like that make you wonder - how could anybody say anything bad about this place?
[/sentimental]
khalichanan
TS Member
Scott said:
I fully respect that people are allowed to be annoyed, and if I was going that day I too would be annoyed. But it's the hysteria that seems unecessary. People can be negative all they want but perhaps what I'm not being clear about is how extreme it's gone. Perhaps I'm being misunderstood and wasn't very clear, I have great understanding for people's right to be annoyed.
Some people have responded maturely, others haven't and it's with the latter that my points were directed at. That's all, I guess
IanB
TS Member
People have a right to complain and moan.
Merlin's motivation for profit is what, in my opinion, has caused the problem. There is no problem making a profit, and if the park is to improve, then it needs to make a profit, but they have lost focus that if customers are not enjoying themselves, they won't spend their money or comeback. They have spent a lot of money on this ride, and they are trying to claw that back as soon as possible, hence rushing the ride to be ready, rushing the advertising so people know about it.
If they had not been in such a rush, they would of had time to test the ride, and get it working properly, they would of been able to have a successful media event, they would of been able to have a soft opening, where random quests on park would of got the chance to join the queue, and then once it was working, and fully tested, they could have started the advertising, and announced a grand opening for it.
This ride is going to end up costing a lot more in the negative media it generates over the next few days until it opens, more money is going to have to be spent on advertising, and staff are going to be put under a huge strain.
That been said, there is no competition for Alton Towers in the UK, unlike fizzy pop, where if I don't fancy Cola, I can have Pepsi, there is no alternative to Towers. Yes, there is Drayton Manor, Blackpool and Lightwater Valley, but these do not have the same rides or the same magic at Towers. You could argue that Thorpe is an alternative if you like big rides, but it lacks the magic and if you visit there instead of Towers, it is still money in the back pocket of Merlin. Until these is a serious challenge to Towers, where people who are upset, have a actual choice of somewhere magical and out of the world to visit, people are still going to go back, no mater how poor a job Towers does of opening there new Coaster. They could announce another 5 opening dates, miss them all, and we will still flock to the park to ride it, buying merchandise and videos as well.
I look back at the last few openings I have been to, and I hate to say this, but Blue Fire was one of the smoothest openings I can remember. Yes, there was one morning when it opened late, but apart from that, I don't remember any serious issues, even though they had to dig through the rapids to build it. It's worth remembering, this was a first for Mack, so if there had been issues, it would not of been a surprise but they managed to pull it off flawlessly.
Ian
Merlin's motivation for profit is what, in my opinion, has caused the problem. There is no problem making a profit, and if the park is to improve, then it needs to make a profit, but they have lost focus that if customers are not enjoying themselves, they won't spend their money or comeback. They have spent a lot of money on this ride, and they are trying to claw that back as soon as possible, hence rushing the ride to be ready, rushing the advertising so people know about it.
If they had not been in such a rush, they would of had time to test the ride, and get it working properly, they would of been able to have a successful media event, they would of been able to have a soft opening, where random quests on park would of got the chance to join the queue, and then once it was working, and fully tested, they could have started the advertising, and announced a grand opening for it.
This ride is going to end up costing a lot more in the negative media it generates over the next few days until it opens, more money is going to have to be spent on advertising, and staff are going to be put under a huge strain.
That been said, there is no competition for Alton Towers in the UK, unlike fizzy pop, where if I don't fancy Cola, I can have Pepsi, there is no alternative to Towers. Yes, there is Drayton Manor, Blackpool and Lightwater Valley, but these do not have the same rides or the same magic at Towers. You could argue that Thorpe is an alternative if you like big rides, but it lacks the magic and if you visit there instead of Towers, it is still money in the back pocket of Merlin. Until these is a serious challenge to Towers, where people who are upset, have a actual choice of somewhere magical and out of the world to visit, people are still going to go back, no mater how poor a job Towers does of opening there new Coaster. They could announce another 5 opening dates, miss them all, and we will still flock to the park to ride it, buying merchandise and videos as well.
I look back at the last few openings I have been to, and I hate to say this, but Blue Fire was one of the smoothest openings I can remember. Yes, there was one morning when it opened late, but apart from that, I don't remember any serious issues, even though they had to dig through the rapids to build it. It's worth remembering, this was a first for Mack, so if there had been issues, it would not of been a surprise but they managed to pull it off flawlessly.
Ian
BigAl
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Forbidden Journey
Perhaps it would be better to go back to the old four year cycle of major additions if they keep cutting it too closely with opening new rides?
Th13teen was being finished the day it opened (the queue line at least), 2011 saw nothing because plans were rejected and there wasn't time to do anything else (besides add crabs) Sub Terra opened and needed immediate changes as a large proportion of guests weren't liking it (and by the looks of the queues, it's still not doing amazingly), Ice Age was a poor effort (perhaps if they'd planned better they could have added a 4D cinema in place of the Shrek ideas for 2011 which would have given it a better budget, as well as Sub Terra) and now Smiler has been delayed at least twice (we don't know if the park had any other dates planned between March 16th and May 23rd) and aspects of the project have had to be cut or toned down to make up for increasing costs and a lack of guests due to it still not being open).
I think it's pretty obvious that if they gave themselves more time to plan, build and test these rides, we wouldn't have so many problems. Even Thorpe Park are considering moving their 2015 coaster back after the poor reception for Swarm. Oh, and if four years worked for Tussauds in the 90's, there's no reason why it can't work now.
These projects aren't small. It's better to have a ride ready a bit too early than for it to be as late as Smiler. Especially when it affects guest satisfaction, your reputation and weakens the response to a major addition that you've just forked out £18 million for!
Th13teen was being finished the day it opened (the queue line at least), 2011 saw nothing because plans were rejected and there wasn't time to do anything else (besides add crabs) Sub Terra opened and needed immediate changes as a large proportion of guests weren't liking it (and by the looks of the queues, it's still not doing amazingly), Ice Age was a poor effort (perhaps if they'd planned better they could have added a 4D cinema in place of the Shrek ideas for 2011 which would have given it a better budget, as well as Sub Terra) and now Smiler has been delayed at least twice (we don't know if the park had any other dates planned between March 16th and May 23rd) and aspects of the project have had to be cut or toned down to make up for increasing costs and a lack of guests due to it still not being open).
I think it's pretty obvious that if they gave themselves more time to plan, build and test these rides, we wouldn't have so many problems. Even Thorpe Park are considering moving their 2015 coaster back after the poor reception for Swarm. Oh, and if four years worked for Tussauds in the 90's, there's no reason why it can't work now.
These projects aren't small. It's better to have a ride ready a bit too early than for it to be as late as Smiler. Especially when it affects guest satisfaction, your reputation and weakens the response to a major addition that you've just forked out £18 million for!
KingNemesis
TS Member
Smiler advert on Channel 4 just came on and is still advertising of 23rd May..
Not good.. Not good...
Not good.. Not good...
Scott
Former TS Team Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
That's probably out of their hands as they'll have already paid for the advertising slots and the advert will have long been sent out to the advertising companies / television channels.KingNemesis said:
Ideally they'd be trying to pull or edit it, but that may need more notice than a few hours. I'm not sure how these things work.
CoasterCrazyChris
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
electricBlll said:
Well its alright for you, I doubt you've just shelled out £55 for rail tickets to be at the park tomorrow. :
All I can think is how stupid I was to believe this ride would open on May 23rd. Even me, with my deep cynicism towards the present owners of Alton Towers was convinced that they would not push back the opening date a third time. How wrong could I be.
I thought originally it wouldn't open until June, and it looks like it will be that way (well May 31st).
Truth be told, I was looking forward to riding Nemesis more than I was this anyway.
Laura
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- blue fire Megacoaster
To echo some of the other comments...
I don't feel it's acceptable for something to be advertised and to then not be ready. Does anyone remember the fiasco with Thorpe a few years back? (Vortex, Detonator, and whatever the other one was?) General consensus is (whether it's the end of the world or not) it's NOT OK.
There is no excuse for poor planning. This is a major, costly investment for the park so why on earth wouldn't they implement measures to fall back on when 'everything that could go wrong' does go wrong? Maybe it won't affect THEM as much in terms of gate figures (although this is debatable!) but it looks shoddy and gives a bad image. There's no point saying 'who cares?' or 'doesn't affect them, people will still go once it's open'. It's not professional. As has been discussed, if their time management had been better then regardless of snow, technical problems, etc, this should not have happened (and certainly not in this manner).
It is ridiculous to come onto a theme park forum and tell us we're overreacting. This is where we come to indulge this one hobby that (at least for some of us) takes up a lot of our free time. PERSONALLY I've taken terrible, badly paid jobs in the past just so I can afford to keep visiting parks. For me, this isn't just 'casual interest'. It is something that defines me as a person - I am into theme parks (and now before we start the 'get a life' posts, I refer back to my original point - this is a THEME PARK FORUM). It is unfair to tell us we're being hysterical when this is a dedicated outlet for our discussions and in this case, frustrations.
Of course this delay is not the end of the world and I doubt anyone will be jumping off a cliff because of it, but if we can't vent about it here, where can we?
I don't feel it's acceptable for something to be advertised and to then not be ready. Does anyone remember the fiasco with Thorpe a few years back? (Vortex, Detonator, and whatever the other one was?) General consensus is (whether it's the end of the world or not) it's NOT OK.
There is no excuse for poor planning. This is a major, costly investment for the park so why on earth wouldn't they implement measures to fall back on when 'everything that could go wrong' does go wrong? Maybe it won't affect THEM as much in terms of gate figures (although this is debatable!) but it looks shoddy and gives a bad image. There's no point saying 'who cares?' or 'doesn't affect them, people will still go once it's open'. It's not professional. As has been discussed, if their time management had been better then regardless of snow, technical problems, etc, this should not have happened (and certainly not in this manner).
It is ridiculous to come onto a theme park forum and tell us we're overreacting. This is where we come to indulge this one hobby that (at least for some of us) takes up a lot of our free time. PERSONALLY I've taken terrible, badly paid jobs in the past just so I can afford to keep visiting parks. For me, this isn't just 'casual interest'. It is something that defines me as a person - I am into theme parks (and now before we start the 'get a life' posts, I refer back to my original point - this is a THEME PARK FORUM). It is unfair to tell us we're being hysterical when this is a dedicated outlet for our discussions and in this case, frustrations.
Of course this delay is not the end of the world and I doubt anyone will be jumping off a cliff because of it, but if we can't vent about it here, where can we?
Plastic Person
TS Member
On the other hand, maybe they've got time to fit the washing machine now? Guys?
- Status