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[The Smiler] Construction Updates / Ride Speculation Part 2 *SPOILER FREE*

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If they don't get the ride open tomorrow (announced today) I hope they hold off and announce an actual day to open when it's definitely going to be ready, and give people plenty of time I make arrangements.
With the amount of people who have specifically made plans to attend opening day, it seems a little disrespectful to them to keep going day by day without any commitment, or giving people any opportunity to make plans.
 
I had been told this ride would be late opening for over a week now but didn't want to post on here as I would of been jumped on.
The coaster part is ready to go I believe, just the rest is still a building site. Monday I've been told it will open but to be honest with you I don't think anyone really knows.
The Gertlauster boys on site are apparently a bit cheesed off though.
 
Alton Towers do not know when it will open.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
Ultimately if the ride itself is ready to go, they need to blitz the rest of the site ASAP. I don't understand what is so hard about that? :S

Sure, this is a complicated project with lots of elements and a heck of a lot of health safety requirements, but some of the last minute work is inexcusable. For example installing queue fences, emergency exit stairwells and signage when these areas of the site have been left sterile for weeks is just strange.

If the reason for the delays is what I would call 'peripheral work' i.e. queues, stairs etc then there is no excuse as far as I can see. They have had weeks to do this since the last bit of track went in!! :(
 
Soooo whole of x sector is no go, army of staff guarding the whole lawns just in front of towers all the way near hex to x sector... disappointed would of loved to at least have a look at smiler.
 
They're installing a washing machine.... ;)

In all seriousness though, I can't think what could be so important that they need to close the whole of X Sector. Perhaps it's just for transport, but to be honest it certainly doesn't fill me with confidence. Not one bit!
 
Could just be a cherry picker or something like that driving around X Sector, staff just closing it off for safety maybe?

Doesn't look good though.
 
Fredward said:
Soooo whole of x sector is no go, army of staff guarding the whole lawns just in front of towers all the way near hex to x sector... disappointed would of loved to at least have a look at smiler.
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Was there some sort of crowding issue in X Sector yesterday? Otherwise this seems a bit over the top.. :S
 
I really dislike criticising Towers as a business on the whole and as a Theme Park, hence why I thought I'd hold back on any criticism regarding this entire farce until I'd actually seen the sight yesterday. However, after now seeing it, I have to say Alton Towers have a lot to answer for if I'm being honest.

The amount of work being carried out yesterday that is a) easy work and b) should have been completed long before now was crazy.

Queue line fencing from the bottom of the stairs at the entrance into the main queuing area was put up within about 45 minutes whilst we were watching them, yet why wasn't this done earlier? The aphone on the entrance was put in yesterday during the same 45 minute spell as the queue line I've just spoken about. Surely once the entrance is in and the lights are wired up the next logical step is to add such operational things to it before you add thematic elements such as the 14 CCTV cameras.

I also find it hard to buy into the whole "the ride is finished it's just everything else..." line of defence. There is, clearly, something up with the 2nd lift hill. When we arrived on site yesterday there was a guy in the evac lift looking at the top of this lift hill, he then came down and was joined by another person. When we came back later on in the day there were a total of SIX people in the evac lift looking at the top of the 2nd lift hill. Something is quite clearly up with, not just the outside elements of the attraction, but the ride system as a whole.

Right from the start of this project I have defended Towers to the upmost regarding how late they started it and even when they delayed it the first time around. However, now I just can't justify anything regarding this farce anymore after seeing how much was being done yesterday that should have been completed weeks/months before the ADVERTISED OPENING DAY.

A monumental cock up has been made somewhere along the line with this project and someone needs to take accountability for this. If it's not open by Monday the reputation of Towers as a major theme park is going to be severely tarnished.
 
From TowersStreet Facebook:

TowersStreet said:
The Smiler's woes continue. X Sector remains closed, meaning Oblivion, Submission and Enterprise are also unavailable.

In addition, a crane can now been seen on site, indicating the closure is not due to the imminent opening of the ride.
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Hmm, it's just laughable this was due to be open yesterday. What are they playing at?!
 
I guess they sent the crane off site thinking lifting was complete, but something went wrong and now they need it back. Perhaps they have been waiting on the crane to become available?

Whatever the scenario this is not good news. If they need to replace / adjust track or supports then the ride will require further testing. This means more delays, oh dear! :-[ :(
 
Just a question.... Since when has a complete lack of queueline on the AFTERNOON of announced opening day constituted "Teething Problems"? To me, that is more a "Management Problem", that should never have happened. The queue was being installed weeks ago, and should have happened much earlier than the day before. Goodness me.
 
Harvey. said:
Oh, goodness. Are we thinking that Gerst have bit off more than they can chew? :/
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I don't really get how though - it's basically a conventional coaster with 2 lift hills. Technologically there isn't anything unusual apart from the rollback mechanism on the lifts. Perhaps it's that? But then cars have been held on the lift fine and made the circuit with no apparent problems. I don't really see how Gerst could have gone wrong, barring the support issues above the toilets.

Even though the coaster may not be working it wouldn't have been ready by the sounds of things on site. This didn't need to be the issue it now is if they'd done some effective expectations management.
 
And lets be fair, the supports above the toilets sums up this whole project.

Cutting corners to open it early. The park should be embarrassed about this.

Sad thing is, once it opens, everyone is going to visit, spend there money, and Merlin will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Ian
 
Judging by pictures this is nothing to do with Gerst, the problem seems to lie with the teams doing all other works on site. As far as I can tell, the track is the only thing that's perfectly ready (apart from inevitable minor issues all new rides get during there first time heavy use - but you get that when the thing opens).

The queue line is not finished yet... you cannot open a ride such as this without a full queue line, since nearly all of the ride is over it!

Personally I think the problem lies with Alton Towers/Merlin Studios, who would have estimated 23rd May as the opening, which clearly it was never going to be ready for!

The only thing Gerst could be blamed for is some of the shoddy support work. But then this is a very difficult site so even that I would say was inevitable.
 
James said:
The only thing Gerst could be blamed for is some of the shoddy support work. But then this is a very difficult site so even that I would say was inevitable.
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And again, I would blame Towers for that, because if they had agreed to the toilet block being knocked down, or rebuilt, the supports could of been done in a more conventional way, causing less issues.

Ian
 
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