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

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I hope lessions have been learnt.

Dont rush a ride and expect it to work fine. Use companies that build coasters as a main part of their job, not local builders and start a project early enough so that if things do go wrong, you have time to fix it.

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Hi all, I've been out of the loop for a little while, could someone give me a quick update of what happened with the celeb day, or point me to which pages I need to have a look at?

Thanks!
 
Feel a bit sorry for them, this is going to hurt them PR wise, with a bad start to the season already I don't think things could get much worse for them?! I just hope they have a good summer season, or they will have really have thrown £18 million pounds down the toilet.

On the other hand, this is £18 million pounds worth of investment, with very little time management it was always going to end badly.
 
I know I'm well known for being negatively critical of some of Towers' operations, but this actually takes the proverbial. Some serious questions need answering at Towers
 
Muttlee said:
Hi all, I've been out of the loop for a little while, could someone give me a quick update of what happened with the celeb day, or point me to which pages I need to have a look at?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
In short, The Smiler 'broke down' on the first lift hill with 'Celebs' on board and didn't reopen for the rest of the B-list crowd to ride.

Click here to read the Daily Fail story, where a moaning non-celeb airs her views on the ride not working as she was left 'disappointed'
 
T said:
Muttlee said:
Hi all, I've been out of the loop for a little while, could someone give me a quick update of what happened with the celeb day, or point me to which pages I need to have a look at?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
In short, The Smiler 'broke down' on the first lift hill with 'Celebs' on board and didn't reopen for the rest of the B-list crowd to ride.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks!
 
Well this is awkward... I'd be interested to hear what the actual cause for the delay is. In my opinion it has to be something completely out of the blue and unavoidable for 20 hours notice to be justified. Somehow though, knowing this project, I doubt it somewhat :/

It's all well and good saying tickets will be revalidated, but what about the people who will have already made hotel and transport booking, etc which cannot be altered? For a lot of people these can be just as much, if not more, than their park entry, and for lots of families a trip to Alton Towers is a once a year treat. At the very least I feel AT could have offered Smiler priority passes when it eventually opens, and possibly a heavily discounted hotel stay as a good will gesture.

The Smiler - Alton's biggest flop since Splash Landings opening
 
Thomas said:
Feel a bit sorry for them
Click to expand...

Don't.

They don't give a monkeys about the public or their plans/money.

There is nothing to feel sorry for them about in this case.

It was OBVIOUS stuff was going wrong. Just like every part of this development so far, instead of taking sensible cautious steps, they have gone gung-ho at it, been utterly disorganised, and shown total ineptitude.

I now no longer believe the site caused problems either by the way.

I NOW believe, the site always had problems that they did NOT research or plan for properly.
 
Pretty annoyed with this to be honest. Missus isn't allowed time off at all in May due to where she works but convinced the boss to allow her this once to have it off and now the ride isn't even going to be open. I could understand it if this was 16th March (opening day 2013) and they said it wasn't going to be open. But with it already being 2 months behind schedule and then this - it just takes the biscuit.

They must of known something was up as there was problems on the press night and the following day, then they had things pulled up yesterday. To announce it literally 20 hours before said opening is downright wrong and they could of given people the heads up yesterday. Two days notice is acceptable at a push, 20 hours isn't.

I will still be going Alton Towers tomorrow so say hello to me - to recognise me I will be the one with a sour face while enjoying the other '50 amazing rides and attractions'.

Sigh... :(
 
BigDave said:
I hope lessions have been learnt.

Dont rush a ride and expect it to work fine. Use companies that build coasters as a main part of their job, not local builders and start a project early enough so that if things do go wrong, you have time to fix it.
Click to expand...

Can I just correct something there? This ride is being constructed by Gerstlauer's construction team. They don't allow other companies to come in and put the ride up, unless it's RCS, who have done a lot of coasters before.

This is an absolute cock up, but I cannot help but find it funny. I'm sorry for all those who have pre-booked train fares, hotel rooms and alike, but the fact that Alton Towers, the UK's so called Number 1 Theme Park cannot get a new coaster on time is hilarious. Even Thorpe Park can do it, and they screw everything up.
 
Has the ride actually been running at all since the breakdown on the media day?

I for one am rather annoyed purely because if they already knew there was problems why continue insisting its open until moments before the announcement of its (second) delay. Myself and friends have arranged transport and days of work for this.

New for 2013 - The Smiler, Alton Towers most delayed ride ever.
 
I only feel sorry for Towers if the whole ride system has decided to blow itself apart sometime during the day today. That would be unavoidable and unforeseen. Somehow I don't think that is the issue though. I'd imagine it is some sort of teething issue they have encountered during testing and not been able to solve. I can't remember the exact day they announced May 23rd as the opening day but I'm pretty sure it was not long at all after The Smiler had first tested. This was probably a mistake, they would have had no idea of possible problems during testing at this stage.

I also think that the problems last Friday night during the press event set them back somewhat. This is still totally unacceptable though and I think they will suffer for it.

:)
 
GUYS, IT'S FINE!

27bceb3549784762aca0a37.png


They have over 50 attractions that will DEFINITELY be available! They do, however, neglect to inform you that this includes all the kiddie ones, too ;-)

Edit: Rob, does this mean we will get one of your updates again before the 'Launch;, whenever that appears to be?! THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE (already very bright inside) TUNNEL!
 
The ground work has not been done by them. Nor has half the other stuff. I believe that they were literally responsible for the supports and track.

Im wondering if today was the day the health and satety/amusement ride people had to pass the ride off and they refused to sign it off as being ready.

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