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The Smiler - General Discussion

I saw on Twitter that one user said they’re closing it on non-scarefest days due to staffing problems. Not sure if there’s any truth in that or whether it’s just a load of rubbish.

At one point today, 3 SWs were closed which whilst I understand that maintenance needs to happen, it isn’t great at all and reliability is a massive problem at the moment. You can see why guests get annoyed when rides seem to take their turn in closing in groups of 2 or 3 every day.
 
Dunno if that would be true, someone on this forum said it did a one train run the other day, broke down and then hasn't operated since.
 
Someone I know went today and was told it is a major technical issue and will be closed til at least Friday or Saturday unfortunately.
 
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Danscott22 said:
Dunno if that would be true, someone on this forum said it did a one train run the other day, broke down and then hasn't operated since.
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That was me..
We headed for The Smiler first thing on Monday thinking it was a good plan and watched the one and only train make its cycle before becoming stuck on the brake run for 45+ mins when eventually they requested those in the queue explore other attractions.

Apologies to those who were looking forward to walking on Oblivion at this time...

No signs of activity I could see at The Smiler today therefore would have to say I'd be very surprised if it opens up tomorrow.

In the afternoon there was some work happening on Mixtape with the lights switched back on so maybe some better news there.
 
Danny said:
Someone I saw on mumsnet who is closely related to the dentist of a raccoon who visited yesterday said it was closed as the local mirror carp are on strike.
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Well since the Smiler has been closed for three days now it's obviously going to be something major. I belive my friend, even if you don't. Have some sense please.
 
Skyscraper said:
Well since the Smiler has been closed for three days now it's obviously going to be something major. I belive my friend, even if you don't. Have some sense please.
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Staff don't just disclose the severity of a ride closure to guests, be it minor or major; commonly as they aren't always fully briefed themselves.

I'm not saying your friend is lying, but it sits in a series of recent posts (not just from yourself) with wild speculation.

The ride could be awaiting a minor bolt from the manufacturer for all we know, that they don't happen to have a spare of. Therefore, it could take a number of days to arrive. Staff shortages are also an entire possibility, given how badly they are clutching at straws to retain staff until the end of the season (such as the pay bonus for having no absences).

I just prefer getting the information from official, reliable sources. That's all. I'd call that sense.

:)
 
To be fair if a ride is down for 15 minutes then I really don’t see the need for it to be posted, but 3 days downtime on the other hand is fair game for the what’s and the wonders.
 
I guess it's just a waiting game at this point - it could be back open tomorrow, it could a couple more days, it could be longer. I suspect not even maintenance have a full picture of when it might be back on.
 
Matt878787 said:
To be fair if a ride is down for 15 minutes then I really don’t see the need for it to be posted, but 3 days downtime on the other hand is fair game for the what’s and the wonders.
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Completely agree. It's actually quite rare for any ride to be down for more than a day.
 
Matt878787 said:
To be fair if a ride is down for 15 minutes then I really don’t see the need for it to be posted, but 3 days downtime on the other hand is fair game for the what’s and the wonders.
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72 hours doesn't seem like a big deal to me, especially if you're waiting for a part from Gerstlauer, in the middle of a global shipping crisis.

To quote Colin Bryan about this industry "Those who know don't talk, those who talk don't know".
 
Why would they shut the most popular ride due to staff shortages? That can't be true surely I don't believe that. If it was the case they didn't have enough staff for a ride on weekdays then the smiler certainly wouldn't be the ride they'd shut
 
Ethan said:
Why would they shut the most popular ride due to staff shortages? That can't be true surely I don't believe that. If it was the case they didn't have enough staff for a ride on weekdays then the smiler certainly wouldn't be the ride they'd shut
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Staff are trained on areas and or select attractions in that area, and even then there isn't an infinite pool of staff available to operate or host on each attraction. If a team is hit with Covid or whatever other reason, staff from Go Jetters or Duel can't just be shipped over to operate The Smiler and vice versa.
 
As Danny says, it’s not a simple case of radioing some staff on other attractions and asking them to pop over and help out on another ride for the day. It takes many hours of training to be signed off to work on different rides, especially the larger coasters. All you need is for the trainer to be the one off sick and you’re up the proverbial creek without a paddle. You may be able to pop someone on entrance host if push came to shove, but that’s pointless if you need a minimum of three staff to work on a station and only have two available.

Equally, remember that the sector as a whole is short staffed at the moment. Where you previously had enough staff to cover for a couple of people being off sick on a team, Towers currently, like many parks, will be running a very tight ship where they don’t have the luxury of backup staff to call in.
 
I've seen on a twitter response that the smiler is undergoing routine maintenance apparently. So I don't think the staff shortage thing was true I just think it's had a technical fault
 
To me though, the word "routine" implies they knew it was going to be closed all week - running one train and then breaking down on Monday does not sound like "routine" maintenance, it sounds like an unforeseen technical issue.
 
Well hopefully they get it sorted soon for anyone here visiting scarefest. I went on Monday and it's really bizarre it being shut. Seems like a huge chunk of the park is missing. The coaster lineup sounds much less attractive to me if the smiler isn't open. Off course you still have Nemmy which is class, but what else is of similar level in the lineup. The smiler is class and I realise it more when it's not open. If I don't get on some of the coasters I'm not really bothered, but if I miss the smiler or nemesis it just doesn't feel right
 
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