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The Smiler - General Discussion

Alsty said:
Does anybody else think it's bad how Alton Towers don't mention anything about The Smiler being closed on their website? People will turn up expecting it to be open. It's not fair to people paying a lot of money to pretend everything will be fine when they know in advance it won't be.
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I completely agree with this. Any ride closure longer than a few days in a row should be acknowledged with a card on the website, or even a sign at the park entrance (Drayton do both, take note Towers!). Luckily I already know about it being closed before my visit tomorrow, otherwise I'd be devastated if I turned up tomorrow and found out.
 
Skyscraper said:
I completely agree with this. Any ride closure longer than a few days in a row should be acknowledged with a card on the website, or even a sign at the park entrance (Drayton do both, take note Towers!). Luckily I already know about it being closed before my visit tomorrow, otherwise I'd be devastated if I turned up tomorrow and found out.
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I also agree. If it was RMT or Rita then I’d say it wasn’t worth an advanced notice, but for a #1 global ranking coaster I think it’s only common courtesy to expect a pop out on the booking landing page and pinned statuses on AT’s social pages.
 
It’s on Alton Towers T&C page
Merlin will endeavour to ensure that as many rides and attractions as possible are available for use by guests at the Attraction. However, we reserve the right, without prior notice, to close and change the programme of rides and attractions and/or the Attraction's operating hours. Merlin in its absolute discretion reserves the right to close the whole or any part of the Attraction at any time or to restrict the number of persons having access to the Attraction. The reason for any closure or restriction provided by this condition may include technical or operational reasons, capacity, inclement weather, special events or to ensure the safety and security of guests or if Merlin reasonably considers the circumstances so require. For tickets purchased in advance, if the whole Attraction is closed for any of the reasons set out above, Merlin may offer replacement Tickets for admission to the Attraction on an alternative date in substitution for any other form of redress.
 
With the rapids having a sign outside saying it’s closed for future notice instead of having to pay staff to stand at Smiler entrance and Hex 2 entrances telling guests every few mins that the Smiler won’t be opening today and that Hex is currently having technical difficulties they should just put a notice up closed to future notice for the Smiler and Closed for Technical problems.
 
James said:
Regardless of T&Cs it should be good practice to advertise a main attraction closed for a long period of time. At least customers can make an informed decision on whether to visit and it alleviates mountains of complaints.
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Totally agreed it doesn't look good to guests paying full price that the main ride is shut and not been advertised in advance. Anyone sticking up for towers clearly are only looking at their perspective of being a passholder and visiting whenever. People who visit once a year will be gutted that the ride isn't open as they don't go often. So why don't people consider it in their shoes rather than your point of view of "I'll go another time"
 
Yeah it clearly needs to be advertised, regardless of what their T&Cs say. 99% of people won't read T&Cs, but would probably be interested in looking at a "closed rides" page on the day of their visit.
 
jon81uk said:
Back 15 years ago there used to be a scrolling text at the top of the website which had these sort of announcements if a ride was unavailable for more than a day or two.
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This is a merlin problem not towers individually. They're very unprofessional in that regard. Don't give a monkeys about value for money they just want the money for minimum effort
 
Do Merlin Entertainment actual have any in house software development team to actually manage the website? If its outsourced, then having to keep asking things to be changed will cost money and probably have some lag in implementation (outsource company having staff available to do the work).
 
Jim said:
Do Merlin Entertainment actual have any in house software development team to actually manage the website? If its outsourced, then having to keep asking things to be changed will cost money and probably have some lag in implementation (outsource company having staff available to do the work).
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That issue was fixed 20 years ago with content management systems.

The only issue with name checking closed rides online is that customers take that as a definitive list and are therefore more annoyed when they turn up to find 5 rides closed when you had only listed 3. I know from experience that that happens.
 
Jim said:
Do Merlin Entertainment actual have any in house software development team to actually manage the website? If its outsourced, then having to keep asking things to be changed will cost money and probably have some lag in implementation (outsource company having staff available to do the work).
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I think this is also why 15 years ago it was just a scrolling text ticker as that could be updated easier than the whole site.
 
Ladies and gentlemen it is a sad day. Fastrack is no longer available for the smiler for the last week of the season in November. So that's as close as we'll get to a confirmation that it won't be opening again this season
 
Ethan said:
Ladies and gentlemen it is a sad day. Fastrack is no longer available for the smiler for the last week of the season in November. So that's as close as we'll get to a confirmation that it won't be opening again this season
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It's not been available for a few days now, must be a pretty serious issue with the ride
 
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