• 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 - General Discussion

Went on it 8 times today, nice quiet day.

I think it operated from ride open to ride close without any downtime today and was effieciently operated by the crew.

Credit where it's due
 
I did The Smiler twice today and it was far rougher than I ever remember. There were always a couple of inversions that were…jarring shall we say, but the only inversion that was smooth by any stretch on both rides was the indoor one.

I’m talking borderline Corkscrew rough here.

Anyone else share my opinion?
 
s_g_k said:
I did The Smiler twice today and it was far rougher than I ever remember. There were always a couple of inversions that were…jarring shall we say, but the only inversion that was smooth by any stretch on both rides was the indoor one.

I’m talking borderline Corkscrew rough here.

Anyone else share my opinion?
Click to expand...

Yes, earlier this year I had an absolutely brutal and horrendous ride on it, I was shocked by how bad it was. But then my ride on it the next day was absolutely fine. I wondered if it was just one particular car that was causing it.
 
Going to finally ride Smiler on Saturday, will have to hope I can get the front row. I rode Saw at Thorpe back in April and didn't enjoy it at all (apart from the awesome indoor section). If Smiler is as rough as that I don't think I'll cope lol given it's longer and has more elements.
 
Still don't get the rough opinion, went on it 5 times on Friday and it wasn't even slightly rough. Not even the cobra roll this time! The second inversion had a jolt and the first dive loop creates a bit of a bang (never experienced this before), but it was riding great!
 
Skyscraper said:
The ride or idea isn't the mistake, going with Gerslauer was, in my opinion. Imagine if Mack had taken on the challenge instead, for example.
Click to expand...

For fitting in a coaster of that length in to the plot they had allocated for a coaster with that amount of inversions and given the tree height limit there weren’t really too many other options besides Gerstlauer as their Eurofighter and Infinity models are purposefully designed to have a very small footprint.

That’s what the mistake was, trying to cram a 14 inversion coaster in to an area that size. The terrible cattle pen queue could also be considered a mistake.
 
I think everything the park did to make the smiler was amazing, apart from thinking of how long it'll last in a good state in the long term. And it only lasted 4-5 years in a good state before being ridiculously rough and looking rusty. Meanwhile, Oblivion opened in 1998 and is still as good as it was during opening day, outside of it not using both loading platforms, heck, even the theming is still in really good shape and has aged really well IMO.

I'm not so sure anymore if Nemmys retrack isn't as essentials as Smilers...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top