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The Smiler - General Discussion

I think the point is that it’s going to be around, as a bare minimum until the end of the decade you’d think and in its current state (by the sounds of it as I’ve not seen it first hand this season) it’s brand damagingly bad.

We’re not talking about spending millions in repairs, just a clean so that it looks less disgusting than it does in the photos I’ve seen.

Fingers crossed the intention is to get it cleared up for the event.
 
Josh555 said:
I think the point is that it’s going to be around, as a bare minimum until the end of the decade you’d think and in its current state (by the sounds of it as I’ve not seen it first hand this season) it’s brand damagingly bad.

We’re not talking about spending millions in repairs, just a clean so that it looks less disgusting than it does in the photos I’ve seen.

Fingers crossed the intention is to get it cleared up for the event.
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I think If they wanted it cleaned up for the event it would have been done in closed season, not open season. I think the hope of any improvements are all but gone this year. And I think the extent they’ve let it go, it would cost way more than people think to get it back to an acceptable standard (drainage issues, cleanliness, repaint, fixing effects). Almost as if this event is just a little thing for the enthusiasts and I can’t see them pushing it that much.
 
Smiler I'm disappointed in you. Don't get me wrong I'm fortunate to visit quite often but I like to at least get 1 ride on it. No Smiler or Nemesis and the park really feels bare
 
Dave said:
A few years ago they definitely wanted rid of it, I do wonder if increasing the Smiler profile on the events this year is a test to see if the general upset around the ride post incident has receded. In which case it might get investment.
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In terms of presentation and care, The Smiler right now feels how DBGT felt at Thorpe last year. Thought they were on the verge of just cutting their losses altogether with it and using the land for something else, but now it’s getting pretty major attention. Just can’t predict Merlin sometimes.

There’s a really great ride buried in The Smiler (I even think the theme is quite clever and could be really engaging if executed properly), how much money would it take to unearth that great ride?
 
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Max said:
The Smiler right now feels how DBGT felt at Thorpe last year. Thought they were on the verge of just cutting their losses altogether with it and using the land for something else, but now it’s getting pretty major attention. Just can’t predict Merlin sometimes.

There’s a really great ride buried in The Smiler (I even think the theme is quite clever and could be really engaging if executed properly), how much money would it take to unearth that great ride?
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I think you can predict them quite well - the theme is very much that where they’ve invested serious money into something they’re (understandably) extremely reluctant to lose it, it’s the same with Sub Terra.

People can make the entirely reasonable point that all three rides have had significant issues, but the point remains that Merlin aren’t getting rid of expensive rides lightly. In the Smiler’s case, it regularly has a long queue, you can make the point all day about throughput and how a long queue doesn’t exactly correlate with its popularity compared with other rides but the point remains that it’s clearly popular enough to warrant the long queues.

Given the glaring issues which need to be (and to be fair, thankfully seem to now be getting addressed,) I just can’t see a world where Merlin are even thinking about tearing down an 18 million pound roller coaster that’s only a decade old. I of course could be wrong on that but to me it should be nowhere near a priority given the lack of flat rides and state of the hotels which are far more pertinent issues.
 
Josh555 said:
I think you can predict them quite well - the theme is very much that where they’ve invested serious money into something they’re (understandably) extremely reluctant to lose it, it’s the same with Sub Terra.

People can make the entirely reasonable point that all three rides have had significant issues, but the point remains that Merlin aren’t getting rid of expensive rides lightly. In the Smiler’s case, it regularly has a long queue, you can make the point all day about throughput and how a long queue doesn’t exactly correlate with its popularity compared with other rides but the point remains that it’s clearly popular enough to warrant the long queues.

Given the glaring issues which need to be (and to be fair, thankfully seem to now be getting addressed,) I just can’t see a world where Merlin are even thinking about tearing down an 18 million pound roller coaster that’s only a decade old. I of course could be wrong on that but to me it should be nowhere near a priority given the lack of flat rides and state of the hotels which are far more pertinent issues.
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I'm not suggesting they will remove it any time soon but this industry is littered with expensive mistakes, and especially rollercoasters that cost an absolute fortune, and when finished they turned out to either be an awful ride experience, hugely costly to maintain or had some sort of bad accident. You could make a case for all three here. Rides which have all since been removed
With project Horizon the next big spend after Nemesis you wonder when it'll get allocated a sizeable budget to sort properly.
 
RIPCorky said:
I'm not suggesting they will remove it any time soon but this industry is littered with expensive mistakes, and especially rollercoasters that cost an absolute fortune, and when finished they turned out to either be an awful ride experience, hugely costly to maintain or had some sort of bad accident. You could make a case for all three here. Rides which have all since been removed
With project Horizon the next big spend after Nemesis you wonder when it'll get allocated a sizeable budget to sort properly.
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Aside from the obvious exception being the crash, I’m not convinced that the Smiler can be categorised as an expensive mistake.

As I say, whenever I go to the park it’s regularly got one of the longest queues, as I said above, I appreciate that doesn’t make it the most popular ride due to the throughout but it does tell you that it’s reasonably popular. What other metric are the park measuring it by? Merch sales? I guess if their feedback is constantly saying that people don’t enjoy it then perhaps that might do it but other than that I’m not sure what objectively makes it a failure.

I personally like it, it’s not exactly Iron Gwazi but it’s fun, I don’t think it’s as rough as people make out and I think the near misses with the marmalizer are good, I can totally understand why people don’t like it though. Just struggle to see how it can be described as a failure unless there’s some information I’m not privy to.
 
Josh555 said:
Aside from the obvious exception being the crash, I’m not convinced that the Smiler can be categorised as an expensive mistake.

As I say, whenever I go to the park it’s regularly got one of the longest queues, as I said above, I appreciate that doesn’t make it the most popular ride due to the throughout but it does tell you that it’s reasonably popular. What other metric are the park measuring it by? Merch sales? I guess if their feedback is constantly saying that people don’t enjoy it then perhaps that might do it but other than that I’m not sure what objectively makes it a failure.

I personally like it, it’s not exactly Iron Gwazi but it’s fun, I don’t think it’s as rough as people make out and I think the near misses with the marmalizer are good, I can totally understand why people don’t like it though. Just struggle to see how it can be described as a failure unless there’s some information I’m not privy to.
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The actual coaster is acceptable but I think people expect an all round cleaner and enjoyable experience these days. Not to be queuing in an inch of standing water encased in a prison of metal and mouldy concrete. Only to get on the ride to have the restraints stinking of body odour and then being rattled and jolted around a rusty track.
As it aged maintenance on this thing is going to be a nightmare. If money was no object would AT remove this? Yep, would they remove Nemesis or Oblivion? No
 
I certainly wouldn't put Smiler in the same category as DBGT or Sub-Terra, personally. Yes, the crash happened, but other than that, it is an extremely popular ride (one of the park's most popular, if not its most popular, from what I can see), and it's pretty well liked too.

The ride is 10 years old and still has significant popularity. Whether you personally like the ride or not, a significant amount of people revere The Smiler, and it does pull in crowds.

By comparison, DBGT in particular was a ride that most were ambivalent or decidedly negative towards, and it had few true fans. By the end, it was reduced to being a timed ticketed side attraction like Black Mirror, which arguably speaks volumes about its popularity and status in the eyes of the average guest given the magnitude of the initial spend on it.

Sub-Terra was not exactly loved either, from what I gather. The ride had fans, but I seem to remember hearing that it had the park's lowest guest feedback scores in the year it closed.
 
Matt N said:
I certainly wouldn't put Smiler in the same category as DBGT or Sub-Terra, personally.
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Just to clarify - my comparison to DBGT was not about the quality or popularity of the ride, I’m talking purely about the state it’s in this year. It‘s unloved and looks on it’s last legs.

Also, I think The Smiler has been an albatross around Merlins neck since long before the crash, the construction of the ride was a disaster from start to finish and there were far more teething problems in opening year than the average new ride (Remember when rubber wheels just popped out of the vertical lift? God…) Once again, not a judgment on the quality of the ride (For all its faults I really like it - with caveats) but it’s certainly caused a lot of trouble.
 
Max said:
Just to clarify - my comparison to DBGT was not about the quality or popularity of the ride, I’m talking purely about the state it’s in this year. It‘s unloved and looks on it’s last legs.

Also, I think The Smiler has been an albatross around Merlins neck since long before the crash, the construction of the ride was a disaster from start to finish and there were far more teething problems in opening year than the average new ride (Remember when rubber wheels just popped out of the vertical lift? God…) Once again, not a judgment on the quality of the ride (For all its faults I really like it - with caveats) but it’s certainly caused a lot of trouble.
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Ah, my apologies... I misinterpreted you there. I thought you were on about it from a popularity standpoint.
 
Do you ever think there would be a case of Alton selling the ride? Still having the most inversions is certainly a selling point.

It used to be pretty common that a coaster would be relocated a few times before being binned. Could we see this happen with Smiler or any other coaster at AT?
 
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