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The Smiler - General Discussion

I have to say, I find the back mega rough, I always used to love rough coasters I just think the problem is when you combine a rough coaster with 14 inversions it tips the balance for a lot of people.

The amount of people I see looking annoyed/in pain/rolling their neck around when they finish is quite OTT for a spanking new coaster really.

When a 20 year old coaster is smoother, it says it all really.

Still love it though.
 
Stevie said:
You know, when I rode it yesterday. I sat at the back on the far right seat, and I have to say out of the tens of rides I've done of it. That was my favourite.

The drop out of the station was phenomenal, the airtime from it made my face scrunch up, it was that good. And oh my, being thrown around those inversions, with hang time added in. It was amazing!

I don't understand, most people detest the back of The Smiler's trains. Complaining of jolts and roughness. I bloody love it!

Sent from my GT-I8190N using Tapatalk 2
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I absolutely love the back row of The Smiler, for all the reasons you listed.

I've been on it around 15 times now I think, on all rows and lots of different seats. But yesterday, there was a point when it was really hot and sunny, and I was flying around on The Smiler's back row, and just felt absolutely euphoric for a moment. After a few days of feeling rubbish, it was amazing! I can't wait to go on it again. :D
 
I rode it front row and back row, both times it was very rough and jolty the best bit by far is when you fly past the marmaliser 2nd half of the ride when you get sprayed !
 
Thought this worth a mention. I posted an image of the queue line shop last week with parts of it peeling off. It's now been fixed:

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Well I had three rides over the weekend, none on front row as I was refused all three times. I WAS allowed on the second row when I insisted.

Back and third row were really marred by the jolt between inversions 12 and 13. Not sure what's going on there but I found it really unpleasant.

Third go was second row which was marginally better during this 'feature'.

I have to say I appreciate it's a good coaster, but it's VERY intense (by today's standards) and by the end of the weekend (and even now) I feel very peculiar. I would compare the post-ride feeling to that of an ancient woody.

The intensity is fine on it's own but it's compounded by the roughness, which would put me off riding in the future, which is a massive shame.

People say SAW is rough but I really don't find it to be. This was another level of roughness that I haven't experienced in a long, long time.

I think I would flat-out refuse the back two rows in the future. I'm not precious about riding front row but this thing NEEDS a front row queue. It's the only way I'm going to be able to tackle it again.

I wish I wasn't so feeble and prone to motion sickness but if I can find a way to enjoy a ride, I will.

So before this is 'dismissed' as me 'complaining' then please understand: different people enjoy different things. I found much to enjoy here but the roughness pushed my body to the limit of what it could handle without me falling over in a puddle of vomit.

That makes me sad.

It's difficult for me to put the blame on anything (ride type, manufacturer, trains, etc) when I'm so acutely aware of how badly my body seems to handle things!
 
Danny said:
Thought this worth a mention. I posted an image of the queue line shop last week with parts of it peeling off. It's now been fixed:

969584_10151625699224387_1096518579_n.jpg
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Lets hope this time they have learnt and used a better quality material!
 
I still dont find the ride that rough. Yeah ok, its not the silky smoothness of a B&M, but its no where near as bad as some other rides. Take a trip back in time when we had Corkscrew, The Blackhole and The Alton Mouse. Those rides were rough!

I think people are expecting everything to be to B&M standards, whereas the fact of the matter is, nothing else really ever comes as close as a B&M other than maybe a new Mack Megacoaster.

Intamin accelerators are rough as hell. Nearly everything made by Vekoma is rough. Mack water coasters are rough and jolty. Even some B&Ms can be rough as I found Silvia a bit rough this year!
 
I too don't find the ride all that rough. I will say that on the exit of the 2nd part of the Staffordshire Knot (sorry to those that hate that name...) before the last two inversions there is a particularly rough patch where my head got thrown about, but in comparison to other coasters I've been on it was fine.

I got on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit when I was in Florida and my god, that was awful - came off it with one hell of a "corkscrew" headache and that has no inversions! The Smiler in comparison was nowhere near as bad!
 
rightbackgranty said:
I got on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit when I was in Florida and my god, that was awful - came off it with one hell of a "corkscrew" headache and that has no inversions! The Smiler in comparison was nowhere near as bad!
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You're the only other person I've come across who thinks this. RRR is vile, I wouldn't be disappointed if Maurer never come near the UK again frankly.
 
rightbackgranty said:
I too don't find the ride all that rough. I will say that on the exit of the 2nd part of the Staffordshire Knot (sorry to those that hate that name...) before the last two inversions there is a particularly rough patch where my head got thrown about, but in comparison to other coasters I've been on it was fine.
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I agree, the roughest part I noticed was this inversion as you come out on the 2nd part of the knot, inversion number 12. Its due to the sudden increase in angle of the bend of the track for some reason, almost as if they got the design slightly wrong here and had to bend the track inwards more all of a sudden as you come out of the bend. Ouch!
 
GaryH said:
rightbackgranty said:
I too don't find the ride all that rough. I will say that on the exit of the 2nd part of the Staffordshire Knot (sorry to those that hate that name...) before the last two inversions there is a particularly rough patch where my head got thrown about, but in comparison to other coasters I've been on it was fine.
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I agree, the roughest part I noticed was this inversion as you come out on the 2nd part of the knot, inversion number 12. Its due to the sudden increase in angle of the bend of the track for some reason, almost as if they got the design slightly wrong here and had to bend the track inwards more all of a sudden as you come out of the bend. Ouch!
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Thanks for the explanation. It seemed so unusal that the whole ride was smooth (in my opinion) considering the number of inversions but that felt like you were going round a 90 degree bend. Really shocked me the first time I got on because the first 11 inversions gave me nothing to worry about!

Alastair said:
rightbackgranty said:
I got on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit when I was in Florida and my god, that was awful - came off it with one hell of a "corkscrew" headache and that has no inversions! The Smiler in comparison was nowhere near as bad!
Click to expand...

You're the only other person I've come across who thinks this. RRR is vile, I wouldn't be disappointed if Maurer never come near the UK again frankly.
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It was very odd - got on it at 9am and sat in the 2nd car and it wasn't too bad, but by the afternoon in the 1st car it was unbearable. If Maurer are effected by what I guess is heat expansion then I'm not going near another! Trust me though, if you think The Smiler is bad, don't go anywhere near RRR - you'll probably be crying by the end of the ride and looking for someone to sue.
 
The Smiler has been closed again today and staff are saying it isn't likely to reopen until tomorrow at the earliest.
 
No idea yet, sorry. I'm going off posts made by TST and TTF on Twitter and Facebook.



Edit: Just heard it might be because work is being done to the track.
 
You know what would be REALLY helpful to guests is the smiler is going to be down if they used the website, or social media to announce it.

You know that customer service thing.
 
Ben said:
You know what would be REALLY helpful to guests is the smiler is going to be down if they used the website, or social media to announce it.

You know that customer service thing.
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They service their wallets/purses, by recycling metal and paper from it. ;D
 
rightbackgranty said:
I got on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit when I was in Florida and my god, that was awful - came off it with one hell of a "corkscrew" headache and that has no inversions! The Smiler in comparison was nowhere near as bad!
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This is so true! I think I managed two rides in a row, the husband wanted to go again but I had to refuse as my head was banging. Every time I went on it I had to brace myself. When I go back in a couple of weeks I think I will limit myself to one ride a day, as it was getting to the point where I never wanted to look at RRR again - The Smiler is nothing compared to the devil that resides somewhere inside RRR!
 
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