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The Smiler - General Discussion

Croftybaby said:
I think the fact that they continue to have a presence on social media, answering queries (only the ones that result in more business) is a further insult to guests planning a trip to ride the new coaster.
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Spot on.

The amount of wall posts which are simply people writing "WHY HAVEN'T YOU REPLIED TO ME?" or "HOW CAN I COMPLAIN?" or "HAVE YOU EVEN LOOKED AT MY BLOODY POST" or variations of those three is fairly astounding right now. Surely the park management, and those higher in Merlin can see the public dissatisfaction?
 
I've never once had a response from any questions that I've put forward to them via Twitter.

Then again, the Pleasure Beach neglected to respond to me when I asked them a few questions over email too.

Universal Studios Orlando replied to me the next day in great detail (they sent me an email, tried ringing me and also left a voicemail with the answers to my questions).

Ignoring queries must just be a UK thing.
 
BigAl said:
Universal Studios Orlando replied to me the next day in great detail (they sent me an email, tried ringing me and also left a voicemail with the answers to my questions).

Ignoring queries must just be a UK thing.
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Found this too - fantastic customer service. Query at 11:30pm Monday night and got a call, from the US, by Tuesday 11am helping me with all my problems. Customer service is abysmal across the board in the UK.

Whilst it is not a requirement for Alton Towers to notify people that rides or closed, or is it a requirement for all rides to be open, a little courtesy goes a long way. The ride has had some bad press in the recent weeks, but that should not impact on telling the general public that the ride is shut. People will still visit, but won't be disappointed upon arrival.
 
Just to point out Thorpe have also stopped commutating about ride closures, it was pointed out on here that Samurai was unavailable a few months ago, and there was no information posted on the scroller.

Only Chessington & Drayton still inform guests that rides will be closed... ::)
 
Thorpe only seem to inform guests about main coasters being closed now instead of any ride going down.

It was much better when they would post even if it was just a flat.

Saying that I've seen them reply to people informing them that Slammer is currently closed.
 
There's radio silence on this because they're scared it will hit the papers again.

It comes across as nothing but contempt for their customers.
 
Did anyone else here ride over the weekend?

Because I've been hearing that it was running particularly roughly, especially that nasty jolt between 12-13. As it was my first time I can't compare.

I only ask because (and not trying to cause a drama here) I have been feeling horrendous since the weekend, with a god-awful headache, nausea, blurred vision (and dilated pupils apparently) and feeling tired, dizzy and off-balance. My dad (retired GP) thinks it may well be a mild concussion. I've been having a bit of trouble with typing as well, it is taking me a lot longer than usual. I've been knocked out twice in the last 12 months and (apparently) you become more susceptible to knocks to the head the more it happens!

It could be totally unrelated and as I've always said I am a unique and delicate snowflake, and maybe I just pushed my feeble self a bit too hard. But I've gone from feeling fine to feeling like absolute hell, and I've been on a lot of rides. I know what to expect, and I've been on rougher coasters (and since avoided them).

I'm sure there are people out there who would be more susceptible to the head bashing it was giving. I wonder if there have been complaints? I just think that transition followed by the speed it takes the two corkscrews is very, very intense.

Apologies if this is a completely useless and unhelpful post. I doubt there's anything sinister going on! There are definitely MUCH rougher coasters out there. I'm just concerned I'm going to end up as one of those people with a 'pre existing medical condition' we read about on Screamscape.
 
I rode on Saturday and Sunday and found it pretty standard if I'm honest. But I do agree that the jolt between 12-13 is very painful if you don't know to brace for it. And then it's difficult to regain yourself for the last 2 barrel rolls.
 
They can't win whether they announce The Smiler is closed or not, but putting an update on the website homepage is the least they should do. They used to update the ticker on the website when the sky ride was unavailable. Posting other updates to social media and selectively answering some people whilst ignoring others is just like covering it up.

Communication from the park was just as bad when snow closed the park earlier in the year. I think Merlin will heavily influence what the park can and can't broadcast though, especially when similar things have created a lot of negative press for the park recently.

BowMan said:
I rode on Saturday and Sunday and found it pretty standard if I'm honest. But I do agree that the jolt between 12-13 is very painful if you don't know to brace for it. And then it's difficult to regain yourself for the last 2 barrel rolls.
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Those two inversions are the main reason I dislike The Smiler. The rest of the ride is fairly smooth, when sitting in the front car at least. I don't like how the back car vibrates almost constantly round the track either.
 
This whole situation has been incredibly poorly handled.
Not making people aware of The Smiler's closure until you actually get to the park is very bad customer service, as has been said before, it really should have been advertised on the parks website / social media pages that The Smiler would be closed.

One thing that also left a bad taste in my mouth was the fact that no engineers even seemed to be bothered with fixing it today, from about 9:30 on wards no one was (visibly) working on trying to get the ride open, all lights it the station were turned off, and as far as I could see, no one was in the indoor section, it was as if they thought that if they announced it to be closed, they wouldn't have to bother with trying to get it running, even an operator on Nemesis was surprised by the lack of work on The Smiler. Maybe I'm just bitter that it wasn't open during my visit, but I think far more could have been done to try and rectify whatever problem it had.
 
Max said:
This whole situation has been incredibly poorly handled.
Not making people aware of The Smiler's closure until you actually get to the park is very bad customer service, as has been said before, it really should have been advertised on the parks website / social media pages that The Smiler would be closed.

One thing that also left a bad taste in my mouth was the fact that no engineers even seemed to be bothered with fixing it today, from about 9:30 on wards no one was (visibly) working on trying to get the ride open, all lights it the station were turned off, and as far as I could see, no one was in the indoor section, it was as if they thought that if they announced it to be closed, they wouldn't have to bother with trying to get it running, even an operator on Nemesis was surprised by the lack of work on The Smiler. Maybe I'm just bitter that it wasn't open during my visit, but I think far more could have been done to try and rectify whatever problem it had.
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It depends what the problem with the ride is. I agree that they need to advertise it more but I have no reason to think that they wouldn't be trying extremely hard to get it back running. As we have no idea what the issue is it is very hard to work out what they could be doing to fix it. The fact that trains weren't running and there was no sign of work being done could show that the issue is indoors or involves waiting on a part or something like that...

They need to tell people it's shut, but they won't be purposefully not working on the ride.
 
Scott said:
Max said:
This whole situation has been incredibly poorly handled.
Not making people aware of The Smiler's closure until you actually get to the park is very bad customer service, as has been said before, it really should have been advertised on the parks website / social media pages that The Smiler would be closed.

One thing that also left a bad taste in my mouth was the fact that no engineers even seemed to be bothered with fixing it today, from about 9:30 on wards no one was (visibly) working on trying to get the ride open, all lights it the station were turned off, and as far as I could see, no one was in the indoor section, it was as if they thought that if they announced it to be closed, they wouldn't have to bother with trying to get it running, even an operator on Nemesis was surprised by the lack of work on The Smiler. Maybe I'm just bitter that it wasn't open during my visit, but I think far more could have been done to try and rectify whatever problem it had.
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It depends what the problem with the ride is. I agree that they need to advertise it more but I have no reason to think that they wouldn't be trying extremely hard to get it back running. As we have no idea what the issue is it is very hard to work out what they could be doing to fix it. The fact that trains weren't running and there was no sign of work being done could show that the issue is indoors or involves waiting on a part or something like that...

They need to tell people it's shut, but they won't be purposefully not working on the ride.
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It's certainly a possibility that they're waiting on a part, but if this is the case, then the fact that many operators were telling people that it isn't a major issue is also very poor, as its pretty much a flatout lie, if a problem is so bad that it requires a replacement part, then it is most definitely a major issue and guests shouldn't be told otherwise.
 
Max said:
Scott said:
Max said:
This whole situation has been incredibly poorly handled.
Not making people aware of The Smiler's closure until you actually get to the park is very bad customer service, as has been said before, it really should have been advertised on the parks website / social media pages that The Smiler would be closed.

One thing that also left a bad taste in my mouth was the fact that no engineers even seemed to be bothered with fixing it today, from about 9:30 on wards no one was (visibly) working on trying to get the ride open, all lights it the station were turned off, and as far as I could see, no one was in the indoor section, it was as if they thought that if they announced it to be closed, they wouldn't have to bother with trying to get it running, even an operator on Nemesis was surprised by the lack of work on The Smiler. Maybe I'm just bitter that it wasn't open during my visit, but I think far more could have been done to try and rectify whatever problem it had.
Click to expand...
It depends what the problem with the ride is. I agree that they need to advertise it more but I have no reason to think that they wouldn't be trying extremely hard to get it back running. As we have no idea what the issue is it is very hard to work out what they could be doing to fix it. The fact that trains weren't running and there was no sign of work being done could show that the issue is indoors or involves waiting on a part or something like that...

They need to tell people it's shut, but they won't be purposefully not working on the ride.
Click to expand...

It's certainly a possibility that they're waiting on a part, but if this is the case, then the fact that many operators were telling people that it isn't a major issue is also very poor, as its pretty much a flatout lie, if a problem is so bad that it requires a replacement part, then it is most definitely a major issue and guests shouldn't be told otherwise.
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Or its a possibility that this is a more serious issue somewhere that we can't see... Though obviously nobody knows. The thing is, the staff on the entrance probably have little idea what is going on too and have just been told to say its a minor issue that will be fixed in due course. Unfortunately we all know that if a ride has been down for two days straight it must be a fairly serious issue.
 
Max said:
One thing that also left a bad taste in my mouth was the fact that no engineers even seemed to be bothered with fixing it today.
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As I am a maintenance electrician by trade, I have to say that although you could not see technical services staff, does not mean that they are not bothered about repairing it.

There is a plant area, electrical control room and the maintenance building that the staff could of been busy working in. There is also replacement parts and the question of are the need parts in stores on site or if they need to be ordered and shipped in from a supplier.

I also find that most people outside of the maintenance team will not know about the fault, and they 1) don't get briefed about it and 2) most don't really understand if they are told what the fault is.
 
You would bw surprised by just how much the ride staff know about their rides. Most of them have good knowledge of how the ride both mechanically and electronically work.

That said, were the people on entrance ride staff or just other staff dragged from other departments?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
Smiler Update. Day 3.

Ride: Closed
AT.com: No mention
AT Facebook: No Status Updates (and ignoring questions re: Smiler)
AT Twitter: No tweets.
 
My brother is on park today The Smiler is indeed going to be closed all day again today. Staff are apparently claiming that they are awaiting takers to deliver compressed gas for hydraulics or something like that. Obviously that might be a load of nonsense but I thought it was worth mentioning.

I still think the lack of communication over this is very very poor indeed. If Towers know it's definitely going to be closed then guests deserve to be notified before their visit. I know my brother and his friends are very disappointed despite me warning them that it probably would be closed.

:)
 
You got to feel sorry for the staff...you've got to wonder how worse it can get for them?
 
Seems that Towers are now answering posts on Facebook...

Directing people to check ridetimes.co.uk to check when it reopens...

Sigh...
 
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