The Smiler - General Discussion

[DiogoJ42]

I'm pretty sure all B&Ms have seatbelts, even if they are useless.

 

[smudge]

Are they not a way to see if the restraint has 'clicked' 3 times? 3 clicks being the minimum the system accepts as 'safe.' Not COMPLETELY useless if that is the case.

When you see the ops trying to force people into oblivion for example, once the seat-belts closed, it means that the restraint is closed by enough.

I'm pretty sure all B&Ms have seatbelts, even if they are useless.

No flyers do. But apart form that... Even Oz'Iris has, and that's pretty new.

 

[TheMan]

Oooh so the B&M seatbelt thing isn't quite that straightforward then eh?

WHAT? Well, I never knew that!

Get out, you're not a true Towers enthusiast. joking of course

The seatbelts serve literally no purpose to the trains. They are there just for show!

I have some salt and pepper ready to help you eat those words young man!! ;D

 

[NF2]

I've never seen a B&M that uses the traditional OTSR without seatbelts, but that doesn't change the fact they're functionally useless. I do remember a video on YouTube though of Nikki from Big Brother riding Air, and she complains regarding the fact it "doesn't have a seatbelt"

As for the Smiler, when I was at IAAPA I asked Gerst this very question as they were pretty much advertising the lap bars as one of the USP's on the infinity coaster. As you would expect, they told me that they tried to convince Merlin to go with the lap bars but Merlin repeatedly said no. This still doesn't answer WHY Merlin decided against it, be it health and safety, Guest confidence, throughput conspiracies etc etc, but at least it confirms where the decision came from.

My guess - it's probably the second reason. We know what Merlin are like for saying "our Market research shows the Great British Unwashed General Public think x is unsafe"

 

[Jonathan]

I've never seen a B&M that uses the traditional OTSR without seatbelts, but that doesn't change the fact they're functionally useless. I do remember a video on YouTube though of Nikki from Big Brother riding Air, and she complains regarding the fact it "doesn't have a seatbelt"

What DIDN'T Nikki complain about?

 

[DiogoJ42]

If that's true (not that I'm calling you a liar ) then that pretty much confirms it can't have been because of how close riders get to supports.

 

[TheMan]

throughput conspiracies

What a phrase ;D

Personally, it's indicative of Merlin to generally take the safe option, they do it everywhere, roll out "tried and tested" (read: dull) carbon copy attractions, even the ones that were a bit diverse are getting similar rides rolled out.

They like to take the individuality away from a park. For a creative/tourist industry in THEMED attractions, they're hopeless - in making that a successful business model, they are fantastic.

With that in mind, basically, someone IMO made the decision based on a total lack of bottle. Either that, or like I say, perhaps the disabled thing? H&S not going for it sounds like B&S to me personally.

 

[James]

Problem with Merlin is that they rely too heavily on safe research. There's no risk taking, no thrill, no teenage-like "f**k it, we're so doing that". That's why pre-Merlin Alton Towers was a pretty exciting theme park, especially in the 90s when they introduced rides never seen in this country. The Smiler is probably the closest we've got to a "wow" ride although it's by far nothing new.

With SW8 they really need to be willing to take a risk. Merlin sticking with their market research just shows them to be a very boring and frigid company.

 

[Alastair]

There has also been a number of accidents on (mainly Intamin) rides (usually down to guest issues or poor ride staff checks) that has put Merlin off lapbar only.

And indeed, Gerstlauer trains...

 

[Danny]

And yet judging by Wardley's comments, they seemed very happy and insistent they were to go wild with The Smiler in the planning stage [ball coaster, seating variations and such]. If they can't have a gimmick, then they turn into an austere and unmovable object.

Merlin and in particular, Nick, need to stop with the variety of pointless and bland research schemes and go with something that people already exclaim 'WOW' to. The majority of people would take one look at El Toro and be stunned by it, which surely fulfils Nick's 'killer image' criteria? And yet we're back at square one with regards to the unlikely chance of a woodie cropping up at a Merlin park in this era.

I'd much rather Merlin attempt to milk and risk a ride using the marketing departments of the various parks over gimmicks.

 

[_nemesis_]

Agreed. Merlin always seem to take the safe route with their additions. A route that clearly didn't work with The Swarm.

 

[delta79]

I would love to see a visiting t bar train on the smiler to see the differance.

 

[Danny]

Agreed. Merlin always seem to take the safe route with their additions. A route that clearly didn't work with The Swarm.

The Swarm is a step forward in terms of theming and story telling [something hopefully Merlin will take forwards]. However it unfortunately wasn't enough to pull the guest figures, something which Merlin thankfully recognised and didn't try to hide in their reports.

 

[Alastair]

I'm pretty sure all B&Ms have seatbelts, even if they are useless.

No B&M's do but Euro Star does and that's a very old travelling invert. If that can do without seatbelts and achieve the throughputs I've seen banded about, then there's no reason why B&M's couldn't.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Euro Star is not a B&M though. No ride needs seatbelts anyway.

 

[kym.nash.58]

The Smiler is Awesome!!!! :twirly:

 

[TheMan]

The Smiler is Awesome!!!! :twirly:

Seems you're new to the forum. Welcome

Be warned, your first post here is likely to divide opinion lol!

Though I do believe the vast majority enjoy the ride greatly, even if there are aspects many feel could be.... improved.

 

[Laura]

I know the restraint thing has been discussed to death now, but looking at the Infinity Coaster pdf, I don't like the way the guests are twisting in the Karacho pictures. I also watched the (TPR - sorry) video on youtube and there's a couple of elements where riders seem to be quite violently shaken about.

I KNOW they are safe and I have NEVER experienced the T-bar restraints so I can only go by what I see. But as someone who has been doing coasters for 20 years, I still have this irrational 'discomfort' when thinking about a non OTSR on something as intense as The Smiler. So if I think that (and of course I'd still ride, and it would be perfectly fine), imagine what the general public might think?

However, the OTSRs on The Smiler STINK. The other rides don't smell that bad. What is all that about?!

The only coaster where I honestly thought I was going to die was Matterhorn Blitz at Europa. I really didn't enjoy that at all.

 

[DiogoJ42]

I'm curious, what was it about a standard layout (with unusual lift) wild mouse that made you feel unsafe? Personally I find it rather dull.

 

[Laura]

I honestly can't tell if that's sarcasm or not. It's the only wild mouse I've ever been on and I'd never go on one again. I thought I was going to be thrown out, I was in tears by the end, maybe I was just overtired, but just thinking about it makes my palms sweat. This was last year, incidentally. I cried on Big Thunder Mountain when I was seven but then it was my first rollercoaster and the bats in the mines scared me.

I don't fear I'd fall out of any other type of restraint, I just feel like my neck and back wouldn't be secure because of the type of forces/airtime going on (even though I am wrong to think that). The wild mouse thing was a bit off topic, sorry.