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The Smiler - General Discussion
- Thread starter Scott
- Start date
Dave
TS Founding Member
Was pondering The Smiler rattle today and really have to wonder why they haven't sorted it. It's clearly not a track issue as 3 trains run fine, so it can't be that hard to sort out. Just seems a shame that riding Smiler is now a lottery as to whether you get a headache or not!
Ian
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
Over the weekend I came to the conclusion that train 5 is probably the worse for rattle, and really hits the jolts bad, although for the rest of the ride it's not too bad.
I think it was train 3 which was riding really poorly all the way around.
Then there are two of them which sound like the bearings have completely shot it, as they really buzz as they go around!
It's pretty poor, considering that you can even identify the trains from off ride as me, Vik, and Dave were doing, owing to how noisy they are with their various rattles, bangs, and buzzes :/
Also, did anyone else notice just how badly the rails seem to have rusted over the closed season? Especially where the Giggler had been spraying its mist. Looking at the yellow wheel assemblies on ride some of them looked as if they'd been given a really bad spray tan, thanks to how much orange had been sprayed and splashed all over them from the track.
I think it was train 3 which was riding really poorly all the way around.
Then there are two of them which sound like the bearings have completely shot it, as they really buzz as they go around!
It's pretty poor, considering that you can even identify the trains from off ride as me, Vik, and Dave were doing, owing to how noisy they are with their various rattles, bangs, and buzzes :/
Also, did anyone else notice just how badly the rails seem to have rusted over the closed season? Especially where the Giggler had been spraying its mist. Looking at the yellow wheel assemblies on ride some of them looked as if they'd been given a really bad spray tan, thanks to how much orange had been sprayed and splashed all over them from the track.
BigDave
TS Member
Dave said:
Yeah but we are not just talking about the first few weeks of the season though. We are talking about the entire season where throughputs are always way below what they once were.
An obvious thing on The Smiler would be to try and set the system up to allow the indoor waiting area be turned into an offload platform. Computer wise, I assume Gerts would be able to do it fairly quickly. From a hardware point of view, there would be a fair bit of wiring, but nothing too excessive. I assume they just have to extend the power rail a bit more.
The main problem would be the drop out of the back of the station, but again they could put in barriers, gates or some sort of flap to prevent people trying to go out into the brake run.
Croftybaby
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Took my first ride on The Smiler yesterday and I enjoyed it. I was surprised by how smooth it was, I only had Saw and Speed to compare it too so was expecting a rough ride especially with all those loops but found it was really kind on my shoulders.
I loved the airtime hills and the second lift is really disorientating. Our first ride was advertised as a 15 minute queue so we had a long walk through the empty cattle pen, this really took the mick, it was a 3 minute walk, I know this as I was filming it at the time. Is there no way they can block some of this off?
Was informed that I didn't get the full experience because there were flood lights on the room before the baggage area and the exit corridor (another stupidly long walk) Also the projection mapping wasn't working.
Regarding the roughness, on my second ride it was notably rougher than my first ride and gave me a bit of a headache afterwards, sat at the back we could also hear what sounded like rough bearings/ damaged wheels. A definite noise from something. Whilst we queued outside one stains glide wheels were free of the track and were rotating independently so I suspect this was the cause of the rough ride? I'm sure it's safe but not sure if they should be always connected to the track?
Anyway, a good ride.
I loved the airtime hills and the second lift is really disorientating. Our first ride was advertised as a 15 minute queue so we had a long walk through the empty cattle pen, this really took the mick, it was a 3 minute walk, I know this as I was filming it at the time. Is there no way they can block some of this off?
Was informed that I didn't get the full experience because there were flood lights on the room before the baggage area and the exit corridor (another stupidly long walk) Also the projection mapping wasn't working.
Regarding the roughness, on my second ride it was notably rougher than my first ride and gave me a bit of a headache afterwards, sat at the back we could also hear what sounded like rough bearings/ damaged wheels. A definite noise from something. Whilst we queued outside one stains glide wheels were free of the track and were rotating independently so I suspect this was the cause of the rough ride? I'm sure it's safe but not sure if they should be always connected to the track?
Anyway, a good ride.
Alastair
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Rise of the Resistance
Croftybaby said:
This is quite common from pretty much all manufacturers, perhaps with the exception of B&M. There generally needs to be some give in the tightness of the wheels on the track, and more so with track that is as flexible as The Smiler's during the ride.
Laura
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- blue fire Megacoaster
I added 'The Smiler Pizza' to my Tesco online delivery and I've just received it. I swear it is smaller than their regular pizzas. It's also more expensive!
But then black is very slimming so maybe it's an 'optical illusion' (hohoho see what I did there)
I didn't actually want the pizza so I offered it to the delivery man but he said they 'get in trouble' if they accept things from customers. I think he just thought I was loony for buying a pizza for the box. He would be right, of course.
Isn't that The Swarm themeing around the '2 for 1' and 'Limited Edition' text?!
But then black is very slimming so maybe it's an 'optical illusion' (hohoho see what I did there)
I didn't actually want the pizza so I offered it to the delivery man but he said they 'get in trouble' if they accept things from customers. I think he just thought I was loony for buying a pizza for the box. He would be right, of course.
Isn't that The Swarm themeing around the '2 for 1' and 'Limited Edition' text?!
Mark-Cal
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambala
Perhaps Alton Towers should have employed Goodfellows instead of Gerstlauer to build the ride, maybe it would be a little more reliable.
I made it as far as the air gates this afternoon before the whole thing ground to a halt and was evacuated.
I was like some sort of ride jinx today, I broke Smiler, Rita and 13 all within a couple of hours just by standing in the queue lines. :-[
I made it as far as the air gates this afternoon before the whole thing ground to a halt and was evacuated.
I was like some sort of ride jinx today, I broke Smiler, Rita and 13 all within a couple of hours just by standing in the queue lines. :-[
Mark-Cal
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambala
Yup, nipped into Guest services on the way out and blagged a fast pass each for next visit without any issues at all, I know it doesn't cost them anything to give them out but it's still a nice gesture.
It's not like I was in the queue very long anyway.
It's not like I was in the queue very long anyway.
John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
I've been trying to make sense of the Smiler queue line, and I think I've managed to draw a vaguely accurate plan of it along with the position of the gates that open and close various sections.
Things I have learned:
- there are up to 72 unique ways of setting up the queue
- the shop may be passed once, twice or not at all.
- it is possible to arrange the queue so that only one half of the shop window is passed
- it is possible to arrange the queue so that the 2nd half of the shop window is reached before the 1st half
- there are three unique layouts that utilise the entire queue. Each passes the shop in different ways (one route passes once and the other two pass it twice, each starting at different sides).
As far as I know, they've only ever used 2 of the 3 possible ways of filling the whole queue. It seems unlikely the 3rd would ever be used as it's an even more baffling layout than either of the other two.
EDIT: I should probably point out that all this is based on my own drawing of the layout, which was partially reconstructed from memory and might be slightly wrong. I'd be interested to know if there's an official plan of the layout and a policy for managing it.
Things I have learned:
- there are up to 72 unique ways of setting up the queue
- the shop may be passed once, twice or not at all.
- it is possible to arrange the queue so that only one half of the shop window is passed
- it is possible to arrange the queue so that the 2nd half of the shop window is reached before the 1st half
- there are three unique layouts that utilise the entire queue. Each passes the shop in different ways (one route passes once and the other two pass it twice, each starting at different sides).
As far as I know, they've only ever used 2 of the 3 possible ways of filling the whole queue. It seems unlikely the 3rd would ever be used as it's an even more baffling layout than either of the other two.
EDIT: I should probably point out that all this is based on my own drawing of the layout, which was partially reconstructed from memory and might be slightly wrong. I'd be interested to know if there's an official plan of the layout and a policy for managing it.
I rode The Smiler 10 times in one day last October, and had a go on the really bad train a couple of times. Even back then, it rattled and vibrated quite substantially. So much so, that people's voices were rattling as they screamed or talked during the ride. It's not a nice experience on that particular train, you feel like you're on one of those vibrating weight-loss plates the whole way round, it can't be good for you! I really hoped that would have been sorted out before the 2014 season, because when you get a smooth ride on a good train on The Smiler, it really is a world-class rollercoaster, makes me dizzy every single time. The bad train just hurts, and spoils any possible enjoyment of the ride. Doesn't stop me riding it, mind you!
Enter Valhalla
TS Member
On the subject of the queue, I read somewhere that on super busy days (we're talking about a 3 hour queue for Smiler) they used to extend the queue into the area in between the Towers and X-Sector entrance
How did this work? :/ Surely if this was the extention to Smiler's main queue it would cut right across the middle of the X-Sector preventing people from accessing Oblivion's entrance and the rest of the area?? :/
How did this work? :/ Surely if this was the extention to Smiler's main queue it would cut right across the middle of the X-Sector preventing people from accessing Oblivion's entrance and the rest of the area?? :/
Scott
Former TS Team Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
When the ride first opened, a temporary fence was put up between the entrance of The Smiler and the entrance of X Sector. More temporary queue was then in place from X Sector's entrance, up towards the ruins, down towards Fried a Chicken and back on itself and then further up towards the ruins. A full queue held 3 hours worth of people and staff held people back at X Sectors entrance at regular intervals in order to allow the queue to pass.Enter Valhalla said:On the subject of the queue, I read somewhere that on super busy days (we're talking about a 3 hour queue for Smiler) they used to extend the queue into the area in between the Towers and X-Sector entrance
How did this work? :/ Surely if this was the extention to Smiler's main queue it would cut right across the middle of the X-Sector preventing people from accessing Oblivion's entrance and the rest of the area?? :/
Later in the season when demand wasn't quite so high the temporary queue moved into a cattlepen near the smiler shop.
This season we now have the permanent queue extension by the toilets