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The Smiler - General Discussion

10 inversions in a single block for Colossus, now that's more impressive to me than the Smiler somehow. I'm heading to Thorpe Park two weeks tomorrow, I'll see if it is so impressive.

Having said that, I need to break in the middle of the Smiler to reorient myself.
 
The # in on block is more impressive than the # number in one ride because there isn't chance to build the speed up again, in theory you could do 140 in one ride by building 10 smilers but it would be near impossible to do 140 in 1 block.
 
2 cars on track today one had no weights in at all the other just has 2 in the front middle seats. Track speed seems good on both cars. Member of staff stood near the toilets watching it go round the track.
 
couple of pics of Smiler from last night in the fog.
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spinba11 said:
The # in on block is more impressive than the # number in one ride because there isn't chance to build the speed up again, in theory you could do 140 in one ride by building 10 smilers but it would be near impossible to do 140 in 1 block.
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It depends on the type of inversion implemented. Certain inversions burn speed/momentum much quicker than others. The only reason that Colossus can do ten is because five of them are the heartlines.
 
I know a lot of you here are dying to see the Smiler open. I just want to imagine a scenario in which the ride is permanently closed/dismantled. In this event, how do you think this would be perceived by the public? Do you think it would imply an admission from the park that the ride is unsafe? (And thus instil doubt in other attractions). Would it strengthen or further worsen the parks already fragile image?

This is purely hypothetical, before anyone starts jumping down my throat ;)
 
AirFAN said:
I know a lot of you here are dying to see the Smiler open. I just want to imagine a scenario in which the ride is permanently closed/dismantled. In this event, how do you think this would be perceived by the public? Do you think it would imply an admission from the park that the ride is unsafe? (And thus instil doubt in other attractions). Would it strengthen or further worsen the parks already fragile image?

This is purely hypothetical, before anyone starts jumping down my throat ;)
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Complete disaster for the park.
-Their investment is written off.
-They have no new headline ride to market, and have to revert to trying to sell Th13teen as a headline attraction.
-Attendance stays low with no major new attractions driving visitation.
-The parks reputation is further damaged
-Will be seen as an admission that rides are unsafe
-Big ugly hole in X Sector
-Further redundancies and budget cuts
-Large investment would be needed to turn around fortunes, like 2 major attractions in quick succession. Merlin could pony up the money, or cut their losses and run the park as a smaller scale faded relic of yesteryear, trading off of its past glory. (we still have Nemesis!)

All hypothetical of course because the ride is going to reopen.
 
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You know what, if they got rid of the Smiler and put the Black Hole Mk3 back there with more special effects, maybe VR, then it would, I think, be more of a success than the Smiler. Now the Black Hole would have been one ride where VR really would have worked well.
 
micksalt said:
10 inversions in a single block for Colossus, now that's more impressive to me than the Smiler somehow
Click to expand...

Having now ridden Colossus, I have to say that I was very impressed, but not by the inversion count. Four heartline rolls in a row is a bit lazy. For the variety, I do find the Smiler more interesting, even if it does have to do it over a few block sections.
 
I'm going to say something a little controversial here, I prefer the Smiler's sister ride, SAW. It just seemed to have a bit more about it, such as the headchopper effect on the indoor section and the beyond-vertical drop. Also, the lighter 8-person carriages seemed to whip around more enthusiastically than the heavier, articulated 16-person carriages of the Smiler.
 
I always found The Smiler to be quite boring. I don't find going through constant inversions, 14 times particularly thrilling.

To be fair I am more of an air time kind of guy.
 
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