It can hurt my shoulders sometimes and I'm only 5'11 so I can imagine how uncomfortable it was for youNot saying it's towers fault that my shoulders are ****ed today, they didn't design the restraints just thought they could have handled it better.
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The Smiler - General Discussion
jon81uk
TS Member
You should have told the person pushing the restraint down straight away it wasn’t comfortable to be honest. The train should not have despatched if you weren’t happy.She said as I didn't report it yesterday after it happened she couldn't do anything about it (even though I showed her my bruised shoulders) not even change it for another ride which I thought was daft.
And yes you probably should have reported it same day. it’s not great they didn’t at least offer to reallocate your fasttrack to Nemesis or something, but it’s always better to report things on the day it happened.
George W
TS Member
Yeah you are right about that, I'll still give smiler another go in the future because it was my favorite for many years and make sure if they slam my restraint down again I'll make them aware of it, I did do nemesis 15 times in the 2 days and after so many front row rides I think that has taken my number 1 spot now anyway.You should have told the person pushing the restraint down straight away it wasn’t comfortable to be honest. The train should not have despatched if you weren’t happy.
And yes you probably should have reported it same day. it’s not great they didn’t at least offer to reallocate your fasttrack to Nemesis or something, but it’s always better to report things on the day it happened.
Alsty
TS Member
From the Oblivion thread:
If a train on The Smiler gets stuck on the vertical lift, does it automatically lower back to the foot of the lift, or is this something that's done by manually by technical services?I don’t think it’s possible to be stuck on Smiler’s vertical lift for very long, anyway; I’ve seen videos of the car slowly rolling back down the vertical lift into a level position whenever that happens.
Josh
TS Member
I believe the ride has a special mode which allows the operator to move the vehicles back to ground level the quickest way, including reversing them back down the lift hills. The control system will identify what vehicles can be moved where and the operator will press the appropriate buttons to move them.
Tech services won't be able to move anything with guests aboard so it's likely the operator will still have complete control.
Tech services won't be able to move anything with guests aboard so it's likely the operator will still have complete control.
Skyscraper
TS Member
Ah that will be "evacuation mode" I think.I believe the ride has a special mode which allows the operator to move the vehicles back to ground level the quickest way, including reversing them back down the lift hills. The control system will identify what vehicles can be moved where and the operator will press the appropriate buttons to move them.
Tech services won't be able to move anything with guests aboard so it's likely the operator will still have complete control.
Went to Alton towers for the first time the other day, queued up for the smiler and then tried to back out just as I was about to sit down, but this young worker who was probably only a year or 2 younger than me came over and told me to “calm down mate and that it’s not that bad, come on get on” , so I sat down and went on it and I’m glad I did it’s bloody sick, couldn’t manage oblivion tho
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Skyscraper
TS Member
Well done for conquering the Smiler Jamie! I'll finally be riding it for the first time myself in two weeks.Went to Alton towers for the first time the other day, queued up for the smiler and then tried to back out just as I was about to sit down, but this young worker who was probably only a year or 2 younger than me came over and told me to “calm down mate and that it’s not that bad, come on get on” , so I sat down and went on it and I’m glad I did it’s bloody sick, couldn’t manage oblivion tho
Bit off topic but given it was your first visit, which coaster was your favourite?
Well done for conquering the Smiler Jamie! I'll finally be riding it for the first time myself in two weeks.
Bit off topic but given it was your first visit, which coaster was your favourite?
I think the smiler was actually my favourite; rode it 2 or 3 times in the end and bought a smiler mug haha, I thought Rita was quite fun as well I liked the launch, I’ve been watching some theme park youtubers quite a lot before I went and they were all saying “oh such and such is so tame” “oh Rita is so boring blah blah” which I believed until I actually went lol, I think it’s just because they go so much they get used to the intensity and everything, Rita was not boring for me haha, the only ride I don’t understand how they get 90/100 minute queues is thirteen, was the only one I didn’t really care for
Skyscraper
TS Member
That's completely understandable; I went with a first-timer back in May, and their favorite was Galactica because they had never ridden a ride as unique as it before.I thought Rita was quite fun as well I liked the launch, I’ve been watching some theme park youtubers quite a lot before I went and they were all saying “oh such and such is so tame” “oh Rita is so boring blah blah” which I believed until I actually went lol, I think it’s just because they go so much they get used to the intensity and everything,
Realistically most peoples favourite is either Smiler, Nemesis or WM. Any other favourite is a pretty rare opinion. Like your friend @Skyscraper who's favourite was Galactica, I don't think I've heard many say it's the best ride. But everyone has different opinions and that's what makes it interesting
MellowPasta
TS Member
It was down all day yesterday as well. Hopefully it will be open in time for your visit tomorrow 
I just had a look at the queue times to see what they are like in the week for an event like scarefest because I’m thinking of coming back like a week after my first visit (lol), and saw the smiler is closed, hopefully it won’t be all day!! Will be lots of disappointed people there
I just had a look at the queue times to see what they are like in the week for an event like scarefest because I’m thinking of coming back like a week after my first visit (lol), and saw the smiler is closed, hopefully it won’t be all day!! Will be lots of disappointed people there
Its been down since Monday morning (never opened all day).
Skyscraper
TS Member
Well fingers crossed it'll be open on the 25th, as I'm (finally) going to ride for the first time if it is. 