The Smiler - General Discussion

[djtruefitt]

To be fair they did repaint the station and during the season most of the Marmaliser was also painted, the first time since the ride opened. So hoping this winter they might have done more to it and sorted the missing signs and stuff on it.

Unfortunately the nature of the ride and area it’s in and the bad design of it all, means it never looks clean and new for long.

 

[Martin]

Regarding the miserable queue experience, I would argue that it was designed that way as the feeling of being shoved into a cattlepen, enclosed like an animal whilst making you feel uncomfortable, fits the ride theme perfectly. Almost as if it was designed that way, for good or bad,

Yes it absolutely was designed to be deliberately horrible to match the story

Problem with that is, thematically appropriately horrible is still horrible. It's like they forgot actual people were meant to use the queue and feels like a satirical park someone makes on planco

 

[RIPCorky]

From the moment you enter the queue right until you step off the ride, the whole experience is rather horrible to be honest.

 

[Ash]

To be fair they did repaint the station and during the season most of the Marmaliser was also painted, the first time since the ride opened. So hoping this winter they might have done more to it and sorted the missing signs and stuff on it.

Unfortunately the nature of the ride and area it’s in and the bad design of it all, means it never looks clean and new for long.

Maybe they could use their in house theming dept…

Oh wait

Thanks O’Neil you clown

 

[Jb85]

To be fair they did repaint the station and during the season most of the Marmaliser was also painted, the first time since the ride opened. So hoping this winter they might have done more to it and sorted the missing signs and stuff on it.

Unfortunately the nature of the ride and area it’s in and the bad design of it all, means it never looks clean and new for long.

It’s one of those situations again. Dammed if they do dammed if they don’t.

I actually think last year Smiler looked better than it did for a long time. But my word it rides poorly for its age. And who signed off using concrete like that is beyond me. You’ve got a perfect (well, not so much these days) example of how to mix concrete and nature next door to it.

All they needed to do was follow on from oblivion really in terms of thematic style.

 

[Mick]

The Smiler is popular to the casual fan - if you asked someone with a passing interest in AT to name one ride, anyone of a younger age would likely say The Smiler (older people more likely to say Nemesis, imo).

It’s not the most enjoyable of rides (although I enjoyed it more in 2024 than I usually do), overall experiences and aesthetically it looks a bit of a mess but it’s status means I’d be having several coasters on the chopping block before it, notably Rita, Galactica and Oblivion.

Improvements to it though yes please.

 

[flyingguitar]

The Smiler is popular to the casual fan - if you asked someone with a passing interest in AT to name one ride, anyone of a younger age would likely say The Smiler (older people more likely to say Nemesis, imo).

It’s not the most enjoyable of rides (although I enjoyed it more in 2024 than I usually do), overall experiences and aesthetically it looks a bit of a mess but it’s status means I’d be having several coasters on the chopping block before it, notably Rita, Galactica and Oblivion.

Improvements to it though yes please.

I personally really enjoy the ride, if you get past the roughness (which varies even throughout the day) it is a really unique ride, on a slow day you can gat plenty of hang time on multiple inversions and I just find it a really fun ride.

I don't go in the main queue that often for it though, normally I wait in single ride, which is mostly indoors, so I rarely get to experience the missery of queuing so that may contribute to my enjoyment.

I could see it slowly getting small retracks here and there similar to the big one potentially allowing it to be smoother, as it is still really popular with the general public.

This is probably a bit unpopular opinion but I don't want to see the coaster go, it is really unique.
It would be amazing to see it get a themeing overhaul with worse elements being removed and the better elements being improved upon

 

[Dhev123]

I always wondered what were gertslauer thinking when they decided to profile the exit of the cobra roll like that??? If it were profiled the same as the entry, it probably would be a relatively smooth element

As for the rest of the ride, I don’t think it’s actually that rough - maybe the inversion following the cobra roll, but I hear people complain about the very final roll but I think it’s a pretty smooth and hang time filled element!

 

[flyingguitar]

I always wondered what were gertslauer thinking when they decided to profile the exit of the cobra roll like that??? If it were profiled the same as the entry, it probably would be a relatively smooth element

I think it has gotten more and more sharp over time, it still doesn't looks perfect but it doesn't look much better than it currently is and I think it could do with either retracking or reprofiling.

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlIp9T7KUh0