The Smiler: time to turn the music off

[Poisson]

I see two issues:

1) Either they have turned the music volume up, or the speakers have been slowly destroyed over the years - the current experience is ear splitting though. The music clips horrendously on some of the speakers, particularly the one in the far right corner and the one on the outer corner edge of the station. It's quite simply a poor sound system that worsens an already very heavily compressed score.

2) IIRC IMAScore delivered 90 minutes of music for The Smiler, yet the park continually use only a fraction of this for the area loop. There needs to be more of this used with a lot more dynamic range variety. As it is, you hear the same sections over and over and over - even when only queueing for a short while.

Echoing the thoughts of others though, I too will avoid The Smiler nowadays but in the case of a very small queue or the occasional single rider. It's simply a misery to stand in the pit and endure not only the obnoxiously loud music crackling through speakers on their last legs, but the noise of the actual ride itself.

90 minutes will include area loop (45), downstairs (10), station (10), Exit Corridor (10) and probably all the other bits like announcement idents and the Phil Sayer Halfway Corrected I would guess

 

[Slugjc]

I think The Smiler was such an opportunity missed. Nothing about it fits. From the theming, to the queue line. Which is a shame, as I like the ride itself.

I think they missed a trick with the theming. They didn't make it creepy enough. It's too clean and modern. Nice lines. Too 2012. It needed to have an abandoned, Arkham asylum type feel. The ministry of joy worked in the house. Old run down institute. This..........no.

You have the bones there. Oblivion is themed on creepy government institute. Brainwashing people into being used a test subjects. Join the rides. Create a story based on that. Create a new land called THE MINISTRY OF JOY. The theme tune should have been more classical, creepy and calming all at the same time.

To bring it back to topic, god yes turn it down. Isolated on a video on YouTube. Fantastic. In the car and Spotify randomly plays it. Boom. Stretched over a 90min wait time, in a cattle pen. No. I remember in 2013 when I joined the queue for the first time, I was disappointed with the whole production and I thought there was no need for it be that loud. It adds nothing and actually doesn't fit.