The Smiler vs Colossus; which of the UK’s inversion record breakers do you prefer?

[JAperson]

I really hope you’re making a joke here, cabin crew have a difficult enough job without dealing with “I like to have a moan for the sake of it” passengers …

Colossus is absolutely fine, if slightly rough. Between my family group we are a vast range of body types and have never struggled

I was joking @tayspru ! I didn't mean to offend you. I would never moan to the cabin crew or any employ or any company just for the sake of it. Please accept my apologies.
Edit: just wanted to clarify that I will not make jokes that are so misinterpreted in future. I cannot seem to be able to make jokes without offending someone so I will refrain from making any that could be read wrong or could be inferred to mean something else.

 

[Rob]

For me the Colossus trains are fine once you are sat down (although lap bars would be preferable). It is trying to get in and out of them that is a real struggle; or even worse, trying to get across the train to put a bag in the storeage. Very poorly designed!

 

[Matt N]

See, I find economy seats on aeroplanes fine in terms of legroom myself (5’9.5” here), but I find Colossus quite hard to get into because especially at the back, I find you have to do a fair bit of crouching and wiggling about to get seated comfortably; there really isn’t much legroom at all in the back of a car for me. I don’t exactly have long legs, and I can only just fit my knees behind the seat in front when I’m sat in the back. As @Rob said, I think it’s mainly the getting in and out for me, but someone taller than myself might find that they have to straddle their knees in a rather awkward fashion to fit their legs in comfortably (I’ve certainly seen plenty of taller people needing to do this on Colossus), which I can imagine is quite uncomfortable. Given that I, who isn’t particularly tall and has doesn’t have especially long legs, can only just fit my knees behind the seat in front, I can certainly imagine that someone taller might struggle, and given that my height is fairly beatable, particularly among men, that bracket encompasses a lot of people!

Is it possible you may have sat at the front of a car @tayspru? I only ask because the front has far more legroom; I have no issues whatsoever with getting into the front of a Colossus car. The front is fine.

In terms of roughness; could your height possibly explain why you find it less rough? I only ask because on rides with OTSRs, your shoulders tend to hit the top of the restraint once you’re above a certain height, limiting the degree to which you can move about in them and thus limiting headbanging.

I don’t know if anyone tall can back me up here (not being particularly tall myself, there’s always a gap of at least a good few inches between my shoulders and the top of the OTSR, even on notoriously tall-hating restraints like Colossus’ and Rita/Stealth’s), but to give you an example; I notice this whenever I ride Saw with my dad. I’m only 5’9”-5’10”, so still have a bit of space within the OTSR, whereas he’s 6’6” and has his shoulders locked into the OTSR quite tightly, so there’s a good 8 or 9 inches of height difference between us, and different degrees of freedom within the OTSR. Saw bangs my head about a fair bit even when it’s not running too badly, and if it’s running really badly, I can sometimes come off with an absolute pounder of a headache, whereas my dad remarks that he finds it fine, and says about how lovely and smooth it is!

 

[Tom]

Colossus as it is much better (i.e. actually) landscaped with vegetation and loose theming. It has also aged a lot better in 19 years than The Smiler did in three.

They are both rough, but Colossus doesn't induce discomfort which borders on resentment in the same way The Smiler does.

 

[John]

Intamin have a long and proud history of making horrible trains. It's only in the past few years that they've started producing trains that show even the slightest hint of understanding of ergonomics.

Colossus was the first ride to get the then-new generation of looping coaster trains and they were not without their problems - they had to be modified within a couple of years of the ride opening as people were able to get their legs over the side of the car. As a short term fix they added a metal plate to the sides of the cars, then the original restraints were replaced with much bulkier ones still in use today. In short, the restraints are horrible by design. Presumably it would have been slightly easier to cross the train before the restraints were changed but it would probably never have been a simple task. The narrow station design didn't help matters either - the offload platform has always been too cramped.

All that said, I'm something of a Colossus apologist - It's probably my 2nd favourite coaster at Thorpe despite its many faults. Purely in terms of layout I prefer Smiler but I'd say Colossus is the better attraction overall - Smiler loses a LOT of points on account of how terrible it is in almost every other aspect.

 

[John_P]

Hard to decide, can visit both Thorpe and Alton and have a perfectly good day without going on either of them.

 

[Matt N]

Hard to decide, can visit both Thorpe and Alton and have a perfectly good day without going on either of them.

As sad as it sounds, I'll admit I concur with this; both are far from my favourite coasters within their respective parks, even though I personally rank Smiler vastly higher than I rank Colossus based on my most recent experience with both.

 

[MaxPower]

The Smiler because it's not at Thorpe Park.

They're both pretty bad but I much prefer the branding of the Smiler.

 

[andeyhart]

Smiler far better for me. The layout is more interesting, it's more fun to ride, and I've never found it remotely rough.

Having said that, I certainly don't hate Colossus either.