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The Smiler: What does the future hold?

I have to agree with Jonny, X-Sector feels so empty without the music, lights & noise of the trains on the track. The whole area just looks & feels dreadful, half expected a tumble weed to roll past when I was there.

That area of the park used to be ram packed & felt so lively, the atmosphere just felt "magical";).
 
I really do hope they take the opportunity to rename it. I still think 'The Smiler' bloody awful and just doesn't work or fit. I'm pretty sure they won't though, they'll just quietly reopen it in exactly he same state it was the day before the incident. That'll be once the health and safety report is published publicly stating the measures now in place mean it could never happen again, not too much the press or public would be able to say about it then.
 
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Someone posted something a few days ago and I can't find the link. It was some kind of statement but the link wouldn't open. Anyone know what it was?!
 
On both of my visits since the crash, there has been a point where all 3 rides in x-sector were closed simultaneously. On the first time the smiler was closed for obvious reasons, enterprise was down all day, and finally after being the only operating ride in x-sector, oblivion went down for the final hour. Yesterday was similar. Smiler was all day, enterprise lasted until about 4pm and stayed down, oblivion went within 40 minutes of enterprise. The whole of x-sector is struggling without the smiler and the atmosphere is being killed by the silence. They have the speakers, why can't they just play oblivion's music.
 
pluk said:
I really do hope they take the opportunity to rename it. I still think 'The Smiler' bloody awful and just doesn't work or fit. I'm pretty sure they won't though, they'll just quietly reopen it in exactly he same state it was the day before the incident. That'll be once the health and safety report is published publicly stating the measures now in place mean it could never happen again, not too much the press or public would be able to say about it then.
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I think the theme and name is at serious risk of being eradicated. They may just throw it open to sponsorship 'The ___ Rollercoaster' or '____ the Ride'. Now they may have trouble finding a company that would want to sponsor it, but the advantage would be that the park wouldn't be seen as trying to re-brand it to someone else themselves. I could certainly be wrong but my hunch is that it won't reopen as the Smiler, with the sinister theme and music it had before.
 
I think The smiler will 100% keep the name and the brand! And so it should. What I don't get is people saying it was ok to have a creepy feel to make you feel like you was in danger..... But then the accident happened. And now that the ride is "dangerous" it shouldn't have a creepy feel about it.

When the ride is open again, it is going to be completely safe! And Towers are going to have to back their baby and by keeping the name and theme shows they are confident and supportive of it.

This logic doesn't make sense to me.
 
Ash123uk said:
I think The smiler will 100% keep the name and the brand! And so it should. What I don't get is people saying it was ok to have a creepy feel to make you feel like you was in danger..... But then the accident happened. And now that the ride is "dangerous" it shouldn't have a creepy feel about it.

When the ride is open again, it is going to be completely safe! And Towers are going to have to back their baby and by keeping the name and theme shows they are confident and supportive of it.

This logic doesn't make sense to me.
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The logic is obvious. The ride will not be popular when it reopens, rebranding my be seen as a way to mitigate that.
 
Walking into X-Sector and hearing the music, likewise when queuing with the ride zooming over your head, gave a good buzz. Sort of music that stays in your head for days no matter how much you like/dislike it.
 
@Tom ^ but potentially also an opportunity for the press/public to suggest that Alton Towers are trying to cover up what occurred - I also imagine finding a company who wants to associate their brand with that attraction fairly unlikely. It's not the same as when a tragic accident occurs and a ride is sold, repainted and presented as new elsewhere, it's a massively iconic ride and thanks to this accident, it'll always be The Smiler or "that ride where the people lost their legs" whatever its called.

Also, if the reports from today turn out to be correct (as I think many of us have thought all along) and it was indeed human error, that does indeed let the ride itself off the hook somewhat.
 
Rick said:
@Tom ^ but potentially also an opportunity for the press/public to suggest that Alton Towers are trying to cover up what occurred - I also imagine finding a company who wants to associate their brand with that attraction fairly unlikely. It's not the same as when a tragic accident occurs and a ride is sold, repainted and presented as new elsewhere, it's a massively iconic ride and thanks to this accident, it'll always be The Smiler or "that ride where the people lost their legs" whatever its called.

Also, if the reports from today turn out to be correct (as I think many of us have thought all along) and it was indeed human error, that does indeed let the ride itself off the hook somewhat.
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I do agree, however I still think that their priority will be to mitigate against the loss of interest/trust as much as possible. It was built to attract and retain guests as is any ride. However their strategy may well be to reopen and let interest rebuild naturally. That said, I still think that there will be at the very least superficial/token changes to the ride as we know it.
 
I am absolutely certain that if it does reopen as The Smiler, the current theme will be watered down. For example, I would bet my annual salary on the audio/videos including "The Smiler will marmalise your body and mind" being removed
 
The name, music (possibly quieter) and some of the taglines should stay. Of all the rides though (from a theme point of view) the smiler is arguably the worst. Hearing "its time to get corrected" just before what happened is really bad in pr terms. Also tour body being "marmalised" could be called inappropriate now as with the laughing music, however that could be fixed by swapping the shop music with the ride music (u believe it isnt as bad)
 
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