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The Smiler: What does the future hold?
- Thread starter Rob
- Start date
That's the problem. Most of the gp don't have a brain. Yes, we know it's safe. Some intelligent people know it's safe...
...But how often have you herd someone say "that rides not safe" "they should close that park" "WHY DO YOU GO THERE?! ITS A DEATH TRAP!!"
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
As Scott says it depends how long it takes for the HSE report to be published. I am unsure of the order of how these things work, but will the HSE publish their report before they prosecute? I they do then it wouldn't be as long to wait than after if they only published it after a prosecution.
I don't think Towers will ever say themselves exactly what happened and as I expect the overall finding to be that of human error I don't know how much detail an HSE report is likely to go into regarding this (as in would it be fair on the people involved?). Towers could say something like "we now have a full understanding of what went wrong and have done a, b and c to ensure that it can never happen again". I don't see why they couldn't do that before an HSE report. At the end of the day their reputation can't be harmed any more than it is right now. I can't think prolonging it all even longer will help long term performance. I suppose it depends how much of a financial hit Merlin are prepared to take with Towers and for how long.
James
TS Founding Member
That's the problem. Most of the gp don't have a brain. Yes, we know it's safe. Some intelligent people know it's safe...
...But how often have you herd someone say "that rides not safe" "they should close that park" "WHY DO YOU GO THERE?! ITS A DEATH TRAP!!"
I agree... and I've fell into several debates/slight arguments with several people about Towers, theme parks and safety since the crash.
Although those people who say it isn't safe are those who are probably not going to the park now, or planning to at all for the foreseeable future. So in terms of opening The Smiler they literally have nothing to lose and most people have already come to a conclusion now that Towers is a death trap, or Towers is safe.
I don't think opening The Smiler now or soon (assuming they can of course) would do any more damage to the park. I suspect they won't open it because they (Merlin) think they owe it to the GB public to wait until they can announce what the cause was and what steps have been taken to prevent it from happening again. Personally I don't think it matters as it will be bad press either way.
AliceHL91
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis, Oblivion
To be honest it doesn't mean they're stupid, it means they have no knowledge of the park other than what's being rammed down their throats by the media, which isn't their fault.That's the problem. Most of the gp don't have a brain. Yes, we know it's safe. Some intelligent people know it's safe...
...But how often have you herd someone say "that rides not safe" "they should close that park" "WHY DO YOU GO THERE?! ITS A DEATH TRAP!!"
People are getting brainwashed in this country left right and centre thanks to the journalism industry, and not just about this, about everything.
So as much as I hate to defend them the GP are not all stupid they're just misinformed.
I didn't actually say that they were stupid, but yes, I think people complaining about things they don't know much about really annoys me.
At least if they were to open it now, they would get back the people who aren't going because their favourite ride is closed.
Matt Creek
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
I don't expect Smiler to reopen anytime soon. It will most certainly be a 2016 opening and even then I'd. be surprised if it opened from day one.
When/if the ride reopens as a result, I don't think it'll ever run five trains ever again (maybe even four) and as a result will be run on noticeably lower throughout.
Whilst I don't think it'll retain the popularity it had before the accident, if it gets over hour queues, it'll be down to throughput over popularity. I'm also sure once again there will be Oblivion for FHT too partly to do with this.
When/if the ride reopens as a result, I don't think it'll ever run five trains ever again (maybe even four) and as a result will be run on noticeably lower throughout.
Whilst I don't think it'll retain the popularity it had before the accident, if it gets over hour queues, it'll be down to throughput over popularity. I'm also sure once again there will be Oblivion for FHT too partly to do with this.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
The same incident could have happened with The Smiler running three or four trains. There's no reason why it wouldn't be able to run five trains again.
Croftybaby
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Thinking about Damage limitation. If the company are not going to go for a full rebrand then I think they should consider a reopening towards the end of the season. My thinking is that when it does re-open then it will again be in the headlines so if they did it next year at the start, or worse, mid-season then it will have another negative impact (refreshing memories.) If they open it in the last few weeks of the season then they can get the media out of the way with no impact on visitors as they will be closing for winter anyway. They can then start a fresh next season.
Yes, I completely agree with that apart from one thing
Don't know how to get around it, but wouldn't this impact the fireworks, one of their busiest times?
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
AndrewH
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
But it might remind people of the 'safety problems' at the park who might have forgotten.
I disagree.
At the moment, the accident is still very fresh in peoples minds. Only two days ago was that poor young girl on the tv missing a leg, and a few weeks prior to that, her boyfriend. The H&S report hasn't yet been published and if Alton open it too soon, it will to some extent say to the public "oh well, the accident happened, we dont have the full reason as to why yet, but we are going to open it anyway now". Keeping it closed shows the public that (a) they do seriously care about the people it injured, nearly killed and that (b) they wont rush into reopening it until the findings of the H&S have been studied and changes implemented.
Personally, I think it should remain closed all this year, and open for next season.
At the moment, the accident is still very fresh in peoples minds. Only two days ago was that poor young girl on the tv missing a leg, and a few weeks prior to that, her boyfriend. The H&S report hasn't yet been published and if Alton open it too soon, it will to some extent say to the public "oh well, the accident happened, we dont have the full reason as to why yet, but we are going to open it anyway now". Keeping it closed shows the public that (a) they do seriously care about the people it injured, nearly killed and that (b) they wont rush into reopening it until the findings of the H&S have been studied and changes implemented.
Personally, I think it should remain closed all this year, and open for next season.
Personally I don't think this is a reason not to open The Smiler, it will be at least several years until people stop associating Alton Towers with 'that crash' - especially after the widespread media coverage. For many seasons to come the incident will still be in people's minds.
The only reason to keep it closed is in respect for the victims. Whilst it would be least damaging for the brand to open The Smiler towards the end of this season, there is a big difference psychologically between opening it 'in the same year' as the incident as oppose to the next year, hence why I think a 2016 re-opening is the most likely.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Chances are the HSE report won't have been finished by the start of next season either. So using that analogy they would face the same problem.
It could work the other way though. The longer it is closed the more that people may think that Alton Towers don't know what went wrong and there is a risk of things going wrong on other rides. I think the majority of people with common sense will know that the ride will only re-open when Alton Towers know it is totally safe. So by re-opening the ride it demonstrates that they understand what went wrong and have implemented measures to prevent it from ever happening again.
I'm sure Alton Towers knew what went wrong in the days after the incident. There are some people that are going to be put off from Alton Towers full stop; opening The Smiler this season, next season or in five seasons time won't make a difference to them. This season cannot get any worse for the park, they have nothing to lose by opening it this season if they are in a position to do so. It's going to have been closed for over 3 months at least, that is a long time. It's not going to look like they've rushed it open again with little thought over what happened.