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Which of Alton Towers’ coasters is roughest?

Which of Alton Towers’ coasters is roughest?

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Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
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Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Hi guys. Over in the Nemesis Reborn thread, a little debate has been ensuing about the ride’s newfound rattle and the roughness of Alton Towers’ coasters in general. With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; which of Alton Towers’ coasters do you find roughest?

In general, I wouldn’t say that Alton Towers has any coasters that are overly rough, personally. Overall, I think the park’s coaster lineup is pretty smooth compared to that of many parks. Even as someone who doesn’t have a terribly high tolerance for roughness, I wouldn’t say that Alton has any coasters that are horrendously rough.

However, if I had to pick, I’d probably go for either The Smiler, or perhaps controversially, Spinball Whizzer.

I think most would agree that The Smiler has its rougher moments even on a “good” run (the 12th and 13th inversions come to mind!). And on a bad one, I think it can be quite rough and uncomfortable.

I never really hear people mention Spinball Whizzer in terms of roughness, so I apologise if it’s a controversial nominee, but I do find it pretty rough/jerky at times. Some of the brakes in particular are very harsh, and I have found that it can bash you around a fair amount. I found Dragon’s Fury to be similar when I rode that last September, although the less twisted layout of Dragon’s Fury perhaps made it not quite as bad on there.

With that in mind, I think I’d go for an undecided vote for now, as I think I’d struggle to pick between the two. As said, though, I don’t think any of Alton’s coasters are horrendously rough, in the grand scheme of things.

But I’d be keen to know; which of Alton Towers’ coasters do you think is roughest?
EDIT: I can’t seem to add enough options for an “undecided” box, sorry… as I can sense that Smiler might get a fair amount of votes, I’ll vote for Spinball Whizzer to be different!
 
Inversion 12 is so bad and gets worse every year. 13 and 14 are bad as it seems slow through them. Only time I hold on while riding The Smiler. I always seem to come off with shoulder pain or cuts to my shoulders where the restraints dig in.

Spinball and Rita are ok for me. Rest of them are enjoyable and comfortable rides.
 
The first two that come to mind are The Smiler and Rita. The Smiler for the 12th and 13th inversions like you said, and Rita can be a little rough on its first turn and hill, but not bad at all.

I agree with you, none of the rides at Alton seem to be ‘rough’, all of them are arguably quite smooth!
 
For me it's got to be Rita, this is quite a subjective reason though, I'm a little over the height restriction so my shoulders and chest are hard-pressed into those restraints so I feel every little jolt and those corners wipe me out, leaves me with bruises so I never ride it anymore.
Which is ashame it was my first ever rollercoaster at Alton towers and I loved it when I was a bit shorter.

If it wasn't for that I'd say spinball but it's kinda designed to be a whippersnapper.
 
Alton Towers are a pretty good park for smooth ride experiences, there’s only 2 or 3 you could maybe pick out. The Smiler has a vibration on the train and there are jolts here and there, Rita is let down by it’s restraints and Wicker Man is a woodie so some shake rattle and roll is to be expected. But overall most of these are minor issues and overall the park has quite a good collection of smooth fun coasters. There isn’t an Infusion or Hero to be seen.
 
Smiler for me too, but it varies depending on the day, what train I’m in, where I’m sat, the weather, whether the stars have aligned etc as to how rough any given ride on it will be.

I don’t think saying spinball is rough is controversial, I’ve seen people say that before. Personally I find whilst it does throw me about a bit, it’s not really what I would consider rough.

On the whole though the coasters at Towers are smooth compared to what you get at other parks.
 
See I might be one of the very few who has not really had any major discomfort on The Smiler like everyone says, aside from the 12th and 13th inversions which can be slightly jarring at times.
Rita almost always gives me head rattle and leaves me with sore ears and a headache afterwards. Sadly it's a ride I will skip nowadays if the queue is anything over 20-30 mins.
 
I was of the mindset that nothing was really too bad about The Smiler despite what people were saying, as previous rides have always been okay for me. Front left seat a couple of weeks ago changed my mind completely. It was awful, jolty and quite juddery... I may have been on the squeaky train, I'm not sure. I'd put it on-par with what I remember Corkscrew feeling like. I still like it though.

Nemesis Reborn on Saturday (6th) actually felt rougher for me too, it's not unpleasant by any means, but I was expecting it to be smoother from what I've been hearing recently, and I think they were actually my roughest rides on it so far.
 
caffeinesplash said:
I was of the mindset that nothing was really too bad about The Smiler despite what people were saying, as previous rides have always been okay for me. Front left seat a couple of weeks ago changed my mind completely. It was awful, jolty and quite juddery... I may have been on the squeaky train, I'm not sure. I'd put it on-par with what I remember Corkscrew feeling like. I still like it though.
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I think the inside seats are smother than the outside ones in Smiler, I ride it for the first time in 2022 and got a front middle seat (I think, anyway), and it was glass smooth for me. Should get to ride it again in August and October (missed out last Scarefest), so we'll see. I'm preparing myself for it potentially to not be as smooth as my first ride.
 
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idleross said:
What is it that actually contributes to the roughness of a ride? Like is it the train, the track, the restraint type etc
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quite a few things, the track design, the profiling of the track (the shape of the track), also the train design, for instance if they have sprung wheel assemblies (presses wheels into rails, and can prevent a jolt when going through air time) even the wheel compounds, similar to F1 rollercoasters have differnt compounds varing from harder (more bumpy) compounds that lose less speed throughout the layout (smiler apparently use harder wheels) to softer and even winter and summer wheel compounds.
edit: also more of the train design for instance the position and spacing of the wheels, position of riders there is a large amount of variables that may make a ride rough
 
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