Which of Alton's coasters has the worst name?

[Harv]

This kind of sounds downbeat but I was wondering which one of Alton's coasters has the worst name, in the community's opinion?

Personally, I feel that Rita is the weakest name; it lacks cohesion and is out of place with the area and theme.

 

[Anonymous]

The Smiler.

 

[pritchardavid]

I'd say its got to be 'Sonic Spinball'
It's the only coaster with a IP name on it, seems out of place to me.

EDIT: Nope I have actually changed my mind
I'm now goanna say Runaway Mine Train, it's just too generic. Type Mine Train into a search engine you find lot of rides called 'Mine Train' or very similar. It should not have the words 'Mine Train' in it.

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

I'd have to say Rita, if I'm being honest.

It doesn't really mean anything, especially with its stupid retheme.

 

[WillG]

The last time Alton opened a coaster with a name which was neither cringeworthy nor confusing was in the 1990s.
Spinball Whizzer (or any other number of variations on the name as improvised by the general public) was bad enough, but the sponsorship deal a few years back somehow made it still worse and perhaps decreased my own interest in an already mediocre ride.

But... nothing is as stupid as the name 'Rita' and hopefully nothing ever will be - most of the others I've grown to either like or accept, but after nearly 10 years, Rita still grates on me every bit as much as its restraints do.

 

[John]

Rita is a staggeringly bad name from every possible angle. I hated it back in the Ug Land days with the awkward "Queen of Speed" tagged on, but in the Dark Forest it's completely nonsensical.

The re-theme was a perfect excuse to ditch the abomination of a name but they bottled it and somehow managed to make it worse, along with pretty much everything else about the ride in the process.

 

[Alastair]

Definitely Rita. The only coaster whose name has no relevance whatsoever to the ride. It baffles me how they came up with the name in the first place to be honest.

 

[Rob]

The Smiler.

Seeing as you gave no explanation, I would be interested to know why you think The Smiler, which has relevance to the theme of the ride, is a worse name than Rita, which has no relevance to the theme of the coaster or the area that it is in?

I personally feel that Rita is the worst name of all the coasters at Towers. It just doesn't make sense, has no link whatsoever to the Dark Forest theme and is just uninspiring. They really should have given Rita a new name in 2010.

 

[Martin]

The Smiler.

Say what you like about Rita (which I do), but at least they attempted to give it a personality. The Smiler just makes no sense and has a the in it.

It's pretty close like, Rita is barely any better and ThThirteenTeen comes close too. Sonic Spinball I can take, that's ok. while RMT isn't good nor bad. Air, Oblivion and nemesis are fantastic names.

 

[Bear]

Rita was a disabled old woman who ran a corner shop where I used to live...

 

[Ted]

Rita.

With Smiler's name, it sounds really ridiculous but it suits in with the theme. Where as Rita's had no connection at all with UG Land and is just as not fitting as it is in Dark Forest.

I like the other names, Sonic Spinball obviously comes from the game of the same name so you can't blame Alton for it. And all the other's names are 100% fitting and/or just sound fantastic.

 

[Lottie.]

Rita.

I can only reiterate what others have said. No relevance to the theme/area and it's not exactly the most imaginative name in the world. :S

 

[Fredward]

Runaway mine train if I want to be difficult and pedantic, runaway in the sense of a small child running away from home getting scared after a minute and running straight back.

Though that is just my attempt (probably unsuccessfully) at being witty. So not entirely serious.

I hated Rita, Th13teen and The Smiler when they all were announced, but less as I got used to saying it.

 

[BigAl]

It was between The Smiler, Th13teen and Rita for me, but Rita in the end. It's just utterly meaningless and lends itself to nothing. The Smiler and Th13teen sound awful but at least they link with aspects of their themes, even if they are extremely obvious and don't really take your mind further (think of the connotations that names like Oblivion and Nemesis have).

 

[TomLad]

Obviously Rita.

 

[TheMan]

Here to defend The Smiler!

Makes sense, and without that name the frankly EPIC after ride:

"YOU BELONG TO THE SMILER" wouldn't exist!

I didn't really mind the name at first, didn't like the theme, and I wasn't a big fan of the ride either, or the queue (which on the whole, I still really don't like at all).

However, The Marmaliser, The Smiler, cheesy as you like - yet remarkably does manage to squeeze some sinister into there!

Can't imagine it called anything else now! And it does make you smile! (be a darn near perfect coaster if they ironed out those horrendous jolts in the track).

 

[Shockadelica]

Obviously going against the general opinion here, but I actually think Rita is a superb name for a rollercoaster.

Just the audacity of it, to be honest - it is an utterly unique name. And given the tendency to name cars after females as many males do, it makes perfect sense for its original idea of drag racing.

Think Rita Hayworth rather than Rita Sullivan

My vote, however, went for Th13teen. Love the ride, but don't like the unoriginality of using the 13 instead of some of the letters. It's been done to death before with various titles of films/books etc with numbers in them. It also generally makes little sense to the ride, other than being unlucky.

 

[Novas]

It's a close one between Th13teen and Rita, but Th13teen gets the vote as I still have to look up the abomination that is its quirky 'spelling' whenever I write it in a post.

 

[Lurker]

RMT, too many parks have a ride with the same name.

 

[DiogoJ42]

The use of numerals in place of letters is far warse in all of The Smiler's signage than it is in ThONETHREEteen's name. That alone is enough reason to hate the ride for me.