Re: Alton Towers | The Smiler | Unknown Gerstlauer World's 1
Right back and with a fair pictures...
It's hard to put into pictures the shear scale of the ride. It's such a towering mass of twisted metal that delves deep into the ground. When the area is finished and opened up, this is going to be incredible to look at... Ride, maybe not so much, but look at
Here's the twisted mass:
I loved the way the did a cheeky snip out of the toilet roof to make it fit :lol:
No sign of either lift hill yet and the section above the toilets doesn't seem to have changed for weeks. I do love the way it's supported to straddle the toilet block, so crap

:
This probably gives some idea of the scale of the ride. Standing under the "drops", you can see the ride fading off into the distance with the interlocked elements fading into the background:
Here's that really weird corkscrew type of thing. It's fantastic the way it twists around itself. This is going to cross the brakes before the second lift too. Really got no idea where it's coming from/going to though - you just can't follow the track layout. I love the deep "pit" this section is going into as well:
Coming from the right here, you can see the inverted "drop", which looks like it'll have an inline twist before it meets that next section of track. The thing is just so amazing to look at...
Finally, the station building is HUGE. You can see the steps inside and just a flash of the yellow of the airgates which have already been installed. There's a bridge over the track too. The station building is from the floor of the excavated area up to where you can see there and it's going to be a spacious three floor building (including loading area), but it's easily 5 or 6 "stories" high:
Very impressive looking coaster, and you get a real idea of just how "deep" X-Sector is looking down into the pit The Smiler sits in. It's a huge coaster for the space, and there's so much metal in there it's hard to really comprehend.
So yeah, it looks fantastic in the flesh and I don't care how badly it rides, it's a superb addition.
Full album here:
http://www.coasterforce.com/my-cf/furie ... lbumid=261