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The Smiler - your thoughts?

Hahaha... Gerstlauer.

I wish stuff like this actually seemed to impact manufacturers. But it's a bit like the pound shop. You might as well risk it being awful for the cost. :lol:


As for you Ben, yeah... The Vekoma flyers are better than the B&M ones, yup! :p

Or would be, if they didn't hurt and weren't an operational nightmare!

If B&M made a flying coaster which started on your back, it would be AMAZING! It's not comfortable to hang!
 
People are over exaggerating (as per usual) about how bad it was today. I was there, let's have a run down shall we?

Massive queue stretching up through Alton of cars to get in (AKA it's going to be busy as ****)

Get to ticket area - signs everywhere: Smiler closed (bum holes)

Get to Forbidden Valley - 50 minute queue for Nemesis (single rider instead ;]), Air closed.

Duel - No queue

Rapids - No queue

Flume- estimated 50 minute queue, actual queue 20 mins

Terrible service by stupid woman at the pasty stand, queued a while to get served. Noticed Oblivion wasn't operating, decide to head to guest services as this just isn't good enough.

Appears to be massive queue for guest services but sufficiently staffed, seen within 10 minutes and bagged some good stuff for the inconvenience.

Splash Battle - no queue, amazing fun.

Thirteen - estimated 90 minute queue, actual queue 30 mins

Rita - estimated 90 minute queue, actual queue 45 mins

Back over to Forbidden Valley - get in queue for Air, breaks down. With all of this, estimated 90 minute queue is actually only 30 mins.

Nemesis rerides, 10 mins per queue including front.

So all in all although the park looked busy and things WERE broken it was actually not that bad a day at all, I think my end ride count was about 17 by the end of the day, which I don't think is bad at all for a park as large as Alton where you have to travel from one end of the park to the other to ride everything. Shame about The Smiler, but nothing could be done, the only thing that really pissed us off was Oblivion being down.
 
sparky2u said:
I would suggest to use water dummies of full weight every morning say from 9am to get all the lube / wheels / oil etc warmed up so it should not "valley" between any inversions come opening time at 10am, or change the wheel compound so it runs a bit faster.
Click to expand...

Oh gosh no way.. Water dummies are so heavy and are the most inconvenient things to deal with... EVER. I've filled them and manoeuvred them into seats on Vampire at Chessington and its only really used during pre-season test as it takes a good solid hour to get a whole train loaded + another to drain and remove. Its not practical for daily checks at all.
 
I'm a little *hung up* on The Smiler.

laughing4.gif
 
If they need to test with dummies, then they need to test with dummies. They don't need to load the whole train with them, surely? They can't keep letting this happen. It's ridiculous. It's also going to cause problems when the park is quiet, if they really need a full train to stop it from valleying...

I wonder why Alton was busy at all yesterday... It shouldn't have been. Should have been dead. It sounds like it wasn't THAT busy, just looked it because every guest was there to do the same thing... But still.
 
nadroJ said:
Shame about The Smiler, but nothing could be done, the only thing that really pissed us off was Oblivion being down.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling that due to the crane requiring access to Smiler was the primary reason why they closed off X-Sector entirely, since the entrance for that is under Oblivion's brake run...

Unfortunate yes, but required...


EDIT - They've been testing with dummies this morning according to TowersStreet...
 
Nemesis Inferno said:
nadroJ said:
Shame about The Smiler, but nothing could be done, the only thing that really pissed us off was Oblivion being down.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling that due to the crane requiring access to Smiler was the primary reason why they closed off X-Sector entirely, since the entrance for that is under Oblivion's brake run...

Unfortunate yes, but required...
Click to expand...

It does make you wonder what happened in the planning discussions..

"Right, so if we need to access the ride with a crane to drag it through if it valleys, what will that entail?"

"The entire of X-Sector would have to be closed"

"That's a pretty major thing. Four rides down and an entire section. What are we donig to ensure it's not going to happen very often?"

"We've bought a Gerstlauer!"

"And we've no experience anywhere else in the Merlin chain of Gerstlauer coasters valleying regularly?"

"Nope, not that we can think of. Absolutely not at Thorpe Park a few times a month at all... Ever..."

"That's fine then, as long as we're clear that buying a coaster type that we have experience in the group of it failing that will cause us to shut down entire parts of the park would be A VERY BAD THING"

"Yes"

"get building!"
 
I have been proven wrong.. According to TowersTimes, they've loaded a half train full of dummies. I guess being a smaller train, it makes the whole process more feasible. Apologies for being totes wrong in relation to the Smiler.
 
nadroJ said:
Appears to be massive queue for guest services but sufficiently staffed, seen within 10 minutes and bagged some good stuff for the inconvenience.
Click to expand...

Going to tell us what 'good stuff' is? ;)

furie said:
It does make you wonder what happened in the planning discussions..

"Right, so if we need to access the ride with a crane to drag it through if it valleys, what will that entail?"

"The entire of X-Sector would have to be closed"

"That's a pretty major thing. Four rides down and an entire section. What are we donig to ensure it's not going to happen very often?"

"We've bought a Gerstlauer!"

"And we've no experience anywhere else in the Merlin chain of Gerstlauer coasters valleying regularly?"

"Nope, not that we can think of. Absolutely not at Thorpe Park a few times a month at all... Ever..."

"That's fine then, as long as we're clear that buying a coaster type that we have experience in the group of it failing that will cause us to shut down entire parts of the park would be A VERY BAD THING"

"Yes"

"get building!"
Click to expand...

This has made my day, and I thank you for that Furie.

At least it wasn't too bad, up and running again today...although air be broken
 
[quote At least it wasn't too bad, up and running again today...although air be broken[/quote]

Why is "Air" broken, what part/s have failed, hope it gets fixed by the 20th June as thats when i'm visiting the park.
 
Nemesis Inferno said:
nadroJ said:
Shame about The Smiler, but nothing could be done, the only thing that really pissed us off was Oblivion being down.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling that due to the crane requiring access to Smiler was the primary reason why they closed off X-Sector entirely, since the entrance for that is under Oblivion's brake run...

Unfortunate yes, but required...


EDIT - They've been testing with dummies this morning according to TowersStreet...
Click to expand...

Nope, according to another forum it's definitely just to save face so people don't see the ride has valleyed.
 
I dunno why seeing a valleyed coaster would matter. They don't hide coasters the second they break down on a lift, and the public wouldn't know the difference.

It's predominantly so they can get a crane in to pull it through, almost definitely.

What a nightmare of a ride to pull through, too. :p
 
Joey said:
I dunno why seeing a valleyed coaster would matter. They don't hide coasters the second they break down on a lift, and the public wouldn't know the difference.

It's predominantly so they can get a crane in to pull it through, almost definitely.

What a nightmare of a ride to pull through, too. :p
Click to expand...

Precisely. Can't imagine they'd have wanted the big crowds trying to get down to the area, or Oblivion running underneath a crane spreading it's load to lift the train.
 
I want to know from anyone who finds Saw as painful as me, if this is the same? I'm not talking about head-banging roughness, more along the lines of that awful juddering at the bottom of most elements...
 
No, although I found Smiler very rough, it was just normal track roughness and one moment of major headbanging. None of the 'shakes your brain in your skull' stuff that Saw does to me. Saw's the only thing that I've ever found to do that.
 
Saw on Sunday was really smooth apart from the last corner.

Maybe Gler coasters are just over sensitive to temperature, weight and god knows what else.

Been riding Saw for years and tbh on Sunday was the best ride I've ever had on it, even got loads of airtime.

Strange coasters these lol.
 
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