Is Alton Towers' Smiler really that bad?

[DelPiero]

Yes, it's awful now. The only good row is front, which you can never guarantee. All other rows are rattly and the massive jolts are still there. The restraints are absolutely disgusting as well, they all smell of puke.

It's dead to me, I won't be riding it again and it's fallen into the realms of Arrow Corkscrew coasters.

 

[owentaylor121]

Yes, it's awful now. The only good row is front, which you can never guarantee. All other rows are rattly and the massive jolts are still there. The restraints are absolutely disgusting as well, they all smell of puke.

It's dead to me, I won't be riding it again and it's fallen into the realms of Arrow Corkscrew coasters.

It's nowhere near that bad at all. The new train runs like a dream and the other 3 are nowhere near as bad as your making out. The Arrow coasters are far worse.

 

[DelPiero]

It's nowhere near that bad at all. The new train runs like a dream and the other 3 are nowhere near as bad as your making out. The Arrow coasters are far worse.

I haven't ridden the new train then, and if I have, then it's just as bad. There are boomerangs I would rather re ride than this, therefore in my opinion, it's a steaming pile of cow dung.

 

[Howie]

I like it. <ducks for cover>

I don't love it, but I like it quite a lot. It's fun.
It's a shame that the second half is almost identical to the first half, and there's a serious jolt at the top of inversion 12, but apart from that, yeah man, I'm down.
It looks fab - especially when it's duelling - and I think it was quite a bold move on Alton's part to theme an entire ride like an acid trip.

I had several rides on it last month and I had no idea whether I was riding the new trains or the old ones - they were all pretty sweet - and I'm fairly sure that the shoulder restraints have been replaced on all trains. They fit better, they're more 'moulded' than they used to be, with extra cushions by the ears n stuff.
They don't smell of vom anymore either.

 

[NeoXIII]

I don't hate it, I'm still in love with that cred.
HOWEVER, it became really bad really quickly. I remember my first time on The Smiler was wild and crazy, but nowhere as jerky as it is now. If I could leave out the last two inversions, I wouldn't mind riding it all day!
As for the theming, it's still one of my favourite ones in the park. The queue line underneath it, the music, the atmosphere just gets me every time I'm about to get close to it. Others might find it annoying, but I can't get enough of it.

It's not my favourite ride anymore, but it's not an awful ride in my opinion.

 

[TLARides]

Amazing theming? I'm down.

What?

I mean Nemesis is in the same park. Compared to Nemesis, Smiler has like Six Flags theming.

The ride is also a bit meh. I only rode it once and only enjoyed a few select moments (very first inversion, airtime hills), but the rest of it is just a rattly blur. I'd be happy to try it again though.

I've never seen much of Nemesis' theming. And out of the rides I've seen, not many have elaborate theming like Smiler or Nemesis.

It's not really my place to tell you which coaster has the better theming. To me, it's Smiler. To you, it's Nemesis. And that's fine by me.

I don't get what you mean by Six Flags styled theming. As far as I can tell, Six Flags isn't good with theming. And they're really not the best company either. Compared to Cedar Fair and Merlin Entertainments. But that's not the point.

Smiler and Nemesis both have equally good theming from what I've seen of both. I haven't seen much of Nemesis' theming, but Smiler has some good decorations like their optical illusion boards in the building and the 5 legged monstrosity named the Marmaliser. I've seen a few things of Nemesis theming and I ask myself "What's it supposed to be?"

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[TLARides]

Yes, it's awful now. The only good row is front, which you can never guarantee. All other rows are rattly and the massive jolts are still there. The restraints are absolutely disgusting as well, they all smell of puke.

It's dead to me, I won't be riding it again and it's fallen into the realms of Arrow Corkscrew coasters.

I wouldn't say it's THAT bad...

I've never been on the ride in real life. And that's part of the reason why I'm asking this.

I also just want to see what others think of it.

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[Ketchup]

It's a good ride and I'd probably say the second best in the UK behind Nemesis (although I admit that doesn't say much).

Apart from the one jolt in the batwing, I've never found it that rough and when it opened it was just what Alton needed, a decent multi-looping coaster with a substantial layout. I also enjoy the couple of pops of airtime over the hills.

I also quite like the 'unique' theming but I admit I'm probably in the minority there.

 

[mouse]

The first few inversions are fun but then it just crashes.

 

[TLARides]

It's a good ride and I'd probably say the second best in the UK behind Nemesis (although I admit that doesn't say much).

Apart from the one jolt in the batwing, I've never found it that rough and when it opened it was just what Alton needed, a decent multi-looping coaster with a substantial layout. I also enjoy the couple of pops of airtime over the hills.

I also quite like the 'unique' theming but I admit I'm probably in the minority there.

Everytime someone mentions that batwing jolt, I think of the object that fell from the track at one point. I stated it was just a phone but now that I think about it, the jolt is probably where that bolt fell. Either they haven't bothered to replace it or they replaced it incorrectly and that's what causes the jolt. I'm not sure. I'm good at designing roller coasters not repairing them.

 

[Ian]

It's ok. I quite enjoy a front row ride but the other rows are rough and not pleasureable. It makes me laugh when people defend it by saying it isn't. Get one of those seismograph phone apps, put it on in the front row and do the same in any other row. I bet my left leg you'll see be a big difference in jerkiness.

It looks amazing though, one of the best eye pleasing coasters I've ever seen. The big jumble of track, trains whizzing everywhere, the silly maramaliser spider thing, the sound track...it all boils down to one impressive looking coaster. Well, two bolted together.

The number of inversions does not make a good coaster. What does is the pacing and the timing of the different elements. For me, there is too much going on. I know that's the idea but it doesn't sit well with my preferred type of experience. Therefore it loses a lot of points on reridability.

So to sum up - It's an ok ride, it looks good and is best experienced in the front row.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

The first few inversions are fun but then it just crashes.

Someone's really putting in the groundwork for funniest member 2016

 

[Hutch]

Amazing theming? I'm down.

What?

I mean Nemesis is in the same park. Compared to Nemesis, Smiler has like Six Flags theming.

The ride is also a bit meh. I only rode it once and only enjoyed a few select moments (very first inversion, airtime hills), but the rest of it is just a rattly blur. I'd be happy to try it again though.

I don't get what you mean by Six Flags styled theming. As far as I can tell, Six Flags isn't good with theming.

I didn't mean that Smiler was themed to Six Flags. I just don't think Smiler's theming is that great, similar to how Six Flags theming generally is.

Someone else mentioned the restraints. I don't remember any sort of smell (maybe it's gained a certain oder over the years), but my problem is that they were tight af.

 

[Lofty]

You enjoy a coaster you've never been on? ****'s sake...

 

[Pink Cadillac]

I love abstract thinking

Spoiler

and all the Disney parks I haven't visited!

 

[SaiyanHajime]

...Well anyway.

I rode Smiler a few times at the start of October, which was my first time back on it since before the incident and my first time getting to ride it more than once in a visit. So, I feel like I know it a lot better now.

And I quite like it actually. It's not bad. It really is far from bad. I think it sits in the great category actually. (Bad - Meh - Good - Great - Outstanding.)

What's annoying though, is having ridden Adventureland's Monster earlier this year, I think Smiler could have been outstanding if it just had lapbars instead of OTSRs. It's not rough, it's a bit jolty in places and it rattles a bit, but the OSTR is still just obnoxiously uncomfortable. I was pinned on Monster - the attendant even said "I'm going to push this down tight cuz I don't want you falling out" (????????????? Yeah.) and it was still more comfortable than Smiler. So, yeah.

Smiler is Great. which I guess is a 7-8/10 for people who like numbers.

 

[furie]

Ffs. I agree with Joey. That's not right.

I rode it twice two weeks ago and found it alright. I don't like the way I feel dizzy at the end of the first half, or the couple of bits where it beats you with the OTSR.

It's fast though, relentless and the two little hills are fab.

Actually , I don't quite agree with Joey. I've think it's almost great, but I can understand why people do really like it.

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[Dave]

The Smiler is always a ride that intrigued me and this year finally got around to riding it after being such a basic goon for so long.

The first ride I had on Smiler was quite fun and thrilling! Was front row on my first ride, the ride was also duelling with the opposing train and the first half of the ride was exhilarating! Just relentless flying through each element. Then the second is starts well, but those vile inline twists at the end are horrid, badly forced heartlining, it just shoves you over to the side aggressively.
I enjoyed it, thought it was a good thrill ride, loved the menacing soundtrack and theme too.

My second ride on Smiler was the second row and it was horrid, it was utterly vile. It rattled, rough, just lacked any enjoyment that was felt on my first ride around it. Still had the fun first part but the jerking was much more severe on that ride. In fact after riding it I felt really sick and so did the others in the party.

Its a good ride, but nothing amazing or Top 10 about it.

 

[Lofty]

It's ok. It really is nothing more than that with me.

The beginning of the coaster with the drop, inversion and breaks could do with much more effects that match the queue line, it feels a bit like a filler section than part of the narrative. Then the coaster stats; the inverted drop is fun, the third and fourth inversion are fine, the airtime hill delivers a much needed relief from inversions, the 'knot' is actually one of the best inversions and elements of the whole coaster and then the **** starts - that corkscrew is ****ing disgusting. It has a huge kink in the track as you're entering it.

After the vertical lift that drop is fun, the inverted drop after that is a bit **** due to the continuation of the banking, the first one is miles better! Then the next two inversions are just disgusting, the heart line banking completely wrong (trend with this coaster), it actually reminds me of the old Vekoma's batwing elements. Then you get a great little airtime hill and a ****e cobra roll with a really vile kink when you're exiting the element. Following that, the next two inversions are absolutely ****ing gross due to the OTSR's, you get neck chopping throughout the entire thing because of them.

What also absolutely angers me about the OTSR's is the smell of them, they're absolutely ****ing disgusting from absorbing the moisture, spit and whatever other bodily fluids from people since it opened. They absolutely stink, a disgusting smell that resembles B.O. and leaving, my coat stunk of them - if any of you know me well enough you'll know how paranoid I am with smells and I was furious when I got off the coaster, putting in an official complaint about it, it was that bad. My entire group complained about it to be fair, so it wasn't just me.

So yeah, the coaster is really hit/miss. I've had some fun rides on it, but I'm never sad if I don't ride it, it's a filler attraction for me and because of it's completely inconsistent rides I'm not bothered about riding in case I get that really **** one.

Also, when I went during Scarefest - we were the next in the queue to head into the air gates and the host asked us if we "Happy to sit in the front row". He asked everyone in the queue this as we were observing it - has anyone else experienced this or was it just that one host?

 

[NeoXIII]

Also, when I went during Scarefest - we were the next in the queue to head into the air gates and the host asked us if we "Happy to sit in the front row". He asked everyone in the queue this as we were observing it - has anyone else experienced this or was it just that one host?

Also went during Scarefest, and I wasn't asked that at all. Might have been just that one host.