Should Alton Towers Keep The Smiler?

[cjbrandy]

Its plagued with almost daily breakdowns, technical faults and glitches. Bolts, screws and track pieces have fell off and wheels have came flying off in past incidents. A significant amount of the public knew about its reputation for "bolts falling off" and now it is almost universally disliked and feared by the public since the horrific crash which more and more sources say cost a rider their LEG.

However It is an extremely expensive coaster (£18million), more than amazing (and far, far superior) giga coasters like Leviathan and Intimidator 305. Its also a world record holder.

Do you think it should be scrapped and replaced? My personal opinion is different, I think it should be kept but completely rebranded by the PR team with a new name, theme etc to get people on the 'new and safer v2' of the ride but I doubt it will happen.

 

[ECG]

Since I've already ridden it they should scrap it and build another cred. +1
In fact, every coaster I've ridden that had an accident where people have been injured or died should be scrapped and have a new cred built in it's place. +? :lol:

 

[TilenB]

A significant amount of the public knew about its reputation for "bolts falling off" and now it is almost universally disliked and feared by the public since the horrific crash which more and more sources say cost a rider their LEG.

Yet it still had the longest wait times from all the rides in the park. The park won't scrap/remove it. Too much money has been invested into it just to be removed after 2 seasons. They'll just dig into it, possibly retheme it and open it a gain in a few months time. Of course, provided the investigation doesn't reveal it to be too much of a health and safety risk (there have been rides, even parks that were closed by authorities after accidents like this). But I can see it being SBNO for some time, I doubt it will even be back running in 2015 season...

 

[Jordanovichy]

I just can't see it being scrapped. I could see potential of re-tracking a couple of areas at most.

I can't see them rebranding either. With the amount of media coverage this accident has had everyone knows about it. My 80 year old grandmother phoned be yesterday asking me if I'd heard about it. I think rebranding it will look shoddy and a half arsed attempt at covering it up...literally a RCT way of getting around and accident by repainting.

It'll open again but probably not until 2016.

 

[Snoo]

To be honest, they shouldn't have built the damn thing in the first place.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

I really couldn't care less whether it stays or goes. But I think it will stay.

 

[cjbrandy]

I really couldn't care less whether it stays or goes. But I think it will stay.

This. I enjoy it but don't emotionally connect with it or care that much about it. For me, The Smiler is like watching action films such as Kingsman, I enjoy it at the time but I don't feel the need to repeat it afterwards. If Oblivion got removed, me and a lot of others would be really disappointed and if Nemesis got canned, it would have fans in tears.

 

[ignace]

To be honest, they shouldn't have built the damn thing in the first place.

I don't know you, but I like you. <3

Scrap it! Not a painfull ride, but dull and boring. It adds nothing to the ride line-up. Alton Should get a proper waterride or Family Coaster.

 

[Hyde]

You guys are proposing to tear down a $27 million asset after 2 years of use?

Please never consider coming near my budget books.

 

[cjbrandy]

The Smiler wasn't that necessary because Merlin already owned the previous inversion record holder, Colossus. I hope they finally **** get it in their heads that simply building good coasters is enough! Is there any evidence to suggest that building a gimmicky, world first/record is more effective at boosting numbers than a high quality standard coaster?

 

[GuyWithAStick]

If a park is building a record breaking coaster, at least make it a good one. Goliath(SFGAm) is a good example.

Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk

 

[robbeal]

I'm sure they're not going to scrap something that they've invested so much in. Maybe a bit of a relaunch will be in store, we'll see. Might keep the queues down for the time being though.

 

[Smithy]

The Smiler wasn't that necessary because Merlin already owned the previous inversion record holder, Colossus. I hope they finally **** get it in their heads that simply building good coasters is enough! Is there any evidence to suggest that building a gimmicky, world first/record is more effective at boosting numbers than a high quality standard coaster?

People don't visit "Merlin", they visit Alton Towers or they visit Thorpe Park.

Is there any evidence to suggest building gimmicky coasters is more effective? Well, given it's the route that the most successful theme park in the country has chosen to take for the past 15 years or so, aye I'd say it's pretty damn effective, regardless of if you like it or not.

 

[cjbrandy]

The Smiler wasn't that necessary because Merlin already owned the previous inversion record holder, Colossus. I hope they finally **** get it in their heads that simply building good coasters is enough! Is there any evidence to suggest that building a gimmicky, world first/record is more effective at boosting numbers than a high quality standard coaster?

People don't visit "Merlin", they visit Alton Towers or they visit Thorpe Park.

Is there any evidence to suggest building gimmicky coasters is more effective? Well, given it's the route that the most successful theme park in the country has chosen to take for the past 15 years or so, aye I'd say it's pretty damn effective, regardless of if you like it or not.

There's no way to tell but I think that Alton would have done just as well if they built non gimmicky coasters. The park is like a guinea pig where they build prototype coasters so superior versions can be built in mainland Europe and the states. Air is a great example, as well as Oblivion, 13 and The Smiler.

 

[MouseAT]

From a strictly financial point of view, The Smiler would have to become a massively expensive liability for the park to consider getting rid of it. I'm taking beyond any now unavoidable legal costs arising from the tragic events earlier this week. Perhaps if the ride required extremely expensive modifications that the park had to foot the bill for, there might be a case for removing the ride or at least shutting it down until such times as they were ready to replace it, but I can't see that threshold being reached any time soon.

I wouldn't complain if the park removed it, though, as I don't rate it at all myself.

Is there any evidence to suggest building gimmicky coasters is more effective? Well, given it's the route that the most successful theme park in the country has chosen to take for the past 15 years or so, aye I'd say it's pretty damn effective, regardless of if you like it or not.

Is that because of the gimmicks though, or is it because no other parks in the UK seems to be able to afford good rides by the top-tier manufacturers? If Merlin's UK parks were having to compete with a UK equivalents of say Phantasialand or Europa Park, would Alton's "world first!" gimmicks be anywhere near as effective?

 

[cjbrandy]

^Excellent point, there is a real lack of competition in UK theme parks and Alton dominates along with Thorpe so they can do as they please.

 

[Smithy]

There's no way to tell but I think that Alton would have done just as well if they built non gimmicky coasters. The park is like a guinea pig where they build prototype coasters so superior versions can be built in mainland Europe and the states. Air is a great example, as well as Oblivion, 13 and The Smiler.

Impossible to know, but you look at all the more successful ride installations (in terms of % gate increase) and I'm sure I remember they were all world first rides.

Is that because of the gimmicks though, or is it because no other parks in the UK seems to be able to afford good rides by the top-tier manufacturers? If Merlin's UK parks were having to compete with a UK equivalents of say Phantasialand or Europa Park, would Alton's "world first!" gimmicks be anywhere near as effective?

I think they would to be honest. I think the UK market is extremely simple minded and short sighted. It wants the biggest, the fastest, the best, whatever they can use to brag to their friends about. It's left them in a difficult cycle because a lot of people aren't visiting for the ride quality rather for the relative 'uniqueness' of the rides, and once they've visited once they'll not necessarily be drawn to visit again unless there's another "world first" installed.

It's a shame, especially as last week's rides on Balder had me desperately hoping that we'd get something similar over here because everybody I spoke to beforehand about the trip was all "OH MY GOD IT'S MADE OF WOOD ARE YOU MAD THAT'S SO UNSAFE" and if they actually got to experience it they'd value the ride quality.

 

[ignace]

Impossible to know, but you look at all the more successful ride installations (in terms of % gate increase) and I'm sure I remember they were all world first rides.

Maybe because those expensive rides got more marketing budget?

 

[Smithy]

And how was that marketing money spent?

Telling everyone and his dog that it was a "world first", "one of a kind" etc....

Swarm had a massive marketing campaign and it flopped apparently.

 

[cjbrandy]

And how was that marketing money spent?

Telling everyone and his dog that it was a "world first", "one of a kind" etc....

Swarm had a massive marketing campaign and it flopped apparently.

Is it a failure though? Yes, it didn't increase attendance much when it debuted but its one of the most popular coasters at the park and the GP give it great reviews and seem to love it with the only gripe being its length.