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Alton Towers Discussion Thread

p. 235: Nemesis Reborn announced for Spring 2024!

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Wow. I asked to the Brits to show us that they have "smarter" posters out there and all they have proved in the last 24 hours is that they are dumber.

 

Like Eric said above, we have banned the obvious troll accounts, and we quite simply will not tolerate obnoxious and rude comments from anyone.

 

If you want to register for TPR simply to troll us, knock yourself out. All you're doing is showing that you're dumb, and you'll be immediately banned.

 

Oh, and kudos to this Brit who appears to be the smartest of you lot:

I think I get the point going on here. While its an achievement having a 14 inversion coaster, it's not if you have it with a major slow down and restart section in the middle. Anyone can do that, what's to stop the next park to have a 21 inversion coaster with a third lift and another 7+ inversions, If it was all one lift that would be impressive and have a Constant pacing.

 

Thank you for actually "getting" what we were talking about.

 

I never said the ride didn't look like a hell of a lot of fun.

 

--Robb

Please give robb a break everyone! Quit trolling and LEARN SARCASM! Do you know what robb has to do to keep this site running, and then he has to deal with these dumb posts!

Please play by the rules!

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STOP TROLLING!!!

 

STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT TROLLING!!!!

 

SERIOUSLY!!! F**KING-A PEOPLE!!! Let's stop being "dumb" and start posting about rides, theme parks, and fun! That's what this forum is all about.

 

Next person who trolls or posts about the trolls will be banned from TPR forever. We just don't want dumb people on this forum. PERIOD!

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I like that the Smiler is very compact and doesn't look like it takes up much room. I always thought there was supposed to be more to the inside part of the ride or was that always rumors?

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I think records such as this are affected by human endurance - just as we won't likely see a coaster that does 300mph, we probably won't see a coaster that does 15+ inversions unless it has a break somewhere in the middle. Parks aren't going to rush to get a vomit-enducing rides, which is what I think The Smiler would be if there was no time to catch your breath.

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I actually quite like what AT did with the space they had. The Smiler looks wild, aggressive, and down right shit-ifying but at the same looks amazing to ride, especially when you hit the airtime hills.

 

I have to admit, during construction when I saw the brake fins on the vertical lift hill I thought they would be used as part of a controlled rollback along with being a new anti-rollback device. It would shorten the amount of time waiting at the bottom of the lift hill but provided a thrilling aspect while waiting for a new train to hit the first lift hill.

 

But still, I applaud Alton for the coaster that they have provided us with and I plan on making a trip to see it in late-August .

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Clearly the purpose of the second lift hill is to allow two cars to duel on either side of the track, whatever Alton Towers say about it being unintentional. As well as that, if there had been no second lift hill, the ride capacity would have been dire unless they'd have put a block brake section in somewhere in the middle which would have been odd anyway.

 

As to the "two separate coasters" argument; I personally don't see how it makes any difference whether the ride has a second lift hill or a launch. Both are means of generating extra momentum halfway through the ride, they just do it in different ways. There is absolutely no way they could have built it high enough to have enough momentum to get around the 14 inversions by itself via gravity (it would have had to have been 150ft+); even as it is it sometimes struggles to get around each half of the ride (and in fact stalled the other day).

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As to the "two separate coasters" argument; I personally don't see how it makes any difference whether the ride has a second lift hill or a launch. Both are means of generating extra momentum halfway through the ride, they just do it in different ways. There is absolutely no way they could have built it high enough to have enough momentum to get around the 14 inversions by itself via gravity (it would have had to have been 150ft+); even as it is it sometimes struggles to get around each half of the ride (and in fact stalled the other day).

 

Talking about the stalling does anyone know if its operating again now ? Meant to be up there next week

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As to the "two separate coasters" argument; I personally don't see how it makes any difference whether the ride has a second lift hill or a launch. Both are means of generating extra momentum halfway through the ride, they just do it in different ways. There is absolutely no way they could have built it high enough to have enough momentum to get around the 14 inversions by itself via gravity (it would have had to have been 150ft+); even as it is it sometimes struggles to get around each half of the ride (and in fact stalled the other day).

...hence the argument for a launch midway through, and avoiding a mid-course naptime.

 

I'm not sure how anyone can't see the "two coasters bolted together" analogy? Smiler needed a launch, period...much like we'd be comparing Cheetah Hunt to a 4,440ft. monorail without its three launches.

 

Smiler looks fun, but the second lift keeps it from "wowing" me.

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I think records such as this are affected by human endurance - just as we won't likely see a coaster that does 300mph, we probably won't see a coaster that does 15+ inversions unless it has a break somewhere in the middle. Parks aren't going to rush to get a vomit-enducing rides, which is what I think The Smiler would be if there was no time to catch your breath.

There is a HUGE difference between having a mid-course brake "break" or even a pause then a launch like on Maverick, which IMO is EXACTLY what I would have expected here, than taking two roller coasters and putting them together.

 

FULL DISCLOSURE - I'm not a huge fan of ANY ride with two lift hills. (Mine trains excluded as many times the additional lifts are for thematic reasons.)

 

Example: I personally think that Loch Ness Monster, as fun of a ride as it is, is just as gimmicky for needing a second lift hill just to get it through that last loop. The difference between something like Loch Ness and Smiler, though, is that Loch Ness doesn't feel like two complete roller coasters put together.

 

That's my issue with Smiler. You do a full roller coaster. Stop. Move forward. Approach the lift of the second roller coaster. And then ride that.

 

IOA might as well weld together both sides of Dueling Dragons and call it the "World's First Mobius Inverted Coaster" - it would be the same thing.

Edited by robbalvey
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On the flip side, there's a couple different "silver lining" ways to look at it.

 

1) Alton got two credits for the price of one.

 

2) Smiler is like having built in ERT....you get two cycles without having to exit the ride.

 

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it would be better with 1 lift. But the lift would need to be probably about the size of 2 smiler lifts. And there would need to be bigger inversions at the first part. And They probably didn't have enough room, I wish though. But I live in the US so, I'm jealous in all ways! I love how they interlocked the cobra roll/batwing!

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I'm not sure how anyone can't see the "two coasters bolted together" analogy? Smiler needed a launch, period...much like we'd be comparing Cheetah Hunt to a 4,440ft. monorail without its three launches.

 

I don't think it's cant more like don't want to. I can understand why, because here in the UK with planing permission and space being restrictive we can't have the huge rides seen in America. So anyone picking out things about smiler is going to

get an argument from the enthusiast. To be honest yes it's looks like two rides bolted together but hey we just got a a unique, interactive, duelling, RECORD BEATING roller coaster, it could of been a buried Rage clone or SLC clone soooooo be happy I know I am about it and everyone has their own opinion if it ain't the same as yours so what.

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I think I would liked it more when the second lifthill was a launch and I understand what Robb is saying about the 'record' (the pause between the 'two coaster parts' is pretty long). But like he also said, I think this is a fun ride to do.

 

Personally, I have no problem with two lifthills. I'm not really gonna ride The Smiler because it's a 14 inversion coaster, I'm gonna ride it because it looks really awesome to ride. While not so 'really creative' with the two lifts, I think the interlocking Batwing and Cobra Roll looks awesome any way. Especially when you see two trains at the same time going trough the two types of inversions. Interlocking isn't unique in any way, but so many interlockings in one small place, that's really impressive to see.

 

I'm looking forward to October, then I can finnaly say what I think of The Smiler .

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As to the "two separate coasters" argument; I personally don't see how it makes any difference whether the ride has a second lift hill or a launch. Both are means of generating extra momentum halfway through the ride, they just do it in different ways. There is absolutely no way they could have built it high enough to have enough momentum to get around the 14 inversions by itself via gravity (it would have had to have been 150ft+); even as it is it sometimes struggles to get around each half of the ride (and in fact stalled the other day).

...hence the argument for a launch midway through, and avoiding a mid-course naptime.

 

I'm not sure how anyone can't see the "two coasters bolted together" analogy? Smiler needed a launch, period...much like we'd be comparing Cheetah Hunt to a 4,440ft. monorail without its three launches.

 

Smiler looks fun, but the second lift keeps it from "wowing" me.

 

Cheetah Hunt isn't a 4,440 ft. monorail? Coulda fooled me.

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Can we talk about something different than the double lifthill thing now ?

 

I think we all agree that this is probably a very good coaster. Great

 

So...what I am still asking myself is : Would Alton risk "The smiler" to become rough over the years ? Would they ? Do they ?

 

I mean most of the EF like coasters are much shorter with only a few inversions. But what if the smiler will be getting as rough as for example saw over the years ??? This coaster could easily become horrible if Alton don`t manage to keep it smooth, right ?

 

I really do hope Alton thought about that carefully....otherwise they would have been VERY shortsighted !

 

I have no doubt this thing is great now....but I really doubt it will be fun in a few years.

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Hey everyone, just got back from AT and the smiler still has issues. It was down whilst they put a new train on full of water filled dummies, which were testing whilst the other trains were carrying people all day. I guess ride ops are to blame, surely a new train (it was new, still had cellophane covering) should have been bedded in out of hours?

 

The new train also at one point didn't clear the block on the final brake run, that caused a train to be stuck at the top of the vertical lift hill, which was then retrieved via their new anti/pro rollback device to the horizontal.

 

My experience of the ride is that the first half leaves you pretty messed up, the break at the vertical lift is welcome (if not the break at the first). The 'non standard' inversions are great, especially seeing the other train flying round at the same time. The airtime hills are great too, an element sadly lacking in many rides in the UK.

 

The sad point is that the train I was on was developing a shuffle and a rattle, especially in the faster second half. However the new train and one other had no visible/audible signs of this problem. I'm guessing this is an ongoing development of this 'prototype'.

 

P.S. Robb. Duelling möbius loop inverted dragon challenge! Why isn't this happening and what can we do to make it happen?!?

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Well... not entirely sure what fresh hell has taken over this thread but I've signed up to share my thoughts on this coaster as a previous browser of this site and Alton enthusiast.

 

As a coaster, it is exactly what Alton Towers needed and is a very, very good ride. It's surprisingly well paced despite it's relentless inversions one after the other and the mid-course breaks and lift hill do well to give the riders a break during the journey they are on. If we take it as the theme, it's the halfway point in the 'correction' process and allows guests to relax before going into the second half which is more intense than the first.

 

It's a surprisingly smooth ride, barring the last 3 inversions, and is a spectacle to watch. It's such a complex and thought out layout that it's very difficult to work out where the hell you are whilst on the ride. This is specifically because of Alton's planning restrictions which really bring out the best in coaster designs - due to the lack of space and height they are allowed. Sometimes rides suffer because of this, and also because of a lack of funds (i.e. Oblivion's length and Air in general) but with this you really get a truly finished and unique product.

 

I see there has been a lot of discussion over the coaster seeming like two layouts bolted together but I really don't feel like this is how the coaster works. The second half is definitely more forceful than the first and the two halves compliment each other in such a way that I really don't think that they would work individually as two separate coasters - of course, that's just opinion but it's what I think. It's also refreshing that we get such a long ride in the UK! Most of our coasters are over within 90 seconds to be honest...

 

Equally, in terms of the UK it's a fantastic offering. Yes, an inversion record is a marketing gimmick but it doesn't feel like a gimmicky coaster. Th13teen was entirely gimmicky and the previous record holder, Colossus, was gimmicky in terms of its endless barrel rolls. Fortunately this ride feels anything but gimmicky. In fact, it feels very well thought out and truly a complete package. Of course, the trouble we have in the UK is that without relying on some form of marketing gimmick, our rides run the risk of not standing out to the general public so it is important they can seem like they compete worldwide.

 

Finally, if I can make a point about the whole flame war going on in here... I think it has a lot to do with how well followed TPR is around the globe. The site (and particularly Robb Alvey's opinions) are followed and respected by a large amount of the world's enthusiasts whether people like it or not, even if I don't personally follow TPR that much. Therefore it can be sad for fans of the ride and its construction to see a ride that the UK is so excited about be critically analysed by someone so well known in the realms of theme parks. However, this doesn't mean we aren't all entitled to opinions! xD

 

Anyway, to summarise, the ride is a fantastic addition to the park and well worth riding. It's a unique experience and pulls some incredible force. The 2nd half airtime hill and the last inversion in particular are amazing. The package itself is great fun, with a fun 'pre-show' room and immersive exit route too. The theme itself manages to be dark and quirky/humorous at the same time which is great to see. Overall, it's not a Nemesis beater but it's bloody fantastic!

 

SMILE

Edited by mrbrightside
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I am permanently banning anyone else who continues this stupid argument or keeps mentioning the trolls. I don't care who you are.

 

I'm sick of having to delete posts, and I simply will not tolerate this stupid of a discussion on our forums.

 

--Robb

Edited by robbalvey
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Hey everyone, just got back from AT and the smiler still has issues. It was down whilst they put a new train on full of water filled dummies, which were testing whilst the other trains were carrying people all day. I guess ride ops are to blame, surely a new train (it was new, still had cellophane covering) should have been bedded in out of hours

 

What I got from that is, it's running but only three trains and one being bedded in, this correct ?

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Hey everyone, just got back from AT and the smiler still has issues. It was down whilst they put a new train on full of water filled dummies, which were testing whilst the other trains were carrying people all day. I guess ride ops are to blame, surely a new train (it was new, still had cellophane covering) should have been bedded in out of hours

 

What I got from that is, it's running but only three trains and one being bedded in, this correct ?

Today it was apparently running three trains for guests and one with dummies. The four running have recently had wheels changed to reduce noise and tinkering is still taking place as the wheel guards are currently not on the cars. The fifth train is sitting next to the transfer track still under wraps.

 

EDIT: Actually, I think the train with dummies was the one still under wraps - presumably earning testing hours before it's signed off. The other train (the stalled one) is apparently still off site.

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