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Alton Towers Discussion Thread

p. 235: Nemesis Reborn announced for Spring 2024!

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I was at Alton Towers on October 14th and 15th. Its the first time that I have visited this year and therefore the first time I have been on The Smiler.

 

So, what about the Smiler? Well, its was good, but thats it. Just good. The first inversion after the station was a nice surprise as this was taken faster than I had expected. The inversions after the two lifts were nice but the rest of the ride just felt repetitive. Having said that, it was a good experience, how quick each inversion comes after each other in an almost non-stop fashion.

 

Air was good, along with Oblivion, Rita and Sonic Spinball. The oustanding ride, still, by far, is Nemesis. Overall, the park is in a good way and the two days spent there were very enjoyable

 

...and now, some photos...

 

The photography presented is all my personal work, shot with a Leica M9 and Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux lens. I hope you enjoy

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Sonic Spinball

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Sonic Spinball

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Sonic Spinball. Its an OK ride, but a little bumpy

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The Smiler. Unfortunetly, the Smiler was not running on the day I brought my camera

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The Smiler

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The Smiler

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The Smiler

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The Smiler

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The Smiler

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Oblivion, which looks a little upstaged by the Smiler

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Rita: Queen of Speed. I don't know if the theming has changed slightly, but I do like the gloomy wood theme over the ride control building

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Rita: Queen of Speed

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Rita

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Rita

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Heading towards the best ride in the park - Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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Nemesis

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  • 2 weeks later...

Smiler shut as guide wheel hits guest:

 

A new £18m rollercoaster at Alton Towers has closed after a wheel fell off and hit someone on the ride.

 

A spokeswoman said some "small guide wheels" came off The Smiler as it was being pulled up an incline.

 

One "hit a guest on the ride and caused some bruising". The rest of the wheels were caught by safety netting, she added.

 

The park said an investigation would be carried out into Saturday's incident to decide when the ride could re-open.

 

The injured person was looked after by park staff and did not need treatment by the ambulance service.

 

The 14-loop Smiler was shut for four days on 21 July after a piece fell off the track, and 48 people had to be rescued.

 

It closed again in August for five days due to a "technical issue".

 

The ride, which opened in May, includes a drop of 30m (98ft).

 

The spokeswoman said: "We have very stringent safety procedures on all of our rides including CCTV so the ride was stopped immediately by the rides team.

 

"All of our rides and attractions are expected to meet extremely high standards, technologically, mechanically and in terms of the end experience, and a full investigation is on going before we determine whether to re-open the ride.

 

"We are sorry for any disappointment the ride's temporary closure caused our visitors but the health and safety of all of our visitors is our absolute priority."

 

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-24794468

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Wow this ride cant get a break........ I can't believe Gerstlauer is having all these problems with the ride.....

 

This could be a problem with maintenance at Alton, too. Isn't it a bit odd that "multiple small guide" wheels would simply fall off all at once?

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I heard about the issues on the Smiler yesterday and apparently it was from some part of the vertical lift. Several small parts landed in the netting above the queueline.

 

I was also told a that a huge amount of work is ready to be done over the closed season including the breaking up and refilling of some footers to improve how the ride sits. I also hope something happens with the second half of the cobra roll as there is a rather large jolt there. It's practically unnoticeable when looking at the track but when watching trains traverse it and whilst riding you can see and feel the jolt.

 

I have to say, I rode the Smiler twice just over a week ago in the dark during Scarefest and it ran the best it has done all season. Still not silky smooth and it still has it's vibrations but it seemed to traverse the track much much better resulting in a much quieter ride.

 

It's a real shame how many issues it has had though but I do expect a lot of work to be done over the closed months which should help the ride have a more stable 2014 operating season.

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I had heard that Smiler was expected to open at mid day today but as it's 14:40 now it doesn't look likely. I guess Alton just have to make an executive decision as they only have 1 week to go but next weekend could be very very busy as it's the Fireworks event to close out the season so i'm unsure what they'll do.

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There's an image on the towertimes facebook page (hope it's ok that i post it here): https://www.facebook.com/towerstimes?fref=ts

 

Paul Jones has captured this image, revealing that multiple bearings have fallen from the vertical lift hill of The Smiler, less than a week after a bolt came loose over the toilet block on Sunday:

 

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Visited today, whole X-Sector was closed off. They had a crane in there working on the ride.

 

Really quiet day at the park, 0 to 5 minute queue on most rides, no rain either. Rode Nemesis a few times, would have been rude not to. They gave out free comp tickets for next year, due to the closure of the X-Sector.

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