Me and a few mates are coming up from Essex in a few weeks. We were going to do a week day but what day do you think the question will be the quietist?
Would definitely suggest going on either a Tuesday or Wednesday as stated above, hopefully in a few weeks the queues will have died down and the kids wont be off school for the summer.
Right let me start off by apologizing for the late review, this should have been posted last night but we decided to grab a hotel and have two full days at the park for more time to explore in the glorious weather we've unusually been having here lately. So now back home after a 3 hour journey in the worst traffic and now slightly sunburnt ill sum up now, before you have to read a lengthy post of the trip.
The Smiler overall rating: 9/10
Managed to ride it three times over the two days we were at the park with a total queue time that amounted to probably 7 and a half hours. Seems excessive but at least the sun was shining most of the time we were at the park which improved the mood in our camp but to be fair waiting for a ride seems to go alot faster with this beast of a coaster flying past literally a few feet above the queue line.
The 180 minutes before the first ride went by fairly quickly with much waiting in extended queues before actually entering the ride queue line itself. The main queue loops round the supports of the coaster and on occasions gets quite tight which provides some claustrophobic moments where it feels like you are within a cage. This almost mimics the feeling you got in the scare house "The Sanctuary" which provided back story for this coaster and was open at last years Alton Towers Scarefest and continued to stay open at the start of this season. The queue provides some great views of the coaster as hopefully a couple of the pictures show.
As the queue entered the station building, 3D projection is used on the walls to great effect, which after a while started making me feel disorientated even before I had been through The Smiler's 14 inversions! It looked great and built up nicely to the actual ride. I apologize for the lack of pictures of this area but they did not really do it justice and were very underwhelming compared to the real thing.
The load area was very clean and crisp and almost resembled an operating theater. Smoke billowed and lights flashed as the trains would drop out of the station which built up the tension and some apprehension of riding very nicely.
My group were luckily assigned to the front row and after three hours of queuing I could not wait to ride and also sit down for the rides two and a half minutes or so run time! The restraints were much comfier than expected as usually on me, at 6ft 3 inches, they feel quite tight and constrained on any ride but seemed to fit perfectly. After a quick check from the very cheerful ride attendants, we were off.
I must say I had seen POV videos before riding and followed construction intently over the past few months. Bearing this in mind I still could not tell where this twisted mess of metal was going to throw me next as it is so neatly packed and intense that it really must be experienced first hand. The ride was not nearly as rough as expected and rolled elegantly into each loop and inversion. The near misses between the ride car and the Marmaliser, (the theming element in the middle of the ride), really did feel like near misses and made my heart skip a beat each time we rode. The air time hills made me come out of my seat for what I was sure was a full two seconds and would have sent any food out of my stomach had there been any!
This ride needs to be reridden a few times to really take in the whole thing. To notice each marmaliser leg theming element as it flashes past is tricky, especially when you spend half the time trying to get your senses straight from being upside down so much. Also the ride on 1 out of 5 or 6 so departures from the station does in fact dual with another train. This unfortunately did not happen for me on any of the three occasions but looks spectacular when it does.
At the end of the first ride there was definitely some disorientation, confusion and wide smiles all around, which I guess means The Smiler did live up to its name.
This wasnt the end though as even after you exit the ride there are still some pretty nifty illusions on the way to the ride shop and the shop itself is very well themed with some great trick mirrors and fake news channels.
Overall the ride met my expectations and more. It was smooth, apart from one jolt on the last inversion which was only felt on the back row the last time I rode. It is unlike any roller coaster I've ridden and blows Thorpe Park's Saw the Ride out of the water. Is it better than Nemesis my beloved favourite ride in the UK? Well.... that remains to be seen as Nemesis has been my favourite ride for 15 years! It's close though, almost too close to call and will give a verdict on that after my next visit.
We had a great weekend and cant wait to do it again at scarefest in October when who knows? Maybe I'll have a new favourite ride after all these years!
We managed to grab a few photos between us, I apologize for the quality as most were taken on our mobile phones but provide a small insight in the scale of the ride.
One thing is for sure though Roodles will have a brilliant time riding it when he is back and I'm sure will provide better quality pictures!
Overview of The Smiler
The Marmaliser (1)
The Marmaliser (2)
The Smiler train
Underneath the Marmaliser
In the queue cage!
Pretty train
Almost in the station!
Ride Dualing!
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FlAn