Heisenberg96 wrote:

Anyone else reckon we'll get an opening date today or tomorrow? The fact AT have told people to 'wait a day or two' to reschedule visits for The Smiler could suggest that Alton are starting to get an idea of how long this is going to take. It could be a little drastic to think it will open today or tomorrow, but I think AT could definitely give us a 'The Smiler will open on...' very soon.

Not much to go on, just pure gut feeling.

I think sometime this week for sure ! Not necessarily tomorrow though :/ Park staff and park relations all told me to hang fire for a 'few days' which could mean they have no clue at all or they know something we don't ! There isn't a whole lot to do i guess but there is work still left but if the builders keep pushing dusk till dawn then it possibly should be 3,4 to possibly 7 days away from opening. Wont be going again until a week on Friday so hopefully it will open by then !

bealyboy wrote:

If this image is right (if not 13th image down on TPC's Update) There is a sign as you enter the main building that
says covers must be worn. Unless they have done something drastic in the station was the station not ready for the public anyway?

That a note for construction workers to wear protective overshoes so they don't tread dirt all over the nicely finished/cleaned station floor.

bealyboy wrote:

If this image is right (if not 13th image down on TPC's Update) There is a sign as you enter the main building that
says covers must be worn. Unless they have done something drastic in the station was the station not ready for the public anyway?

That notice is more there for the construction team's attention than anything else. The interior is supposedly all complete, and they dont want dust from the outside going in to dirty and scrape up the floor before the ride even opens.

I'm about half an hour away from AT and I love the fact that I more excited to see a rollercoaster that isn't open than one that is!

This was just tweeted from Alton Towers Twitter page

"you can use your fastrack discount code until the end of May however unfortunately we cannot extend it any further"

surely this means they have to get it open before the end of may, otherwise all of the fastracks will expire and with the current evidence of not announcing it is closed on a specific day but  closed  currently, maybe just maybe we could see an may opening date

I can see this ride opening Friday, I know it is extremely close, but I do believe the only reason the ride didn't open, is purely down to the queuelines, as they were no where near finished, I am particularly thankful though that the train did stall, and had to be changed, and if the news from Towers2Go is correct (wheels and stuff), I can see it open Friday, as that is the last day of the month. (31st). And It's one day before the weekend so it would make sense.


Whether or not the ride is open, I am going Friday instead of today, due to the weather xD I'm a wimp, I'm Sorry...

Barty wrote:

I'm about half an hour away from AT and I love the fact that I more excited to see a rollercoaster that isn't open than one that is!

If you're seeing it for the first time, prepare yourself, there's a massive difference to seeing pictures then seeing it in person, you'll be shocked, trust me haha.

The more pictures we see I'm starting to think the whole train valleying thing didn't happen. There are serious wheel marks all over the track right up to the final brake run. I think they just put on the wrong wheels simple as. This has then caused problems with the trains but if T2G are correct everything is sorted as testing has started again

PhNx Survivor wrote:

I can see this ride opening Friday, I know it is extremely close, but I do believe the only reason the ride didn't open, is purely down to the queuelines, as they were no where near finished, I am particularly thankful though that the train did stall, and had to be changed, and if the news from Towers2Go is correct (wheels and stuff), I can see it open Friday, as that is the last day of the month. (31st). And It's one day before the weekend so it would make sense.


Whether or not the ride is open, I am going Friday instead of today, due to the weather xD I'm a wimp, I'm Sorry...

Would make a lot of sense tbh. I think it only is down to queue lines as that seems to be the main focus now ( from what ive seen when ive been on site ) and opening this on friday would also make a lot of sense because it's the last day of the half term holidays for most of the country and a lot of people will go as a 'last thing' to do before going back to school etc. It's also still in May which AT claim they are going to have it open by! However , i am not trusting AT anymore lol . Friday opening seems likely !

Kathy wrote:

Barty wrote:

I'm about half an hour away from AT and I love the fact that I more excited to see a rollercoaster that isn't open than one that is!

If you're seeing it for the first time, prepare yourself, there's a massive difference to seeing pictures then seeing it in person, you'll be shocked, trust me haha.

Kathy when you went yesterday did it still look like a construction site or are they clearing there stuff up now?

Well, having not been on for a few days, it's taken me most of the bank holiday weekend to read through the dozens of pages that have appeared...
In my opinion, from what people have said about screeching noises, the images of scratched track and the train valleying, my opinion is that the delay is due to some form of mechanical failure on one of the trains, maybe a catastrophic wheel bearing failure, or even a wheel falling off. Maybe they have been forced into covering the queues with meshing because of this?
If they are just running late with the final details of construction, they would have known that they needed to install the queue line covers, well before opening, and would have known that there was 2 or 3 days work involved (or more maybe), and been able to give a more definitive "The Smiler will be closed for the next 3 days because the ride isn't finished" type of response. As it is, they haven't given any indication of the nature of the problem, or the likely time-scales for the ride opening - they are not going to want the GP knowing that there has been a major mechanical failure so soon into the ride's life.....

I would just like to say I think it is fantastic how everyone has overcome their disappointment and everyone is now getting back to construction, queue line fences are obviously being installed I wonder what else Is going on, on site.

danny.g97 wrote:

Kathy wrote:

Barty wrote:

I'm about half an hour away from AT and I love the fact that I more excited to see a rollercoaster that isn't open than one that is!

If you're seeing it for the first time, prepare yourself, there's a massive difference to seeing pictures then seeing it in person, you'll be shocked, trust me haha.

Kathy when you went yesterday did it still look like a construction site or are they clearing there stuff up now?

It's more cleared up, if you look at my update again on page 524 last post, you can see how the landscaping is pretty much done, and inspection is going on in one of the pictures, only major thing that happened yesterday was the mesh going up ontop of the queue line, and I can see why they were doing it, it looked really close to the track, so I can now understand why they're putting it in certain places.

As for the landscaping however, It's pretty much all done with, second picture of the landscaping in my update shows the digger working on the back of the landscaping and just the finishing touches really.

Other than that, some workers were fiddling with the cars/water bodies but nah it looks a lot tidier than in some of the pictures I've seen.

Just arrived at the towers. The smiler looks amazing! Anyone who passes judgement on the ride without actually seeing it need to seriously come and see it to understand the magnificence of it! It looks amazing, and the theming is definitely not tacky. It's incredible.

I'm here until Friday so I'm hoping for an opening sometime between now and then

J_Baggie wrote:

Just arrived at the towers. The smiler looks amazing! Anyone who passes judgement on the ride without actually seeing it need to seriously come and see it to understand the magnificence of it! It looks amazing, and the theming is definitely not tacky. It's incredible.

I'm here until Friday so I'm hoping for an opening sometime between now and then

take some pictures and put them on hear

Has testing started again, if anyone knows?

arsenalfan-1 wrote:

Has testing started again, if anyone knows?

Think they are doing night testing. But dont quote me on it.

arsenalfan-1 wrote:

Has testing started again, if anyone knows?

I don't believe so, or if it has it is happening under the cover of darkness. I assume that it cannot test whilst queueline work is occurring, as they are too close to the track. However, they could be testing at night (again) whilst construction is not allowed to occur.

J_Baggie wrote:

Just arrived at the towers. The smiler looks amazing! Anyone who passes judgement on the ride without actually seeing it need to seriously come and see it to understand the magnificence of it! It looks amazing, and the theming is definitely not tacky. It's incredible.

I'm here until Friday so I'm hoping for an opening sometime between now and then

I second this, It's really easy to see the pictures and think "Oh It's an ordinary rollercoaster" and when you see it in person, you come to realise that they spent £18m on a huge beast that looks absolutely amazing. Yes, the theming may not look as good in some of the pictures, in real life, up close, It's great. I suggest anyone who has only seen pictures to see the thing in real life before making any judgements, an example being my dad thought it was small in the pictures I showed him, and he swore when he saw the thing irl, It's a shocker really.

I hope it opens for you, then you can give us a review, maybe. 

Kathy wrote:

J_Baggie wrote:

Just arrived at the towers. The smiler looks amazing! Anyone who passes judgement on the ride without actually seeing it need to seriously come and see it to understand the magnificence of it! It looks amazing, and the theming is definitely not tacky. It's incredible.

I'm here until Friday so I'm hoping for an opening sometime between now and then

I second this, It's really easy to see the pictures and think "Oh It's an ordinary rollercoaster" and when you see it in person, you come to realise that they spent £18m on a huge beast that looks absolutely amazing. Yes, the theming may not look as good in some of the pictures, in real life, up close, It's great. I suggest anyone who has only seen pictures to see the thing in real life before making any judgements.

I hope it opens for you, then you can give us a review, maybe. 

Thanks  and yeah I'll definitely give a review! It'll be my pleasure!