Smiler

The most amazing ride I’ve ever been on!!!
The newest ride at Alton Towers! So expect a queue! Or get here first thing! Queue times range from anything between 30 & 90 minutes but the queue is fun with the whoosing noise and the ride just above youre head makes youre adrenaline rush before you get on the ride!
But the experience you will have on this ride is like no other, I’ve been on loads of ride in the USA but this is one is outstanding!
Its sooooooo cool looking with twists and turns at every corner, once you think its over theres another twist and turn or another loop, there is a vertical lift as well which is pretty cool! There are 14 loops altogether and once the ride has finished you will be smiling!
Truly awesome ride!!!

I applaud the Merlin Group who own a tranche of amusement parks in the UK for their continued investment in the parks’ infrastructure. They’ve recently built Swarm at Thorpe Park and this year, they’ve opened Smiler at Alton Towers
Smiler has been trumpeted as a world record holder with 14 inversions but I didn’t see any official plaque acknowledging this fact unlike the plaque you can see at Colossus at Thorpe Park for the period that it held the record for the most inversions
Smiler was built in the area of X Sector, which used to house Enterprise, the indoor roller coaster. As you approach X Sector, you can see that it’s a big ride and a glance at one of the many Youtube videos showing the ride in action will confirm that it’s quite a long ride by British standards. As there’s a bye-​law limiting the rides at Alton Towers to tree level or lower, some of the ride is built in a dug out area to meet this requirement
The first thing which struck me was Alton Tower’s terrible recent record for naming new rides has struck again. RITA was a poor name and theme and Smiler’s psychotic theme, décor and tune makes no sense. There were random bits of what appeared to be car wash parts all over the ride and the repeating tune made me want to smash the speakers to bits after listening to it for 2 hours in the queue
Be careful. Virtually every inch of the ground area of the ride is literally queue space. So, even if it seems not too bad before you enter it, you’ll be in for a long, long queue. I strongly recommend you make use of the single rider queue. Fastpass is also available for a fee but I suspect that the queues will shorten once people have ridden it once and the novelty wears off
Riders are seated 4 abreast in cars of 16 riders. There’s one roll before the train reaches the first lift hill. Yes, first hill — you’ll get 7 inversions before the car gets to a second vertical lift hill, which delivers another 7 inversions. I suspect that this double lift element may mean it doesn’t officially get recognition as a true 14 inversion experience
Listening to the designer of the ride say on Youtube that the point of the ride was to make you feel nausesous drove my friends to take anti sickness meds before boarding as we were due to have dinner at a 2 Michelin star establishment that evening. You do get shaken up but it’s not too bad
It’s a fun addition to Alton Towers’ line up of coasters but I suspect that there won’t be many people going for re-​rides. And sort out that stupid tune if you’re going to make guests queue for 2 hours listening to it!