what is the smiler the smiler is the
world's first roller coaster to feature
14 inversions and currently holds the
record for having the most inversions on
any one roller coaster in the world
the ride is manufactured by girl hour
and was the first Infinity coaster to be
produced by the German company the
smiler opened on the 31st of May 2013
after weeks of delays and technical
issues it was originally planned to open
in March but vertical construction did
not finish until late April the ride can
be found at Alton Towers in the United
Kingdom and features two chain lift
systems the first can be found shortly
after the start of the experience while
the second is located halfway around the
layout each individual lift Hill is
different the first is a standard
inclined lift while the second is a
vertical lift hill common to girl our
Euro fighters at the top of the lift
Hill the ride measures 22 metres high
once over the peak riders Bank right and
complete a 180-degree turn they then
enter the second version of the ride a
downward corkscrew the inversion marks
the start of the rides tallest drop
which mentions 30 metres high as stated
previously the smiler features 14
inversions threats lay up the first half
of the ride includes the first seven
inversions a heartline roll a corkscrew
three dive loops a Sidewinder and
another corkscrew the second tire
features the other seven inversions a
corkscrew a sea serpent roll a Cobra
roll and finally two more corkscrews the
ride cost roughly eighteen million
pounds to construct and was initially
codenamed sw7 the smiler is an extremely
dense ride one of the creators of the
attraction John Wardley
stated it had more track per square
metre than any other roller coaster in
the world the track of the ride measures
a total of 1170 meters long because of
its length the experience lasts for
roughly 76 seconds excluding the time
spent on the to lift hills the smiler
features an unusual theme the widest
team is a facility that is controlled by
a government organisation named the
Ministry of joy found in the centre of
the coaster is a large five-legged
structure called de marmol Iser
each leg manipulates the riders into
smiling through different methods such
as flashing lights and laughing gas the
layout of the riders intertwined with de
marmol Iser
causing greater interaction with the
riders as they navigate the track
despite like structure causes several
near-miss elements which occur at the
top speed of 85 km/h
a large amount of screens can be found
around the ride area including on the
Marmol Iser itself these despite images
of hypnotic material as well as scenes
of pre-recorded riders a large portion
of the queue takes place underneath the
coaster
allowed for great views of the ride
towards the end of the queue riders
enter the station building inside
several projected images are displayed
on the wall referencing further to the
smiling nature of the theme the trains
of the coast to see riders in four rows
of four leading to a total of sixteen
riders per train due to the two lifts
hills the ride is divided into five
block sections as a result a maximum of
five cars could navigate the track at
any one time
despite this the smile has a poor
throughput of only one thousand riders
per hour unfortunately a number of
structural and technical issues have
arisen throughout the rides short life
in the first year alone the ride stalled
several times
pieces of debris were also seen to fall
from parts of the track and trains the
smilers latest incident occurred on the
2nd of June 2015 partway through the day
I train carrying 16 riders collided with
an empty stationary train this resulted
in 5 passengers being treated for
serious injuries it was later found that
the collision was caused by a member of
the ride staff rather than a mechanical
malfunction the ride was closed on the
2nd of June and remain closed at the
entirety of the 2015 season as of the
19th of March 2016 the smile has now
reopened contrary to several rumors the
name and theme of the ride remain
unchanged due to its poor history the
smiler is disliked by some adieu
suggests the overall ride is fast and
disorientating however this can lead to
the ride being very rough at several
points throughout the experience
personally I enjoyed the ride for its
compact nature and sinister theme what's
your opinion
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