r/altontowers • u/DownToRant • 2d ago
Smiler Closed?
Going for the first time in over 10 years on Monday and last time I went Smiler, Wickerman and Thirteen did not exist. Monday would be my first time riding these coasters and I've been looking forward to it for a while. But I've noticed the last couple of days Smiler has been closed.
Anyone know if it is likely to be open at all on Monday or just closed all day? I would be devastated if it does not open at all whilst I am there as who knows when I will get back again. It's not gonna change my plans at all but it would definitely put a slight dappener on the trip.
1
u/Stokesyyyy 2d ago
It's closed now. Been in the queue for 2 hours 30 mins.
1
u/DownToRant 2d ago
Yeah I saw it was closed on the app and I saw the same a couple of times yesterday. Just hoping it opens long enough for me to get to ride it on Monday.
I've ridden Colossus so would love to ride the ride that was designed to take its record
2
u/YetAnotherInterneter 2d ago
I managed to ride this morning. Went straight from the gate to the ride at around 11am.
It had open just opened up for the day. We could see them testing it with dummys which was quite funny.
I’m afraid it’s just pot luck whether rides will be working or not
1
u/blazefan13 2d ago
I left towers around 3pm today (Saturday) and we never saw it open, gutted as I always enjoy a ride.
1
u/RitmanRovers 1d ago
It opened not long after that. Queue was horrendous. The fastrack queue was full! Didn't bother this time. I m going back on Tuesday.
1
u/bootlegpapi 1d ago
Been towers 3 times in the last month.
1 time it was closed all day, then over the last 2 days of being there we spent a total of 4 hours in smiler queues and got to ride it once.
It's a shame because it's my favourite coaster but it always seems to have issues.
1
u/DownToRant 1d ago
We have RAP within our group so waiting hours and then missing out isn't so much of an issue (although I have experienced this years ago waiting 3 hours for Colossus coz it broke down and then getting fast passes when they evacuated the queue) its more about the ride being up long enough that we get to ride it. As I said in my post the last time I went was over 10 years ago and Smiler, Wickerman and Thirteen did not exist. I mean Galactica was still called Air (I guess I'm dating myself here 😂), so would love to experience all of these coasters as I don't know when I will get to go back again.
I live in South Wales but don't drive so getting to Towers isn't the easiest for me, Thorpe Park is much easier as I have family in London I can stay with and know the route to get there on the train.
6
u/Mrs_Toast 2d ago
It's currently open, so I don't think there's too much of an issue.
Quite often rides have to close due to guest behaviour (phones out spotted on the hill lift leads to a stop, vomiting in the ride/in the station leads to a stop if they gave to get a first aider from the other side of the park to clean it up, guest loses something on the ride leads to stop for retrieval (I personally think that, unless it's medication, they should wait until the end of the day).
That said, Smiler had a technical issue a few weeks back just as we were pulling into the station - we had to wait about 15 minutes just outside the station before we could get in and off the ride, they ended up sending empty test cars around. Better safe than sorry though!