The Troubled History of The Smiler - Secret Weapon 7 | Expedition Alton Towers

Spray painting sheep has got to be the most British advertising thing I’ve ever seen.

it wasn't really the ride itself but the stupid people overriding the safety warning without consulting the rest of the team. The break down in communication. The actual ride was programmed to automatically stop and it did, but the fact that an employee ignored that and manually altered it is terrifying. If I was that person I wouldn't be able to sleep at night lol

Trouble history or not, this thing's design is absolutely stunning. The whole story line it has, and the the aesthetics are just amazing. From a purely cosmetic design standpoint, it's one of the best and coolest looking rides I've ever seen.

Whoever did the marketing thing for this must have been a genius. They should have done horror movies instead.

God, I remember when the ads would play on tv. Then they suddenly just stopped, obviously I didn't care at the time but now I think I know why...

I’m a ride operator and I cannot believe this was human error, you should never ever override stoppages without looking into them, business often think too much about what customers will think if they take too long to fix a ride, but I’d rather wait than be put in danger like that.

The creepy idea of the rollercoaster makes the accident even more spine chilling.

I’m actually super glad this ride wasn’t demolished, since I went on it back in 2019, but then again, the phrase ‘You Belong to The Smiler’ got a whole other meaning after the accident, didn’t it?

The marketing campaign was absolutely terrifying. We got ads for the ride ALL THE TIME in Ireland. I was really young when the campaign started, and it still gives me chills.

All these people claiming they were at Alton towers during the accident but I actually died during the accident so get lost liars

Marketing meeting for this ride: "Alright so what do you got?" "I'm thinking high-concept horror. Mind control, medical experiments, lots of uncanny valley stuff too." "Yeah, that's perfect! That's exactly what's gonna draw to people to our tiny train going nowhere specifically designed to make your lizard-brain think you're about to die. It needs a little extra something though." "How about we spray-paint some sheep?" "Johnson, you've done it again!" everyone passes out face-first into their 3-foot-high mountains of coke

How come we're not talking about the fact that it took TWENTY MINUTES for anybody to even call emergency services?! That is insane!

Hi alton towers employee here. There are now only 3 carts operational at one time, even at peak 2 are out whilst one loads, then one cart comes in and unloads whilst the now loaded fist cart is set off, rinse and repeat. There is also alt more communication between staff with multiple people giving thumbs up before a new cart is sent out

That. Is. The Scariest ad campaign I have ever seen. Except for the sheep I LOVED THE SHEEP

"When people visit theme parks they should be able to enjoy themselves safely." Action Park: Are you sure about that?

Can I just say the Smiler advertising material is creepy

Alton Towers: Why can't you just be normal!? Smiler: screaming

We went to alton towers the day after the ride reopened after the crash and there was literally nobody was queueing for it- we could go on it an unlimited amount of times it was great

I really want to emphasise the safety of the Smiler, especially after the accident. Even prior to the accident the ride was working as intended. At peak traffic a 5th carriage was added to the coaster to run at maximum capacity. This carriage had to be tested and sent around the track empty as per procedure. This carriage was not weighted and was sent onto the track in high winds, winds that were reported to be high enough that the ride shouldn't have been operating anyway. This is the park operators fault first and foremost: They knew the risk, prioritised money and didn't inform ride operators to run the new cars weighted within their procedure. The high winds caused the empty car to valley after the first drop, it didn't have momentum to clear the course. The sensors at the second chain lift had not counted the correct amount of wheels that were programmed to be on the track and stopped the next car on the first lift as it should have. Maintenence believed that only 4 cars were in operation, and were not informed of the fifth car being tested. This led them to give the all clear. They did not do a visual appraisal of the track, they didn't think to look. They sent off the next car by overriding the safety system when 4 cars were accounted for and that led to a full carriage colliding with the stranded, empty, fifth car. This is now not possible with new regulations, but the fault of the park is that they shouldn't have been able to override the safety mechanism without a sign off from a higher-up, which is now required. The Smiler has always been perfectly safe, and is incredibly safe today. The greed of park managers, the lack of information passed between workers and one terrible, lazy lapse in judgement is what caused this crash, not a ride failure. The ride highlighted the issue and humans ignored it.

How many loops do you want? The smiler: yes