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Built at a cost of £18 million ($27m/€21m) – £1.28m per inversion – The Smiler is the most expensive ride to date at flagship UK Merlin


Entertainments property Alton Towers. Set for an official launch any day now, this beast of an attraction from Gerstlauer Amusement Rides is a peversion of inversions


Marmalisation


& Marketing Alton Towers’ marketing team is known for creating elaborate teaser campaigns to support its new attractions, and in the run- up to the opening of The Smiler was promising that the coaster “is set to ‘marmalise’ your body and mind by blurring the lines between


illusion and reality with a series of twisted effects,


giving riders a thrill like no other.” We not sure what


marmalise means


either, however who needs such hyperbole? Surely the promise of 14 inversions is enough to put a smile on any thrill-seeker’s face!


Paradise in China and its twin Colossus at Thorpe Park near London. Thorpe is a sister park to Alton Towers and like that venue’s SAW ride, The Smiler features a Euro-Fighter-style vertical lift and inverted drop, but followed by many more twists, turns and inversions including five corkscrews, three dive loops, a sidewinder, roll over, cobra roll and heartline roll. Over 1km in length (1,170m/3,839ft), the coaster is twice the size of the park’s much-loved Nemesis ride, and features a highest drop of 30m. During the 165 second experience, passengers reach speeds of up to 85kmh. Gerstlauer supplied a total of four 16-seater trains for use with the ride, each featuring four rows of four-abreast seats. Guest must be at least 1.4-metres in height to ride.


Since the start of the season the entire Alton Towers Resort has been declared a free wifi zone, and guests


THE SMILER W


Alton Towers reveals record-breaking new coaster


ith 14 inversions, the new ride comfortably snatches the world record from Intamin’s 10 Inversion Roller Coaster at Chimelong


can while away the time queuing in line by playing the free Smiler game on their smartphone. They can also win prizes and unlock hidden secrets by scanning a special icon on site. Located in the X Sector area of the park, on the former Black Hole site close to Oblivion, construction on The Smiler started back in September and Alton Towers managed to keep the world first element (the number of inversions) a closely-guarded secret until just two weeks before the planned opening. "The amount of time, money and energy that has been poured into creating this world first attraction is huge,” notes consultant and long time Alton Towers collaborator John Wardley. “Who knows what we will have to do to top this one!"


More pictures, plus an exclusive interview with the Merlin creative team, in the next issue of Park World


the-smiler.com


36


JUNE 2013


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