The Smiler is a steel roller coaster designed by John Wardley and manufactured by Gerstlauer. It is located in the X-Sector area of the park, with Oblivion, another SW, SW4. This section of the park was home to rides such as Submission (a ride themed to be a futuristic torture device), Enterprise and arguably the most famous of these removed rides- The Black Hole. On the former site of The Black Hole is where the story of The Smiler begins.
Opening on May 31, 2013 as SW7, The Smiler has a record breaking 14 inversions, and at the time of writing this, nearly 10 years since this incredible coaster opened, it still holds that title. The ride is incredibly well themed, as a correctional therapy(?) type of facility with the ride being the main part of the correctional procedure into enforced happiness. In its opening year, it had a few issues, however nothing could prepare anybody for that happened at 1:51 in the afternoon on June 2nd, 2015. I don't want to go into the specific details as it is a very distressing topic but to give you a briefing about what happened, 2 ride cars collided (one without people, one with). 16 people were trapped for 4 and a half hours, with it taking 16 minutes for the first 999 call to be made. Witnesses say it was like a 90MPH car crash and onlookers couldn't do anything to help. If you want to read more, just be warned it is quite distressing as I said earlier and I hope everybody who was affected by the crash is doing okay.
So, .. why does this coaster get 5 stars?
This coaster shows of the most impressive amount of inversions crammed into such a small area. However, this comes with only one flaw, a cattle-pen queue line, but that is to be expected but some of the views that you get of the ride flying overhead are gorgeous. Also, this ride's lore is so huge that I will leave several links down at the bottom for you to watch for context and stuff. This ride has some of the world's best inversions too, like an in the dark heart-line roll, multiple corkscrews, some dive loops, a sea serpent, a side-winder, a reverse sidewinder and some cobra-rolls, as well as 2 lift hills. Overall this ride and its brilliant moments of airtime will hold a special place in my heart as the ride I have the most merch for because it's just amazing. Seriously, go onto any website where you can re-sell things, like Ebay, and look up "The Smiler". (This is the longest review I've done so far, hope you aren't bored of my rambling by now)
Smile, Always!
<3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAODUskd8NY
(This talks about the Smile Always mini-series)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL0Kv3iQrMM
(The Smiler Shop TV- Relevant for the lore)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGVoSvhasF8
(This link leads to The Smiler on ride pov)
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An Honest Review- Alton Towers Roller Coasters and Rides
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