The Smiler
The Smiler is the 14 inversion world-first roller coaster at the Alton Towers Resort, located in the X-Sector section of the theme park and is the biggest project in Alton Towers’ history.
First announced in 2011, the £18 million coaster was under a veil of secrecy for well over a year, but it was mid-2013 when guests could experience what The Smiler had in store for them for the first time.
The Ministry of Joy
Believed to be the masterminds behind The Smiler’s hidden agenda, the Ministry of Joy were first introduced to us during the 2012 Scarefest event in the new scare-maze ‘The Sanctuary’.
The Sanctuary was a journey through a newly reopened facility with a mysterious and un-nerving Doctor Kelman as the lead doctor. Guests to The Sanctuary would conform to the Ministry of Joy through an experimental technique called Marmalisation, which has had mixed results in the past.
Much of The Ministry of Joy is unknown, but those of you who are brave enough to experience The Smiler might be in for a few surprises.
The story so far…
Since the planning application was submitted, we followed all stages of the project and many important milestones had been tracked on TowersStreet’s The Smiler Timeline. From the first stages of groundwork, to the first pieces of track arriving, right up until the last track piece going in, TowersStreet has been with you all the way through the construction phase.
In February 2013, things got strange when a curious smiley face appeared around the country, including on the side of some unsuspecting sheep, which quickly picked up the name of ‘Creepy Sheep’!
This was followed up with the release of the Smiler Game for Android and iOS, which proved the plans were not as accurate as everyone first thought when they were submitted over a year previously.
Through April celebrities were given the Marmalisation treatment and work-men re-enacted the famous New York Rockefeller Centre girder photo.
Into May curious videos entitled “Smile. Always.” introduced Miles Ceders; a curious character who it has turned out was partially Marmalised by the infamous Dr Kelman (from The Sanctuary) to take forward the message of the Ministry of Joy and lead people to The Smiler. Part One, Part Two and Part Three are available on the Alton Towers YouTube channel.
The Smiler’s “world-beating” feature was also revealed at the beginning of May…
“World-beating”?
The phrase “world-beating” has been associated with The Smiler since October, but very little was known about what this phrase meant. Discussion centred on a record number of inversions, though nothing was confirmed until very late in the construction phase. It was finally revealed on May 9th that The Smiler had been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as having a world-beating, record breaking 14 inversions.
Delayed until May
We reported on the 21st of January that the ride had been confirmed to open in May – a two month delay from its original opening date of March 2013. The ride was confirmed on 8th May to be opening on the 23rd of May 2013, however only the day before Alton Towers unfortunately announced that The Smiler would not be opening on the 23rd, eventually the ride opened on the 31st of May to generally very favorable reviews.
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