Alton Towers Scarefest. My second ride of the day on The Smiler, and everything was going perfectly, until we reached the bottom of the vertical lift hill for the second half of the ride. At first, I didn't think anything of it. We sat there for around 15 seconds before I suddenly realised, we weren't moving. Twenty minutes passed as engineers and ride operators appeared, working on what turned out to be a problem with the lift. Then came the announcement: the ride was temporarily delayed.
After around 20 minutes of work, the lift suddenly came back to life. The Smiler reopened, and the trains continued running like nothing had happened! We were even given free return tickets as an apology. To this day, whenever I ride The Smiler and reach that exact spot, I can't help but think back to that evening in 2022. Getting stuck on my favourite coaster during Scarefest might sound like a nightmare to some people, but honestly? I absolutely LOVED it.
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