National press coverage in the newspaper ‘Metro’ this morning has confirmed that the Resort’s new £18 million roller coaster for 2013 will be named The Smiler.

The name, which had been rumoured since the appearance of a trademark back in November, adds to the creepy smiling theme that was first used in The Sanctuary during the 2012 Scarefest event.

Further evidence of the name was discovered yesterday when it featured on updated posters which we revealed were found outside Shepherds Bush Market tube station in London.

Previously codenamed Secret Weapon Seven (SW7), the announcement of the name rounds off a week of feverish speculation around the enthusiast community. National press coverage kicked off earlier in the week with quirky ‘creepysheep’ campaign. Sheep were marked around the country with the ride’s smiling logo, with paper’s reporting no one had any idea on how they got there or why.

Later in the week, a number of mysterious images were posted on the official Alton Towers Twitter over the course of Friday and Saturday, one of which seemed to say ‘The Inoculator’ causing some to believe this was the name of the ride.

As well as the images, a video was posted to the Resort’s Youtube channel summarising the sites where the attraction’s smiling logo had been featured on train station barriers, on posters around the country and projected onto buildings around London.

The Metro article also includes an image showing the “Staffordshire Knot” element of the roller coaster, which at present is covered in snow due to the recent wintry weather across the UK.

The Smiler has been in development for a number of years, and was first mentioned back in an event after TH13TEEN (SW6) opened back in 2010. Since then, there had been a lot of speculation from around the internet about what the next major attraction from Alton Towers Resort would be. With planning documents being made available in late 2011 and construction taking place throughout much of 2012 the end is now almost in sight as the opening date of the roller coaster quickly approaches.

If you want more information about The Smiler, you can view it over at our brand new page dedicated to the attraction at TowersStreet.com/The-Smiler

One thing is for sure, just like the ride itself, there’s definitely plenty of twists and turns in the build up to opening day. Here on TowersStreet, we can’t wait to bring you the latest news on the final stages of this very exciting project here on our site and over on our Facebook and Twitter pages. You can also get involved over at our forums where we have some dedicated The Smiler topics for you to get your teeth into.