- "Sonic Spinball (roller coaster)" redirects here. For other uses, see Sonic Spinball (disambiguation).
The Spinball Whizzer, formerly known as Sonic Spinball, is a steel spinning roller coaster made by Maurer Söhne of Germany and sponsored by Sega. The ride is located in the Adventure Land area of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England.
Overview
The ride opened to the public in 2004. It was themed around a giant pinball machine with silver cars for the balls. The ride also featured several high-banked turns, adding to the pinball theme. A large variety of music could be heard from the rock 'n' roll genre whilst queuing up or standing near the ride. This was appropriate, as its name was a play on the title of "Pinball Wizard", a song by The Who. In the past, riders have expressed frustration at the long queues this ride could attract on a busy day, with each car holding only four people.
On 3 January 2010, it was announced that the ride would take on a Sonic the Hedgehog theme for the 2010 season and become known as "Sonic Spinball", a reference to the game Sonic Spinball.
Sonic music is heard during the ride and Sonic can be heard telling guests about the ride. The karts are themed around the main characters of the series: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Dr. Eggman. In 2016, the ride returned to its Spinball Whizzer theme, likely ending the partnership between Sega and Alton Towers as the contract had expired.
Trivia
- Sonic Spinball was most likely named in a reference to the 1993 video game of the same name.
- This ride is the first instance of Roger Craig Smith ever voicing Sonic.
Gallery
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Video
External links
- Spinball Whizzer at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia