Alton Towers have announced that a new ride will join The Retro Squad line-up for the 2022 season. Spinjam is an ‘Extreme’ fairground ride, manufactured by Tivoli and will operate on the old Submission site in X Sector. As with the other Retro Squad rides, the machine has been hired from a UK Showman, who will operate it on behalf of the park for the season. With less than a week to go before the start of the season, the new ride is believed to have arrived on site on Monday.
The Retro Squad were introduced in 2021 and are a set of pop-up rides that bolster the park’s dwindling thrill ride line-up. They are broadly themed to the 1980s, with a backstory that they are a squad of hero robots from the Planet Retrograde, responding to a distress signal sent out from the park way back in 1980. Indeed, Spinjam was first introduced during last year’s launch video, where a control panel revealed the names of various members of The Retro Squad, who could come to the park’s aid.
Spinjam will replace Mixtape in this year’s line-up. Earlier in the year, the park revealed on Twitter that Mixtape would not be returning, stating that it had been given a different assignment for The Retro Squad. In reality, the ride’s owner was no doubt keen to get the machine back on the fair circuit as life returned to normal after the pandemic.
All the Retro Squad rides have been travelling the country over the closed season after they finished their first year at Alton Towers. The original tweet gave no further information about what might replace Mixtape, leading to speculation that the site might be left empty this season. The last-minute revelation of a new attraction is therefore a pleasant surprise and is sure to go down well with the park’s thrill ride fans.
In the same Twitter exchange, the park revealed that the other Retro Squad rides would be back for the season. Roller Disco has already reopened for the pre-season ‘buy-out’ days, when the park is hired by private companies on the two weekends ahead of the start of the season.
Funk’n’Fly has also arrived in the park already, but will not operate until the start of the new season. Eagle-eyed guests might notice that this year’s machine is of a slightly different design. The original Funk’n’Fly is now back on the UK fair circuit, but due to popular demand, the park have been able to hire a similar model to fill the spot. The new model has already been constructed in Forbidden Valley, but is still waiting to have its Retro Squad makeover. Due to the different proportions of Funk’n’Fly v.2, the park have had to commission a new overlay for the ride, but this is expected to be very similar to last year’s design.
Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango has also returned for 2022. The park’s fourth pop-up ride is part of the World of David Walliams and has continued to operate during the closed season as part of the park’s Christmas event.
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