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Sonic Spinball - 2014 and Beyond

...until you get up-close and see the mud splattered on everything (where does it all come from!?) and the worn rails! :p
 
BigAl said:
...until you get up-close and see the mud splattered on everything (where does it all come from!?) and the worn rails! :p
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This should probally be in the geek confession topic, but a couple of seasons ago I realised that I was going to the park too often and that I'd managed to sap the fun out of it completely. I found myself unable to just relax and enjoy the place without over analysing everything, so I quit all the forums etc and stopped going to the same park more than once a season.

I'll actually be making my first trip to Alton in two seasons in a couple of weeks to see if I can rekindle some of the magic...

but now you've gone and ruined it for me already as I'll be looking out for this mystery mud. :/
 
I don't think the mud will ruin it for you that much! :p It would be interesting to know how it gets there. Don't think I've ever seen it happen on any other ride.
 
I really hope they don't get rid of Sonic anytime soon, unlike most of the people on here I actually really like the ride, to be honest I prefer it to 13 & Air. :p

Also, they probably won't replace it with anything decent considering the small space it's in. So personally I'm really hoping it doesn't get removed anytime soon. :)
 
Spinball's massively underrated.

It's actually fairly intense and it's a lot of fun.

So what if it's not themed?

It doesn't ruin the view that much, it's hidden at the side. Besides, I think it's nice to have a ride that's just 'as is', not buried in a pit and covered in theming. Just a nice, simple ride that's about fun.
 
I think next year will reveal if its leaving or not.

If we get this well rumored new family area linking the farm, storybook land and adventure land up, and Sonic gets a complete re-theme (eg new sponsor, re-paint, etc, etc), then I don't think it will be leaving the park anytime soon. However if it is left as it is, then its days are probably numbered, ready to be replaced by another new ride in the new family area in the future.

Maybe if it does get re-themed next year we could see a much better theme, queue, etc, etc and people could like it?
 
The main problem I have with Spinball is its location... but not for visual reasons. No my issue is that it's too close to the park entrance for its own good. For what it is Spinball tends to have far longer queues than it should have, often more than the other coasters. This is simply because as the first ride that people see it's the one that most groups tend to head for. And as there are always people passing through that area it tends to stay busy.

Any replacement the ride gets is likely to have the same problem (if not worse as a lot of people get put off by the spinning) so it'd need to be a real throughput machine.
 
Spinball is good fun, but is increasingly rough and really an embarrassment for a major theme park.

Walking past it up close it does give you a buzz of excitement as the first coaster in the park, but from the opposite side of the lake it is simply a noisy eyesore which infringes on the natural landscape of the park grounds.

I like the idea of a bright and crazy pinball theme but they were lazy when it came to pulling it off, the resulting tin shed for a station with stickers stuck on it is almost as unforgivable as The Smiler's entrance.
 
Adam said:
BigAl said:
Blaze said:
Spinball's massively underrated.
So what if it's not themed?
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Well, the fact that it's at a 'theme park' for starters. :L
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Which is a place to have fun, not moan about theming. ;)
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That's a pretty poor excuse for accepting any kind of rubbish you might experience at a theme park. :p If I had a time machine I'd send you back to Thorpe's 2011 Annual Pass day. I doubt you could say that sentence again. ;)
 
Well no, not everything has to be to the same standard as Oblivion. It's not what the ride is about, it's fine as it is.

But I'm not sure how Smiler's entrance is worse than the station? It's literally just an entrance, compared to a whole, actual, awful station.
 
No, things don't all need to be that grand, but look at RMT. It's so much more effective when a ride interacts with good theming (especially the head choppers on the bridge, as well as the station) and it doesn't look like a simple roller coaster. That's what you find everywhere else, not at a place like Alton Towers. It's not as tall, fast or intense as Spinball, but it's much more effective at putting a smile on your face. RMT is a proper mini adventure!
 
Spinball is pretty much standalone though, it doesn't have a real area and with it being so close to the lake, fields and the vanilla Towers Street, it's best that it's simple and plain really.
 
It's a shame they didn't make more of an effort with it as the Sonic IP has huge potential. Alton Towers could have had something quite special if they'd made it look as if Sonic is actually involved with the ride rather than do a Six Flags and leave it at a single figure, some paint and stickers.

Come to think of it, why don't Alton Towers go for a full Nintendo (and Sega ;P ) themed land? Nintendo's characters are some of the most iconic in gaming history and numerous generations have grown-up being entertained by the likes of Sonic, Mario, Link, Kirby, DK, etc... Though it'd primarily be aimed at families with younger children, a Nintendo area would easily be loved by more than just children (assuming it was done right). Think of all the different rides it could give way to! :/
 
Points out that Sonic is owned by Sega, Nintendo's rivals... ;)
 
Ah I forget! Mario and Sonic at the Olympics made me forget Sonic wasn't Nintendo's creation! :p
 
Although that is a fair point, if they've been in games together why not "Mario & Sonic at the Alton Towers Resort" :p
 
A video games land in general would be great! Especially if they made it look really retro and blocky with characters in their various forms, interactive elements and a few over-sized games consoles for good measure! :p

Perhaps my 'Arcadia' idea isn't such a bad idea after all (shame I couldn't build much in RCT3 before my PC couldn't handle it)! xD
 
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