Spinball Whizzer: General Discussion

[Alsty]

Would it hurt somebody to go out there and clean it up though?

 

[DistortAMG]

No, but with the state of alot of rides at AT. It is probably far down on the priority list.

 

[WillPS]

Yes that’s true, but having just watched the latest digital dan video , he has made a very good point about removing spinball.

If they just bought a new ride system at the start of the season, why would they then replace in very soon. It would be a waste of money as if they wanted to get rid of it soon, they wouldn’t have replaced the ride system.

Plenty of rides close not long after failed attempts at life extension.

Corkscrew (fresh paint job when Rita opened)
Black Hole (fixing a load of effects broken for years only months before it went)
Submission

Away from Alton Towers there's a coastal rodent which had a lot of money spent trying to keep it going in the 2 years before the plug was pulled.

There's such a thing as 'throwing good money after bad'.

 

[Burner]

They also spent a fair amount of effort trying to get Enterprise re-opened before ultimately consigning it to the scrap heap.

 

[Alexsniff7]

I just don't see the point of removing spinball - the park needs family-thrill coasters and I just think there are better spaces and removals for future developments

I know coasters have shelve lives but I think it has a few years left

 

[Dave]

I just don't see the point of removing spinball - the park needs family-thrill coasters and I just think there are better spaces and removals for future developments

I know coasters have shelve lives but I think it has a few years left

It was originally going to be offered up as a sacrificial lamb for the cross valley coaster as the locals hate spinball (it’s noisy and close to the park boundary with the hamlet of Farley). Logic was the council would look favourably on a controversial valley coaster if the park would remove spinball and change to planning conditions for that part of the park.

Based on the fact they have just paid for new control system and they got planning permission for Horizon without losing Spinball I suspect it will stay.

 

[James]

It wouldn't surprise me if they hold on to Spinball for as long as possible. It's an easy bargaining chip to use for any big investments.

 

[Zeock]

From one of my more recent visits, I noticed the condition of the track is probably the worst I’ve ever seen in any theme park. It’s gone beyond rust now and started to rot. Surely it can’t be left like this much longer?

I understand the steel is thick, but surely this needs looking at?

That is awful, especially what is meant to be the UK's premier theme park, even though it is just grease.

 

[JAperson]

I think Spinball with eventually bee removed in some kind of agreement but it fills a gap Towers currently don't have and it's a fairly popular ride with visitors.

 

[Poisson]

Throughput aside, the ride is quite good, it isn't unsalvageable in terms of appearance and it is in situ, plus it owes them money for the PLC. I don't see the case for removing it anytime soon, barring any other issues I haven't heard of.

 

[Archie]

Throughput aside, the ride is quite good, it isn't unsalvageable in terms of appearance and it is in situ, plus it owes them money for the PLC. I don't see the case for removing it anytime soon, barring any other issues I haven't heard of.

its alright it just feels really barebones compared to the other themed areas, to be honest i think they would be better off replacing it, everyone says a mack spinning coaster but i'm thinking something more along the lines of a small collection of flat rides, ideally in my opinion one thrill ride like a topspin or something, one or two family thrills like a zamperla disko

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

its alright it just feels really barebones compared to the other themed areas, to be honest i think they would be better off replacing it, everyone says a mack spinning coaster but i'm thinking something more along the lines of a small collection of flat rides, ideally in my opinion one thrill ride like a topspin or something, one or two family thrills like a zamperla disko

I feel like there’s a glut of Zamperla Disko’s in the UK now (with two of them at Merlin parks already) so we don’t really need another one too badly, and don’t forget that park already has its junior version in a Rocking Tug.

 

[Archie]

I feel like there’s a glut of Zamperla Disko’s in the UK now (with two of them at Merlin parks already) so we don’t really need another one too badly, and don’t forget that park already has its junior version in a Rocking Tug.

thats a good point actually there are a few of them, but my point was the space could be used as a sort of flatride corner semi-solving the flat ride problem as well as having a big enough area to build some big ones

 

[jon81uk]

thats a good point actually there are a few of them, but my point was the space could be used as a sort of flatride corner semi-solving the flat ride problem as well as having a big enough area to build some big ones

There are four or five spaces for flat rides to go already without removing any other permanent ride.

 

[Blackhole_Sun]

Throughput aside, the ride is quite good, it isn't unsalvageable in terms of appearance and it is in situ, plus it owes them money for the PLC. I don't see the case for removing it anytime soon, barring any other issues I haven't heard of.

Out of all the coasters at Alton, this one should be one of the easier to paint and maintain as it’s all accessible.

No excuses.

 

[Trooper Looper]

It's a shame. I think Spinball could do with a TLC project during this closed season, but since alton towers TLC was abandoned years ago, its likely that it won't happen. Here's a quick reminder how spinball used to look with its greenish blue supports back when it opened in 2004 before the Sonic sponsor.




And here's how it looks now with all the faded Sonic paint and grime. You can't tell me this ride looks good, because... it doesn't...

 

[BigShadowtinytree]

The original colour of the supports was really nice wasn’t it? It’s a shame it’s in such a state now, it’s a pretty decent ride imo. Although sadly it’s not the only ride on park that’s a mess right now. We all know The Smiler needs a good scrub but I also thought Rita was looking bad on my last visit.

 

[Trooper Looper]

The original colour of the supports was really nice wasn’t it? It’s a shame it’s in such a state now, it’s a pretty decent ride imo. Although sadly it’s not the only ride on park that’s a mess right now. We all know The Smiler needs a good scrub but I also thought Rita was looking bad on my last visit.

Hex, Oblivion, Air, etc...

 

[QTXAdsy]

Merlin parks in general are just flat out terrible at keeping up appearances though you could argue this goes back to even the Tussauds era too.

 

[DistortAMG]

Plenty of rides close not long after failed attempts at life extension.

Corkscrew (fresh paint job when Rita opened)
Black Hole (fixing a load of effects broken for years only months before it went)
Submission

Away from Alton Towers there's a coastal rodent which had a lot of money spent trying to keep it going in the 2 years before the plug was pulled.

There's such a thing as 'throwing good money after bad'.

In fairness though, those two examples given not the best, I'll tell you why.

Corkscrew was painted so it looked clean and fresh in all the publicity shots it would appear in next to Rita. Being so close it would invevitably end up in lots. Cheap and easy to do. You want your ride that is going to be all over TV and newspapers to look fresh.

Blackhole, again, effects are pretty quick and cheap to fix. I am sure an unexpected change in H&S legislation nessecitated new platforms being installed. So a decision was made to close it. This was all quite last minute, so the people fixing the effects may not have known it was to close, even the park probably did not know at that point Even so, paint and effects are trivial stuff, to the point it is very paulsable rides would close shortly after both of those things were undertaken.

Replacing a rides control system however, is a very major component of a ride and a very major upgrade. It's like a heart transplant. It is very unlikely a park would do an expensive and substantial upgrade like this if they did not plan running the ride for some time into the future.