Spinball Whizzer: General Discussion

[Matt N]

I doubt Spinball gets through more than 500/600 per hour

That sounds about right in terms of its actual, attained figure; I timed it at 642pph when I last rode.

However, Maurer’s own theoretical figure is bizarrely 950pph. That doesn’t line up to me, as even if the ride always dispatched when the block section in front was clear, it would only attain around 730pph…

 

[Vicki]

This ride is noisy, and the theme is odd and kind of clutching at straws, and yet, I love it. It never fails to make me laugh, especially if riding with a mate or two. Rode it in the dark once with a friend and oh my days, it was the most terrifying, disorientating ride I've ever had on it. I was still laughing all the way round though.

Really glad single riders are allowed again, heading up to the Towers on Saturday and would like to get back on it.

 

[NuttySquirrel]

I don't really have a problem with the themeing, though I guess I still think of it as Sonic Spinball - just without the IP. Still the 90s video game feel works well enough for me. Bit odd that it's not really in a themed area though, just a random part of the park near Towers Street...

 

[Matt.GC]

Although Sonic Spinball had the exact same name as the 1993 Mega Drive game, it was themed to modern Sonic of the Sonic Adventure era onwards. Modern Sonic is slightly darker blue, has much longer limbs, a smaller head and green eyes. Classic Sonic had short legs, a rounded stomach, bigger head and spines and black eyes.

Dr Robotnik (or Dr "Eggman" to youngsters) is still clearly visible on top of one of the bumpers in the middle of the half helix before the break run. Does anyone know if this was sorted at retheme back to Whizzer and the vinyl just came off or did they never cover him up? I think the voice of Sonic used at Towers was Roger Craig-Smiths version of him, although I could be wrong?

 

[Skyscraper]

Having finally ridden my first Maurer spinner in the form of Spinning Racer at FA last week, I am really looking forward to riding Spinball next time I go to towers. I've been meaning to ride it for ages, I just kept forgetting about it and always left it too late.
Next time I go I'm going to make sure I make time to give it a go in the early afternoon.

 

[imanautie]

Although Sonic Spinball had the exact same name as the 1993 Mega Drive game, it was themed to modern Sonic of the Sonic Adventure era onwards. Modern Sonic is slightly darker blue, has much longer limbs, a smaller head and green eyes. Classic Sonic had short legs, a rounded stomach, bigger head and spines and black eyes.

Dr Robotnik (or Dr "Eggman" to youngsters) is still clearly visible on top of one of the bumpers in the middle of the half helix before the break run. Does anyone know if this was sorted at retheme back to Whizzer and the vinyl just came off or did they never cover him up? I think the voice of Sonic used at Towers was Roger Craig-Smiths version of him, although I could be wrong?

I've looked and can't find any evidence of anything ever covering it up, all the pictures showing that pole don't look like they have any sort of residue you might expect if vinyl had worn down.

 

[Matt N]

Having finally ridden my first Maurer spinner in the form of Spinning Racer at FA last week, I am really looking forward to riding Spinball next time I go to towers. I've been meaning to ride it for ages, I just kept forgetting about it and always left it too late.
Next time I go I'm going to make sure I make time to give it a go in the early afternoon.

I'd recommend some time around lunchtime, or the middle of the day; by this point, the majority of the crowds will have migrated to the other, more far-flung areas of the park, but you're close enough to the start of the day that no one will be heading out!

 

[Danscott22]

Anytime after 1pm should do for Spinball, looking forward to getting back on it next month as a solo rider!

 

[djtruefitt]

Although Sonic Spinball had the exact same name as the 1993 Mega Drive game, it was themed to modern Sonic of the Sonic Adventure era onwards. Modern Sonic is slightly darker blue, has much longer limbs, a smaller head and green eyes. Classic Sonic had short legs, a rounded stomach, bigger head and spines and black eyes.

Dr Robotnik (or Dr "Eggman" to youngsters) is still clearly visible on top of one of the bumpers in the middle of the half helix before the break run. Does anyone know if this was sorted at retheme back to Whizzer and the vinyl just came off or did they never cover him up? I think the voice of Sonic used at Towers was Roger Craig-Smiths version of him, although I could be wrong?

I think it was covered up when the ride went back to Spinnall, but has since come off.

You’ll also find when it breakdowns the announcements are still sonic themed, complete with the smashing of rings sound effect at the end of the announcement.

 

[spinba11]

If my memory is right the eggman bumper was missing for ages and when it came back it still had him on.

 

[Skyscraper]

Bump!

Does anyone know if RAP access is stil via the exit or is it different due to covid? Going to make sure I remember to give it a go for the first time soon, having always forgotten about it.

 

[s_g_k]

Bump!

Does anyone know if RAP access is stil via the exit or is it different due to covid? Going to make sure I remember to give it a go for the first time soon, having always forgotten about it.

It took me years before I had my first ride too! It always has a big queue in the morning and evening and I’d always be too far into the park to consider it during the middle of the day. I always make time for it now because it’s such good fun, if a little randomly placed.

 

[Danscott22]

Bump!

Does anyone know if RAP access is stil via the exit or is it different due to covid? Going to make sure I remember to give it a go for the first time soon, having always forgotten about it.

the exit - you don't really walk past anyone coming off the ride though because the disabled entrance and actual exit are slightly different, but they're at the same place.

 

[Skyscraper]

It took me years before I had my first ride too! It always has a big queue in the morning and evening and I’d always be too far into the park to consider it during the middle of the day. I always make time for it now because it’s such good fun, if a little randomly placed.

Glad I'm not the only one! Yeah I'm going to aim to do it at lunch time/early afternoon, when it (and Adventureland itself) should be a bit quieter. I rode a smaller version (Spinning Racer and my first ever) earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so am really looking foward to Spinball.

 

[Ideal]

That sounds about right in terms of its actual, attained figure; I timed it at 642pph when I last rode.

However, Maurer’s own theoretical figure is bizarrely 950pph. That doesn’t line up to me, as even if the ride always dispatched when the block section in front was clear, it would only attain around 730pph…

I used to operate this ride a few years ago and 950pph is definitely not achievable. I doubt we'd have got that even with 8 cars running as originally intended for the ride.

I don't think any operator had ever reached 200 cars in an hour, we used to compete for the fastest dispatches per hour and the most I remember was about 195 but that was a really good hour with literally no delays cause of guests being slow.

 

[Skyscraper]

Bump!

@Matt N I noticed in your trip report that you mentioned that the conveyor station system was not being used on Spinball. I'm wondering if that was due to the high numbers of RAP? those guests will usually be loaded/unloaded when the cars are stationary.

 

[Matt N]

Bump!

@Matt N I noticed in your trip report that you mentioned that the conveyor station system was not being used on Spinball. I'm wondering if that was due to the high numbers of RAP? those guests will usually be loaded/unloaded when the cars are stationary.

It could well have been. RAP seemed to be taking about 1/3 of capacity when I rode on Sunday.

It didn’t impact throughput much, however; it was still attaining a solid 600-650pph!

 

[D4n]

It could well have been. RAP seemed to be taking about 1/3 of capacity when I rode on Sunday.

It didn’t impact throughout much, however; it was still attaining a solid 600-650pph!

Based on all of the information that you have provided that's an utterly appalling 200pph from the main queue line, even assuming that all seats were being filled (not likely).

This kind of RAP / fastrack allocation is completely unacceptable.

 

[Matt N]

Based on all of the information that you have provided that's an utterly appalling 200pph from the main queue line, even assuming that all seats were being filled (not likely).

This kind of RAP / fastrack allocation is completely unacceptable.

It certainly appeared as though there was an equal 3-way split between RAP, FT and main queue when I was up near the station. I obviously can’t say whether this was the case for the entire period of time I was in the queue, but it was certainly the case for the whole period of time I was able to see into the station for. I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if this had been the case the entire time I was in the queue for given how high RAP/FT usage appeared to be around the park. I didn’t measure FT too much, but for some idea, RAP was getting around 1/5 of throughput on RMT (9 out of 46 riders were RAP on the cycle I was on), and RAP users were also consistently filling the back row on Nemesis (so around 1/8 of throughput).

For some idea, I started queueing near to the final turn on the ride, and that stretch of queue curving around the final turn and going up towards the station took around 45-50 minutes all in all. It was advertised 25, but had gone up to 50 by the time I got off the ride. The queue seemed to move very slowly… there were numerous moments where I thought I was “nearly there”, but it ended up taking a considerable amount of time even from those points.

In fairness, though, I’m not really sure what the park can do. You can’t really ostracise RAP users in favour of the main queue, and you can’t ostracise those who have paid for Fastrack either.

 

[Dave]

It certainly appeared as though there was an equal 3-way split between RAP, FT and main queue when I was up near the station. I obviously can’t say whether this was the case for the entire period of time I was in the queue, but it was certainly the case for the whole period of time I was able to see into the station for. I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if this had been the case the entire time I was in the queue for given how high RAP/FT usage appeared to be around the park. I didn’t measure FT too much, but for some idea, RAP was getting around 1/5 of throughput on RMT (9 out of 46 riders were RAP on the cycle I was on), and RAP users were also consistently filling the back row on Nemesis (so around 1/8 of throughput).

For some idea, I started queueing near to the final turn on the ride, and that stretch of queue curving around the final turn and going up towards the station took around 45-50 minutes all in all. It was advertised 25, but had gone up to 50 by the time I got off the ride. The queue seemed to move very slowly… there were numerous moments where I thought I was “nearly there”, but it ended up taking a considerable amount of time even from those points.

In fairness, though, I’m not really sure what the park can do. You can’t really ostracise RAP users in favour of the main queue, and you can’t ostracise those who have paid for Fastrack either.

You can better police the people who abuse the system and implement a proper virtual queue system that can’t be manipulated or abused.