Spinball Whizzer
Spinball Whizzer is the park's signature spinning coaster themed around a giant pinball machine, with riders spinning around the track in cars themed like pinballs, making several close encounters with pinball bumpers and giant pinballs.
Whilst in the queue, guests can keep themselves entertained with various queue line games, loosely inspired by the ride's theme, usually involving launching balls towards targets to build up a hi-score. The area around the ride also continues the theme, with pinballs littering the lawns around the ride. Adventure Land's building are also themed after pinball bumpers.
History
Built by German company Maurer Söhne, Spinball Whizzer opened at Alton Towers for the 2004 season as part of a two coaster deal, which also saw Dragon's Fury open at Chessington World of Adventure. The ride took over almost all of Adventure Land, resulting in the removal of much of the area's play equipment, along with the relocation of The Gallopers Carousel to Cred Street.
The location of the coaster was, and remains to this day, controversial. Many guests, as well as the local authority, share the opinion that it is located too close to the Towers' Ruins and spoils the famous view upon entering the park.
Sonic Spinball
As part of a deal with games company Sega, in 2010 Spinball Whizzer became Sonic Spinball, inspired by the Sonic's popular 90s pinball video-game. As part of the retheme, the ride's supports were repainted in a darker shade of blue, and the track rails a bright red. Various pieces of Sonic The Hedgehog paraphernalia enhanced the existing theming, including a statue of Sonic himself by the entrance. At the same time, a Sonic themed hotel room was added to the Alton Towers Hotel, inspired by the Green Hill Zone.
Sega's sponsorship expired in 2016, at which point the ride reverted to being called Spinball Whizzer. Despite the removal of the Sonic theme, the ride kept its darker blue and red colour scheme, but the attraction's audio was updated with a new composition by German music company, IMAscore.
The future of the ride has also long been in question, since it was earmarked for removal in the park's Long Term Development Plan back in 2012. The ride's future in the park has come under increased speculation by the shrinkage of Adventure Land to accommodate expansions for CBeebies Land. Spinball Whizzer now remains as the only attraction left in Adventure Land, leaving it somewhat isolated as it awaits its fate.
Attraction Stats
Timeline
Attraction Extras
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Fasttrack Available | |
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Souvenir Photo Available |
