The Future of Sonic Spinball

[SuperWill]

Like I said I would like Alton Towers to sign a new contract with Sega but if they didn't then I would move it to somewhere like Katanga Cayon but then again Katanga Cayon doesn't have much room so I don't know where it could possibly go really! Dark Forest could be an option but again not enough room! Let's get some more ideas in guys!

[Kenzie2012]

Towers will never relocate a coaster in the current climate and its not going to be scrapped any time soon.

Yes it's a poor example of a spinning coaster, but its a coaster and it fills a quota.

[mershed_perderders]

Towers will never relocate a coaster in the current climate

what does that even mean

[MattsDesigns]

Good name haha. He means with Merlins current budget to the park.

Only thing I can think of right now is to put up a warehouse round the ride and have lots of lulz and darkness in there.

[Liam-AltonTowers]

I was thinking the other day about a brand new spinning coaster at Alton Towers to replace Sonic Spinball. First of all Sonic Spinball could be relocated to a different Merlin theme park and then the new one could be built. I don't know where about's in the park they should put it - possibly next to Duel. This is what it should look like - it should be a Spinning Coaster with the non inverted loop. It's a design by Maurer Sohne which no theme park has built yet, it's unique and looks really fun. There's an image below:



Quote from Maurer Sohne website:

SC Non Inverted Loop

Spin the Loop! As the first spinning coaster to include a loop, it is guaranteed to be a milestone in the history of spinning coasters and an absolute eye-catcher.

[MC4]

Hi first post on the site, i have followed for quite some time, i would like to see the contract with sega be renewed, im sure in the long term plan it said that they would be replacing the spinball but that wasnt for another couple of years yet  so there it is possible that the contract could be renwed, or they could just change it back to The Spinball Whizzer  its also highly unlikely that they would relocate it for a few years with the cost of the ground works and rebuilding it elsewhere in the park  :P

[bensaund]

To be honest I can see Sonic going to Thorpe very soon, maybe next year on the quiet.

This could be a good move, move it to the Swarm Island, continue the destruction theme and have the cars spinning between maybe an old London bus and another building etc. Sonic isn't a great ride but if those cars were spinning in a disaster zone like the Swarm, this could really work for me. Maybe even have a dark section where the cars go into a building and out again. If you look at the way the Swarm goes under the wing of the airplane, it really works. Maybe have another section of the aircraft where the cars shoot through.

[MattsDesigns]

they could do indoor bits at Towers aswell
or tunnels
I didn't like this ride when I was skinny but now I put on a bit of weight I thought it was one of the best rides of the day.

water features could be nice but not anything that gets the car wet cause that would mean you can only have 3 people in the cars
What about if you had pools/ streams/water falls but you dye the water blue - to take a leaf out of the Nemesis creators book.
What if you then bubble fog through the blue water so you have a bubbling blue swamp? You could do that with Nemesis (note: a mixing chamber and air compressor is probably necessary to push the fog through the water since the fog has to be exposed to air to condense and become visible. You probably can't have a sealed tube going directly from the fog machine through the water).

I GOT IT what if you theme this as a huge novelty size garden? We could say we are a toy ball that little tommy throws around the garden and in the garden you have flowers in 15 foot flower pots, huge washing lines that the car careers under, a huge broom, a green pond that bubbles fog. You go through the legs of a 20 foot cat and it tries to bat you as you go past. It would be like Honey I Shrunk the Kids. You could have a HUGE cigarette butt thats still smoldering even though I know right now that would never wash...But its in the film.

And if you notice some offness in my tone, I'm not trolling. It's because I know its very unlikely this stuff will happen, but I still say its good to talk about ideas.

[The Flash]

Slightly off topic but if you walk down the path, do you get to Coaster Corner, or has the Towers fenced it off or something?

[roary01]

To the left of what is now Ice Age, there are green gates/ fence behind the Toadstool, if you go through there you arrive in the area that was Coaster Corner, however nothing really exists of the area now, its all mainly maintenance/Merlin Studios area.
I can actually see Sonic been closed after the Contract with Sega is up which i think is end of next year?
This would see Sonic dismantled and allow for the whole Storybook/Adventure land get a makeover into one big area.

Whether this marks the end of Sonic, i'm not sure, it could be put into storage, sold off, moved elsewhere.. Although i would like to see Towers keep Sonic, i just don't think it has a good enough capacity for a park like Alton Towers anymore, especially with the amount of gate figures there planning for future seasons..
The only place i could of seen sonic moved to is the entertainment area, however i don't see that really working either as again, its capacity isn't amazing but only time will tell...

[KJ91]

Im not even sure why this topic even exists. It was stated in the plan they released that it was to be relocated and they even marked out on a map possible locations for it on park. Thorpe park also has future development plans and there is no rollercoaster due to be built there again until 2015 (and it definitely wont be spinball)

[Boz]

The topic exists to discuss the future of the ride, hence the title.
Eg. Is it going to be relocated or removed? When will it go? If it is being relocated, where will it go? Will it be rethemed and/or refurbished? If it's being moved to a new all year round entertainment complex near the hotels, what other rides might accompany it? And will it be indoor or out door?

See plenty of discussion to be had 

[----reece----]

They should move It indoors on air carpark or near the hotel for the all year round entertainment like finding nemo in dlparis with speical effects it would improve the ride so much!

[KJ91]

The topic exists to discuss the future of the ride, hence the title.
Eg. Is it going to be relocated or removed? When will it go? If it is being relocated, where will it go? Will it be rethemed and/or refurbished? If it's being moved to a new all year round entertainment complex near the hotels, what other rides might accompany it? And will it be indoor or out door?

See plenty of discussion to be had 

I didnt word my self very well (something i do a lot that gets me in trouble) I should have stated the discussion for wether it will be relocated or removed. Its all ready stated on the plans that the ride is to be relocated so the discusion is basically where it will go and re-theme. The plans state it is being relocated within alton towers itself.

[stu1980]

If the flume is set to go which in the del plan it is why no put sonic on the land there and then a small water ride - would have the old flume que and a new ride near the back or vers and it would be hidden around the trees. think about it...

[KJ91]

Would make sense to put spinball there, with it being a loud ride the trees would also reduce the noise made by it.

[Boz]

Interesting idea, you could theme it as cannon balls as well. It wouldn't take much to do that, and add in some pirate ship theming and it could be an amazing ride.

[KJ91]

You could even put it over the lake like infusion at black pool. Have a few carefully placed fountains squirt every now and then and a smaller log flume type ride to replace the flume.

[Boz]

Ooh and Water cannons like Wave rider at Lego land, that would be awesome

[schmatt]

Would love to see it in cloud cookoo land as part as a major redevelopment of the area. however i doubt they would get planning permission. The area will be updated in 2014 with similar rides to nick. & thomas Land but with the wacky CCL theme. In 2015 spinball will be moved to the area, behind what i believe was the Nick outta control building. Which will act as the shop, station entrance and facade for the ride.

Give it a 60s music theme, with slight reference to trippy hippies to keep the older guests entertained. The facade of the ride will be a music studio, with the ride sign hanging over the door lit up in lights. The queue takes you through a club'esque' series of rooms, playing some 60s hits with some nice taky lights and discoballs.

Towards the end of the queue you reach the baggage hold and a group of around 40 are batched into a room where an interactive pre-show similar to Zufaris but with a nice hippy charecter instead. who makes a few jokes, gets people dancing and finally tells the group that hes made a car to transport you back to the 60s (Austin Powers eat your heart out) The group then exits the pre-show and enters another short queue in the load/unload bay. Where screens show the boarding instructions and how to pick their song. (See below) The station area has a backstage theme, similar to RnRC, but with coloured lights over the cars.

The ride is essentially spinball but enclosed with some nice lighting and effects, possibly similar to X's. The ride cars however have been themed with some chrome pipes and wires to make it look more 'time machiney'. The seats also have individual speakers in the headrests. And a system similar to HRRR where guests choose their favourite 60s jam to rock out too. This will be the main selling point to the ride and can be marketed as europes first blah blah pick your own song blahblah amazing blah blah psychological blah.

On dispatch, as the car travels the straight before the lift, which has numerous 'stage enterance >' signs plastered on the walls. You hear the hippy saying something along the lines of 'hold on dudes, it gets a little bumpy.' The lift hill has HRRR style rings with lights, bubbles and smoke effects simulating the time travel. once at the top the riders song kicks in, disco lights blare and the ride travels the course. The brake run has a short strobe as the car comes to a hault. The music stops and the hippy welcomes the riders back, and says the unload instructions. Riders exit into a shop filled with 60s style alton towers merch.

This will not only attract more guests to the corner of the park, it will free up adventure land for some new family development which hopefully will be less of an eyesore than sonic was. It also means alton finally gets an indoor coaster again