Exclusive: Sonic Rollercoaster Coming to Alton Towers in February
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Exclusive: Sonic Rollercoaster Coming to Alton Towers in February

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Author Slingerland
22 Comments

For UK theme park enthusiasts and Sonic fans, we have some exclusive news coming our way from tipster Jon D.  A UK theme park, Alton Towers, will be re-branding one of their roller coasters for 2010, the “Spinball Whizzer,” as “Sonic’s Spinball.”  Jon cites that a fan e-mailed the park after hearing murmurs about the change and received the following response:

Dear ….

Happy New Year

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you but I have been on holiday. I am sure that you will have picked up press reports by now relating to Spinball Whizzer and the fact that we are in partnership with Sega resulting in a retheme to the ride to coincide with the relaunch of Sonic. We hope that the retheme will be complete for our February half-term opening.

Kind regards

The “Spinball Whizzer” is known as a “spinning wild mouse” coaster, which cars rotate freely as the car moves along the track.  There is pinball bumpers and flippers everywhere to simulate the choatic nature of being inside a pinball ta… wait… what was that?  Let’s re-read that e-mail…

a retheme to the ride to coincide with the relaunch of Sonic

Uh… what?!  The relaunch of Sonic?  That’s… a very interesting thing to say…

Anyway, Jon has also included a picture of the ride being converted to its new Sonic theme.  The teal color of the “Whizzer” is being replaced with a vibrant, Sonic blue:

To see a video of the “Spinball Whizzer” in action, click here.

Wrapping up his e-mail, Jon also includes a bit of trivia for all of you.  Did you know that this isn’t the first time that Alton Towers and SEGA have teamed up?  Back in 1994, Alton Towers opened “Toyland Tours” and Sonic had his own section of the ride.  It featured a giant Mega Drive, gold rings, TVs playing videos of Sonic games, and an animatronic Sonic.  Plus, it even had its own amazing music! Will the animatronic Sonic make a comeback with “Sonic’s Spinball?”  We shall see. 

Check out the video below at the 3-minute mark to see Sonic in “Toyland Tours.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnesUebUovk[/youtube]

[Found at TowersTimes forums]

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Slingerland

Slingerland is a staff writer and editor for both The Sonic Stadium and Sonic Retro. His area of emphasis is the inner-workings of the games and laughing at everything.

22 Comments

  1. OMFG *fangazm*

    I remember the Sonic part of that ride back when I was a little kid. I couldn’t take my eyes off it and was sad once I passed it lol!

    I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO going to Alton Towers this year for that ride.

  3. Just watched the video and lol’d hard at the hippo in the skirt with the jiggly boobs, I don’t remember seeing her. Surprised as I’d have thought that would have scarred me for life XD Maybe my parent’s covered my eyes at that part lol!

  6. Ah man I really think Alton Towers sucks (and robs me of money trying to get fake plushes) but this is so cool. Hopefully they’ll stock SONIC MERCH NAO! :3

  7. I remember this rollercoaster although I could’ve sworn they have the same one in Chessington… I was too scared to go on it although maybe I won’t be now…

    Oh the power of brands.

  8. Spinball Whizzer? Like you sit in a Sonic spinball and roll around the track? That’ll be absolutely STUNNING! *puns intended*

  9. I’ve been on the ride. I always thought a Sonic-themed rollercoaster would be a great idea, but one based more on speed. I know they wouldn’t rebrand one of their most famous rollercoasters, but the one that goes really fast would have been a much better match for Sonic. It’s still a fun rollercoaster, though, and I’d like to see how they repackage it.

  11. “Yo UK, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but the US has one of the best Sonic fanbases of all time!”

    In all seriousness, why doesn’t SEGA of America show the same kind of love to us? It hardly seems fair.

  13. @Shadzter

    But that’s Dubai. You know as well as I do that they have EVERYTHING. Anyway, here’s to hoping we get something like that too!

  14. @ Espy

    I see where you’re going there. Rebranding the Pinball Whizzer sounds great, but if it was my choice, I would’ve chosen Rita Queen Of Speed instead. For those who don’t know, it’s another rollercoaster at Alton Towers, but with a great emphasis on speed which would’ve been a perfect match for Sonic – the train accelerates from the station reaching 60mph within 2.5 seconds!

  18. This has just made my day. I need to be there on opening day! I remember the Sonic section in Toyland Tours. It was always worth going on just for that section. Unfortunately, it was replaced by a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ride. Oh well, Sonic now has a ride of his own.

    Relaunch of Sonic? Quite possible. It’s a new decade, so why not a new start?

  21. @shadzster: That sounds exactly like SegaWorld which we used to have in piccadilly. That place was awesome when I was 8 🙂 since everything was on free play then went to pay to play then Sega closed it down and it became something else. Would be fun again to play Sonic Fighters and SegaSonic in the arcade again.

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