Sonic Spinball (roller coaster)

Sonic Spinball, formerly known as Spinball Whizzer is a steel spinning roller coaster made by Maurer Söhne of Germany and sponsored by SEGA. The ride is located in the Adventure Land area of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England.

Spinball Whizzer
It was themed around a giant pinball machine, with the silver cars being the balls. The ride also featured several high banked turns to add to the pinball theme. A large variety of music could be heard from the rock 'n' roll genre whilst you were queuing up or around the ride. This was appropriate, as its name was a play on the title of Pinball Wizard by The Who. Riders have expressed frustration in the past at the long queues this ride could attract on a busy day, with each car holding only four people.

Sonic Spinball
Merlin Entertainments have shown in their ten year plan that Spinball Whizzer is likely to be relocated to another area of the park in the near future. However, on 3 January, 2010 it was confirmed the ride will be rethemed into a Sonic the Hedgehog style for the 2010 season. It is now confirmed that the ride will become known as Sonic Spinball, a reference to the Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball. A Sonic-themed Hotel Room is also due for sometime in the near future.