Now I don’t pretend to be an expert on roller-coasters, far from it, my experience extends as far as visiting a few theme parks and hours of time wasted on Roller-coaster Tycon (the first one, all later versions are rubbish), however roller-coasters are one of my passions. Perhaps a passion I don’t indulge in as much as I should but if I did then I’d have no time to keep track of the goings on in the world of Sonic (it’s a full time job… on top of a full time job).

As you should have noticed by now, I go the opportunity to have a go on the new Sonic Spinball ride at Alton Towers over the weekend and so what follows are a few of my thoughts on the ride.

First things first Sonic Spinball is a re-branding of the old ride Spinball Wizard which has been an attraction at Alton Towers at least before the last time I went there, around 6-7 years ago now… has it really been that long? I have vague memories of riding it back then and the ride was satisfactory.

Nothing much has changed since then, there’s been a fresh lick of paint applied of blue and red to make it look more ‘Sonic,’ there’s a Sonic statue out front, and the photo stand, ride advertisements, and concession stand have all been redressed. Fundamentally it is the same ride it has always been, so the real question is, is it Sonic?

Put simply yes. Sonic has always been about speed and while this ride isn’t the fastest in the world it doesn’t dawdle. Another fundamental aspect of Sonic is he spins, which this ride also does, and in fact makes each go on this ride unique as your cart turns as you going round the track, giving you a different view each time making it all the more interesting.

Overall it’s not something that’s going to make you lose your lunch unless you have an unusually low tolerance for rides, but it’s also not just a plain simple track going round in a loop, there’s ups and downs and once again the spin aspect to keep it interesting, something for all the family and put simply that is what a Sonic ride should be about a bit of excitement for all ages… unless your below a certain height.

Now all we need is for Air to be re-branded as a NiGHT’s ride and we will be well on our way to turning Alton Towers into the ultimate SEGA theme park.