Ride Footers Marked Out For Project Exodus
Friday 21st April 2023
Project Exodus is slowly making progress, work on transforming the huge area into a new rollercoaster area isn't the easiest or quickest.
Since our last look at the site, all of the water has been drained and work can once again continue.
Nothing big and exciting has happened yet but they have begun marking out footer locations around the area. Red blocks of wood have been put in the ground marking where footers will be located. We saw something similar happen at Chessington last year for Mandrill Mayhem.
Saturday 8th April 2023
Loggers Leap fights back!
Over the past few days in Surrey, we've had a lot of rain meaning that Old Town and parts of Thorpe Park have flooded a little bit.
You can see by the water levels on the diggers how high the water is in some places. It won't be long until the construction company has pumps dotted around the site to drain the water.
Project Exodus March 2023 Back In The Park
Friday 24th March 2023
Old Town is no more! During the closed season, Thorpe Park has completely flattened the area, removed both lift hills of Loggers Leap, and 95% of the track for the ride. The only section of track that remains is the section that runs across the lake.
It's our first time back in the park for the 2023 season and the area is totally unrecognisable. It won't be long until we start to see ground works begin for the brand-new Mack Rides rollercoaster.
Work on infilling the lake for the new rollercoaster has begun. This will be a long process as the ground will need to settle before major groundworks and foundation works can begin.
New artwork and banners have been added to the fences around the area.
"Something EPIC is on the horizon"
"Taking Thrill to new heights"
Spotted across the lake, a new barge has been craned into the lake. Could this be to help remove the last bits of Loggers Leap and help with infilling the lake within Old Town?
The skyline of Thorpe Park is about to change forever! And we couldn't be more excited.
Loggers Leap Removal Almost Complete And Ride Testing Continues
Sunday 12th March 2023
The reopening of Thorpe Park is just days away with the park previewing its 2023 season to guests on Saturday 18th March and fully reopening on 24th March 2023.
With the main theme park season just around the corner, rides have been spotted testing across the park. During our short visit to Monks Walk today we saw, Stealth, Rumba Rapids and The Swarm testing in the distance. This will be for staff training and getting rides up and running for the season.
Work on removing Loggers Leap continues with the drop now fully gone, and 90% of the second lift hill is now gone. The only sections of track left appears to be the section going over the lake before the lift hill. With it raining a lot over the past few days bits of wood from the lift hill can be seen being used to soak up the mud and help move heavy vehicles across the site.
This will be our last Monks Walk update for Project Exodus before the park opens and we can get a bird's eye view from inside the park. You're definitely going to want to ride Colossus, Saw The Ride and Samauri during the season.
Loggers Leap Removal Continues and 2023 Season Preparations Continue
Saturday 4th March 2023
Thorpe Park is just weeks away from reopening its gates for the 2023 season and lots of work is going on behind the scenes and in places visible from Monks Walk. Signs are being replaced and rides are being reassembled ready for their first guests of the year.
Rush and Vortex have received new entrance signs, Depth Charge has been repainted and the old Saw Alive boat has been moved. With the old Saw Alive queue line being removed and the area opened up a little more, the park has relocated the boat next to Saw Alive. Weirdly the doors to get onto the boat have been placed lakeside so no one will be able to get onto the boat without getting a boat first. Could we see the boat moved into the car park to have any work done to it? With the boat being in the water for so many years it wouldn't surprise us!
The Teacups ride in Amity appears to be under new management and looks to have been sponsored by Dobble. New signage can be seen on the side of the ride facing Monks Walk. Looking into the park from the same area, a train can be seen in the Nemesis Inferno station. With work happening on the break run and on the lift hill we might have to wait a little longer to ride Nemesis Inferno this year.
Project Exodus update time! Work on removing the double-down drop is complete and work has now turned towards the lift hill for the ride. Sections of the ride's drop can be seen sitting on the floor waiting to be disposed of / recycled. Looking back towards the lift hill sections of the catwalk have been removed and preparations for removing the ride completely are underway. We wouldn't be surprised if the ride was completely gone by this time next weekend! With the lift hill housing motors, cables and important systems for the ride, these will need to be safely removed first before the ride can be cut up and removed using a crane.
Around the rest of the Project Exodus site, land continues to be cleared with rocks that used to previously be in the area moved down towards the old Thorpe Park Farm area. Old Town looks totally unrecognisable! Our first rides of 2023 are definitely going to be Colossus, Samarui or Saw The Ride so we can get a view of the construction site.
Loggers Leap Double-Down Drop Removal Begins
Wednesday 1st March 2023
The day has finally come, the double-down drop on Loggers Leap has started to be removed! The sides of the trough have started to be removed and slates from the base of the drop have been removed in some sections. Work on removing the belt and rollers from the lift hill has already been completed, it won't be long until this old Mack log flume is replaced by a sparkly new world-class Mack rides rollercoaster.
Further into the construction site towers the back, it appears that work on digging foundations for one section of the rollercoaster has begun. Along with blue marker points being installed towards the back of the site. Towards the middle of Old Town, work on infilling the lake looks to have begun!
With the theme park season slowly creeping up on us Saw The Ride has begun testing giving us fantastic views of the ride and the construction site when you ride it during the year. A few other rides can be seen testing from Monks Walk such as Rush, Vortex and Zodiac.
Old Town is going to look very different when the park opens for the 2023 theme park season.
Thorpe Park February 2023 Closed Season Look
Friday 10th February 2023
The Thorpe Park closed season is almost over and the park has begun reassembling attractions throughout the park ready for its first guests of the season!
However, we know that's not the main reason you are reading this article.
Work continues at Project Exodus and the area is looking flatter each time we see it. Since our last visit in person down Monks Walk the old Canada Creek Railway station has been flattened and the concrete base of the station is nowhere to be seen.
The first lift hill of Loggers Leap has been completely removed with the base of the lift hill spotted poking out of the ground. Old Town is not how it looked when the park closed at the end of the 2022 season, no one tell the buckwheats their home has gone. Lots of land continues to be flattened for Project Exodus, but the area looks recognisable. Parts of the first lift hill can be seen throughout Old Town.
More panels of the old Platform 15 fence have been removed and black tarps have been added to the fences down near the construction site. We expect this is for health and safety reasons not just so you can't see into the park.
The Rocky Express water tower theming element has been relocated to down the monk's walk fence a bit further down towards the farm. Reunited with an old Loggers Leap boat these will probably stay here. for a while. And only 3 carriages of the Canada Creek Railway remain, the rest have been removed from the park.
With not much left to be removed in Old Town, this could be our last look at the main Loggers Leap drop. Goodbye old friend... I guess we're replacing a Mack for a Mack so it's okay.
Other bits of work spotted throughout our visit, Nemesis Inferno has one of its trains sat towards the top of the lift hill, Samurai is being reassembled and the new sections of track for Colossus have been installed. Currently painted a nice silver colour we expect that these will be repainted over the next few weeks. The Colossus lift hill is still under scaffolding and zooming in on photos it appears work on the lift hill chain is what's currently happening. Lots of shipping containers can be seen down near the Tea Cup ride, it's unknown what's going on here. The Derren Brown Ghost Train sign has also been removed. More sections of fence lining Monks Walk have also been replaced to improve site security.
Thorpe Park Resort Club 236 Announcement
Thursday 9th February 2023
Thorpe Park has today announced Club 236! A club exclusive to Merlin and Thorpe Park pass holders, all you have to do is visit the park during the 2023 season to be entered into the draw to be on one of the first public train of project Exodus.
The park has also announced the manufacture of the ride, Mack Rides!
"We’re giving all THORPE PARK and Merlin Annual Pass Passholders the chance to ride the first public train of Project Exodus! All you must do is visit us - the UK’s most thrilling theme park during the 2023 season, easy eh!
Every visit you make using your Annual Pass between the 18th March and 31st October 2023 inclusive will give you one entry to the Club 236 prize draw! So, the more you visit, the bigger you chance of winning!"
Project Exodus February 2023 Construction Insight
Wednesday 8th February 2023
Thorpe Park has posted another cool insight into Project Exodus on their social media channels tonight. Showing off some of the hard work going on around the site, such as the removal of the old Canada Creek Railway Train station, lift 1 of Loggers Leap has been removed and the double drop still standing.
The park is also promising an update on the main Thorpe Park page tomorrow at 2:36pm, which just so happens to be the height of the rollercoaster.
Wonder what this could be? The first teaser for the ride maybe...
Evening all! Just a little Project Exodus site update ahead of our very exciting Passholder announcement tomorrow
We're still in the process of clearing the site before any groundwork can begin:
Canada Creek Railway Sation has been demolished
Loggers Leap's first lift has been dismantled
The double drop is currently still standing
See you at 14:36 tomorrow on our main channels
Loggers Leap And Old Town Demolition Continues
Sunday 29th January 2023
Monks Walk is a hive of activity full of enthusiasts wanting to see a moment in history, Loggers Leap being ripped up like a piece of paper! The ride trough is made up of fibreglass panels which when picked up by heavy machinery looks to come apart very easily.
Over the past few weeks, it looks like the park has been concentrating on cutting down trees around the area and land clearing. The area looks even more unrecognisable since our last visit over 2 weeks ago. The final drop, lift hill and train station remain standing for now but we don't think it's going to be long until more dramatic changes happen around the area.
With two of the fence panels of Platform 15 now removed for easy access, we can see straight through to the first lift hill of Loggers Leap which has had its retaining walls removed and the land around it flattened. The entrance tunnel/building to the first lift hill is long gone now! All of the dirt and concrete retaining walls can be seen pilled up in the middle of Old Town.
Looking into the area you can see metal posts where the Loggers Leap trough once sat. The removal of the old log flume is fully underway.
Our favourite part of these updates is seeing where and what's been done to the piece of theming that previously sat on Rocky Express. This week he's found a wig to keep his head dry! Stood next to the old water tower theming for Rocky Express he's not letting the ship go down without a fight.
