Project Exodus - New for 2024 (Hopefully)

[MattyMoo]

Exclusive news from being "on park" and on Saw today is that there was a car parked in Old Town and by Rocky there was a bit of clearance/shingle going on.

[JoshC.]

For anyone who hasn't seen TPM's latest post: https://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/27-04-2022/Project+Exodus+April+2022+Round+Up

 

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As is standard with large planning applications, lots of different parties have to be consulted and give their seal of approval for the statement. Each party will have different specialisms (for example, there are those concerned with waste and drainage, others with how local traffic will be affected, police, Heathrow airport and so on). This is on top of comments from local residents. All of this is used to help the local council reach their decision.
 

As of now, there has been over a dozen pieces of feedback from different parties, with most having no objection. However, there is currently one party who have raised a concern: the Environment Agency (EA). In simple terms, the EA are concerned about the placement of parts of the ride being in a high-risk flood zone, with a roller coaster not being considered appropriate for this area. This concern was raised prior to the full application being submitted, although the planning team working with the resort have responded with clarifications that tackle these concerns. At this stage, it's not clear what this will mean going forward, but we hope that this is just a technical admin thing, and not something which will have any major consequences!

 

In short, there's been some objection to the placement of some of the footers of the coaster. I don't like to speculate too much on things I don't fully understand, but it seems a bit like an oversight from a planning perspective, but something that can be sorted out. Hopefully it doesn't take long to sort out though.

[Matt N]

For anyone who might be interested, recreations of both the Exodus we’re getting and B&M’s bid have been made by Jamie Rogers:

Perhaps controversially; having recently ridden Silver Star and had my love for the B&M Hyper ride type confirmed, I think I prefer the look of the B&M proposal to the ride we’re getting based on those recreations.

 

To me, it looks to have far more of an overt airtime focus than the Exodus we’re getting (while I’m sure Exodus will have airtime, don’t get me wrong, and quite strong airtime at that, I’d be hesitant to call it an overtly airtime-centred layout based on what we know), which would have fitted the UK beautifully, in my view (particularly seeing as the country lacks sustained airtime like B&M Hypers offer far more than it lacks brief airtime, in my view).

 

I also feel that the B&M proposal would have filled more of a gap within Thorpe Park’s lineup; a non-inverting, rerideable thrill coaster in the vein of a B&M Hyper Coaster is something that Thorpe and arguably the UK industry as a whole lacks at present, and Thorpe has no non-inverting thrill coaster aside from Stealth, whereas Exodus, as brilliant as it looks, will ultimately be another variation on a sit-down looping coaster. Granted, I’d imagine it’ll be quite a different variation on this paradigm to Thorpe’s other rides, but it will be a sit-down looping coaster with its elements almost predominantly consisting of inversions, like many of Thorpe’s other rides, all the same.

 

I apologise if this makes me come across as “bitter that my prediction was wrong” or whatever, and I don’t want to imply that I’m not grateful for the ride we’re getting or don’t think it looks great (I think Exodus has an awesome-looking layout, and it’s certainly very unique!), but having now seen this alternative proposal, I do personally think it looks more my cup of tea than the Exodus being built. When I came off Silver Star last week, I’ll admit I did think “wouldn’t it have been great if Thorpe was getting something like this?” (although as I said above, that’s not to say that the Exodus we’re getting doesn’t look great; I’m very excited for it!), and I actually think the proposed B&M Hyper layout looks pretty neat, myself!

[Mark9]

I'd have preferred a B&M hyper too. Frankly, whatever park they get added to, they are an incredible crowd pleaser and would have really hit a market not really catered for at Thorpe or indeed the UK. As marketable as Exodus will be, I personally think it's a shame that something a little more 'safe' wasn't chosen.