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Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

Time to give a few thoughts on this after mulling over it for a day:

Overall, I'm positive. I think Thorpe is finally beating the big drum with this investment, building a very large coaster. It will be more than 70 meters tall, that's big by every standard. It will be visible from far away with a very distinct silhouette, and certainly stay a headline attraction at the park for many years.

Initially I thought it was rather on the short side. Perhaps that's still technically correct. But that's if you see it as a traditional Hyper coaster, which usually have very long track lengths. I realized that coasters can be quite tall and still quite short without anybody batting an eye over it. It helps to think of this coaster not as a lengthy Hyper, but as a Dive Machine. This is not a coaster like Shambhala or DC Rivals, it's more akin to Griffon or Valkyria. High up, tall drop, invert a bit, splashdown, brakes. It's not unusually short for its size if viewed from that perspective. Still, one could also argue that Dive Machines actually are quite short.

It is interesting to see the long perspective here too. I think we can say for fairly certain that this is not a coaster Thorpe will try to surpass for the foreseeable future - nor do I see any other park in the UK try to do so either. We established before the announcement that Thorpe is the only park in the country with the means to build something like this, and once they have one I don't think they will be in a hurry to outdo it. They don't have the room, the coaster is filling a relatively narrow niche, and there are no competitors to steal the title. Going out on a limb, I'd say it's fairly likely that Exodus will remain the tallest coaster in the UK in 2040 or even 2050. It will be "the big coaster" at Thorpe for a long time. The park's next coaster - whenever that may be - probably won't try to compete with it in that respect.

In other words: expect no traditional hyper for the UK for the foreseeable future. Unless BPB gives The Big One an RMC treatment of sorts, I guess, but heaven knows where they'd get that sort of money from.

Exodus will be an addition worth celebrating, and one that will be a staple of the park's lineup for several decades, but I hope Thorpe won't be resting on its laurels after building it. It does address the issue that the park hasn't received a significant new attraction in many years, but Thorpe still faces other challenges. Continuous renewal is necessary to keep the park up to shape in the long run, and the addition of one big coaster won't address the state of the rest of the park. As I've said numerous times before, Thorpe has a few issues with its park layout, and the bulk of the attraction lineup stems from a short but intense construction boom around the turn of the millennium. Replacing those rides is a big wave of costs looming in the future. By 2024 all of them will have been running for 20 years or more, and if they want to replace them all before the last one kicks the bucket, while spacing out the investments somewhat, they better begin with the first one soon-ish. For instance, the Slammer site could probably still hold a decent flat, whose addition will soften the blow of the loss of another flat elsewhere in the park. In that context, I find it interesting that Slammer remains on the schematics. There are still no immediate plans to clear the site, in other words?

Or put another way, a new big attraction at Thorpe is a good thing, but "maintaining" the existing attraction lineup by periodic refurbishments and replacements is equally as important. They shouldn't let the old attractions become too old or let parts of the park become stagnant and uninteresting for return customers over a long period of time.

So all in all, I think Exodus is a boost for the park, and a worthy addition, but in itself it won't fix Thorpe and I hope the investment will be followed up. If they blow the next five years' investment budgets on Exodus, then in five years the park will have one new coaster and five additional years of wear and tear to everything else, and that will become more and more noticeable and expensive to fix the longer they wait before doing so.
 
Sorry to double post, but as @CrashCoaster posted in the Small News from the Theme Park Industry thread, Theme Park Predictions had a “very reliable source” tell them something very interesting to do with Thorpe Park’s next project:
This will result in Thorpe’s next coaster being a B&M Hyper Coaster on the Loggers spot (although quite possibly stretching out of the Loggers area) that will beat the Big One’s UK height record and possibly Stealth’s UK speed record as well. He says that signs of construction will begin next year and that the ride will open in 2023.


Do of course take this with a pinch of salt, but he says that his source is reliable, and if this does come true, I think it could be very exciting! I’ll admit I’m slightly doubtful about the prospect of a 2023 opening, as I’m unsure whether Thorpe would want to infringe on Chessington’s project, and I also feel as though we would have seen more in the way of planning permission by now given the scale of such a project, but I don’t think the ride type and nature of ride suggested seems at all inconceivable, personally, and I think such a ride would be a phenomenal fit at Thorpe!
While the Brits are asleep, just want to offer commentary from a month later that the supposed B&M has obviously all but been ruled out for Thorpe unless the current proposal goes to scrap. Personally I'm going to cast doubt on this second deal rumor once again given that we have some form of an existing 6-coaster deal for junior inverts and family wings spread between Legoland and Chessington. Both of Tower's eventual projects aren't inconceivable at all, if they're indeed being planned though then they possibly don't have much to do with this supposed deal.
 
While the Brits are asleep, just want to offer commentary from a month later that the supposed B&M has obviously all but been ruled out for Thorpe unless the current proposal goes to scrap. Personally I'm going to cast doubt on this second deal rumor once again given that we have some form of an existing 6-coaster deal for junior inverts and family wings spread between Legoland and Chessington. Both of Tower's eventual projects aren't inconceivable at all, if they're indeed being planned though then they possibly don't have much to do with this supposed deal.
Yeh we kinda knew that was bo!!*cks the minute he said ‘cross valley.’

Wish I’d stuck to my guns about this one too…

Edit: fine I’ll censor it myself… kinda strange we can’t mention the town of ironmongers up north but I can freely refer to the dog’s danglies… 🙈😂😂😂
 
It’s worth remembering that the B&M Hyper rumours may well have emerged due to a B&M Hyper possibly being planned at one stage or another.

Projects go through many iterations and many manufacturers before reaching this stage of the game, so for all we know, Thorpe may well have intended for this to be a B&M Hyper originally, but canned it at a fairly late stage and replaced it with what we now know as Exodus, which could have been where the strong rumours came from.

Admittedly, the emphasis on inversions over airtime on Exodus leads me to believe that B&M might never have been in the picture, but for all we know, Exodus may well have been picked in lieu of a B&M hyper twister more focused on airtime.
 
It’s worth remembering that the B&M Hyper rumours may well have emerged due to a B&M Hyper possibly being planned at one stage or another.

Projects go through many iterations and many manufacturers before reaching this stage of the game, so for all we know, Thorpe may well have intended for this to be a B&M Hyper originally, but canned it at a fairly late stage and replaced it with what we now know as Exodus, which could have been where the strong rumours came from.

Admittedly, the emphasis on inversions over airtime on Exodus leads me to believe that B&M might never have been in the picture, but for all we know, Exodus may well have been picked in lieu of a B&M hyper twister more focused on airtime.
For all we know they may well of intended it to be manned visits to space aboard a rival to Richard’s Galactic… 🤷🏻‍♂️

Maybe this was picked ahead of a 500ft Polar coaster… We just never know 🙈😂

Sure ideas ‘may’ have been produced in Magic Making around a B&M, I’m sure tens of projects a year are dreamt up in there, it’s their job. Doesn’t mean any of them get built, or beyond the drawing board stage… Most won’t.

Also Matt, you’re making yourself look a bit silly with this obsession on the ‘emphasis on inversions’ thingy… Nobody I know who has ridden any of Mack’s big multi inverting coasters have moaned about the lack of air time… There is usually loads… With the exception of Icon… Even Blue fire has more moments than anything in the UK… Helix, RTH and the rest are crammed full of airtime…

If anything they’ve moaned about the lack of intensity on the launches and through the inversions, something I don’t think will be a problem after a 236ft drop… But even if it is, you don’t like intensity so you’re quids in.

Either wait until you ride it, or until you’ve ridden some of their other air time filled coasters, before you draw your conclusions. Sorry don’t mean to be mean, but it needed saying… 😘😘😘
 
Also Matt, you’re making yourself look a bit silly with this obsession on the ‘emphasis on inversions’ thingy… Nobody I know who has ridden any of Mack’s big multi inverting coasters have moaned about the lack of air time… There is usually loads… With the exception of Icon… Even Blue fire has more moments than anything in the UK… Helix, RTH and the rest are crammed full of airtime…

If anything they’ve moaned about the lack of intensity on the launches and through the inversions, something I don’t think will be a problem after a 236ft drop… But even if it is, you don’t like intensity so you’re quids in.

Either wait until you ride it, or until you’ve ridden some of their other air time filled coasters, before you draw your conclusions. Sorry don’t mean to be mean, but it needed saying… 😘😘😘
I never for one second meant to imply that this will lack airtime; I think this could have a few moments, and a few moments of pretty strong airtime at that.

My point was more that this doesn’t look built with airtime as its main purpose in the same vein as, say, DC Rivals or Flash. Even though I’m sure this coaster will have airtime, and it could well cram it into the most unexpected of places knowing what Mack are like, it doesn’t look to be a principally airtime-focused coaster to me. As much as you say that Helix, RTH etc have lots of airtime, and I’m not debating that they probably do, they don’t look like coasters with a principle airtime focus to me; the airtime moments are more sprinkled within a wider layout with a focus on something else. I think this could be similar, if not more focused on the “something else”.

If you’re wondering why I say “if not more focused on the something else”; on your aforementioned examples of Helix and RTH, they do seem to have at least a couple of “traditional” airtime moments (aka bunny hops/hills) sprinkled within them (Helix has the two massive camelback hills and a few other little hills, while RTH has at very least the top hat and the straight run of bunny hills up to the brake run), which this comparatively seems to lack besides the hill into the brake run.

There’s nothing wrong with that, and as you say, I’m sure it will have a fair bit of airtime, but my personal opinion is that it doesn’t look like the absolute airtime machine, or at least not a coaster crammed with traditionally airtime-inducing elements, in the vein that some were perhaps hoping for. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the overbanks and inversions exits could definitely induce some negative g’s, as well as the drop, but I think anyone expecting this to be a coaster absolutely loaded with airtime for every second of the layout could be disappointed. It does look (to me, anyway) to mainly focus on other types of forces, and sprinkle the airtime in there in small doses as a side dish to those other forces.

Of course, we don’t know before riding it, but those plans don’t convey to me that this will be absolutely packed to the brim with airtime, personally. I’m not saying that’s correct or a done fact, as I could very well be proven wrong at this stage (and would be very happy to be!), that’s just my personal opinion based on the layout I’m seeing.

I don’t want that to make you think that I don’t like the look of the ride. I very much do; I think it could be an excellent coaster, and I’m extremely excited to ride! The proposal seems to be growing on me the more I look at it, and some of the elements look like they could ride very well indeed! I just don’t think it looks like it’s an airtime-focused ride in the same way that other hypers/megas are, or in the same vein that an RMC is.

Do you get what I mean at all? I apologise if this makes me look a bit short-sighted; I guess my low coaster count doesn’t help my case when I make arguments like this, but to me, Exodus doesn’t look like a coaster that will focus on airtime. I think it could have it for sure, and it could well be the strongest coaster in the UK for airtime as I wouldn’t really say that any coaster in Britain has a particularly strong airtime focus, but I don’t think it looks primarily built for it like many other hyper coasters are.
 
I never for one second meant to imply that this will lack airtime; I think this could have a few moments, and a few moments of pretty strong airtime at that.

My point was more that this doesn’t look built with airtime as its main purpose in the same vein as, say, DC Rivals or Flash. Even though I’m sure this coaster will have airtime, and it could well cram it into the most unexpected of places knowing what Mack are like, it doesn’t look to be a principally airtime-focused coaster to me. As much as you say that Helix, RTH etc have lots of airtime, and I’m not debating that they probably do, they don’t look like coasters with a principle airtime focus to me; the airtime moments are more sprinkled within a wider layout with a focus on something else. I think this could be similar, if not more focused on the “something else”.

If you’re wondering why I say “if not more focused on the something else”; on your aforementioned examples of Helix and RTH, they do seem to have at least a couple of “traditional” airtime moments (aka bunny hops/hills) sprinkled within them (Helix has the two massive camelback hills and a few other little hills, while RTH has at very least the top hat and the straight run of bunny hills up to the brake run), which this comparatively seems to lack besides the hill into the brake run.

There’s nothing wrong with that, and as you say, I’m sure it will have a fair bit of airtime, but my personal opinion is that it doesn’t look like the absolute airtime machine, or at least not a coaster crammed with traditionally airtime-inducing elements, in the vein that some were perhaps hoping for. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the overbanks and inversions exits could definitely induce some negative g’s, as well as the drop, but I think anyone expecting this to be a coaster absolutely loaded with airtime for every second of the layout could be disappointed. It does look (to me, anyway) to mainly focus on other types of forces, and sprinkle the airtime in there in small doses as a side dish to those other forces.

Of course, we don’t know before riding it, but those plans don’t convey to me that this will be absolutely packed to the brim with airtime, personally. I’m not saying that’s correct or a done fact, as I could very well be proven wrong at this stage (and would be very happy to be!), that’s just my personal opinion based on the layout I’m seeing.

I don’t want that to make you think that I don’t like the look of the ride. I very much do; I think it could be an excellent coaster, and I’m extremely excited to ride! The proposal seems to be growing on me the more I look at it, and some of the elements look like they could ride very well indeed! I just don’t think it looks like it’s an airtime-focused ride in the same way that other hypers/megas are, or in the same vein that an RMC is.

Do you get what I mean at all? I apologise if this makes me look a bit short-sighted; I guess my low coaster count doesn’t help my case when I make arguments like this, but to me, Exodus doesn’t look like a coaster that will focus on airtime. I think it could have it for sure, and it could well be the strongest coaster in the UK for airtime as I wouldn’t really say that any coaster in Britain has a particularly strong airtime focus, but I don’t think it looks primarily built for it like many other hyper coasters are.
In that case, I apologise…

The bold bit is spot on… And a very accurate assessment. Whilst Mack coasters often have lots of great airtime moments. They do tend to build more balanced rides, that do more than just ‘straight’ air time.

I think it is difficult for you to see or understand the other moments, and how they may feel, until you’ve sampled them.

You’re also right, nothing in Britain really has airtime, nevermind an airtime focus… Bits and bobs here and there, but nothing strong, nothing sustained…

Just wait until you’ve ridden something like Untamed… That feeling is going to blow your mind!!! 😘
 
Side note:

Can somebody please get Matt on some ejector filled rides!!!

I think he’s over 18 now, so it wouldn’t be child kidnap anymore! which I guess is a bonus!!! 🙈😂😂😂

Let’s take him on a trip to Energylandia, and while we are talking about that; maybe you could give me a proper tour as an experienced park goer.
 
Let’s take him on a trip to Energylandia, and while we are talking about that; maybe you could give me a proper tour as an experienced park goer.
Sure I’ll get started on the itinerary…

10:00 Zadra
10:10 Zadra
10:20 Zadra
10:30 Zadra
10:40 Zadra
10:50 Zadra
11:00 Zadra
11:10 Zadra
11:20 Zadra
11:30 Zadra

At the point they’ll probably close the gate as all of the GP make it to Dragon Zone sooo

11:40 Tyskie
12:00 Abyssus
12:30 Formula

At this point, the whole of Poland seems to eat lunch, so naturally we’ll go

13:00 Hyperion
13:10 Hyperion
13:20 Hyperion
13:30 Hyperion
13:40 Hyperion
13:50 Hyperion
14:00 Hyperion
14:10 Hyperion
14:20 Hyperion
14:30 Hyperion

14:40 Lunch (and Tyskie) time…

I’ll plan the rest of itinerary later, but it usually involves lots of rides on Tyskie, and one ride on each of the decent fillers!!! 🙈😂😂😂
 
You’re also right, nothing in Britain really has airtime, nevermind an airtime focus… Bits and bobs here and there, but nothing strong, nothing sustained…
I’ll admit I disagree on British coasters not having airtime, and I’m always confused when I hear people say that “Britain has no airtime”, as I do think there are lots of coasters with decent moments; Wicker Man in the back absolutely throws you over some of those drops with an absurd amount of ejector (or at very least, what feels like ejector for me), and even Wicker Man in the front has a few really fun pops of quick airtime, Icon has quite a few really excellent airtime moments, Oblivion has the drop with the sustained floater, Stealth has the phenomenal ejector over the top hat, Saw has quite a few excellent airtime pops, Rita has some great ejector, Megafobia has a brilliant first drop on the back and some fun pops elsewhere even in the front, Speed has the hill, Thirteen has a few really fun pops… I could go on! I’ll admit that we perhaps lack the more sustained airtime moments like you get on Mako, but I think we’ve got brief pops pretty well covered!

However, in terms of rides with an airtime focus… that’s another thing entirely, as I agree that Britain has none of those, or at least none that I can think of off the top of my head. Britain’s airtime moments almost seem to happen by accident as opposed to by design, and they’re usually a very brief side dish within a ride focused mostly on something else. Even though I mentioned many UK rides above that I feel have some great airtime, I wouldn’t say that any of them strike me as being built for airtime. I think it speaks volumes that even though my coaster experience outside of Britain is fairly limited, the two coasters I’ve done that seem to have the most airtime are both foreign. From memory, I remember Mako having far more airtime than any British coaster, and pretty strong airtime too; that one most definitely had an airtime focus! And although I’m less sure about that one, I’d wager that surprisingly for such a small, tightly packed layout, Mine Blower possibly had more airtime per unit length than any British coaster, and many of those moments were surprisingly strong! Yes, Wicker Man ranks marginally higher, but that’s due to the more comfortable trains and me liking the smooth, fast twisty action on that one as opposed to the airtime; Mine Blower strikes me as a more airtime-focused coaster than Wicker Man, so if it had more comfortable trains (the GCI ones are lovely, whereas I wasn’t a huge fan of the Gravity Group ones), I’d say it might well have been in with a chance at being the woodie in my top 3 instead of Wicker Man!

Linking this back in with Exodus, my basic point is; Britain seems to lack rides with an airtime focus currently, and in spite of the expectations and hopes of many, Exodus doesn’t necessarily seem to buck that trend in the way that many had hoped. However, it certainly has the potential to be one of Britain’s strongest coasters for airtime (if not the strongest), and I’m happy with that, personally!
 
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I’ll admit I disagree on British coasters not having airtime, and I’m always confused when I hear people say that “Britain has no airtime”, as I do think there are lots of coasters with decent moments; Wicker Man in the back absolutely throws you over some of those drops with an absurd amount of ejector (or at very least, what feels like ejector for me), and even Wicker Man in the front has a few really fun pops of quick airtime, Icon has quite a few really excellent airtime moments, Oblivion has the drop with the sustained floater, Stealth has the phenomenal ejector over the top hat, Saw has quite a few excellent airtime pops, Rita has some great ejector, Megafobia has a brilliant first drop on the back and some fun pops elsewhere even in the front, Speed has the hill, Thirteen has a few really fun pops… I could go on! I’ll admit that we perhaps lack the more sustained airtime moments like you get on Mako, but I think we’ve got brief pops pretty well covered!
And this paragraph alone explains 2 things… One why you think the air time on B&M hypers is the best thing ever, and 2 why we really need to get you out to more rides!!!

None of those rides contain anything remotely close to good solid ejector Matt… Yes you are right, some contain pops of airtime, but it is very weak.

Wickerman has it’s moments, some rides contain moments of gentle airtime, some contain nothing. Late night on the back is sure to give some of the better moments.

Icon has it’s moments, and on some launches over the top hat actually has what I’d describe as ejector. But again, it’s weak in comparison.

Stealth has it’s moments too, again, depends on factors, but I sometimes feel what I’d describe as ejector. Problem is the restraints kill it.

Same with Smiler, which actually has the 2 strongest moments (imo) but the restraints kill it.

None of these rides have moments that come close to what is out there though. So whilst the term ‘UK has no air time’ is a slight exaggeration, it is true that the UK has no good air time in comparison to what is available elsewhere… There’s more airtime both in terms of time, and strength, at Walibi Holland alone than there is in the UK… WALIBI HOLLAND!!! Hell, there’s probably more airtime on Goliath than there is in the UK! And that’s not even their best air time machine… they have Lost Gravity and Untamed too!!!
 
For the consultation the only parts of the layout relevant and need to be completely accurate will be the tallest parts.

The low parts aren’t going to be in view for the locals. So I do wonder if we could see some improvement on the layout towards the end.

Assuming the splashdown is going to be a false one like on Shambhala then there’s going to be plenty of speed for a longer layout. Maybe another helix, airtime hill and a few bunny hops etc.

Saw and Wickerman both had improvements made to their final layouts.

Smiler’s layout ended up being different from the initial plans released too.

Plus that brake run looks very long I can’t imagine that being totally accurate.

So I do think anyone that wants some more airtime hills and a longer layout may get that yet.
 
Ok this is a potentially even better pre-creation:-

This thing is gonna be ****ing huge.
Max Neg G -1.8!!!!!

God I hope that is right!!!!

Looks incredible…

Still think another bunny hop or 2 would be nice at the end though.

Also that drop is going to be insane in the back… You’re going to be thrown out of the seat as you crest, then just at the moment of highest negative g, twisted round… Could be one of the best twisted airtime moments ever!!!
 
For the consultation the only parts of the layout relevant and need to be completely accurate will be the tallest parts.

The low parts aren’t going to be in view for the locals. So I do wonder if we could see some improvement on the layout towards the end.

Assuming the splashdown is going to be a false one like on Shambhala then there’s going to be plenty of speed for a longer layout. Maybe another helix, airtime hill and a few bunny hops etc.

Saw and Wickerman both had improvements made to their final layouts.

Smiler’s layout ended up being different from the initial plans released too.

Plus that brake run looks very long I can’t imagine that being totally accurate.

So I do think anyone that wants some more airtime hills and a longer layout may get that yet.
I somewhat agree, although the Chessington coaster didn't change at all between the concept art and the submitted plans, which DO have to be taken as gospel afaik. So when we see the submitted plans for this development come spring, that will almost certainly be the ride we get.

Although I also wouldn't hold your breath that the layout will change, because Thorpe have submitted the land area they want planning permission to change to the council. So afaik, they could only extend the coaster WITHIN the red box, which wouldn't really be doable:-
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Doesn't look too be enough room to do so imo, so I think the current layout will pretty much stick.
 
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I’ll pay for @Nicky Borrill and @Matt N to go off to Energylandia together providing that I can retain sole ownership of all corresponding franchise rights (I’m thinking… documentary, film, TV series, ladybird book and best of all the sweet sweet, merch 🤑).

Cheapskate!!! That’s going to cost you all of what, £12.49 and a half eaten Mars bar… And we have to surrender all rights…

Fine, but we get to keep all rights associated to the sequel!
 
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