What's new

Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

It's worth noting that every Merlin ride project will have a Creative Lead regardless of whether it's heavily themed or not. Creative Lead is basically a fancy word for a project manager, or chief designer. Even the likes of Rita and Stealth (not really themed that heavily) had Creative Leads.

I don't think we'll know the full extent of the ride's theming until at least the full planning application, possibly later.

However, based on the fact that no obvious theming was shown, as well as the fact that coasters of this size aren't typically heavily themed anyway, my guess is that this will have more of a style/brand than a full-on theme. I'm of course willing to be surprised (we could get Merlin's most heavily themed coaster yet, for all we know), but my personal hunch is that this won't have a particularly in-depth theme. Hyper coasters don't usually tend to, and they didn't show any notable theming in the consultation (in Chessington's one, they did show the big lion structure, as well as some of the general theming within the area).

I'm not saying it won't have a theme by any stretch, but I think it'll be a fairly loose theme, whatever it ends up being.
 
Im going with this having a Mary Poppins theme, Merlin had enough of us whining about how they give their family coasters horror themes, now they’re gonna give us a thrilling coaster with a family theme, trains will be themed to chimney sweeps🤣
Instead of up-charging for the spinning seats they’ll entice guests with the choice of dressing up and riding in 1900’s attire! I’M SOLD 🤪
 
This is a quote from Mary Poppins! Any significance or nah?
That's just the Creative Lead hinting that they were about to start the planning process.

It's worth noting that every Merlin ride project will have a Creative Lead regardless of whether it's heavily themed or not. Creative Lead is basically a fancy word for a project manager, or chief designer. Even the likes of Rita and Stealth (not really themed that heavily) had Creative Leads.

I don't think we'll know the full extent of the ride's theming until at least the full planning application, possibly later.

However, based on the fact that no obvious theming was shown, as well as the fact that coasters of this size aren't typically heavily themed anyway, my guess is that this will have more of a style/brand than a full-on theme. I'm of course willing to be surprised (we could get Merlin's most heavily themed coaster yet, for all we know), but my personal hunch is that this won't have a particularly in-depth theme. Hyper coasters don't usually tend to, and they didn't show any notable theming in the consultation (in Chessington's one, they did show the big lion structure, as well as some of the general theming within the area).

I'm not saying it won't have a theme by any stretch, but I think it'll be a fairly loose theme, whatever it ends up being.

A Creative Lead is the Creative Director of a new Merlin attraction. Every Creative Lead has a Project Manager behind them.
 
Does everyone not feel as if Thorpe Park have already been going down the amusement park route? Everything new added seems to have its own theme not related to the area it's in at all? Plus didn't they take the names of the themed areas off the park maps last year?
Everything is so mish mash a bit like Blackpool pleasure beach now tbf
 
Given that the ride seems to be designed to hit the UK height record, I'd quite like a Fury 325-esque style and name to it all.

Just a nice, coherent style - not necessarily over the top theming - and a simple name with the height stuck on at the end would do the trick I think.
 
Does everyone not feel as if Thorpe Park have already been going down the amusement park route? Everything new added seems to have its own theme not related to the area it's in at all? Plus didn't they take the names of the themed areas off the park maps last year?
Everything is so mish mash a bit like Blackpool pleasure beach now
Personally I actually like that. While themed areas can be nice, it is something that most parks nowadays are going for if they want to go the themed route. With rides being themed individually, it just feels more diverse to me and does not force any artificial boundarys upon the creative-team.
 
Just wanted to remind everyone that coaster proposal plans are subject to change, so Thorpe could make this ride... even shorter ;)
Why must you take pleasure in torturing the poor British enthusiasts. All they earnestly want is... a good coaster for once
 
On a side note, why is it that everyone is expecting this to be incredibly intense, out of interest? I'll admit that the more I look at the layout, the more I'm not personally seeing it myself; don't get me wrong, I'm sure Exodus will be a great ride that'll be great fun and really well-received, I am excited for it, and I think it'll be a great addition, but I'm not sure that it'll be overly intense or an absolute airtime machine, personally.

I know it's both tall in height and fairly short in ride duration as far as hyper coasters go, but a lot of the elements seem very high and drawn-out (all the big inversions/elements pre-splashdown didn't seem too far from the lift height based on the images I saw), which leads me to believe that a fair bit of momentum could be burned off negotiating them, and at those elements' highest points, there won't be a ton of speed, or at least, not blisteringly fast pacing. I remember reading the comments of the most recent (and often considered to be most accurate) NL2 recreation of the plans, and the only part of the ride pre-splashdown that the creator described as having "strong ejector" was the first drop; they described there being strong ejector on the first drop, moderate airtime exiting the immelmann, floater on the outerbank and hangtime in the dive loop. Admittedly, they did describe the outerbank and final hill after the splashdown as having "STUPID ejector" (I believe this is where the alleged -1.8G came from), but this was without any kind of trim or equivalent speed removing device; my personal suspicion is that the splashdown could be akin to Diamondback's or SheiKra's, where the ride scoops the water out of the lake and shaves some speed off the train. I'm sure you'll still get decent airtime there, but I don't think it'll be quite as strong as some are expecting.

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here; I'm as excited as anyone to see this take shape, I think it could ride very well, and given the brief, site and budget, I'm not sure they could really have done any better! However, I'm not sure that I'm quite subscribing to the belief that it'll be obscenely intense or an absolute airtime machine from start to finish, personally. Don't get me wrong, it seems like it'll have a fair bit of airtime in places (more than most, possibly all, current UK coasters), but perhaps controversially, I don't think it looks to be an absolute airtime machine myself; other sensations look to take centre stage, with the airtime more being sprinkled in as a side dish. Or at very least, it doesn't look like a coaster designed solely with the purpose of delivering airtime in the same vein of many other hyper coasters.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing by any means (it certainly makes the ride stand out compared to other hypers!), but that's just my personal take.
 
On a side note, why is it that everyone is expecting this to be incredibly intense, out of interest? I'll admit that the more I look at the layout, the more I'm not personally seeing it myself; don't get me wrong, I'm sure Exodus will be a great ride that'll be great fun and really well-received, I am excited for it, and I think it'll be a great addition, but I'm not sure that it'll be overly intense or an absolute airtime machine, personally.

I know it's both tall in height and fairly short in ride duration as far as hyper coasters go, but a lot of the elements seem very high and drawn-out (all the big inversions/elements pre-splashdown didn't seem too far from the lift height based on the images I saw), which leads me to believe that a fair bit of momentum could be burned off negotiating them, and at those elements' highest points, there won't be a ton of speed, or at least, not blisteringly fast pacing. I remember reading the comments of the most recent (and often considered to be most accurate) NL2 recreation of the plans, and the only part of the ride pre-splashdown that the creator described as having "strong ejector" was the first drop; they described there being strong ejector on the first drop, moderate airtime exiting the immelmann, floater on the outerbank and hangtime in the dive loop. Admittedly, they did describe the outerbank and final hill after the splashdown as having "STUPID ejector" (I believe this is where the alleged -1.8G came from), but this was without any kind of trim or equivalent speed removing device; my personal suspicion is that the splashdown could be akin to Diamondback's or SheiKra's, where the ride scoops the water out of the lake and shaves some speed off the train. I'm sure you'll still get decent airtime there, but I don't think it'll be quite as strong as some are expecting.

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here; I'm as excited as anyone to see this take shape, I think it could ride very well, and given the brief, site and budget, I'm not sure they could really have done any better! However, I'm not sure that I'm quite subscribing to the belief that it'll be obscenely intense or an absolute airtime machine from start to finish, personally. Don't get me wrong, it seems like it'll have a fair bit of airtime in places (more than most, possibly all, current UK coasters), but perhaps controversially, I don't think it looks to be an absolute airtime machine myself; other sensations look to take centre stage, with the airtime more being sprinkled in as a side dish. Or at very least, it doesn't look like a coaster designed solely with the purpose of delivering airtime in the same vein of many other hyper coasters.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing by any means (it certainly makes the ride stand out compared to other hypers!), but that's just my personal take.
wow i never would of thought i would see the day when matt n would be negative lmao.
 
wow i never would of thought i would see the day when matt n would be negative lmao.
I wasn't trying to be negative; as I said, I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade. Besides, I don't necessarily mind it not being super intense, personally, as I'm more one for rerideability over out and out intensity myself. So in that regard, I'd personally quite like it not being super intense!

I was only curious to know why people think it's going to be super intense because I didn't personally think it would be that kind of super intense ride based on the layout I see; it looks more to focus on the big, drawn-out elements. I could well be wrong there (it could pack huge force in the most unexpected places), and even if I'm not, I don't personally see that as a bad thing.

Regardless of how intense it is, I think it'll be a great installation and I am very excited for it!
 
Last edited:
Sorry to double post, but I've actually been having a look at Old Town on Google Street View, and that made me realise that even if they don't retheme Old Town when Exodus opens, it will totally change the dynamic of that entire section of the park to a far greater extent than I'd previously anticipated... currently, Saw & Colossus absolutely tower over the section where Exodus is going, and Exodus will be more than twice the size of either...heck, every element before the splashdown is taller than the highest point on either!

Looking at the concept images, you think it's just going to be another coaster on the skyline, but when you actually look at the area and visualise it there... this is going to look nothing short of absolutely monstrous, and I'll admit that does rather excite me! I know size isn't everything by any means, but it must be said that in my opinion, pure size does add something to a ride's presence!
 
Top