In this update we will look at the progress that has taken place over the easter holidays, the update spans over 2 weeks so we have split this update into locations of the site.
Lift Hill & Drop
As mentioned in a previous update, we know this is the new height of the drop and is around half the height of the original, but we were not sure how far the ride would be extended. We can confirm that the new steel supports next to the lion house will support the last section and the drop. As the days went on we could see progress on the ground between the lift hill and these supports, several trenches had been created these will be footings for the supports to attach to. As you can see in the photos these have now been filled with concrete with the bolts exposed and ready for the supports.
Not a great deal of work has taken place on the lift hill since our last update but in the past few days the motor and housing have been installed in the top section and we expect the supports and track to get erected in the coming months if not weeks!
The location of the splash pool will be just to the side of the original with the path and train track moving closer towards the lake.
Ride Entrance
The ride originally had a queue line ramp going up and over to the far side of the station, looking at the work getting carried out a new queue line looks to be on the side where you would exit the ride and the kiosk has been stripped out making a rather large shelter, could this be a new entrance to the ride? At this point, nothing has been confirmed so we will just have to see the progress of this in the coming weeks. Taking a look from VooDoo there’s not much you can see around the new seal lion house but we can see lots of supports that alter in height to create a ramp for potential better viewing of the area. The area is still closed off from the Cheetah viewing shelter to the Zoo entrance at VooDoo and round to the Greater Flamingos
Lion Enclosure
The most noticeable change to take place here is the rear wall of the sea lion enclosure now has a full rock theme, it runs from the Lost River Ride station and stops short of the lion house The end of the wall/building is exposed and from the angle we can see the sea lion pool walls are a good height and will have a great viewing angle from the top. Still the enclosure has a large section exposed to where the lift hill is, we are unable to confirm what the finish will be along that side.
As always we will keep a close eye on the progress and will have another update very soon!