Saturday marked the start of the February half-term and March weekend openings before the main season starts on Saturday 29th March! So as part of our visit, we checked what has or hasn’t been going on at the Lost River Ride since our last update in October.
Now, before we get started on this update, we made several visits in December and at the start of January. However, with the site layout, most of the work had been taking place on the far side, where viewing has been restricted so it was hard to give an update on something we couldn’t see. So on today’s visit, we were in for a surprise!
We made our way to the ride entrance and the first thing we noticed was the fencing for the site had been removed and we could access right upto the soon to be lost river gift shop! Now, not only does the outside of the building look impressive but the inside is no less. Looking at the details inside the shop Flamingo Land has themed this to a high standard. The ceiling has a kind of “bush” effect to wit with draping flowers that follow down to some shelving and around the desk. Mounted on the walls are multiple monitors these will be for displaying on-ride photos or info on products they sell in the shop and things around the park but we are sticking with on-ride photos, it’s giving the vibe of the SIK shop/entrance.
Along with “pipework” style shelving, baskets and cable reels it finishes it off really well and we look forward to seeing it stocked up!
Moving on down the side the pathway to Voodoo is now open and we can see more of how the station, paths and bridges are connected. It looks like you will enter the board and exit on the same side, where as before you would cross through the station. A zigzag queue system is in place directly in front of the station, the exit will lead you back to the “shop” and the drying pods. There is still an existing ramp (original entrance) in place that connects to a new set of high-level walkways.
Moving further down to the “corner” where the zoo entrance is from Voodoo we now have a clear view of the layout. The drop pas we know is half the height of the original and is running down the side of the lion house and will have a straight running before turning and connecting to the original station run. The lost river ride did one full lap around the lion enclosure, now within that loop there is the new sea lion and fur seal enclosure. Viewing of the fur seals, sea lions and lions will all be accessed from the high-level platforms and walkways that interlink from the rides station and the new mangabey enclosure. (A full update on the NEW and old sea lion enclosure and the all-new mangabey enclosure will be posted this week!)
It seems the train track is now complete and we would expect to see this back in operation very soon! A temporary path has been formed along the edge of the train track that now recreates the original path that has been closed since October 2023! Standing where the “splash pool” once as we can see the rear side of the sea lion enclosure again still lots of work to be done here and more details will be on a dedicated update on the sea lions.
Back to the ride and with the drop being lower this will create a smaller slash for riders and splash zone spectators, we do hope it’s big enough to catch the unexpecting passing guests!!!
At the top of the drop, a large indoor section has been created, we are unsure what will feature inside but some music/voiceover with some props to theme it would be a nice touch. We know the indoor unit at the top of the lift hill will feature special fx with motion, sounds and visuals but that is all we can say at the moment!
As you can see there is still a lot of work to do in this section and we would expect this to be completed in the summer, Flamingo Land has yet to give any details on when the opening will be but given the size of the project with all the sub-areas effected it’s been a challenge.
We will be back weekly so look out on our socials for mini updates. Currently, admission is only £17.95 with a selection of zoo rides and Dino Stone Park.
