The Lost River Ride Update
Is The Lost River Ride about to become "Lost" in the Kingdom ?
Just over a week ago, The Lost River ride closed and became fenced off to the public. Currently, we can not say if the ride will be removed, repaired or modified and Flamingo Land Resort has not released any information as of today on what work is taking place.
Looking at the “construction site” to the left we can see the fence has been removed and hardcore has formed a hard-standing base over the train tracks and continues further to the lake, this section had trees removed and what looked like drainage installed last year.
The fence that went alongside the “splash pool” has been removed along with a section of rocks to create access for machinery to enter the main section. The drop section rails have been removed along with the track, and the parts removed have been stacked on a pallet. The rest of the ride remains untouched except for the fencing on the queue line has been removed.
The majority of the parts that have been removed are still in one piece so that could point towards them being re-used.
As always we will keep this post updated with any changes in future updates.
28th October 2023
What does this update bring? Well, looking at the site the work going on gives some indication that it’s not just a ride removal.
Firstly looking straight at the ride we can see the majority of the drop has been removed in full sections with the splash pool completely removed. All the parts that have been removed have been stacked to the side.
Taking a wider look at the area we can see fencing has been erected leading up to the lake, making the area sectioned off a huge area for development. Now we say development because we can see ground-level reference points dotted about and located from the greater flamingos right the way around to the lion viewing bridge. This could be a sign we might see the removal or changes to the station area in the coming weeks, but the rest of the ride remains untouched.
Over on our socials, we have seen numerous comments about what work is taking place but with the park not releasing any information we are just reporting on what we can see during our visit and will continue. Hopefully Flamingo Land will give an update on what they are planning soon.
25th November 2023
(Delayed upload)
So we held of this update due to the speed of the ongoing works we were expecting to see the removal of the top section but up until last week its still standing.
We have had no official announcement from Flamingo Land on what they are planning, but we expect them to announce Something on the 2024 map, perhaps new for 2024 or 2025.
So what’s changed since our last update? on the 31st of October, the last section of the drop was removed and work started on the lift hill track and the motor and housing removal. Skip to the 10th of November and looking at the ride from a distance not much has changed but work has been focused on the ground.
9th December 2023
it’s been a month since our last visit, we were not sure what to expect but instantly you can see the biggest change is the top section of the ride has been stripped back. All the side panels, track, power, water and lifting mechanism have been removed and we now just have a steel skeleton of the ride.
As we previously have said all the parts removed have been stacked and remain intact no signs of them getting scrapped access to the side from the station end has now been restricted from the cheetah circle, so visibility of work past this point is restricted.
Taking a look from the Greater Flamingos you can see the parts that have been removed but the view to where the splash pool was is restricted.
But for now, that’s where it’s at and we look forward to our next visit!
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March 2012 Lost river Ride December 2023
10th February 2024
Two months on from our last update we were unsure what to expect but we can see work has not stopped over the winter. The Lost River Ride now looks very different. the whole top section has been removed and is no longer connected with the lion house. The lift hill remains but we understand this will be used for the revamped Lost River Ride!
Back in November, we had been told that the Lost River ride would be modified along with the lion enclosure and the sea lions would have a new house where the splash pool was. Looking at the progress today the steel works have gone up and block work has started for what we believe to be the new sealion house.
As we have mentioned in a previous update we are expecting Flamingo Land to give an update on what’s to come for this area.
25th February 2024
As mentioned, The Lost River Ride is undergoing modifications and we understand the ride is to be lowered and extended, each visit we have seen sections have been removed and stored to the side and not left the site. During this week’s visit, we noticed the top of the lift hill that had been stored close to the lake is now positioned nearby to the remaining lift hill and supports are also stacked with access lifts.
From what we can see it looks like the height of the current lift hill will be the final height, and the top section is ready to be re-attached with the supports to be cut shorter.
Now, we could be way off with this theory but another reason we think this is the plan is that 2 of the original boats have been moved back to the bottom of the lift hill, are these here to test the joints when re-constructed? we will just have to wait and see.
Taking a look at the station, not much has changed inside but the far section where the riders would enter the station has been removed and what seems to be foundations going in and just behind this is the new steel structure that is part of the new sea lion house. We noticed a viewing platform that will give visibility over the lion enclosure and sea lions and looks to offer the same underneath that will be a glass wall. The blockwork is now finished on the structure and looks to be themed to match the lion enclosure wall.
Our next update will be on Saturday 2nd March
3rd March 2024
One week later and we are back with another update!
The first noticeable change is the lift hill, we can confirm this is the new height of the ride. Using the existing sections that were removed the ride is now getting rebuilt with a new layout from this point to the station.
A large section of the Lion enclosure wall has been removed with just the vertical supports remaining, could this be an alteration to the size of the area, a new wall rebuild or a full glass wall and a new view area? The wall near the station is undergoing repairs to bring the Lost Kingdom effect back to life.
We understand the current lion viewing platform will be removed and replaced with a high and low viewing area on the new structures that has been built.
When looking at the area we can see it’s a huge area that is undergoing redevelopment and will look impressive once it is complete.
As always we will be back very soon with a new update.
16th March 2024
Not a great deal looks to have happened from what the visitors can see but work on the far side is taking shape. The top of the lift hill track is complete and looks ready for the motor and housing to be added. Looking at the layout the track will maintain that height and head towards the lake, turning left with the splash pool nearby the lake, But with nothing official to come from Flamingo Land just yet it’s still all speculation based on what we can see on each visit.
The Lion house has a new concrete pad to the side with anchor bolts ready for steel works, could this be an extension to the Lion house? Looking more into the lion enclosure no further work has taken place on the wall that has been removed but we can see on the rear wall of the new sea lion house the framework has gone up to match it with the rest of the enclosure.
Work also has started on the kiosk to the entrance, it looks like the roof is getting removed and the shop stripped out, again we will see more in our next update.
Access is still shut off from VooDoo into the zoo. We will however be back this weekend for another update!
Easter Update
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 Entranced 
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 viewing. 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!