'Society call you a thrill hunter, I call you unworthy of the life you've been given' (Saw The Ride (Thorpe Park))

Member Name: karalouk

Product:	Saw The Ride (Thorpe Park)
Date:	03/07/09 (360 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent ride, the big drop, eerie surroundings and props, scared me abit!

Disadvantages: Ques, no shade in que, not for wimps!

Thorpe Park is a theme park which is situated in Chertsey, Surrey and is becoming one of the biggest and best (if not the best) theme parks in the UK. I have visited many times before but my recent visit was just this week where I managed to ride the newest rollercoaster - Saw: The Ride.

Saw: The Ride was first launched on 13 March 2009. It can be found in Canada Creek (not sure why) inbetween Collossus and Loggers Leap. The ride is based upon the horror movie 'Saw' (of which there are now five whole installments) and is said to be the first horror movie themed rollercoaster in the world.

It's not compulsory to have seen the films before riding Saw: The Ride but it definitely makes the whole experience more intense and there are many references to the films which will go unknown otherwise. I advise watching at least one Saw film to get the most out of the ride.

We visited Thorpe Park on a weekday during term time as we thought it would be empty... oh how wrong we were! The place was packed and que times were horrendous, particularly for Saw: The Ride which is the newest attraction. We tried to buy fastpass tickets for the ride but we were informed that they had "sold out". Fastpass tickets are sold at £4.00 each and they allow you to jump straight to the front of the que - a total rip off but does actually come in handy if you want to get on more than a few big rides throughout the day.

The ride is hard to miss as it's a big rollercoaster with a huge drop at the beginning. There is a big, old, abandoned looking warehouse which is where the ride starts and where the que leads into. Outside of the warehouse is an American police car with blood splattered on it and a Saw: The Ride shop which sells all the tacky essentials!

There are 2 que entrances - one main que and one fastpass que. At the front there is a sign which says 'Saw The Ride. Face your fears. Enter at your own risk'. The fastpass que leads straight into the warehouse and the main que spirals around for roughly ten miles until reaching the warehouse. Okay ten miles is an exageration but it is a long que in which you are enclosed by rusty old metal fences (with 'barbed wire' on the top) and gates. The scenery is very grim and perfect for the nature of the ride - there is a dirty swampy area (a big lake surrounds Thorpe Park), barrels, tires, rusty old wheels, spikes and equipment which look like torture devices and traps. Throughout the que are announcments which are meant to be from police officers saying things like "I know you're brave but no smoking.. and don't lean on the fences, they might be a trap". The que and warehouse is surrounded by CCTV cameras which give you the feeling that Jigsaw (the killer) is watching your every move. Be warned that there isn't any shaded area in the que.

As you get closer to the warehouse you notice how (purposly) run down the whole thing is - the warehouse is made of rusty old metal and wooden planks, the whole thing is very eerie. There are also strange manaquins laying next to the warehouse. I expect the ride itself cost a fortune to build but I don't think a big budget was needed for the surroundings and props!

We qued up for an hour and a half in the blistering heat, when we got a few feet away from the warehouse somebody passed out on the ride! The ride had to be closed down and the que had to be evacuated due to 'extreme weather conditions' - it was too hot for everybody to be waiting around in the heat whilst waiting for the ambulance to arrive! How's your luck! Thankfully they gave everybody fastpass tickets to come back when the ride had re-opened. I felt it my duty to get 2 fastpass tickets for myself (I'm quite convinced I was the angriest person in the que!) and came back about an hour later.

Inside the warehouse is quite dark. Next to the fastpass que is some sort of torture device. Thorpe Park put out a statement saying that they were bringing in live actors for the ride but I didn't see any. In the main que there are 4 shotguns attatched to the ceiling, there is a click of a shotgun loading followed by a huge bang as the guns shoot out air and a strobe light flashes - this is guarenteed to make everybody jump and is taken from a scene in the first Saw film where a detective sets off a tripwire and gets shot and killed by the shotguns.

There are a few television sets dotted about which show CCTV images from around the abandoned warehouse when all of a sudden the screen goes fuzzy and Billy the puppet appears on the screen, voiced of course by Jigsaw. Billie/Jigsaw goes on to say 'Hello, I want to play a game. So far in what could loosely be called your life, you saw extreme experiences to add excitement to what you believe to be a goal in ordinary existence. Society call you a thrill hunter, I call you unworthy of the life you've been given. Did you push your mind and body to the edge, because you truly wanted to know what its like to die, or did you just want a kick and some attention. Today you'll show me. Live or Die make your choice".

You then make your way up some stairs where written on the wall in red paint are the words 'Let the games begin'. Once you reach the top of the stairs there is a window with a dead man inside hanging from barbed wire - again taken from a scene in the first film. This is where you board the ride. Props include old broken computer equipment, operating tables with gresome looking surgical instruments. There is a room with attendants in it to take your bag, coats and possesions (in exchange they give you a black wristband with a unique number on so you can pick your things up once the ride has ended - a very good idea I thought). There is another attendant who directs you to a row to wait at, waiting and boarding a car only takes a minute at the maximum.

The cars are quite unique as they only seat upto 8 people at a time, in 2 rows of 4 people. You are secured into your seat by an overhead harness. On both rides I ended up on the back row which I was pretty gutted about because I wanted a turn on the front row too. I did get an outside seat and a middle seat though.

I was unaware that the ride actually starts indoors. The ride stops in darkness and out rides Billy on his tricycle with a chilling message (I only remember Billy on the second ride but I was wimping out the first time round so could have missed it!). You then head towards some spikes and 2 swinging blades and hit an unexpected drop which really turns your stomach. You then stop again briefly as crossbows are being shot at you which involves alot of noise and shooting of air. The ride then shoots off and takes you into a twist where you see a dead body lying on the floor (I think this is meant to be Jigsaw), his blood spirts at you but I didn't actually notice this.

The ride then goes outside where you reach the bottom of a 100 foot drop. There are television screens at the bottom which count down to zero, again Billy appears on the screen and Jigsaw says 'Game over'. Billy the puppet laughs hysterically as you begin to climb the drop. The climb seems to take an age but only actually lasts around 10 seconds, you are laying on your back at this point and looking directly into the sky. When you reach the top your adrenaline levels are sky high and there isn't any time to compose yourself or assess the situation (unlike Oblivion at Alton towers etc) - it's straight down! The ride plummets down a 100 degree drop, that's not just a vertical drop but beyond a vertical drop, I suppose you could say inverted. There is a huge saw at the bottom as if you are going to fall into it but obviously don't.

The ride then takes you straight through a number of twists and turns at high speeds. There is so much going on in such a short amount of time (the whole ride lasts 1 minute 40 seconds) that it's hard to take everything in. There are 3 inversions in total and many unexpected dips and drops which I thought were brilliant. On one of the drops the ride takes your photo which can be purchased at the exit.

The ride eventually comes to an end where you can pick up your bags and posessions and make your way down a flight of stairs where there is another television set with Billie on and a chilling message from Jigsaw - "You think it's over but you're wrong, the games have just begun". The lights flicker and written on the walls in red paint are the words 'The games have just begun'.

Outside of the ride you can view and purchase your photos but you can also purchase DVDs of your ride experience! There are cameras placed on the front of the cars and into the back of the front row of seats to film everybody on the ride. The DVDs are quite expensive, around £15 but are so funny to watch everybodys reactions.

Overall Saw: The Ride was a brilliant ride which lived up to everything I hoped it would. The ride itself, the scenery, the props and the whole atmosphere was eerie and just perfect. I personally prefered sitting in a middle seat aposed to sitting on an end seat, not because it was any more or less scary but for the simple fact the ride seemed to throw me around more on the end seat.. and not in a good way, I got a massive headache out of it. I can't wait to go back on and this time I'll keep my fingers crossed for a front row seat.

Recommend for all thrill seekers and Saw fans.

Summary: Face your fears...