Purplepills Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 Went to Thorpe mainly to look at and ride Saw, was quite pleased that it had been open for a few days without TOO many problems, and was looking forward to it. Had a pretty good day in all, left home a bit late so we got through the gates 15 minutes after opening, by which time there was a 2 hour wait for Saw. We waited anyway, and it was only 1.5 hours, so that was a bonus. I think they leave it at 2 hours so if it breaks down for 15 minutes you're still on it within the time they gave. We went back on it at 4pm, again it said 2 hours, and again it was only 1.5. Overall I thought it was a good ride, nothing amazing but then I didn't expect it to be. The theming is excellent, can't really fault it too much. On the first ride, the Billy on the tricycle wasnt working, neither were the swinging blades. Fortunately by the time we went back for the second ride, it was all working, plus we got on the second car (they leave in pairs), which gives a much better pre show as it waits inside for the first car to clear the lift. There weren't any live actors, plus I didn't actually notice any torture scenes they could be in. Where are they? I wondered if they were blocked off when not in use. Either that or I was being blind. Anyway noone likes reading too much so I'll get on with the photos. Ride count: Saw x2 Colossus x1 Nemesis x3 Rush x2 Vortex x1 Stealth x1 Not too many, but we weren't THAT bothered, plus didn't pay for fastrack or anything. Good day overall. This after you've survived the ride. General indoor theming continued... THIS! Remember these from earlier? Well the effect of a shotgun blast to the head is..... First bit written on the wall. I thought it was a bit bad that the fastrack missed this bit out, and the guns. I know its only a little part but still. Back of the warehouse again. Nearly there! You get some airtime out of the MCBR, even though it doesn't look like it. I got nice airtime on the airtime hill. Who would've thought it! If you've seen the episode of The Inbetweeners when they go to Thorpe park, you'll know there's a need for a place to leave car doors. These swans weren't afraid of Saw. General view, with Samurai in the background. Really nice view over the lake TBH. Modern day wishing well. I'm surprised nobody has stolen the money yet, there was 20p on the floor. I've been saying for YEARS that there's a market for ninja stars for giants. Least its still working! I'm forever trying to be artistic. It hardly ever works though. View from the razorwire line back over towards the park exit. So I never noticed this first thing. No wonder there didn't seem to be many cars going round. I think there were 4 on the track, not too sure though. And more serious warnings, but with theming once more. AND! It has humour. This one is specific to the theming of the ride. RIGHT! Time to try Saw again. Look like an ordinary boring warning sign to you? Tidal wave splashing down. And some more, with Stealth in the background. I'm always surprised by the power of the launch. Do TTD and KK launch to 0-80 in 2 seconds then 80-120 in the next 2 seconds, or is it more gradual? Photo of more random park theming. With Saw closed, we went to ride Rush again, where I saw this. PLANE THE RIDE! Couldn't find the entrance though. An overview of Saw island. See the police car? I forgot to take a photo of it. Remember this car for later. Oh and yeah the shop/container thing. See? I can't even think of a caption. I have no idea why I wrote one. Well it's testing, I guess thats something. General track overview from the bridge. you can't really see much though. Even the shop entrance has blood on it. From the shots in a minute you'll see the shop is actually just a big metal container. BEST PEN THEMING EVER! I reckon this is almost as good as those pens you got in the 80's where the woman's clothes came off. remember those? General warehouse signage. Personally this was one of the little details I loved which made the theming so good. If you're not disabled before you get in the lift, you will be afterwards. 'I bet if we all stand here it'll open faster!' Back to Saw! Oh it's still down? Might aswell take some photos then eh? The part under the lift hill could use a clean though. We wandered round to Saw, which was broken again, so we went onto Colossus which only had a 20 minute wait now. Decided to go on Nemsis again. This time nobody was sick. They really should clean the poo off though, it ruined an otherwise half decent photo. And went on Vortex as it was only a 15 min wait. This is fun too. OMG WAIT! I didn't think both swings worked on Rush. I really like Rush, and the floaty feeling it gives you. It's all fun until a piece falls off of it and nearly breaks your legs though. Luckily that never happened. There was one chick, but she was about 50, so I decided not to try anything today. It's ok though, everyone know SRQ is the best place to pick up chicks. My wife refuses to go on it, after she couldn't breathe the first time, and after I told her it would be okay second time round, she still hated it. Three years later I'm still going by myself! I went on Stealth after lunch, in single rider queue. Oh yeah, I forgot. I saw the CAMPEST PRIZE EVER. It was a big pink hippo/dragon, with silver wings and a massive pointy siver hat. I laughed, and wondered why you'd pick such a thing. Chavtastic. Buffet in pizza hut. It was a complete nightmare inside trying to get to the food, but at least I could be close to my baby. Nemesis' volcano. Looking a bit grubby. The beauty of Nemesis at AT is that it doesnt matter if it looks grubby. I'm pretty sure the house on the right doesn't really match the other 2. Any footer fans in? Random shot of theming about the park. So everyone watched this guy pick stuff up from between the gates. No really, they did, they all kept leaning over to see what exciting bit of rubbish he was picking up. We should've waited 20 minutes, but we got here and it was closed for 'essential cleaning'. That happened last time, except it was the guy next to me and he splattered vomit on my leg. Thats because THEY ARE! Don't those people just look SO comfortable? Not the greatest Invert, but my favourite ride in the park. B&M goodness. Nemesis never has a wait as long as Colossus. Which suits me fine as its 1233 million times more comfortable. So we didn't. Personally it's one of the most uncomfortable coasters for me to get into, as it's got NO legroom. The restraint stops on my legs and the belt only just reaches. I'm 6'4. This thing vibrates far too much to warrant waiting 75 minutes for it. After we got off Saw, it was already 12, and Colossus had a 75 minute wait. ... The ride was fun! We came out and I got a few pictures, but there's more later on of the warehouse theming outside. There's a bit on the wall with pencil sketches of the traps. Sorry dark again, I used my phone as this is right where you get in the car and I'd put my camera away. There's a countdown times, with a monitor and a desk with traps and stuff on. Yeah I know you can hardly see it. Sorry its a bit blurry, the station is pretty dark. One of the traps that was in the movie, just before the station. Wait, where are the live actors? There weren't any =[ You go up some stairs, with lots of blood splatters and more writing on the wall. Bit blurry, theres a TV with CCTV on it, then Billy comes on. This is where fastrack/single rider join the line. OH! These shoot out a burst of air every few minutes, along with a loud bang. Works brilliantly on the unsuspecting victims. More on these later. Finally! whats that loud banging I can hear? I CAN SEE THE ENTRANCE! Girl behind me talking to her boyfriend: 'Yeah they use those dummies to test the ride'. Back of the warehouse. I guess I should put some shots of the coaster in. Get in the box, and you will be crushed. I really think they could use this to sort of queue jumpers. Here's some more of it for you. OH YEAH! I forgot about the coaster. This doesn't look like fun either. This actually looks like it would suck. you can practically hear the screams....NO! NO! NOT THE BANANA! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Someone actually climbed over and stole it shortly after. Bloody kids won't leave the theming alone. OMG! IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?!?! More torture devices...but prepare yourself for the next one...it's horrific. A nice piece of garden furniture. The duck isn't afraid of the menacing music. He's probably wondering what happened to the bit of lake that used to be here. The speakers hidden in the boxes play menacing music, and also voices of a policeman of some sort saying numerous things such as 'Detective, come in detective! ARRGGHH office down!' etc., fortunately it isn't repeated very often so it doesn't annoy you. We got this far, and then it was announced 'Saw is currently experiencing technical difficulties'. Luckily they only lasted 5 minutes. I havent the slightest clue what you'd use this for. In about 1.5 hours we'll finally get to the building! It looks quite impressive when you're in it. More random crap. Its actually a bit claustrophobic. Trains at this point were few and far between...but at least there was one. Note the bits of clothing on the razorwire. Amazing what you can achieve with an oven door, a table and some rusty bits of metal! If the line is here and it's open all the way round the back expect to wait for 1.5 hours. The part of the queue outside of the building entrance has this sweet razorwire look about it. Which isn't too bad as theres loads of stuff to look at. Straight to saw for a 1.5 hour wait....
Purplepills Posted March 30, 2009 Author Posted March 30, 2009 Part 2. Lots of random junk with dummies are scattered about. Time to go home, after a good day at Thorpe! Thanks for reading! I wondered how long before the novelty of having a banana the size of a small human would last before it just got in the way. We went for one last go on Nemesis 15 mins before closing, however it seemed a little confused as to what the wait time was. Conclusive proof both of the swings actually work. One last shot before we go... If you're really smart, you can take a photo of the windscreen and accidentally get the coaster in the reflection, whilst pretending you meant to do it all along! And all over the seat and steering wheel. The police car (rememeber that from earlier?) has blood splatters on it's windows.
YoshiFan Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 The queue for Saw looks really bad, like a boxed in feeling. Does this park ever not have long lines? Every TR or Photo TR I have read makes it look like it is impossible to have a day where everything is a walk on or short wait Kingda Ka goes from 0 - 128 in 3.5 seconds.
Lenaapple1974 Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 Awesome PTR! I loved seeing all the details of the queue and other stuff. I probably will never get to Thorpe... so it really was awesome to see!
Thelegendarymatthew Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 I honestly think that Thrope goes all out on theming, I was surpised to see theming on Saw, and its really good theming too. It must get you thinking that the people who did theming for Disney, might have had a visit to the UK.
TPDave Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 ^ You might want to look around the rest of the park before saying that. Sure it has some great pieces, Tidal was was particularly good when it opened, Nemesis Inferno has a good indoor section when every thing is working and when it's clean the Colossus area looks quite good but in general the park doesn't theme extensively and when it does, effects break after about a week and never return. SAW will hopefully be an exception as Lionsgate/Twisted pictures have a vested interested in the rides presentation.
SteveC Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 there seems to be a lot more blood about the place than I remember. This is probably becuase it is now real blood from all the punters killing themselves and each other with frustration over the delays. No bad thing then! Dooobie on the tricycle never makes a run for the fisrt car so he probably wasn't broken- it is just a show for the guys held for the 45 seconds in the second car dispatch. Just wanted to confirm why getting the second car is way cooler than the first.
Purplepills Posted March 30, 2009 Author Posted March 30, 2009 ^I did wonder if he didn't come out or anything, it looked like it was broken as it was not lit up and didn't move even a bit. They should at least have it lit and it's mouth moving. Also the body under the inline twist was....weird. I could only really see the outline of it, and the reflection in the pool of blood around it (I think), and didn't even notice it the first time round. Does this park ever not have long lines? Every TR or Photo TR I have read makes it look like it is impossible to have a day where everything is a walk on or short wait Well it was a weekend 2 weeks after a new ride had opened, and the first one all rides were advertised as avaialable. It wasn't that busy really. Wait times advertised were: Saw - 1.5 hours all day Colossus 20-75 minutes Nemesis - 20 mins Rush - 15 mins Vortex - 5 minutes Stealth 30 - 50 mins (20 in SRQ) Rapids - 15 mins I didnt really notice the rest, other rides were 5 - 15 minutes from what I remember. It can all be walk on/short lines if you go on a weekday off peak, but I don't have that option.
Thelegendarymatthew Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 ^ You might want to look around the rest of the park before saying that. Sure it has some great pieces, Tidal was was particularly good when it opened, Nemesis Inferno has a good indoor section when every thing is working and when it's clean the Colossus area looks quite good but in general the park doesn't theme extensively and when it does, effects break after about a week and never return. SAW will hopefully be an exception as Lionsgate/Twisted pictures have a vested interested in the rides presentation. Well just basing it on the pictures I see, I haven't seen a trip report where it shows the "park" and not just the coasters and a few flat rides.
SteveC Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 ^I They should at least have it lit and it's mouth moving. LMFAO - quality comment dude- I couldn't agree more
Purplepills Posted March 31, 2009 Author Posted March 31, 2009 So um yeah I just read elsewhere that it SHOULD be lit with the mouth moving (which wasa what I was expecting!), so I guess it was just plain broken. The worst thing about effects like that is it looks plain crap when it's not working. When the blades aren't swinging, they still look ok(ish) though. It's a bit pathetic that something as simple as the Billy on the trike, and 2 swinging blades are failing to work properly after only 2 weeks of being open.
dragon2000 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 It's a bit pathetic that something as simple as the Billy on the trike, and 2 swinging blades are failing to work properly after only 2 weeks of being open. The swinging blades are actually made from solid metal and the original motors installed were unable to take the stresses put on them it seems. Furthermore, Lionsgate have a contract with Thorpe Park that specifies that if 25% of the ride's effects are down, the ride must be closed until they are fixed.
Electerik Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Thanks for the report! You did a great job. When this ride was first announced, I thought it sounded like just about the worst theme imaginable. And now that I've seen some photos of it, I think I can lose the "just about." It's like someone set out to create the most unpleasant queue that they could. I do like the warning signs, though.
Recommended Posts