Saw – The Ride

SAW - The Ride
Riders brace the 100ft beyond vertical drop and Immelmann Loop.
Thorpe Park
Location	Thorpe Park
Park section	Canada Creek
Status	Operating
Opening date	14 March 2009
Cost	£13.5 million
General statistics
Type	Steel
Manufacturer	Gerstlauer
Designer	John Wardley
Model	Eurofighter
Track layout	Custom
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Inversions	3
Duration	1:40
Max vertical angle	100°
Capacity	1,100 riders per hour
Acceleration	no launch
G-force	4.7
SAW - The Ride at RCDB

SAW - The Ride is the name of a custom Euro-Fighter roller coaster in the Canada Creek area of Thorpe Park, a UK theme park. It is themed and based around the SAW horror film franchise. The roller coaster is similar in style to Speed, located at Oakwood Theme Park which was opened on 13 April 2006, and Mystery Mine at Dollywood. The codename 'Project Dylan' was used during construction (Dylan being the name of the project director's cat), the real name and details of the ride were announced on 13 October 2008. The ride opened to the public on Saturday 14 March 2009, however competition winners and annual pass holders were allowed to preview the ride on the 13 March 2009; one day earlier than the public.

Ride experience

The ride starts with an indoor section, where riders pass Jigsaw's equipment and a Billy doll on his tricycle, who laughs at you as the train passes by (although if you are on the second dispatched car, the vehicle will stop while Billy gives a speech). Riders then come across two swinging blades which appear to get closer, before a previously unseen nearly vertical drop saves the riders from hitting them, but plunges them directly into a pit of spikes which are narrowly avoided. The train travels along a straight piece of track and the riders are blasted with air firing from crossbows giving the effect of the syringes loaded in the crossbows firing over the rider's head. The train goes into a barrel roll, as riders can see Jigsaw in a pool of blood. 'Blood' is sprayed at the train from the body, then the train exits the building and travels towards the 100ft vertical lift hill.

Before going up, riders pass two large TV screens and a digital clock. When the digital clock counts down to zero, Billy appears on the TVs and Jigsaw says "Game over". Billy's evil laugh can be heard as the train travels upwards. The cars then dive down the 100° drop (reaching 55 miles per hour) and pass under large spinning blades. The second inversion then takes place, an Immelmann loop, which delivers three seconds of weightlessness. This is followed by a tight overbanked corner and an airtime hill. The on-ride photos are taken as the cars rise to the left into a set of brakes. Then they descend a steep drop into a dive loop and the ride ends with a banked turn into the final brake run. The train makes a turn to the right into the station to be unloaded.

It is also possible for riders to buy a DVD of their ride experience, using cameras mounted to the front of the car and the back of the front seats (to capture riders in the back row).

Queue Line

The queue line is an intricate maze of chain link fences, with mock barbed wire topping the fences. It snakes past many of the traps from the films and has much themeing from the set of films. The queue line then enters the main building, made to look like Jigsaw's warehouse, and containing special effects such as fake guns rigged to look like a trap.

Incidents

The new SAW - The Ride Under construction on 28 October 2008

On 11 March 2009, the ride was scheduled to be launched by a group of invited celebrities, including the director of Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV Darren Lynn Bousman, who posted an account of his experience on his Facebook profile. The ride experienced a delay, a barrier shut-down and a subsequent stop, blamed by park officials on a computer programming error. An ambulance was called when one woman suffered a panic attack.

On 14 March 2009, the ride was scheduled to officially open to the public. However, less than two hours after the park's opening, the ride was shut down due to technical difficulties (braking and sensor failures) and did not re-open for the remainder of the day, and was also closed for the following day. Thorpe Park offered complimentary tickets to all guests who had bought tickets at the gate, and free priority passes for the ride to all annual pass holders.

External links

• Official SAW - The Ride minisite
• Thorpe Park's official website
• Project Dylan minisite
• SAW - The Ride at Total Thorpe Park