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SAW: The Ride


Mark9

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Looks like the Saw theme may be staying a little while longer, with Saw 8 reported as being in development.

That along with the new Lionsgate frightnitghts partnership surely means it will remain indefinitely as Saw? Long beyond the current expiry date anyway Would be really odd if they'd managed to work out a deal for the event but couldn't for the ride.

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  • 1 month later...

Saw's indoor queueline could have the atmosphere revved up a bit. I thought it might be possible to have the audio from SAW Alive (from this year, with the muffled screaming) in the background, along with a slight smell to the building as well (not as strong as Alive if they are to let the queues build up in there again, which I want them to). I'd also like to see actors make a return as well, as The Rack in the queueline is nothing more than a pointless manequinn display!

The reason I want the queues to build up in the building again is because the shotguns are more of a pointless interactive element nowadays and Jigsaw on the screens is ALWAYS missed whenever I go on it! I wonder why...;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Saw's indoor queueline could have the atmosphere revved up a bit. I thought it might be possible to have the audio from SAW Alive (from this year, with the muffled screaming) in the background, along with a slight smell to the building as well (not as strong as Alive if they are to let the queues build up in there again, which I want them to). I'd also like to see actors make a return as well, as The Rack in the queueline is nothing more than a pointless manequinn display!

The reason I want the queues to build up in the building again is because the shotguns are more of a pointless interactive element nowadays and Jigsaw on the screens is ALWAYS missed whenever I go on it! I wonder why... ;)

It surprised me when I learnt that SAW has a lot of unused audio in its control box, ranging from official music that can be played through the station and interior queue, to on-theme Billy Puppet breakdown announcements. None of it used for various reasons.

Equally, queuing on the stairs stopped due to Health & Safety intervening. Those stairs are pretty hard kiddos, and with so many girls opting for the 'run up the stairs I'm scared of my boyfriend jumping me' approach; face planting is a daily occurrence.

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Care to divulge the reasons? I'm intrigued :)

I've been told so many different reasons from so many different people; I dare say I couldn't give you an honest answer. I always went with the mindset that the audio is almost too on-theme. I mean, having Billy tell you your ride car has stopped moving because its part of the game and testing your patience; doesn't really work well when the ride shuts down. But like I said, everybody seems to have different reasons.

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Equally, queuing on the stairs stopped due to Health & Safety intervening. Those stairs are pretty hard kiddos, and with so many girls opting for the 'run up the stairs I'm scared of my boyfriend jumping me' approach; face planting is a daily occurrence.

Yup, weirdly the way to stop people face planting on the stairs is actually by having people queue on them. No running up them can happen then.

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Yup, weirdly the way to stop people face planting on the stairs is actually by having people queue on them. No running up them can happen then.

Very good point, I didn't think of that! Sadly though I'm not H&S, because if I was I'd just let people queue on the stairs and allow them to have self-inflicted injuries by their own behaviour, but I guess the world we live in won't allow such events.

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I've never got the obsession with Saw's indoor queue... It's a corridor with shotguns before an eternal staircase...

Can people explain why it is so good? It's been confusing me for 5 years...

For a UK queueline, it is one of the best themed. The shotguns are very good, and the staircase has TV's which are better than nothing.

I agree that it could be a lot better, but it's one of the best in the country IMO.

It's certainly more interesting than waiting outside the door with nothing going on.

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For a UK queueline, it is one of the best themed. The shotguns are very good, and the staircase has TV's which are better than nothing.

I agree that it could be a lot better, but it's one of the best in the country IMO.

It's certainly more interesting than waiting outside the door with nothing going on.

The station is really good and the shotguns used to be quite decent until H&S came in and stopped people from queuing in that part of the building. -_-

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What? They've got a bunch of themed audio sat there not being used?

Why pay so much money buying the rights to use the audio, then simply leave it silent?

I kind of understand the queueing on the stairs ban - but there is no excuse for leaving the ground floor corridor empty.

Queueing should be part of the immersive Saw experience - standing in a silent, overgrown, gravel cattlepen is poor when you think of the potential.

It's just such a waste! :( Made even worse by the fact that it could be fixed so easily.

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Can imagine that bully puppet announcement being in incredibly poor taste. Winding up guests or upsetting them during a breakdown is the furthest from what you actually want to achieve.

Just imagine they tried stuff which just didn't work. Plus, some stuff has probably broken so literally doesn't work instead ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

If guests are not allowed to queue in the building then really that's the result of an oversight by the designers. There's not much room for people queueing in that building as it is unfortunately.

Strangely Saw's indoor queue isn't truly indoors, only the 6m stretch at ground level with the shotgun effect is fully enclosed (by a corrugated metal wall). The rest is a just an evac-style staircase with some wooden slats fixed to the sides, which allows too much light in. It must be very hard to create a scary environment because hardly anything can fit into that metal cuboid, since they designed it to be so basic.

Clearly extending the building outwards and weaving the queue through themed sets on different levels was too hard, so now everybody just waits outside in the dust before directly shooting up some stairs instead. Well at least the rollercoaster itself got a great "dark ride" prologue ...OH

For a UK queueline, it is one of the best themed.

Poor UK! :P

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If guests are not allowed to queue in the building then really that's the result of an oversight by the designers. There's not much room for people queueing in that building as it is unfortunately.

Strangely Saw's indoor queue isn't truly indoors, only the 6m stretch at ground level with the shotgun effect is fully enclosed (by a corrugated metal wall). The rest is a just an evac-style staircase with some wooden slats fixed to the sides, which allows too much light in. It must be very hard to create a scary environment because hardly anything can fit into that metal cuboid, since they designed it to be so basic.

Clearly extending the building outwards and weaving the queue through themed sets on different levels was too hard, so now everybody just waits outside in the dust before directly shooting up some stairs instead. Well at least the rollercoaster itself got a great "dark ride" prologue ...OH

I agree with this, it should be indoors as it would create a much better atmosphere!

To be honest though the standard of UK queuelines is poor, the best is probably Raptor Attack at Lightwater.

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The thing is, with regards to Thorpe, they are under very strict planning permission guidelines. They are only allowed to buld 'so big' before it will get refused, that includes height, width as well the floor space. We have to look at the bigger picture.

Problems Facing - The MTDP from whenever it was to whenever it was, to my memory, didn't have a building on it. If there was a building on it, it would have been granted consent to the specifications in the MDTP so X by Y by Z. Deciding to build a much larger building would caused a thousand and one over problems, including having to have the new sizes granted by the council. Also much bigger evacuation planning, Fire planning, Flood planning and loads more, the integrity of the man made island would also have to be considered for the enormous weight gain. When the island was in-filled it would always of had a maximum weight restriction, other the island would just sink, cave in or slip (landslide).

Atmosphere - Whilst a bigger building could of given us more fire exits meaning more people being allowed into the building, it would of just looked hideous with fire exit signs dotted every few meters, ruining the 'atmosphere'.

The general idea behind gaps in the slats, is to allow air to circulate in the building where guests will be situated, without so it would be so hot you would have guests falling ill every 10 minutes! If my memory serves me correctly even with the gaps the building was still far too hot in the summer period and both staff and guests where falling ill at regular intervals, leading to new air vents to be installed on the roof.

General Size - Let's face it, if the building was much bigger it would completely dwarf the plaza, which would mean you would literally be sniffing the armpits of the person stood next to you, which isn't pleasant on any level.

Integrity - It would also receive problems that I stated above, going into a bit more detail. The island is basically free/loose mud which is submerged in water. Mud + Water are very dangerous to mix, in the right condition if the island hasn't compacted well enough the weight may cause the island to sink, which would mean eventually the island would give way and a few million pounds worth of technology as well as the possibility of life itself being lost to the lake. Which would be the end of Thorpe Park and probably Merlin as a company. As the island is evenly distributed the land will be sinking at an angle, which eventually will lead to some problems.

If you wanted to add the extra width of the building, whilst you are evening out the weight across the island, your adding more weight for the ground underneath to compact, which will in turn leave the island under water and a ride that cannot operate.

Personally I think we should just be happy with what we have, its a superbly themed ride, and I am positive all the size decisions for the building sizes where all to compensate for the islands integrity, to allow H&S to pass it off easily in evacuations & emergency's (another thing I actually missed, in the event of a shut down, that cannot be resolved, the small area in front of picsolve booth is occupied to evacuate guests from the ride. IT's the only feasable area to use).

Can imagine that bully puppet announcement being in incredibly poor taste. Winding up guests or upsetting them during a breakdown is the furthest from what you actually want to achieve.

Just imagine they tried stuff which just didn't work. Plus, some stuff has probably broken so literally doesn't work instead ;)

This is ironic as Towers don't turn their audio off during shut down's, I seem to remember a lot of people saying that The Smiler was 'laughing' at them whilst the ride/area was evacuate :P HA HA HA, HA HA HA.... bad taste, real bad :D

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Alternatively, with the building they could have done something interesting with the facade, rather than just, a warehouse... Whilst apparently fitting with the theme, on a theme park scale it doesn't look good...

They could have extended the indoor queue, if we're worried about fire exit signs ruining the atmosphere (Really?), then the way to combat it is to make the queueline interesting... How they missed out the opportuinity of making Saw's queue interactive beyond some air guns is actually quite daft... Then again the theme is such that the traps need people in them to be half interesting, which naturally stopped happening when cost got involved...

The size of the building itself really isn't the issue (aside from being a huge SHED), it's how they used (or didn't) use the space to their advantage... I wonder how much dead space there actually is inside there...

As for the gaps to provide air flow... Did the designers not hear of air conditioning? I mean, in 2009 it wasn't exactly a new concept, when you're designing a ride with a rather scary theme, why would you even consider having such an idea to ventilate the building? Surely the idea would be to make the inside as dark and intimidating as possible, or is that just me thinking logically and thematically?

I think the main issues stems from that the quality of UK theming is so low these days that Saw is considered a high point... That and the whole poor design choices of the project (something that has plagued all of Merlin's additions)...

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If a metal box and compact staircase is the very best that Thorpe Park could produce under the constraints of space and groundwork, then how come some of the world's best theme parks were built on nothing but Floridian swampland? Saw isn't superbly themed anyway, it's just average by today's UK theme park standard.

If it was really that impossible to build something simple then how come theme parks could do it years before? Terror Tomb's queue was almost just as tight for space but they set up a pre show tableaux in there, which was easily better than Saw's indoor queue despite being built 15 years later. Plus they had to work within the constraints of the pre-existing 5th Dimension building, whereas Saw was built from scratch. Even Phantom Fantasia had a better indoor queue than Saw and that was built on infilled land too, as was the entire park.

In fact Saw Alive showed how Thorpe could build decent set and atmosphere quite easily if they wanted... and that was on a boat!

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