‘Saw – The Ride’ Grand Opening at Thorpe Park

Yesterday me and my colleague attended the grand opening of ‘SAW – The Ride’, the latest piece of franchising from Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures. Yes, if 5 movies with a 6th in production and even a video game coming soon wasn’t enough the companies behind Saw teamed up with UK based theme park Thorpe Park to create and develop a new ride based on the movie. Yep, its new £13.5 million Saw ride, which has the steepest drop on a rollercoaster yet, was pretty damn good!

Following a quick drive down the M25 we arrived at Thorpe Park and were met by a couple of freaky looking dudes on stilts who decided it would be fun to scrape their claw like hands across our heads before we decided to run for our lives and head for the free bar.

As I was driving just the one was sufficient then orange juice to follow. Helen on the other hand decided to knock them back 🙂 – all the while adamant that she would go and give Chantelle from Big Brother UK fame some choice words about her extensions and orange complexion. Luckily she played it cool long enough for the utter hate to dissolve.

A few other celebs were about to celebrate the opening including Edith Bowman, Ralph Little, Dermot O’Leary, Jessie Wallace, Joe Swash and Kara Tointon. And just shy of being set on fire by a ‘showing off too much’ fire spinning guy we decided to head on through the park with another group.

We managed to get onto a few of the rides that were open including the dribble enhancing Zodiac, the sick-to-the-stomach inducing Vortex, the frantically whiplash making Colossus and of course the one we were there for ‘Saw – the Ride’. The world’s first ever horror movie-themed rollercoaster is the most terrifying ride in the world, testing the nerve of all who dare ride as it leaves you at the mercy of the film’s master manipulator, Jigsaw.

We had by this time lost our original group and managed to blag our way into the ‘celeb’ group and managed to mooch about with chat show host Jonathon Ross who was there with his wife and family. And a few stars of Eastenders past and present. So it was pretty sweet. That was however, until the ride decided to break down with us literally a few feet away from the start of the ascending ‘beyond vertical’ part of the ride.

The idea is to sit there waiting for the timer above to countdown, much like the movies, however when ours hit zero we were still there. A couple of indie cindys who seemed to have enjoyed the free bar a little too much sat next to us singing and decided to light up a cigarette whilst Joe Swash and Co behind were trying to discover why everything had come to a sudden halt.

I have read on a tabloid sites this morning that one guest who was trapped said: ‘We’d only moved a few metres when we stopped. The group behind was screaming, “Let us off now! We want to get off this minute! She’s having a panic attack!” ‘Even though we could have walked off, officials insisted on fixing harnesses to us and walking us off for health and safety.

Now thankfully this was just after we managed to enjoy the entire ride (albeit with a short wait break in the middle) and I must say it was pretty damn awesome. Twists, turns, major unexpected drops, a complete vertical ascension (which unnerved me the most) and a few squirts of water to liven it up, although my colleague Helen was more concerned about her hair.

All in all it’s a great ride and well worth hellraisers and thrill-seekers checking out when they’re around the Surrey theme park.

Thorpe Park will be inviting visitors to ‘Face Your Fears’ on their new terrifying attraction when the ride opens to the public Saturday 14th March.

If you would like to win tickets to Thorpe Park and a copy of ‘Saw V’ on DVD don’t forget to enter our Saw Giveaway.

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