"SAW - The Ride" - Eurofighter for Thorpe Park

[coasterdude_1]

Oh and for those who don’t already know, Saw: The Ride is costing £13.5million.

And when converted into dollars £13.5million equals just over $20million.

That’s right, $2.5million more than Mystery Mines expense and $1million less than Tatsu’s investment.

It's not really comparable.

Coasters are always far more expensive for buyers in the UK because of higher taxes, import taxes and transportation costs.

So, even if you were able to capture the fluctuating exchange rate, those figures really aren't comparable.


I am interested to see the cost of hardware vs. themeing.

 

[jokerman]

It's Thorpe. They buy some plastic pipes from poundland, stick them together and create theming

All parks do this. They aren't gonna go out and buy the most expensive high quality plumbing equipment, just to stick it in the ground never to be used. They go for the cheap option, and it creates the same effect, for less money.

 

[Lofty]

Look at Baco's theming...

A couple of brooms, old sacks, and a bucket, and hey presto... You got yourself a test dummy?

All right the rest of the theming and station and what not may be good, but them models just prove how you can make good theming with little money go a whole long way!

 

[AmandaPanda]

wierd, no new video :?

 

[A-Kid]

^ There are no more planned videos. My one was the last of the series. The Micro-site has a few errors.

 

[AmandaPanda]

Oh I see :cry:

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Lol

Thorpe fail...

Again

 

[AmandaPanda]

Why should we bother to visit this place, if they don't :x

 

[neo]

Oh and for those who don’t already know, Saw: The Ride is costing £13.5million.

And when converted into dollars £13.5million equals just over $20million.

That’s right, $2.5million more than Mystery Mines expense and $1million less than Tatsu’s investment.

It's not really comparable.

Coasters are always far more expensive for buyers in the UK because of higher taxes, import taxes and transportation costs.

So, even if you were able to capture the fluctuating exchange rate, those figures really aren't comparable.

They’re very rough comparisons, back in 2006/07 the exchange rates were generally higher than today (the pound being stronger). But without getting into the politics of the matter, it is difficult to compare.

The point was, that unlike originally speculated, Saw The Ride was not the cheaper option for Merlin. On the contrary, it is costing more than Stealth.

Infill, franchise rights, whatever the reasons for this budget increase, how much does a 7-car, 1,000pph+ Eurofighter really save Merlin?

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Its 4 car...

 

[Slash]

Infill, franchise rights, whatever the reasons for this budget increase, how much does a 7-car, 1,000pph+ Eurofighter really save Merlin?

Maybe its to save money for themeing, no, it IS to save money on themeing. Come on its not that hard to figure out :roll:

 

[Kebab]

Infill, franchise rights, whatever the reasons for this budget increase, how much does a 7-car, 1,000pph+ Eurofighter really save Merlin?

Maybe its to save money for themeing, no, it IS to save money on themeing. Come on its not that hard to figure out :roll:

You really don't have a clue :lol:

Neo's on about how much is profit is put into the coaster, when it's nothing more than a euro-fighter. But in all respects I do believe Saw will become succesful with the GP, and cut down the waiting times for the other major rides as they'll be attracted to it. Just think, it's helping Merlin by relentlessly attracting crowds to an average coaster disguised by theming so others can ride Colossus, Nemesis Inferno etc. Without waiting 2 hours.

However; it's Thorpe Park, there's always going to be long queue's

 

[jokerman]

Not if you go on a day when it's less busy. Whenever I go it's practically empty, and its walk on for almost all the rides. You never wait more than 20 minutes.

 

[spicy]

Infill, franchise rights, whatever the reasons for this budget increase, how much does a 7-car, 1,000pph+ Eurofighter really save Merlin?

Maybe its to save money for themeing, no, it IS to save money on themeing. Come on its not that hard to figure out :roll:

You really don't have a clue :lol:

Neo's on about how much is profit is put into the coaster, when it's nothing more than a euro-fighter.

What? No he isn't. When this coaster was originally announced it was widely believed to be a B&M of some sort, most people thought a flyer due to Airs layout being used on the MTDP.

So when it was announced as a Eurofighter it was speculated that they went for the Eurofighter because it was the cheaper option.

Neo's point was that this coaster is costing just as much as a B&M would have so it wasn't the cheaper option that it was once thought to be.

Nothing to do with profit at all.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

What? No he isn't. When this coaster was originally announced it was widely believed to be a B&M of some sort, most people thought a flyer due to Airs layout being used on the MTDP.

So when it was announced as a Eurofighter it was speculated that they went for the Eurofighter because it was the cheaper option.

Neo's point was that this coaster is costing just as much as a B&M would have so it wasn't the cheaper option that it was once thought to be.

I think that it's quite simple really...

At some point, possibly when Merlin took over, the parks switched to focus on atmospheric "experience" rides over simple physical thrill rides. That explains the shift. Maybe Wardley had something to do with this, since we know he's involved with Saw (or was). He touched the surface with Nemesis, air and Oblivion, but these rides are still about what the rides feel like physically. Saw, and by the looks of it Alton's 2010 coaster, are bringing in a lot of emotional factors and combining them with thrill rides in a fairly unique way.

Using a manufacturer who's aim is to perfect the physical feel of a coaster, like B&M, would be stupid if this is the case.

EDIT: Alternatively, they cocked up, and didn't foresee extra costs...?

 

[marc]

I suppose the other way of looking at it as well is you can spend 12 million on a B&M and thats all your get, a coaster and leaves no money for any theming at all.

Or you can buy what they have bought for 5 million and you can add some theming to add to it.

But they could have got an Intermin Mega coaster or whatever they are called, but seeing both or Thorpe's break down all the time this probably put them off.

At least with a Eurofighter they are intense and they dont break down, well in other parks anyway and if Thorpe's does then questions need to be asked.

As Joey said Wardley was involved in this project and he is also involved with Altons, which is probably why they both are more than just a coaster.

 

[coasterdude_1]

As Joey said Wardley was involved in this project and he is also involved with Altons, which is probably why they both are more than just a coaster.

I doubt it's simply because of Wardley... he hardly themed air... at all.

I feel this is more the Merlin take on things.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Common mis-conception on Wardley there....

He is a designer/engineer, he most likely worked upon the coaster, and did nothing with the theming...

He worked on the whole design of Air's trains with B&M, but once that was done, and the construction started, he didn't do anything with the theming, that was a totally different part of the company...

 

[jokerman]

Part of the way he designed them though, he must have suggested the theming ideas, because without proximity to ground and such, there is nothing to air. He must have a basic idea of what a ride will be themed like.

 

[marc]

Air was meant to have a theme but this got changed according to some stories due to 9/11.