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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that a family theme park shouldn't have a ride based on really scary cert 18 films?

64 replies

HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 18:34

Is it really appropriate to have a ride based on the film saw

I know some rides are meant to be scary, but aren't you just encouraging under 18s to see the films which (from the tiny bit of the first film I saw from behind my hands) show extreme violence.

Maybe I'm just a wimp... but I think it's unnecessary.

OP posts:
sparkplug · 12/04/2009 18:36

They are a business, and are there to make profits. The Common Good is a low priority.

If you don't want to go on the ride, don't.

Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 18:38

It's not so much the ride... scary rides at theme parks are a given, but was it really necessary to link it to such a horrible series of films? And the ads are horrible.

OP posts:
pointydog · 12/04/2009 18:41

You might be interested in this previous thread, head.

I tend to agree with you

Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 19:24

Oh I hadn't seen that thread. I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking it's inappropriate. The ride looks amazing, terrifying, but amazing. So why on earth would they need to link it to this film? Surely the ride would sell itself like Oblivion in Alton Towers?

OP posts:
pointydog · 12/04/2009 19:26

lots of young children well below the 18 limit see the Saw films as a way of getting some kudos for themselves. It's a way of being in with the in crowd. So the ride will be extremely popular with the 10s/12s and over.

It's a cynical marketing ploy obv.

katiestar · 12/04/2009 19:56

Oh for goodness sake , why should everything in the world have to be 'child friendly'

Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 20:03

no katiestar, not everything needs to be child friendly, but surely if you're a theme park you have to acknowledge the largest proportion of your customers are going to be people with their children. If you want to run an edgy theme park where all bets are off thrills wise no-one's going to object, but don't put them in the same location as rides designed to attract children.

You wouldn't have children in a lap dancing club would you?

OP posts:
Ewe · 12/04/2009 20:06

I think YABU, it is not advised for under 12s, it has a height restriction and is not aimed at children and it is not showing the children the film.

You don't have to let your children on it if you don't feel it is appropriate, or go to another theme park if you are really against it.

Ewe · 12/04/2009 20:08

Thorpe Park is aimed at older children/young adults though, Chessington and Legoland (both very near Thorpe Park) are the ones aimed at younger children.

Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 20:34

I didn't know that EWE... still think it's horrible though.

OP posts:
SugarBird · 12/04/2009 20:35

I don't think that the majority of customers at theme parks (apart from at Legoland and others that are specifically aimed at under-12s) are people with their young children. You get loads of families with older kids/teens and groups of teens and adults, too.

This ride is clearly aimed at older kids and adults, just like Nemesis and Oblivion at Alton Towers.

The films sound horrible though! Hope my teens (well the one that's old enough) don't watch them...

sazzerbear · 12/04/2009 20:36

I was surprised to see this advertised as well, I saw the first film and it was sick!

SugarBird · 12/04/2009 20:40

A bit off-topic but I hate very violent films - partly because I'm a wimp but also because it seems so unnecessary and often gratuitous.

Do love very scary rollercoasters, though!

Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 20:41

I would be really worried if any child of mine saw those films before they were 18. Posters on the other thread were saying how clever the films were, maybe that's true, but I think that might be lost on say a 16 or 15 year old, and all they'd really see was the violence.

Anyway, that's a debate about the films rather than the ride.

I haven't been to a theme park for a long time, so I didn't know Thorpe park was aimed at older children and teenagers. Mind you I was scared on the Vampire at chessington when I was 23

OP posts:
Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 20:42

I'm with you sugarbird... Oblivion literally took my breath away. I couldn't breathe for about a minute after we'd done the drop!

OP posts:
SugarBird · 12/04/2009 20:44

Fabulous!! Can't stand anything that spins but love those big drops! Did you go on Air?

foxinsocks · 12/04/2009 20:44

yes Thorpe Park aimed at the older ones

and families contain teenagers too so not everything needs to be aimed at the little ones

Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 20:49

I didn't go on air, because it wasn't built when I went to alton towers In fact that creaky old rollercoaster they've just demolished was still there when I went.

Foxinsocks... I do appreciate families include teenagers. I'd still be wary about the association with a film I really wouldn't want younger teenagers watching. I think they'd be more curious to see the film if they've been on the ride.

OP posts:
LollipopViolet · 12/04/2009 20:56

Thorpe is aimed at thrill seekers tbh (I work for the same group they belong to, except I'm at Alton Towers) and if that's the market they want to attract, they're going to build rides like that. I really wouldn't class it as a family theme park.

foxinsocks · 12/04/2009 20:59

yes but when you were a young teenager, weren't you gagging to watch the latest X rated horror films? I certainly was

LollipopViolet · 12/04/2009 21:13

Actually, a point I've only just thought about. I can see many conversations as follows:

DD/DS: Mum, can I watch Saw 5?
Mum: No!
DD/DS: But you let me go on the ride!

Hmm, whole new set of questions there...

Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 21:29

I hadn't realised that about TP lollipop... Hopefully it'll be rebranded before I have to face that conversation in 15 years or so

OP posts:
Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 21:30

when I say it'll be rebranded, I do of course mean the ride, not thorpe park

OP posts:
Thunderduck · 12/04/2009 21:44

YABU.

Original poster
HeadFairy · 12/04/2009 21:52

Brief and to the point thunderduck

OP posts:
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