Hex [2024 Refurb]: General Discussion

[DistortAMG]

It'd be interesting to know how much a new 'bare bones' Mad House costs, not including site prep etc, relative to the cost of a whole attraction like Hex. My completely informed guess would be not all that much.

The problem with any investment like that is how you'd create a business case for it. Unlike Nemesis, people don't base their trip around a go on Hex. I suppose you could change the story a bit or whatever but if you marketed it as a new attraction despite the big climax being exactly the same I don't expect that'd land too well. Maybe there's more you can do with a Mad House but I can't really imagine what. It is a unique blend of heritage and ride experience, and has great throughput, but is that enough?

I fear the worst. I'll miss it when it goes.

At a guess, a couple of million for the 78 seater swing. Bare bones is literally bare bones though. You pretty much get what is in this photo I posted before from Vekoma.



No scenery, theming or even an enclosed drum. All that has to be done by the park themselves.

 

[Zeock]

At a guess, a couple of million for the 78 seater swing. Bare bones is literally bare bones though. You pretty much get what is in this photo I posted before from Vekoma.



No scenery, theming or even an enclosed drum. All that has to be done by the park themselves.

If Towers were to refurbish Hex properly, then that would cost a lot of money then. I think Towers would still do it though, considering what they have been doing recently with refurbishing other attractions.

 

[Danscott22]

It deserves a full refurbishment just for being as high quality as it is. They cannot let this ride go to wrack and ruin

 

[Dave]

I don’t think they need a full new swing, its all rumour but I think the reason a full fix is expensive is it would likely require the ride to be dissembled to make the fix, though maybe not completely replaced.

 

[James]

I would love to see a few £million spent to give Hex a full refurbishment, upscale the cinema video, complete audio refit (done professionally this time, not in-house), octagon room effects fixed/new effects added, automatic gates added at the bottom of the stairs before leaving the octagon room, and of course, the ride itself being sorted.

I fear they may keep it going at the bare minimum and close it when any fixes become too expensive.

Saying that, with Alty Mans/Nemesis and Ghost Train at Thorpe, maybe Merlin/Towers will consider multi-million-pound refurbishments on existing rides in future.

I think it's fair to say Hex is not your average dark ride. It's unique to the Towers and would be a massive loss to the park.

 

[MaxPower]

I thought it was just the main bearings which need replacing?

In any case, I wouldn't point to Nemesis and Alty Man's refurbishment as an indication of how they will approach rides like Hex in the future as they were driven primarily by Nick Varney.

 

[James]

I would say it depends on the success of Alty Mans, Nemesis and, to a lesser degree, Ghost Train at Thorpe.

 

[Danscott22]

Wonder how much longer this will be. Noted the day it went down in my notes app, it’s been 62 days currently. A big miss for sure.

 

[Earthwürm]

From what I've been hearing, any day now, but that's been the case for a little while now so doesn't necessarily mean much.

 

[DistortAMG]

I don’t think they need a full new swing, its all rumour but I think the reason a full fix is expensive is it would likely require the ride to be dissembled to make the fix, though maybe not completely replaced.

Maybe the slewing rings were not replaced then. Lots of the swing would need dismantling, not to mention the whole drum and swing would need to be taken off the masts, if they were to replace the slewing rings. Big job for sure.

 

[Dave]

Maybe the slewing rings were not replaced then. Lots of the swing would need dismantling, not to mention the whole drum and swing would need to be taken off the masts, if they were to replace the slewing rings. Big job for sure.

You can replace a slew ring without disassembling the ride. I’m sure it’s a tricky job but it’s not something as extreme as a complete deconstruction.

Loads or rides use slew rings, it’s just Hex is rumoured to be burning through them at the moment.

 

[DistortAMG]

You can replace a slew ring without disassembling the ride. I’m sure it’s a tricky job but it’s not something as extreme as a complete deconstruction.

Loads or rides use slew rings, it’s just Hex is rumoured to be burning through them at the moment.

The slewing ring sits pretty much in-between the drum and the mast with an axel going through it that connects the mast, drum and swing. So unless the ring itself splits into two (they usually never) the drum and swing, will need disconnecting some way from the mast, to remove the axel, allowing the ring to removed. I would have thought anyway. My immediate thought is there may be some sort of brace system to hold it all in place while the ring is replaced.

They may have some special way of doing it to make it easier. But they are in a pretty difficult position.

If it is burning through them, that is a tell tale sign of something else being the root cause. Drum warped perhaps? If it is burning through them, there must be something causing it as that is not normal ware and tare.

Time to get Vekoma in perhaps? Give the mechanics a proper overhaul.

 

[WickerWonder18]

Is Hex still shut?

 

[NuttySquirrel]

Is Hex still shut?

Yes it's still shut.

 

[Skyscraper]

Yep the vault is still firmly sealed unfortunately.

 

[Danny]

The past few visits to Towers have been quite joyous. The lovely weather. Sub Terra's re-opening to bolster capacity. The Nemesis re-track visibly coming along quite nicely. Mardi Gras having firmly found its feet as an event. The only real sour note over the past few visits really has been Hex's closure. If only this had been sorted by now.

 

[NuttySquirrel]

The past few visits to Towers have been quite joyous. The lovely weather. Sub Terra's re-opening to bolster capacity. The Nemesis re-track visibly coming along quite nicely. Mardi Gras having firmly found its feet as an event. The only real sour note over the past few visits really has been Hex's closure. If only this had been sorted by now.

Agreed - lots of good stuff going on at the moment but yet another long-term shutdown of the park's signature dark ride is very disappointing. They are clearly struggling to find a permanent solution to whatever the problem is.

I don't understand why the ruins can't be opened up at this time of year as well. The park should be prouder of its heritage and want to display it. Also, they spent a lot of money on that window!

 

[Haz]

They have updated the website removing every mention of the octagon and the closed for maintenance message, as well as that decreased the ride time…

 

[Skyscraper]

They have updated the website removing every mention of the octagon and the closed for maintenance message, as well as that decreased the ride time…

Please don't tell me they've shortened the experience

 

[Poisson]

That's odd. You have to walk through the Octagon regardless of how it is operated as the cinema is mentioned.