• ā„¹ļø Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Hex [2024 Refurb]: General Discussion

Trooper Looper said:
All in all, 6.5/10. I actually prefer The Haunting to this now, and you may strike me down for saying so šŸ˜‚
Click to expand...
I had my first ever ride on the haunting a few weeks ago and to call it a poor ride would be a kindness to it. It was certainly one of the most deeply abysmal rides I've ever done in my life, abhorrent soundtrack, aging theming and a fittingly miserable exit through an abandoned gift shop that had me and my friends cackling at the state of it all, to say this is better than Hex is worthy of more than a simple striking down.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Just got back from Towers today and gave Hex a go after nearly 2 years... ehh...
...
All in all, 6.5/10. I actually prefer The Haunting to this now, and you may strike me down for saying so šŸ˜‚
Click to expand...
I niff a whiff of extreme personal bias here.
If we are getting that silly...
I preferred the Haunted Swing at Blackpool before it was tied in with the mirror maze (1001 Troubles wasn't it?)
 
JakeDLP said:
I had my first ever ride on the haunting a few weeks ago and to call it a poor ride would be a kindness to it. It was certainly one of the most deeply abysmal rides I've ever done in my life, abhorrent soundtrack, aging theming and a fittingly miserable exit through an abandoned gift shop that had me and my friends cackling at the state of it all, to say this is better than Hex is worthy of more than a simple striking down.
Click to expand...
Damn, bit brutally honest there šŸ˜‚

Personally I really like the non orchestral/ unconventional soundtrack it has with the distorted church bells. Something that's lacking in the UK with all the IMAscore music in the Merlin Parks. Not saying Orchestral music is bad, but it'd just be nice to get other genres/more unique types of music outside of Orchestral and Pop music.

I actually think it has better theming than Hex aisde from Hex's vault, which has objectively better theming than the Chapel, but personally I think the Hauntings Chapel has a bit more character to it with the grinning Gargoyles. A lot of the stuff Hex has was already there since its built in the Towers (which is undeniably cool how they incorporated it, but aside from the vault). The Haunting was built from the ground up, so they kind of had to start from scratch.

I think the Library is great, the theming in there is well done and detailed. I like the moving floor as well.

But the exit... yeah, it is appalling XD. Just walking into an empty former gift shop is just... anticlimactic. These are just my thoughts anyway.

Back on Hex though, it's kind of guilty for this too. You just exit through a dark hallway and then you're right next to Cloud Cuckoo Driving School. Would be nice if Hex and Haunting both has their own gift shops themed after them though.
 
Last edited:
Although it may not have as much ā€œthemingā€ as The Haunting. I think one of the main things Hex does well is use whatā€™s already around it very effectively. Because the experience takes place in an actual ruin, it feels very authentic and atmospheric. It doesnā€™t really need much theming, because the surrounding environment already speaks for itself.

In terms of ā€œquality per poundā€, Iā€™d argue that Hex is possibly one of the most efficient rides I can think of. They produced something high quality and effective without a terribly high budget to do so and without having to invest millions into new, bespoke theming. Hex is not my favourite ride in the world (even if talking exclusively about dark rides, Iā€™m not sure it would even make my top 10, if I had one for dark rides), but Iā€™d genuinely struggle to think of an attraction that has better ā€œpound-for-poundā€ quality of execution (i.e. a high quality of execution on a low budget), in my view.
 
John said:
This absolutely should not happen. The ride is designed to run with enough space between groups that you can move straight through from one room to the next as soon as each finishes, maybe with just a few seconds wait before getting into the ride itself to ensure it runs as close to maximum capacity as possible. The video room is (was?) started manually so I've no idea why the show operator thought you needed to see it multiple times, even if there was a delay on the ride.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it isnā€™t started manually, it runs on a timer (doors open for a set amount of time) but the batching host can hold it if they need to, (the ride op can pause any scene).

If itā€™s running properly all the pre shows can run without any staff interaction.
 
Martin said:
Just had my first ride on new Hex. Look how they massacred my b..

Wait hang on that was actually fine
Click to expand...

Had my first ride today and disagree.

The good:
- Queue line outside the main doors seems to have drummed up more interest but removes the sense of discovery
- Smell pods are working
- the queue line lighting is okā€¦ish
- the new wall to the pre show makes it dark
- the ā€œlightningā€ effect in the cinema room is fine
- the projector looks as though itā€™s been replaced in the cinema room (it was previously white?)
- the spark effect wasnā€™t terrible (but not as good as was)
- the vault mechanism sounded less creaky
- the pitch black moment as the vault resets
- the vault audio sounded clear enough
- Candle lighting fixed in the vault
- Vault experiment effect lighting fixed
- itā€™s great to see it busy again

The bad:
- the speakers in the queue line are still a struggle to listen too
- the new ā€œdoorsā€ in the new wall should really be automated
- on our run through for whatever reason before the portrait pre show the fire exit was opened and killed the atmosphere
- the lighting choice onto the portrait meant you couldnā€™t actually see the picture from where we were stood by the doors due to how shiny it is
- The octagon still feels too light and misses some its original ā€œworkā€ lighting
- the TVs in the octagon mean the room doesnā€™t actually go pitch black (May of already existed)
- the un hidden lights throughout the vault
- The branch effect really needs toning down as its story element of ā€œlighting upā€ at the end is now lost
- The red and blue up lights need toning down
- The new lights need hiding much better
- The tube pulsing lights in the vault seemed ā€œspottyā€ rather than a smooth pulse
- vault audio still doesnā€™t sound loud or as base-y as it did
- Throughput seemed worse and it was the longest Iā€™ve ever waited for hex

Overall itā€™s good itā€™s back, is it ā€œbetterā€ than it was 10 years ago? Iā€™d say probably not. It feels slightly different experience now. More ā€œrideā€ than ā€œattraction/experienceā€.

Hopefully some of this can addressed in the closed season as the AV team have done lots of great things (Galactica/Nemesis dispatch effects, nemesis eye, golf effects, general park lighting etc) and assuming it is as controllable as previously said this shouldnā€™t be as difficult to do and it was done with this in mind.

p.s I do wonder if they could ever do some kind of Xmas overlay.
 
So got a ride on Hex, general thoughts:

Mostly an improvement, so itā€™s easier to point out what I didnā€™t like:

1) Octogan is too light because of the backlit LCD screens.

2) Audio is still a little ropey in places.

3) The fibre optic lighting on the branch is way over used. Maybe a quick twinkle as the machine starts up at the beginning and then the end as it used to be.

I know itā€™s had a lot of hate but I didnā€™t mind the star field at the end.
 
Similarly to Dave's points above, I think it feels a bit more refined than previously (and is mostly an improvement on the state of things 2 years ago - particularly audio and parking-wise) - though there were some elements I also feel fell short:
  1. I don't like the lighting in the portrait room. There's an odd mixture of cool white and warm white which jars. If you stand right at the front you also can't see the portrait at all as it's lit from the left side, and the light reflects off of the surface.
  2. Cinema room is disappointingly similar to previous, with the addition of a couple of lighting effects. I really think there was a missed opportunity here to increase the size and quality of the projector/screen. At least the sibilance issue has been sorted on the narration!
  3. Octagan is never pitch black (as it should be) due to the backlight of the LCD's. Also the audio is not loud enough - it only sounds as if there is a speaker on the left wall side (behind the figure) as you enter, whereas there really should be another on the right.
  4. Vault is improved generally (particularly the timing and execution of the climax), though once again the audio could be a little louder. The branch lighting looks ridiculous and genuinely like someone's obnoxious Christmas lights in the way it flashes rainbow colours - also it is now very prominent and bright at the begining and throughout, but turns off completely at the end. Formerly it only used to twinkle at the end as the vault parked - which I felt was much more fitting.
Overall though to the casual visitor I think this comes across much more solid of an experience than it did before, and I feel the response was a little more favourable having now done it 3 times - every time.
 
The firefly lighting effect at the end somehow gets the most reaction out of people during the vault cycle, not something I expected.

LCDs are just going to be always lit in the Octagon. CRTs would be better but are very much NLA.
 
Poisson said:
The firefly lighting effect at the end somehow gets the most reaction out of people during the vault cycle, not something I expected.

LCDs are just going to be always lit in the Octagon. CRTs would be better but are very much NLA.
Click to expand...
Or OLED. Not sure if a suitable OLED solution exists.
 
Yeah, I found that a bit disappointing. Given the time it has been closed, it's a shame they couldn't 1. fix that curtain and 2. make the preshow doors automatic (they're plain old doors that the staff member has to open, I imagine that gets tedious all day).

It's great they've fixed the ride, but it seems futile to make a fuss about a full refurb when there have been a few cut corners. Hopefully, they can address these over closed season, although I would be surprised if we see any changes or improvements.
 
James said:
Yeah, I found that a bit disappointing. Given the time it has been closed, it's a shame they couldn't 1. fix that curtain and 2. make the preshow doors automatic (they're plain old doors that the staff member has to open, I imagine that gets tedious all day).

It's great they've fixed the ride, but it seems futile to make a fuss about a full refurb when there have been a few cut corners. Hopefully, they can address these over closed season, although I would be surprised if we see any changes or improvements.
Click to expand...

I thought all the doors were automatic? The curtain was certainly working (automatically) on Sunday also!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top