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Hex [2024 Refurb]: General Discussion

ScottishChris said:
Has anyone seen any work being carried out on the Sky Ride? Everything I have seen points towards nothing being done as yet.
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Not strictly for this thread but in answer to your question I took these pictures last Saturday of the Dark Forest station. Lots of NDT spray marks on welds and what looks like a new beam put in place, although that may have been replaced in previous years; I only noticed it as its a different shade of blue to all the rest.

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Plastic Person said:
What differentiates a Madhouse V1 and a Madhouse 2.0? Are they somehow even madder?

I haven't ridden Monster Party, but I did revisit Villa Volta a few weeks back, which is still so simple yet spectacular. The soundsystem absolutely rattles, too. I would love a full-bodied Hex back to compete.
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There have been substantial upgrades to the technical installations, power and powered systems and ride control. The madhouse rides exactly the same as the orignal. Just much smoother and far more reliable. It is basically a refinement.

An interesting fact, Van de Ven, the creative director behind Villa Volta (world's first madhouse) considered Hex, his favorite madhouse and the single best example of the attraction created. Efteling worked very closely with Vekoma to bring the madhouse concept to a reality, with Villa Volta opening mere weeks before Drayton Manors smaller madhouse.

I agree, we need Hex back to how it should be. The best of the best, what it once was.
 
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For anyone interested in madhouses I would highly recommend these reads. You'll recognise some of the photos and information if you saw my post earlier in the year.

Madhouses I: The Origin of the Haunted Swing

Madhouses II: The Development of Villa Volta

Madhouses III: That is Illusion

I think if they were to redo Hex. The one thing I think they need to keep the same is the vault music. For me, that is probably one of the most spectacular pieces of theme park music on the planet. It's a true gem for Alton Towers. As is Hex in itself, an absolute masterpiece of themed entertainment.

Even the narrator is spot on, they did nail it. The assertive "Attention! The handrails are about to be lowered so please raise your arms.....so the bars may close, tightly". Raises the hairs on the back of my neck to this day, as does the rest.

The narration fits so well with the setting. I think that the audio is so important with Hex, not only because it is such a massive theatrical element to the attraction as per the design, but because (intentionally or not) it is delivered so, so well. The tone, narration and execution are done to an excellent level.

This is why I had an issue with the audio revamp a few years ago. Intentions were good no doubt, but the current Ohm system just doesn't deliver the narrative and audio like the old Bose system used to. I suspect it is not because the current system isn't capable of delivering like the old Bose, but due to the system not being tuned as well as the old Bose rig was. The rooms are very acoustically complex so not an easy feat, particularly if the new rig was commissioned in-house.

Hex is a ride where the narrative and audio make up a huge part of the overall experience, so I would hope they do this justice if they re-do the ride. Given MMM's recent track record, I have great confidence. Substantial changes were made to Duel, that is exactly what was needed to make that a great ride again and man, John B and the MMM crew nailed it. So I do not doubt that they would not do Hex justice and without sounding patronising, understand that the modifications to Hex (in my opinion) don't need to be as drastic, the attraction doesn't need it as Duel did, and the format is still great. It does need some John B magic though, such as a revamped octagon show with new FX.

I think we, as English people, who have grown up in this country with castles, stately homes, lores and all that, take for granted the spectacular nature of what a ride like Hex delivers. That is not to say we do not appreciate and love it, we do, but when you see the ride through the eyes of someone who has not grown up in this country, where some of the main elements of the attraction (a real stately home, a curse and an actual walk through the ancient building) are not usual occurrences in their country, you see how magical it is.

If I was being specific, the vault failed in recent years audio-wise. If anyone can remember how it used to sound in the early 2000s, it is a far cry from how it sounds now.

Alton Towers have one of the best dark rides on the planet, they also have one of, if not the best piece of theme park music on the planet. Do it justice. Wow the guests by delivering this amazing narration and soundtrack through a properly tuned sound system that does the audio justice and puts hairs on the back of people's necks. 😀

"For nearly 200 years....." even on the current Ohm rig, the octagon still amazes, from the audio alone.
 
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DistortAMG said:
...It does need some John B magic though, such as a revamped octagon show with new FX...
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A very simple effect in the octagon could be a thin LED strip hanging from the ceiling at an angle to represent the lightening strikes. Because it's so dark in there and the strip would be so thin, it would go pretty much unnoticed until it lights up. With fast animated LEDs, I think the effect could be pretty impressive if done right.
 
The Vault needs to be loud again. If it was given over to MMM as a project, I imagine it'd get reworked videos for better quality, a couple of Octagon effects and the little touches fixing in the Vault. Then they need to train the staff to not shout the same thing as the announcement and just send it.
 
Poisson said:
The Vault needs to be loud again. If it was given over to MMM as a project, I imagine it'd get reworked videos for better quality, a couple of Octagon effects and the little touches fixing in the Vault. Then they need to train the staff to not shout the same thing as the announcement and just send it.
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Probably turned volume down because some people "won't like it" loud. There's no other reason as to not have the volume turned up to the original level.
 
RIPCorky said:
Probably turned volume down because some people "won't like it" loud. There's no other reason as to not have the volume turned up to the original level.
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I know imagining an audience of spoilsports and snowflakes is fun, but the rest of the attraction is/was loud enough to suggest that it was probably something to do with the system being run cautiously after many years of overuse and poor maintenance.

I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but the first notes of Villa Volta’s score at Efteling are powerfully loud and grab everyone’s attention, although the beginning of the sequence on Hex takes a different approach, slowly allowing new riders to gauge that something isn’t quite right.
 
Plastic Person said:
I know imagining an audience of spoilsports and snowflakes is fun, but the rest of the attraction is/was loud enough to suggest that it was probably something to do with the system being run cautiously after many years of overuse and poor maintenance.
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Absolutely. After it reopened from TLC in 2017 the volume of the audio in the cinema room was waaaay louder than it ever was. The vault volume must be more to do with audio issues than a conscious decision to turn it down.
 
Poisson said:
The vault audio was quieter as half the speakers (nearest the op cabin) didn't work for some years
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Exactly this, half the speakers in the vault are dead, they didn’t get replaced when they changed to Ohm speakers.

Only benefit is you can hear the chanting speaker that sits above the vault, which in the early days was inaudible as the music was so loud, but I prefer the booming music to be honest.
 
I would love to see the technology updated in te pre-show, however I wouldn't want too many changes. Putting in effects just for the sake of it would ruin the atmosphere.

One thing that I would love Towers to do is to instal a faux chained oak. Hopefuly having one on property would help reduce the abuse the real one seems to be getting.
 
As an update from my previous post a while back, I now no longer consider a madhouse 2.0 at all likely to happen but do believe it was probably a consideration at one point.
I am, however, led to believe the ride will reopen sometime in the near future (start of next season? I'm not entirely sure.) with some notable changes, particularly to the armoury and vault.
 
Earthwürm said:
As an update from my previous post a while back, I now no longer consider a madhouse 2.0 at all likely to happen but do believe it was probably a consideration at one point.
I am, however, led to believe the ride will reopen sometime in the near future (start of next season? I'm not entirely sure.) with some notable changes, particularly to the armoury and vault.
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Do you mean the Armoury, or do you mean the Octagon?

The Armoury is the first part of the indoor queue line.
 
DistortAMG said:
There have been substantial upgrades to the technical installations, power and powered systems and ride control. The madhouse rides exactly the same as the orignal. Just much smoother and far more reliable. It is basically a refinement.

An interesting fact, Van de Ven, the creative director behind Villa Volta (world's first madhouse) considered Hex, his favorite madhouse and the single best example of the attraction created. Efteling worked very closely with Vekoma to bring the madhouse concept to a reality, with Villa Volta opening mere weeks before Drayton Manors smaller madhouse.

I agree, we need Hex back to how it should be. The best of the best, what it once was.
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Hoping to experience this next time I can get to AT, I've always loved illusions and practical effects. So getting on Hex is something I'm definitely doing given the chance. Wonder if they'll change anything in Hex (Besides being made into a madhouse 2.0) Like new effects, lighting or maybe an update of the story? (Doubt the latter)
 
Squiggs said:
Do you mean the Armoury, or do you mean the Octagon?

The Armoury is the first part of the indoor queue line.
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The Armoury. My limited understanding is that the queline fences will be removed or altered so no more zig-zagging your way down and potentially a change to the way it is batched at the far end. I don't know anything about the alleged changes to the vault, but if there is any truth to what I had heard previously, the purpose may be to make the drum lighter by using lighter materials to theme it and therefore more reliable?
As you can see, I'm not sure enough of anything to confidently state exactly what is going to happen, but I'm sure enough that I fully believe it will reopen with the current hardware in an altered state.
Whether there will be any changes to the Octagon I don't know, but I've not heard anything.
 
I would definitely like a few new effects in Hex, but no substantial changes. Apart from the madhouse ride system itself, everything in the attraction is almost perfect already. They could perhaps re-film the preshows in better quality, whilst keeping the same audio, but I wouldn't trust Merlin with that job.
 
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