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Hex: The Future

FWIW, the haunting is turned by just 4 motors and has a single drive ring at one end of the drum. It has 2 access hatches which allow maintenance access but you'd be hard pressed to evac though them (if the drum stopped upside down it'd be impossible).
 
John said:
FWIW, the haunting is turned by just 4 motors and has a single drive ring at one end of the drum. It has 2 access hatches which allow maintenance access but you'd be hard pressed to evac though them (if the drum stopped upside down it'd be impossible).
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A single drive ring you say? I stand corrected then. Maybe it is the same for the bigger ones. Which would mean 8. I always had it in my head as 16 for some reason. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me.
 
Never seen that channel before but have now subscribed! Really interesting.

If anyone from Towers is watching, please consider getting someone like Theme Park Science to do detailed behind the scenes videos of your rides - with no glitz or glamour - just straightforward facts about the tech side of the rides. We got a tiny bit of it with the recent Tom Scott video but lets have a proper series of all the rides. [Some] people may then be a little more understanding when rides go down unexpectedly during the day.
 
So yesterday I went on Hex for the first time this season, and there are definitely some improvements. In the Octagon, I noticed either side of the old beggar woman/witch when she glows ultraviolet that it now lights up ultraviolet on the walls either side with other pictures/statues (can't remember what they were as they didn't stay lit for long). Also, I noticed around the outside of the left side of the octagon (going underneath the old beggar/witch statue) there is now a full ramp for wheelchair access from the entrance to the top of the stairs. None of my group or myself remembers seeing this before, and in the very dark light, it did look new - was this installed in this long period of downtime?

And the host announcing the 4 hour documentary as you entered the Octagon really didn't work, but luckily that's all he said other than asking people to move forward. The host who appears at the bookcase to beckon you in was holding an old hanging candle lamp (with LED bulb but looked effective) which was a nice touch although didn't really work well with his high vis jacket and hard hat uniform!

In the vault itself, the whole ride mechanism was quiet, no knocks or bangs! Noticed much more flashing/twinkling blue lights around the clock and through the tubing that leads to the branch. Don't remember seeing this before - is it new or just not been working for so long? There seemed to be much more lighting effects on the clock too - should add, all good though! And as someone else pointed out back up this thread, there is no voice at the finale either yet all other audio works fine but was only on one side - the exit side of the vault - not the end of the world, but just made it quieter for people at the other end.
 
Steve74 said:
Also, I noticed around the outside of the left side of the octagon (going underneath the old beggar/witch statue) there is now a full ramp for wheelchair access from the entrance to the top of the stairs. None of my group or myself remembers seeing this before, and in the very dark light, it did look new - was this installed in this long period of downtime?
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Pretty sure that's always been there. I recall a few times when Hex was new, people would walk up the stairs, find their way blocked by the curtain and then follow the ramp back down to the back of the octagon. Was quite amusing.

Steve74 said:
And the host announcing the 4 hour documentary as you entered the Octagon really didn't work, but luckily that's all he said other than asking people to move forward.
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I wish they'd knock this nonsense on the head. It does nothing to improve the experience.
 
The ramp has always been there, me and my cousin (in a wheelchair) are always told to stay left at the start of experience in the cinema room, and keep left up the ramp.
 
Steve74 said:
So yesterday I went on Hex for the first time this season, and there are definitely some improvements. In the Octagon, I noticed either side of the old beggar woman/witch when she glows ultraviolet that it now lights up ultraviolet on the walls either side with other pictures/statues (can't remember what they were as they didn't stay lit for long). Also, I noticed around the outside of the left side of the octagon (going underneath the old beggar/witch statue) there is now a full ramp for wheelchair access from the entrance to the top of the stairs. None of my group or myself remembers seeing this before, and in the very dark light, it did look new - was this installed in this long period of downtime?

And the host announcing the 4 hour documentary as you entered the Octagon really didn't work, but luckily that's all he said other than asking people to move forward. The host who appears at the bookcase to beckon you in was holding an old hanging candle lamp (with LED bulb but looked effective) which was a nice touch although didn't really work well with his high vis jacket and hard hat uniform!

In the vault itself, the whole ride mechanism was quiet, no knocks or bangs! Noticed much more flashing/twinkling blue lights around the clock and through the tubing that leads to the branch. Don't remember seeing this before - is it new or just not been working for so long? There seemed to be much more lighting effects on the clock too - should add, all good though! And as someone else pointed out back up this thread, there is no voice at the finale either yet all other audio works fine but was only on one side - the exit side of the vault - not the end of the world, but just made it quieter for people at the other end.
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Hah, I went on Hex yesterday for the first time this season too :)

UV for the beggar woman (should) have always been there, but overall a lot more effects than usual were working yesterday. Still no low-fog from the right-side stairs, but the generator sparks were back in business and they were always the trickiest bit to keep working.

The disabled ramp has indeed always been there but you wouldn't necessarily spot it unless you were looking.

I agree that the host shouting at everyone on entry to the Octagon doesn't work for me personally, but it added a jump scare for a few people who weren't expecting it, and gave them a laugh - so hey, added to their enjoyment at least.

I really liked the host with the flicking lamp and the silent beckoning to follow up the stairs - it did actually add to the effect. I was glad to see the host was in full Heritage Restoration garb too and not a red fleece.

Most vault effects working, apart from the fibre-optics in the branch - and we seem to get hardly any smoke in the vault now. Maybe they dialled it down if it was triggering detectors, who knows.

Here's something that stood out to me though. I was loitering outside the entrance for 10mins whilst my wife took her turn (with a baby, the best we can do is take turns on short-queue rides!) and whilst I was stood there at least 4 couples approached the entrance, read the first paragraph of the white sign, and walked away. It seemed like an odd introduction to me - the vast majority of rides at Alton Towers aren't classed as "white knuckle" and yet they don't have signs outside saying "maybe this isn't for you". Just seemed like an oddly off-putting thing to say.
 

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tech said:
Here's something that stood out to me though. I was loitering outside the entrance for 10mins whilst my wife took her turn (with a baby, the best we can do is take turns on short-queue rides!) and whilst I was stood there at least 4 couples approached the entrance, read the first paragraph of the white sign, and walked away. It seemed like an odd introduction to me - the vast majority of rides at Alton Towers aren't classed as "white knuckle" and yet they don't have signs outside saying "maybe this isn't for you". Just seemed like an oddly off-putting thing to say.
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This sign actually dates from the ride's original opening in 2000. The 'sun' symbol seen there was briefly introduced to indicate 'family ride' on the park map.

At the time, it made sense. Some people were queuing an hour and expecting another Nemesis or Oblivion. I'm fine with Hex having a door policy, personally. It was too cerebral of an experience for some even prior to the invention of smartphones, and as a cynical man once observed, "nobody ever went broke overestimating the intelligence of the general public."
 
tech said:
Here's something that stood out to me though. I was loitering outside the entrance for 10mins whilst my wife took her turn (with a baby, the best we can do is take turns on short-queue rides!) and whilst I was stood there at least 4 couples approached the entrance, read the first paragraph of the white sign, and walked away. It seemed like an odd introduction to me - the vast majority of rides at Alton Towers aren't classed as "white knuckle" and yet they don't have signs outside saying "maybe this isn't for you". Just seemed like an oddly off-putting thing to say.
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I think its because guests can't see it so have nothing to judge how suitable the ride is for them and their family but also when it did get long queues some guests expecting something more thrilling were probably getting off disappointed.
 
On the topic of Hex, bit of an off topic moment here but I have a question regarding to the alleged paranormal activity around the ride, mainly in the queue line which I'm aware has had reports of guests being hit by small stones. Has anyone has had similar moments when in or around the ride/towers because I have a story to admit that happened to me and friends back in 2013.

When queuing for Hex, me and my friends who I must say aren't enthusiasts themselves yet absolutely adore Hex (with one of them being a comic artist who wants to adapt something relating to the Chained Oak into a comic but that's another story). Anyway, when I queued for it last time, I never got any of the flying stones yet strangely I felt this pinching on the back of my thigh yet there was no one trying to do that so I have no clue what that was about. However, it was after we left the first pre-show to enter the Octagon that one of my friends, who was looking jumpy all sudden, claimed he had felt someone behind us which a bit creepy as we were the last ones to exit the room and by now we felt rather paranoid about something coming to snatch one of us so instead we did something rather stupid in recreating that scene from Red Dwarf in the episode DNA in which Rimmer and Kryten attempt to swap places in trying not to get snatched and I can only imagine those waiting for us to get in would have thought of seeing these three idiots performing that rountine trying to avoid any ghostly encounters! :p Looking back on it, we can laugh, but I'm still left a bit confused about that pinching moment and what that was about.

Has anyone here had any other apparent paranormal activity when queuing for Hex or ever in the Towers themselves in general?
 
I cannot say I have, but the old gift shop (now Hex's queue) had plenty of paranormal stories from guests and staff alike. The area is apparently very hot with paranormal activity.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Has anyone here had any other apparent paranormal activity when queuing for Hex or ever in the Towers themselves in general?
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I still maintain that the ruins mazes are scarier when closed than they are when operating - the place is seriously spooky and I don't really tend to believe in any of that stuff. I heard the odd noise from areas I knew to be empty, 'twas my job to investigate but I never saw anything.

Plastic Person said:
This sign actually dates from the ride's original opening in 2000. The 'sun' symbol seen there was briefly introduced to indicate 'family ride' on the park map.

At the time, it made sense. Some people were queuing an hour and expecting another Nemesis or Oblivion. I'm fine with Hex having a door policy, personally. It was too cerebral of an experience for some even prior to the invention of smartphones, and as a cynical man once observed, "nobody ever went broke overestimating the intelligence of the general public."
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Yeah I did wonder if it was based on guest feedback from the days when queue times were a lot higher. As for your closing comment - I think the fact that Towers have now seen fit to introduce a host in the octagon to give instructions says a lot.
 
The host in the octagon is most likely there because the curtain at the top of the stairs no longer works (and is just open permanently), without any staff in that area people would carry on straight up the stairs and miss the preshow.
 
Unfortunately the ride was in a sorry state today. All the pre shows and the octagon were working great. However the vault had absolutely no effects working, the lights on the arches were not working, the eyes of the face below were not working along with the flashing lights and this whole section was just dark when it rotated around, the 3 main house lights remained on throughout. It seemed as if the vault was permanently on "idle mode" for when you are boarding and never changed when the ride started.

Not sure if it was like this all day and if anyone else has the same experience?
 
Garlando101 said:
Unfortunately the ride was in a sorry state today. All the pre shows and the octagon were working great. However the vault had absolutely no effects working, the lights on the arches were not working, the eyes of the face below were not working along with the flashing lights and this whole section was just dark when it rotated around, the 3 main house lights remained on throughout. It seemed as if the vault was permanently on "idle mode" for when you are boarding and never changed when the ride started.

Not sure if it was like this all day and if anyone else has the same experience?
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Did Hex yesterday and the show worked fine, so was probably just a glitch in the system. However the timings went all out, we got sent to the cinema, the lights went out but no film, it then played a minute or two later, got to the octagon, film started, mid way through it stopped and everyone just walked out, as we were leaving the film started again. This then meant we surprised the hosts as we got to the ride as they wernt expecting us.

Then as the ride started because it was out of sync the “we need 4 per row, bags under seats” audio started to play as the ride audio was playing.

In other news they do need to bin off the host in the octagon, it ruins the atmosphere and is just really cringy. Also slows the operations down when it’s busy, as they won’t let you in the octagon until the host is in there, which means you can be stuck in the dark in the cinema for ages.

In the actual ride There also seems to Be a panel or something missing from the right hand side, as you can now see the speakers and also in to the actual drum of the ride, I guess it used to have some material or something over it as I’ve never spotted it before.

Also the themed wooden panels above all the doors have now been removed, and we’ve just got some awful looking MDF wood.
 
One question I have about Hex that someone can correct me here but when it was early on in the planning stages was it originally supposed to have two madhouses working away but eventually reduced to one?

And on a note regarding the oak tree...remember how the branch snapped in 2007 and no one in the family reported any deaths yet oddly was the same year Merlin took over...wonder if the fallen branch that year was a sign for things to come for Towers under Merlin's ownership? :p
 
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