Hex: The Future

[BarryZola]

It's not as bright as the cameras are showing, but it was a little lighter.

 

[Steve74]

That's what I was hoping, looks way too bright in there if that's how it actually is in person.

It's not bright. The amount of ambient lights has been increased but they do not increase the overall brightness; they subtly highlight things that otherwise got missed, like the covered figures in the armoury. All those pics I took of the breakdown in the vault were after they turned on the floodlight, and my phone auto enhanced the pics because it treated it as night mode.

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[Tim]

All the Vekoma Madhouses have been struggling for several years.

Defi de Cesar at Asterix has been closed all year. Villa Volta was really struggling round last time I rode it (maybe Efteling have fixed this since).

Not just a Merlin issue for once. But let's not let facts get in the way of an excuse to bash them.

Defi de Cesar is a Mack.

Having said that I do get the feel that Vekoma don't have the experience in Mad Houses they once had. I did some work on Monster Party when it was being built. Nothing related to the ride system, so I'm no expert, but the geneal vibe I got from those who were involved with it was that they were practically building a prototype ride system because of how long it had been since the last one was built.

It wouldn't be the first time an attraction has been so reliable that when it does finally need repairing the people who knew how have moved on.

 

[Poisson]

The lighting inside is appropriate, would probably be the best way to describe it. There's more, but better coloured, brightness and directioned so it isn't like you're in a bright room.

 

[spinba11]

@Steve74 what point during the cycle did the cover get ripped off?

 

[Skyscraper]

That wire was for a CCTV camera, so very important

 

[Poisson]

That wire was for a CCTV camera, so very important

Easy fix then. No worry. Not like it is something ride system related.

 

[Manchester1894]

I wouldn't be surprised if over these first few days they have an engineering team from Vekoma on standby as well as a few more AT Maintenance engineers monitoring the ride itself, just to keep an eye on things so while this incident has happened the fact that the website is already showing a date means that they must have kicked into action this afternoon and already investigated what has happened and what work needs doing to fix it and the estimated timescales.

Exactly the same thoughts. Frustrating as it is, they seem to have swiftly had a look and estimated the repair. Probably just cutting an aluminium panel as we speak.

 

[Danscott22]

Theme Park Worldwide's review is up, thinks the lights in the vault look cheap and tacky. I strongly disagree, I did not get that vibe at all. As I've said previously, I think the Earl of Shrewsbury being kind of mad chaining up a tree branch is more reflected now in the lighting than it ever was before. It is a lot of colour, but completely disagree about it being cheap and tacky. People will latch onto that opinion no doubt and just follow suit.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Sometimes better to experience it in person rather than hear from influencers and such though I suspect regarding TPWW's criticisms of Hex could be, much like with some certain other YouTube channels is that after waiting for so long and expecting something incredible was always going to lead to am anticlimax and that's even of the mishap yesterday never happened.

Being as I'm nowhere near Towers and are more forgiven let's say who doesn't look at every little issue unlike those who live close by, I'm not going into wanting to see new effects as all I want is seeing Hex working again which is better than nowt which at the end of the day is what we all want.

 

[Islander]

Haunted House Monster Party has been shut a fair bit this year and generally seems to go down quite often too. It also recently had a scheduled maintenance closure prior to "Brick or Treat".

It's not really been shut much at all this year to be fair, not sure what you're basing that on at all. The scheduled maintenance prior to Brick or Treat was the annual maintenance and strip-down - don't forget, Legoland is the closest park to year-round opening in the UK, so the have to shift some of their annual maintenance out of their closed season (which really, is just January) to compensate.

That wire was for a CCTV camera, so very important

...and also extremely easily fixed

 

[Bowser]

It's not really been shut much at all this year to be fair, not sure what you're basing that on at all

Basing it on 2 visits where it was closed all day and my obsessive monitoring of theme park apps to gauge ride availability and queue times

I even have a video of my son running over to it only to find it closed this summer

Not saying it’s been a particularly problematic ride, just that it has had issues this year.

 

[pluk]

Wasn't anything to do with being fully loaded or not. It was the facia panel that hides the sliding door mechanism that came loose.

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It may not have been, but it absolutely could have been. The laden ride absolutely will flex and move in a different ways than when it's empty, and could easily change the clearances for close moving scenery and wires.

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I'll not get to ride it this year, but the most concerning parts for me of people's reviews and comments on the change are that the audio lacking bass. That can really change the atmosphere and depth of an attraction overall.

 

[TBoy535]

Sometimes better to experience it in person rather than hear from influencers and such though I suspect regarding TPWW's criticisms of Hex could be, much like with some certain other YouTube channels is that after waiting for so long and expecting something incredible was always going to lead to am anticlimax and that's even of the mishap yesterday never happened.

Being as I'm nowhere near Towers and are more forgiven let's say who doesn't look at every little issue unlike those who live close by, I'm not going into wanting to see new effects as all I want is seeing Hex working again which is better than nowt which at the end of the day is what we all want.

I think you should watch the whole video before commenting, I find it to be a very detailed and non-biased but fair review and some criticism at the end. I respect that he actually gave it a lot of praise and went in to great detail he’s not slating the his experience or the ride he just mentioned a few tweaks of lighting which they can easily do as now programable. There a big difference in this professional style to what we mentioned above.


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[BarryZola]

I'll not get to ride it this year, but the most concerning parts for me of people's reviews and comments on the change are that the audio lacking bass. That can really change the atmosphere and depth of an attraction overall.

What you've described there is one of the feelings I had. I did feel that the sense of atmosphere had been lost a tiny bit due to the 'cleaner' sound and new sound levels, including the bass. Didn't ruin the experience and it's still a good ride, but that was one of the things I noticed.

 

[Poisson]

Flip side is I found the music sounded better, less muffled than it has in a long time. The Octagon sounds really good for example.

 

[Euro Theme Park Archive]

The generator breakdown sound effect was missing for many, many years so I'm glad to hear it's back as it helps convey what's going on in that scene.

I know I sound like a broken record but lighting is really is not possible to judge from video and pictures alone, other than maybe the amount of colours and effects etc, so I'd really advise anyone to wait until they see it themselves to judge.

Personally I hope it maintains and improves the same atmosphere but avoids the current trend of adding excessive AV to rides like a big instagram filter, because Hex's atmosphere really was so unique and good. It possibily looks like they took on some feedback and toned down the colours in the octagon since the video.

 

[Mykeprime]

few tweaks of lighting which they can easily do as now programable.

This is exactly it, they've tried some new things and can easily adjust based on feedback. Same as Curse has had tweaks.

 

[Severed_lime]

Theme Park Worldwide's review is up, thinks the lights in the vault look cheap and tacky. I strongly disagree, I did not get that vibe at all. As I've said previously, I think the Earl of Shrewsbury being kind of mad chaining up a tree branch is more reflected now in the lighting than it ever was before. It is a lot of colour, but completely disagree about it being cheap and tacky. People will latch onto that opinion no doubt and just follow suit.

My daughter was just watching TPWW review and I was going "shut up Shaun". Her response was "how do you know who he is?"

 

[JamesP]

Theme Park Worldwide's review is up, thinks the lights in the vault look cheap and tacky. I strongly disagree, I did not get that vibe at all. As I've said previously, I think the Earl of Shrewsbury being kind of mad chaining up a tree branch is more reflected now in the lighting than it ever was before. It is a lot of colour, but completely disagree about it being cheap and tacky. People will latch onto that opinion no doubt and just follow suit.

Again, I’ve not been on it, but judging on the video of the vault sequence, I do think it gives a much clearer representation of the Earl’s ‘science vs the supernatural’ story. The flashes from the machine followed by the lightning and the ending with the curse being said and the new lighting (curse being lifted?) are what I see as a bit of a fight between science and the curse - without it being blatantly spelt out. I’ve been on a fair few different Madhouse rides at parks and my most common disappointment is when it feels like you are in a spinning room for the sake of it, without it really telling a story. Always thought that Hex was best at that, but this moves it forward a bit more.

Edit- the great original story board drawings shared by Euro Theme Park Archive seem to show a similar story intent:
https://x.com/etparchive/status/1845048384081563661?s=46