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Hex [2024 Refurb]: General Discussion

It's obviously great to see Hex, and call me a downer if you will, but this is twice in the past decade now that it's been shut for (give or take) a whole season and there's been a big fuss about it returning the following year. Hopefully they've ploughed money into it to make sure that the hardware is running as efficiently as possible, whilst also being nice and robust with a more in-depth maintenance scheme to keep it afloat so we don't see this happen again.

Hopefully they've taken this oppurtunity to fix the audio system as that was botched post 2017.
 
mo237 said:
It's obviously great to see Hex, and call me a downer if you will, but this is twice in the past decade now that it's been shut for (give or take) a whole season and there's been a big fuss about it returning the following year. Hopefully they've ploughed money into it to make sure that the hardware is running as efficiently as possible, whilst also being nice and robust with a more in-depth maintenance scheme to keep it afloat so we don't see this happen again.

Hopefully they've taken this oppurtunity to fix the audio system as that was botched post 2017.
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Can’t say whether they have spent a lot of money but the rumour is Vekoma have been working on it.
 
Dave said:
Can’t say whether they have spent a lot of money but the rumour is Vekoma have been working on it.
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Interesting. Hasn't the rumour for a while been that the park had self-bodged/half-arsed repairs to the ride system so many times that Vekoma refused to touch it?
 
Dobba said:
Interesting. Hasn't the rumour for a while been that the park had self-bodged/half-arsed repairs to the ride system so many times that Vekoma refused to touch it?
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I don't think Vekoma had ever refused to touch it. It's just that previously Towers tried to implement fixes that didn't mean getting Vekoma involved (probably as it was cheaper not to involve them) and clearly those fixes have never worked.
 
Dobba said:
Interesting. Hasn't the rumour for a while been that the park had self-bodged/half-arsed repairs to the ride system so many times that Vekoma refused to touch it?
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To be fair to Merlin I don’t think they allow rides to be bodged. They insist parts are sourced from approved providers etc.

I suspect the issue was just more fundamental and needed the manufacturers input. To be fair all theme parks do in-house maintenance to manufacturers specification but you have to assume everything Vekoma had advised remotely hadn’t worked so they needed to see it for themselves.

That is all speculation on my part though, I have no insider knowledge on the ins and outs of this.
 
Dave said:
To be fair to Merlin I don’t think they allow rides to be bodged. They insist parts are sourced from approved providers etc.

I suspect the issue was just more fundamental and needed the manufacturers input. To be fair all theme parks do in-house maintenance to manufacturers specification but you have to assume everything Vekoma had advised remotely hadn’t worked so they needed to see it for themselves.

That is all speculation on my part though, I have no insider knowledge on the ins and outs of this.
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It was pretty bodged in 2022 hence why it broke non stop and remained closed throughout the season.

I don't think they make a habit of it, but it does happen when desperate or finances don't permit a really efficient repair.
 
Dobba said:
Interesting. Hasn't the rumour for a while been that the park had self-bodged/half-arsed repairs to the ride system so many times that Vekoma refused to touch it?
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I think you might be referring a post I made in September about this. All I had heard was that Vekoma assessed Hex and couldn't, or wouldn't, carry out further repair work and suggested buying a new model. This doesn't necessarily mean that the original repairs were bodged, or done half arsed. It most likely means that Vekoma couldn't guarantee that any work they did would actually fix the problems, or be a viable solution.

You can take your car to a manufacturer authorised/certified repair centre again and again and again, and be certain that the repairs made are up to standard. There comes a time though when further repairs aren't going to work, or aren't financially viable in the short or long term and you have to get a newer model.

Original post below:
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Truckload of salt time. I had heard a similar story about Hex needing a Mad House 2.0 replacement from an old flatmate who works at Merlin, in a finance department of Resort Theme Parks. I was keeping schtubm mostly due to discretion and not wanting bragging rights etc, but with it being independently raised I thought I'd pop my head up and say I've also heard similar things.

Allegedly Vekoma were called out to assess Hex for repair, after replacement parts were ordered last season, installed and then "broke" this season. As the repairs were done internally by Towers and not by Vekoma, they looked it over and couldn't/wouldn't carry out any further work. They did, however, point out that they had a new shiny upgraded model that Towers could purchase, if they so wished. This is what I've heard they've done.

Is he telling the truth? I'm sure he is are far as he's concerned, or he's at least relaying a story he believes to be true. I wouldn't normally post a story like this on its own volition, but the fact that somebody else had allegedly heard something similar, made me think that it might be ok to share it.
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Tuggerz said:
It was pretty bodged in 2022 hence why it broke non stop and remained closed throughout the season.

I don't think they make a habit of it, but it does happen when desperate or finances don't permit a really efficient repair.
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Doing repairs that are unsuccessful isn’t bodging. Doing the cheapest official repair is also not bodging. Might not be advisable or the best option overall but I wouldn’t call it a bodge.
 
I wont go into detail too much but I'm an engineer and design heavy machinery and I would be confident saying Towers own maintenance crews operate small fixes and refits themselves within suppliers guidelines however for large scale work Vekoma would have a team involved to atleast assess what need to be done and what large parts/whole systems remade.

It would very very unlikely for Vekoma to say they wouldn't touch it because of something done by towers and for towers to still operate it Safely. Bodging so badly for that to happen would be very concerning for such a big park if that's the case.
 
TheDuke said:
I wont go into detail too much but I'm an engineer and design heavy machinery and I would be confident saying Towers own maintenance crews operate small fixes and refits themselves within suppliers guidelines however for large scale work Vekoma would have a team involved to atleast assess what need to be done and what large parts/whole systems remade.

It would very very unlikely for Vekoma to say they wouldn't touch it because of something done by towers and for towers to still operate it Safely. Bodging so badly for that to happen would be very concerning for such a big park if that's the case.
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if this is true, my guess is it’s not so much the quality of the work carried out but a breach of a warranty/maintenance agreement. Just an idea but I just can’t see a company like Merlin taking any H&S risks, especially with ride hardware.
 
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