Hex

[Benin]

If this had been the first place I'd seen such a rumour, I wouldn't have bothered...

 

But since it wasn't, and the sites I visit tend to have a clue, I'm worried...

[Celia Mae]

Have seen it mentioned in a comment on Towers Times that Hex will only be opening with part time hours next season.

Now I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere, and have asked the person for a source, but still... Is an interesting concept, as it would allow them to still so some 'TLC' work on it during the season, and gives them time to do more work than would normally happen while the park is open

[Dan.N]

Have seen it mentioned in a comment on Towers Times that Hex will only be opening with part time hours next season.

Now I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere, and have asked the person for a source, but still... Is an interesting concept, as it would allow them to still so some 'TLC' work on it during the season, and gives them time to do more work than would normally happen while the park is open

Hex is heavily rumoured to be closed for the duration of the 2016 season.

It's not a case of it needing TLC, it's simply a cost-cutting measure.

[SteveJ]

It WILL be closed for 2016.

[CharlieN]

It WILL not make me happy.

[Matt 236]

And true to the rumoured prophecy, the Earl died.

[Altitude]

I haven't been to Alton Towers since 2014 and the only reason I planned on returning this year was to ride Hex for the first time in over half a decade!

[L7123456]

Any chance that Hex will be re-opening next season? I've missed it this year  

[yeah]

Interesting...

 

[Matt 236]

Maybe the twist is the ride isn't reopening and they are just trolling us?

 

Wouldnt surprise me if they swapped Duel for Hex. That's the Towers. Way currently.

[Coaster]

Interested to see what has been done to it but I hope they haven't changed too much; the fundamentals of Hex are superb and should be left alone IMO.

 

After seeing what happened to Tomb Blaster I do have concerns.

[SteveJ]

If they have properly restored anything then that would be great. So much was broken with Hex, after years of little work (other than the ride, which did have engineering work and was still a bit broken), that it didn't really justify opening in that state and should have been restored long ago.

However I don't think this TLC thing gets a very good budget, judging by their "restoration" of Nemesis track (which looks nothing like the original paintwork), vinyl signs and replacing facades with 2D painted-on versions. The best thing they did was hire the guy to repaint the Nemesis station (umm, half), which actually I believe looks better and more detailed than it was in 1994!

 

If its an "upgrade" like with Tomb Blaster, that would destroy the whole attraction.

[spoonablehippo]

Whatever they do with HEX, I just hope they've left the music alone! 

[Martin Doyle]

On 09/02/2017 at 1:13 PM, spoonablehippo said:

Whatever they do with HEX, I just hope they've left the music alone! 

 

Couldnt agree more!! Such a brilliant piece of music and just adds so much to the final part of the ride.

[Coaster]

Alton Towers have posted a blog detailing the work that has taken place to Hex;

 

We are extremely excited to confirm that following our TLC refurbishment project, Hex will reopen as part of our 2017 ride line up on 25th March. Hex first opened in the year 2000 and is a well-loved favourite amongst visitors of all ages, but after 16 years of operation it was time to sprinkle some extra sparkle throughout the attraction. Our mission with the refurbishment was to take the time to restore the attraction and update its technology to modern standards.

10 improvements for Hex 2017

Refurbished entrance signage – Each of the 8 metre high entrance signs have been carefully stripped back to plain metal and expertly re-painted - a specialist job that has taken over 250 man hours.

New flooring – We have replaced the flooring throughout the whole of the queue line, to prevent damage to the floor of the historic ruins. The pre-show and Cinema flooring have also been painted with some hard wearing paint to protect the stone floor.

New dust – A specialist deep clean has been undertaken throughout the whole attraction removing years of real dust… before being redressed with set dust! We’ve paid extra attention to the Vault where the ceiling, arches and columns are now free of dirt and grime.

Redressed sets – We’ve discovered some new artefacts to display! Filled the bookcase full of books, replaced all of the linen and curtains as well as making some significant repairs to sets and fiberglass damage throughout the whole attraction.

New sound system – Whilst the old sound system was sufficient, it was 16 years old and as such the opportunity to enhance the audio experience was evident. We’ve replaced the speakers throughout the Cinema, Octagon and Vault and had expert sound engineers adjust the levels to fine tune every sound.

Refurbished effects – We have repaired strobe tubes, installed new wind machines, cleaned fibre optics and repositioned smoke machines. To keep the vault nice and chilled at a temperature you would expect from a room deep in the towers, we have replaced the air conditioning system.

Vault seats and floor repainted – Each of the benches in the Vault have been stripped back and re-varnished, along with the floor walkways all being repainted.

New lighting/lamps – The whole lighting system within the attraction has had a complete overhaul, with replacement bulbs, repairs and new filters throughout. Each light has been refocused and re-positioned to enhance the sets.

New smell pods – The attraction has had new smell pods installed throughout, ensuring all senses are stimulated through the experience.

Reinstated original TVs in the Octagon – It was evident that the new TVs we had recently installed in the Octagon were emitting too much back light  and therefore we have switched these with the queue line screens, this ensures the dark scenes in the Octagon show are just that!

We hope you enjoyed reading our snapshot of the work that has been taking place in Hex and we look forward to welcoming you onto the ride in 2017.

 

https://www.altontowers.com/useful-info/blog/the-return-of-hex-the-legend-of-the-towers/

 

Last year's closure aside, I can't credit them enough for this.  It sounds as though a huge amount of work has been put in to improve the quality of the experience, all those changes are fantastic and should hopefully make for a hugely improved attraction.  Great work Alton!

[Stuntman707]

It is really fantastic to see Alton Towers fully refurbishing Hex paying attention to every detail and most importantly, the experience. (Unlike Duel ). This actually makes me want to go this year just to ride the new Hex (And see Nemesis with her completed paintwork). For all the negativity I see against Merlin, I am very happy with the progress they are making in refreshing an aged and worn Alton Towers.

[Kerfuffle]

Quote

New dust

I get the impression the writer of the blog ran out of ideas at this point.

[Mer]

On 16/03/2017 at 6:59 PM, Kerfuffle said:

I get the impression the writer of the blog ran out of ideas at this point.

 

[Han30]

Hex is as brilliant as ever and you can really see they have worked hard on it whilst it was closed.

 

The music remains the same and it's still pretty much the same ride but the small details are noticeable - the bit before you go into the vault is so much better in terms of theming and effects  - and I love the smells that they have throughout the experience - very authentic and really enhances the experience.

 

Yesterday was the first time I had ever really queued for Hex - ok it wasn't a huge queue - maybe 20 minutes but it seems to be attracting guests which it absolutely should because it is a brilliant ride.

 

Some of the TLC mentioned you can't physically see but it is good that they have put in lots of work and it is back open (I really missed it last year).

 

It might just be me but when the ride actually started it was so subtle that I thought I was fainting before I realised what was happening!   At the end of the ride pretty much everyone was smiling and a few people started clapping which I think says a lot.

 

My only gripe would be that there is no Hex merchandise which is something I think could potentially be very popular - even if it was just a simple pin badge or keyring 

[Coaster]

Finally did the refurbished Hex today - aside from a new audio system, lighting and a general cleanup it remains the same in concept, which is a good thing.

 

I'm not a fan of the new audio system, it sounds far too "tinny" IMO and you can already hear the speakers struggling with the bass - they don't do the soundtrack justice like the old ones did.  Also, the ambience track is too loud to be... ambient.

 

Don't like the new emergency tape, it's literally plastered all over the scenes and looks a complete mess.

 

The first narrated voice section (before the projected video) was skipped on both our run-throughs, have they done away with this?

 

Finally, the octagon room didn't seem as effective as before, I think due to the fact the ambient lighting stayed on when the strobes were on.

 

 

Nice to see Hex back open - but not sure why these changes took a year and two closed seasons!

[SteveJ]

I was told they were going to fix the weird sound & lighting things, guess not. Another DIY repair job then. The original sound system was actually better suited than the one they replaced it with, shows what kind of silly decisions goes on when the park has a strange agenda and not the proper money from above, even if intentions are good.

[Benin]

Is it still failing to park properly?

[Mega-Lite]

Finally got back on one of my favourite dark rides a couple weeks back and it was a fantastic reunion, it's been too long old friend.

 

Get the negatives out the way first, that stupid yellow tape all over the place takes away from it a bit. The generator wasn't producing sparks, I know it rarely worked properly before the "TLC" but I thought they might have sorted it out. The interior queueline is too brightly lit now in my opinion. Finally the audio in the cinema section was very loud and very distorted, the loudness of it was great, just hope they sort out the distortion issues, if this is indeed a whole new system it can't have been installed correctly.

 

Niggles aside, I'll try to explain what I noticed as new or different than remember it from before the "TLC". It had a queue! Been visiting Alton Towers for almost 10 years now and never seen Hex with a queue, but this time I waited 20 minutes for it and I'm more than OK with that, great to see this wonderful attraction getting some recognition. Never had the chance to watch the queueline videos before so it was treat a to finally get the chance. Coaster, the audio before the cinema section was in operation when I went, it's now louder than ever and the lighting on the portrait of the naughty Earl works much better now, as in you can fully see the portrait. The audio in the octagon was louder than I recall and unlike the cinema it wasn't distorted. Lastly in the ride section I noticed things I'd never seen before, subtle things I can't really recall but things were different I'm sure.

 

Easily the highlight of my return to Alton Towers to get to experience this great attraction again, Alton Towers isn't Alton Towers without this thing, never close it again!

 

As far as I could tell Benin, it was indeed not parking correctly, music had finished and exit announcement playing before it finally touched down, I was too satisfied to let it bother me though!

[SteveJ]

Hex has always had a 20 minute queue whenever I've ridden it, thankfully it does get good ridership

Very annoying that Alton Towers still havnt sorted the audio. The original audio system was high grade anyway and I hear it  just needed repairs to speakers. But they seemingly can't swallow their pride and see that they have caused issues with this new system and the bright lighting too.

[Mark9]

First post for three months, woo.

 

It was an absolute pleasure to get back on Hex, I think it is by far the golden standard dark ride in the UK. Everything about it is just pure magic and harks back to the days when storyline and atmosphere was king. I only got one ride but I was completely ecstatic after my ride. It looks in fantastic condition and even though it didn't need a year out, at least some work has gone on and it looks brilliant. I loved seeing the reactions from people during and after the ride, trying to work out what had just happened to them.

 

It's just wonderful.