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WTF Merlin?

I'm hoping there's a bright light at the end of the Smiler tunnel - I think the focus on doing the parks up is a logical step towards improving public perception. If the parks look well maintained, looked after, with quality staff and regularly emptied bins, people feel safer. I just hope the staff cuts are in the right places - I do actually suspect, perhaps with misguided optimism, that those cuts are not do damning operationally as they look, and that we may if anything see increased ground staff numbers as H&S rises. The ride closures still irk me, because I think most guests will read that as they are unsafe and in need of maintainance. We'll see. Maybe this was the wake up call the company needed.
 
That's another really nice little pack of goodies.

I think I'm one of the few who ever saw Hex with the original show - it was really cheesy, but I liked it :)
 
The guy who made the dark ride documentaries made a comment that looked like he might have got it or will have access to it so it might get published or shown in some way.

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk
 
What was Hex's original show and how long did it run for?

I remember I rode it opening year but can only remember queuing for it cause I was 10 :(
 
The original Hex had an extended octagonal room show.

When you entered, they had an actor pretending to be a scientist investigating the mystery or something. He then left the room and the screens had him working "behind the scenes" on some kind of sciency magic.

Then the room did the dark thing with the monitors mixing him and the other show stuff. There were lots of sparks from the generator and it bastard rained when the thunderstorm happened.I seem to remember there was a projection or painting of the old beggar somewhere, maybe on one of the windows behind a billowing curtain?

I think it caused extra delays in the other two pre-show areas - how it is now flows better with less dead time.

I only saw it once because I think it only lasted a couple of months. Actually, maybe as far as June that season - I went twice that year, but can only remember June as one of the dates. I've no idea if my other visit was earlier or later. I was in my late 20's by then and dementia had set in...
 
I think part of the problem with the first section was that people weren't quite sure what was going on and were too busy looking around and trying to take it in to pay attention to the mad scientist guy.

It did indeed slow down the whole attraction as people were dawdling. Maybe it was just the day I saw it, but I got the impression my fellow guests just wanted a ride and were confused by all the other stuff. Just like they are on Sub-Terra, actually.
 
^ This. I don't know much about early days Hex, but I've long argued that pre-shows are more often of detriment than aid.

From my experiences working at a park, in the firing line of guests, I know that only rides - actual rides - are deemed worth the time of most guests. And more interestingly, any perceived delay to them getting on the ride is an annoyance to a large percentage of people. It doesn't matter if there is no actual delay, people THINK a pre show is holding them up, people THINK staff talking to them or batching them through are holding them up. In reality, these are meant to be distractions or throughout maximizers. But people just feel like staff are wasting their time, like as if the ride ahead is just waiting for them empty.

That's why its so frustrating that they keep making the same mistakes - I love Hex, but everything wrong with it operationally was repeated only worse with Sub Terra. Why? Is no one at the parks communicating operational issues back? Does the design team care? Do they not think its a problem? Blows my mind.
 
Rides such as Hex, The Haunting, Sub-Terra NEED those pre-show rooms/scenes though or they fundamentally won't work. They're narrative builders to create an immersive experience (which is what those rides are, and nothing more), so if you don't put them in, you leave guests even more confused about what the **** has just happened.

As an example, let's take Sub-Terra for example. I'm ignoring the fact that the 'actors' are there (lets face it, they're **** idiots and their characterisations are beyond abysmal), so the queue line TV's don't show much and you can barely hear them, if at all - so the emphasis of the narrative feed comes from the first reshow with the Television and guards (to some extent). That footage, quickly, tells you about the Nemesis monster, that it has eggs and that the Phalanx Control is solving the problem, so it gives you the main points of the narrative (Where you are, What's going on, What you're going to do next - location, problem, outcome). If that scene wasn't there and you then entered a small boxed room that it's floor vibrates and lights move in a completely unrealistic movement (the elevator) then you boarded a mechanism that dropped, you'd have absolutely no idea what the large easter eggs and back stabbing was and why it existed.

Now, I know that you're not all stupid and know why those types of scenes are there, to tell the story in a multimedia format that's engaging to guests - but, the design teams behind the attraction have tried to maximise the throughput of these scenes as best as they possibly can and that's in the little details of the ride.

1) The batching system with the dots on the floor and staggered queueing that they do.
2) Double elevators, so they can alleviate the problem of bottlenecks (the collection of a high concentration of guests through a narrowing, such as a doorway etc.)
3) They inform you of your seating arrangement prior to you boarding the vehicle.
4) When you exit the elevator, they have two doorways, subconsciously diverting the guests ("I was in the left elevator, therefore, I might be on the lefthand door), this is a simple trick, but works with the majority of the guests.
5) They've made the loading happen from one corner of the room and the exit to be on the complete opposite side of the room, imagine a square, corner to corner. This shape allows maximum throughput and efficiency through the room, using the central theming element (the egg) to split up guests.
6) When the show scene ends, they use increased theatrical elements such as additional strobe lighting, red flashing beacons, alarms and smoke to create a 'hysteria' and 'panic' mode, making guests move quicker to 'escape' the room.
7) Again, double elevators to exit.
8) The 'attack' scene in the elevator - this is a very clever tactic, it may just seem that this is added for the narrative ending reason alone, but in reality - it's not. Whilst it is the 'finale' of the ride, it is in fact a way of keeping momentum going in the guests. The lighting flickers and blows out, loud noises of the elevator being 'attacked' are heard, it shakes violently and the walls move in/out - all of these create panic in the guests and when you're panicked, you move quicker (aka your fight or flight reflexes - unless you fall into the 'freeze' category in which by this point, you'd actually just be stood in a corner).
9) Due to the finale 'not working' and guests leaving unfulfilled with the experience, they added the 'scare attraction' ending with scare actors hurrying the guests out by using scare tactics and air cannons etc. This scene should be the bottleneck of the whole attraction, but in fact, it works really well and due to the sense of panic to escape, the guests leave hastily.

Using the final point as an example of why a pre-show (post-show in this case) is actually beneficial to an attraction - when the ride first opened, it received absolutely dire feedback, really low sense of enjoyment from the majority of the guests. So, what did MMM (Merlin Making Magic) do? They added the scare attraction element to the ending to extend the time of the attraction, have a real 'payoff' and to sustain the feeling of panic and terror until the very last second that the guests left the experience.

In my opinion, pre-shows and post-shows work.
 
nemesisfan45 said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEX-ALTON...ting-Discussion-Minutes-Videos-/172048102081?

Seems another gem has been listed on ebay. Lots of documents and artwork for Hex at Alton Towers, also seems to reveal information about the mysterious original show.

Highly disappointed by this auction. Its the same guy who sold me the fantastic Nemesis concept work.

He emailed me, alerting me of the auction and I could have had first dibs before it even made it to auction, but I was too late in responding and it ended up on eBay. He then emailed me right before I was about to place a £2k reserve for it saying that Merlin has told him to terminate the auction and in a further email, he has been asked to return the items to Merlin. For flip sake, that would have been so special to own!
 
Screaming Coasters said:
nemesisfan45 said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEX-ALTON...ting-Discussion-Minutes-Videos-/172048102081?

Seems another gem has been listed on ebay. Lots of documents and artwork for Hex at Alton Towers, also seems to reveal information about the mysterious original show.

Highly disappointed by this auction. Its the same guy who sold me the fantastic Nemesis concept work.

He emailed me, alerting me of the auction and I could have had first dibs before it even made it to auction, but I was too late in responding and it ended up on eBay. He then emailed me right before I was about to place a £2k reserve for it saying that Merlin has told him to terminate the auction and in a further email, he has been asked to return the items to Merlin. For flip sake, that would have been so special to own!
I'm not sure If your just trying to show off how much money you have or genuinely disappointed, but I don't understand the need to mention how much your willing to pay each time.
 
Rides such as Hex, The Haunting, Sub-Terra NEED those pre-show rooms/scenes though or they fundamentally won't work. They're narrative builders to create an immersive experience (which is what those rides are, and nothing more), so if you don't put them in, you leave guests even more confused about what the **** has just happened...
I kind of not really sometimes fundamentally disagree with your post but not entirely so bare with me whilst I try and explain.

This isn't black and white and there are exceptions, but I think if you have to put guests in front of a screen to tell them crucial information about how to board a ride, or to tell them the story because without it it just wont make sense, you're doing something wrong.

Some attractions do have complicated boarding, but arguably all of that is bad design... Either at the hands of the manufacturer of the hardware itself. Or more often, of those who designed the boarding area of a ride. Sub Terra is a messy one and I think they done a very good job considering, but just for argument's sake look aaaat, say, Zufari's **** disaster of loading area. Gates don't align with rows. Rows are poorly numbered. There's a distance not unlike crossing the Kalimari to get from the bays to the truck and a plethora of other issues plaguing a swift onload. Staff and videos or other preshow-like elements CAN aid these issues, but they arguably shouldn't have to. It should be obvious where you're going and what you're doing, regardless of whether you were paying attention.

Similarly, themed entertainment differs from other forms of entertainment because it's an entire immersive thing. I don't want to watch a **** screen, I want the environment itself to tell a story. Screens should be there as extras - like Hex's queue-line videos - not crucial pieces of information - like Hex's pre-show video. Though actually, I personally like Hex preshow video AND I think if you removed it and the octogon room, Hex really wouldn't suffer that greatly and I think to some members of the GP it may be improved, even. Yeah we might wonder why there's a log in the middle of the room, but Hex is a RIDE and it's core entertainment is the spectacle of how the hell did the room spin, not from it's narrative. Hex's queue, and general setting, even devoid of the actual pre-SHOWS tells enough of a story to make it work. You're going into this gloomy old castle, you go through a secret passage, and you end up in a creepy room that does creepy ****. That's ALL we NEED to know, really.

I'm not saying Hex would be better without preshows, I'm just saying this idea that preshows NEED to exist to explain stuff is ... Well it's lazy, in a way. And it's also misunderstanding the British audience who just doesn't really want them getting in the way of their rides.

Preshows that are done well are fab, but even the best suffer from being operationally inconsistent... I've witnessed what happens when you get a backlog on Haunted Mansion and it's the stuff of nightmares. You come out the stretching room into a sea of people... Queue-jumper anxiety breaks in and everyone cramps up close. A similar thing happens after the lifts on Gringotts. Even the pros of the industry don't seem to understand this fundamental stuff and it blows my mind.
 
owentaylor121 said:
Screaming Coasters said:
nemesisfan45 said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEX-ALTON...ting-Discussion-Minutes-Videos-/172048102081?

Seems another gem has been listed on ebay. Lots of documents and artwork for Hex at Alton Towers, also seems to reveal information about the mysterious original show.

Highly disappointed by this auction. Its the same guy who sold me the fantastic Nemesis concept work.

He emailed me, alerting me of the auction and I could have had first dibs before it even made it to auction, but I was too late in responding and it ended up on eBay. He then emailed me right before I was about to place a £2k reserve for it saying that Merlin has told him to terminate the auction and in a further email, he has been asked to return the items to Merlin. For flip sake, that would have been so special to own!
I'm not sure If your just trying to show off how much money you have or genuinely disappointed, but I don't understand the need to mention how much your willing to pay each time.

Sorry, but don't ever, ever, ever make me feel embarrassed mentioning money. For what members here pay for the tens of CF trips a year and showing off their flash new cars in the members forums, displaying lavish nights out, I'm well entitled to share the small amounts that I am willing to spend on things like this here, thank you very much. I choose not to do the things everyone else does and I use my savings on stuff like this. I don't even spend a fraction of what a lot of members here spend because I use my money on either business or small pleasures like this. 2 grand isn't even substantial money, so what gives? If I had won the product, you'd have seen the final price anyway. Don't be so sensitive. I'm talking about real life situations, so don't make it your business and be "that" guy because at the end of the day, money is nothing. I talk about it like its tool, and thats all it does. Its a tool to facilitate stuff.

Joey, I shall read your post now lol. :p
 
Screaming Coasters said:
owentaylor121 said:
Screaming Coasters said:
nemesisfan45 said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEX-ALTON...ting-Discussion-Minutes-Videos-/172048102081?

Seems another gem has been listed on ebay. Lots of documents and artwork for Hex at Alton Towers, also seems to reveal information about the mysterious original show.

Highly disappointed by this auction. Its the same guy who sold me the fantastic Nemesis concept work.

He emailed me, alerting me of the auction and I could have had first dibs before it even made it to auction, but I was too late in responding and it ended up on eBay. He then emailed me right before I was about to place a £2k reserve for it saying that Merlin has told him to terminate the auction and in a further email, he has been asked to return the items to Merlin. For flip sake, that would have been so special to own!
I'm not sure If your just trying to show off how much money you have or genuinely disappointed, but I don't understand the need to mention how much your willing to pay each time.

Sorry, but don't ever, ever, ever make me feel embarrassed mentioning money. For what members here pay for the tens of CF trips a year and showing off their flash new cars in the members forums, displaying lavish nights out, I'm well entitled to share the small amounts that I am willing to spend on things like this here, thank you very much. I choose not to do the things everyone else does and I use my savings on stuff like this. I don't even spend a fraction of what a lot of members here spend because I use my money on either business or small pleasures like this. 2 grand isn't even substantial money, so what gives? If I had won the product, you'd have seen the final price anyway. Don't be so sensitive. I'm talking about real life situations, so don't make it your business and be "that" guy because at the end of the day, money is nothing. I talk about it like its tool, and thats all it does. Its a tool to facilitate stuff.

Joey, I shall read your post now lol.
Wait, this whole time I've been on this forum I've never seen people mention how much something cost them. They tell people what they've bought, what they've done etc, but only if asked how much something cost they say. The fact that you've just said £2000 isn't a substantial amount of money just says everything about you. Arrogant.
I thought a few months back you stated you were leaving this forum?
 
Erol making a topic all about him again, what's new guys.

Brb creating a logo and saying I run a theme park.




Disclaimer: I've got £500 in the bank to give whichever moderator he reports this too as a bribe to let it stay.
 
Moving swiftly on...

Safari Skyway
Safari Skyway has been a firm favourite for many years and in fact was one of the original rides at Chessington as it opened as a Theme Park back in 1987. As a result of ongoing maintenance issues, the decision has been made to retire Safari Skyway from the Chessington ride offering. This was a difficult decision to make as we know the ride has been a firm favourite amongst our Adventurers over the years however with exciting new shows and attractions planned for the 2016 season and beyond, we’re committed to ensuring the continued development of the Resort.

Bye Skyway! 1986-2015.
 
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