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Whilst this may seem like they are merely creating a ride on the cheap, without taking the time to create a story, in fact a lot of time and thought has been spent on creating the whole ride.

We enter through the side of the towers, through a grand and very large set of doors. One thing that sets the start of Hex apart from any ride like it is the fact that this isn't theming - this is real. We are enterting a very old real stately home. Most of it is in ruins, this section in intact with room and all. It is officially the armoury, though the queue takes us through many archeological objects as it snakes it's way through the long thin room. This room used to be a gift shop, but now acts as a starting point to the spin that Alton Towers have put on the legend.

The story that we gather from the queue, and this is an odd exception whereby the longer the queue is the better you understand what is going on, is that the Towers have been having archaelogical excavations done inside them ready for restortation work. It's wonderful the way that this "story" has such a true and honest basis, we really believe that this was absolutely the case in real life. Not many rides can boast this achievment. Videos in the queueline show various experts as they go about their historical business; studying maps, looking at plans and of course, the nitty gritty work of storing and preserving their finds. As well as this video, the queue zig zags around such finds, many larger items covered in canvas sheets, and has a museum feel to it - many of the items producing speculation amongst queuers as to what they could be.

The videos also hints at a surprising discovery made during these excavations. Some plans were wrong, there was a part of the towers building that didn't match the documented papers. It also hints at a Tree in chains not far from the towers. The video doesn't go into great detail, as it is obvious that we are to learn about what this all means later on in the ride. The video is very much like a trailer for a television documentary, which is exactly what the ride is to be.

Despite everyone completely believeing what they have been watching and seeing, everything in the queue is ficticious and is deliberate to set up a complicated story. It should be said at this point that this dark ride is of an educational style. It sets itself up to be the sort of ride that is going to tell you some history about the towers, all designed to make the finale a surprise. As we close on the end of the queue, a number display shows how many are entering each pen. A voice booms out at us introdcucing us to a painting of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who has a particularly strange story to his name. Two sets of double doors open and we enter the next room.

As they close behind us, a screen bursts into life and shows a dramatisation of a story. The basic plot is that this particular Earl was on his way back to Alton Towers when a begger stopped his carriage for want of a farthing. He refused, and the beggar put a curse that for every branch of the old oak tree that falls, a member of his family shall die. Indeed, that night, a branch did fall, and a member of his family did indeed die. The earl ordered his servants to chain up the tree so that this may not happen again, but not satisfied with his efforts, he became locked in a series of bizarre experiments on the fallen branch, trying to fight the paranormal forces and break the curse.

The film is dramatised exceptionally well, though it is still a historical docuementary. As wel are led into the octogan room for reasons that will be apparant as you enter, the story is continued through some special effects. At this point in the ride, all the style has been that you are expriencing what the ride intends you to expireince. In the octogan, and electrical generator bursts into life and powers some more TV's start to continue the story of the resotration works, how they found the chamber in which the Earl conducted these experiments. Suddenly, the TV's go black, mid film. Some lights go off and a generator silences. There is a crack of lightning, and some wind noises. Curtains in the room start to fly out, and a begger appears on part of the roof, horses are also heard through the air. Things calm down, and suddenly the generator bursts back into life.

This is a slighlty odd part to the ride: Are you supposed to believe that the genreator failed and that everything you just saw shouldn't have been seen? The way you are instructed to move on indicates not, and there is a reason why this section is slightly odd which will become apparant.

You pass the bookcase that the chamber was hidden behind, and enter the chamber with the branch in the middle, twinkling in all it's glory. The theming and attention to details is quite simply breathtaking as you enter the stone cavern. Except, this is no longer stone. As you exit the octogan, you leave the real towers and enter a special themed part that is actually in a metal building.

As the bars come down and lock, you see the equipment the earl used for his experiments. They liven up, and some odd forces are felt, suddenly, the room begins to move as more experiments are started. The branch twinkles brightly, smoke starts to billow into the room. A dramatic musical score matches the movements of the ride precisely and sends off a shot of goose-pimples. As the rooms spins more, a face is seen made from tree roots under where you started, it is the old beggar seen in the film before.

The ride comes to a climax and ends just before it gets too long. You exit and are sent in a long walk around the real towers to get back to where you started.

The swing is incredible with the attention to detail absolutely stunning and could never been decently described in words.

However, half of the ride is the set-up - and more interestingly, how this has changed has effected the ride as a whole. It is quite unique for a UK dark ride in that to create the surprise it doesn't create a complicated storyline that the rider has to share in, and it doesn't make the rider anything other then a rider (for example, The Haunting at Drayton Manor has the rider being a paranormal investigator). In order to get the surprise, it merely makes the rider believe that the ride is of a different genre then it actually is. The rider thinks he or she is getting a history lessons, albeit a very well planned one. The end of the ride is still part of that history lesson, and it doesn't imply that you are actually expiriencing these experiments in the legend, more that this is what it may have felt like.

But the story doesn't end there....

The reason why I am going into detail about how the ride uses psychology to create surprise is because this wasn't always the case. When Hex first opened, things were rather different. Instead of the ride using special effects to tell you a story, you were part of the story yourself.

Now this is really hard to achieve and other Haunted Swings (the aforementioned Haunting) try and fail to do this. You need really spectacular planning and effects to make any theme park visitor believe that they are no longer on a theme park ride, but are in a real expirience. You can't expect people to believe that they are in a real situation when they are made to wear lap bars etc. Hex didn't get it right. The videos in the queue were gone, so instead of being set up for a documentary, you were in the middle of the resotration project, not seeing it from afar.

The first film showed a professor or historian, or some other bad actor "live" talking to us and taking us on a tour around what they have discovered already. In the Octogan, your link with the doctor is suddenly severed, and you "exprience" some paranormal activity. This section has not changed too much in the transition, which is why the octogan stands slightly apart from the ride as it now stands, though it still works.

After this, you were told that you must leave via the chamber, and then you get sat down for some unknown reason as suddenly the paranormal effects overcome you again and the swing has it's cycle.

It didn't really work. The preshow film was an embarassing memory and the way that no one beleved for a second that they were in this situation meant that the swing itself had a dissapointing feeling, it was all fake.

Alton Towers either had a back-up plan, or decided that something needed to be done pretty sharpish as in the same season, the whole concept of the ride changed. No longer were you actually expiriencing the paranormal, but you were being told about it. This is perfect for a Haunted Swing. You don't have to worry about guests laughing about how they are being told they are in a plainly unreal situation. Without this worry, guests are left more in awe of the swing and the story.

Hex give us all the benefits of a Haunted Swing wihout the tackiness of Blackpools and and endurance of the pre-shows of Drayton Manor's. And to boot, its one of the best themed rides to date. Surprising coming from a park who seem to be vearing off the theming idea.

Hex Versus Villa Volta....

If you've done any reseach into Haunted Swings, you'll probably hear Hex touted as the second best Haunted Swing in the world, with Villa Volta being paraded as the very best in the genre. However, this simply isn't true - and Villa Volta seems to get it's rating based on the fact that it was first. In fact, Hex is superior to Villa Volta in almost every imaginable way.

The pre-show on the eftling ride is nearly 10 minutes worth of drivel from one animatronic character speaking in the native toungue. Hex's pre-shows are far more varied. The decoration in the chamber on Villa Volta is all very nice, but nothing compared to the Alton Towers version - with the smoking tree. And on Villa Vilta, the floor moves away to reveal... nothing except a very faint image of a ghost - compare and contrast with the witches face, tree roots, smoke and stobes on Hex. Plus, Hex is half based actually in the subject matter itself!

In my opinion, Hex is the best Haunted Swing / Vekoma Mad House in existence. Miss it at your peril.

Ride Music @ Towers Times Download Hex ride music here