Don't get caught dropping your trousers (London Dungeon)

Member Name: djw08

Product:	London Dungeon
Date:	18/11/08 (272 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great fun, would love to go back!

Disadvantages: the rides could have been better!

Whilst on holiday in London we visited the London Dungeons, I have always been interested in the history surrounding London such as the war, Great Fire of London, Gunpowder Plot, Jack the Ripper and the plague. In school (many years ago I should add) I enjoyed learning about these topics, I also enjoy reading ghost stories and watching films about these.

The Dungeons are easy to find and are not too far from London Bridge Tube Station. On arriving at London Dungeons we were amazed to see the décor of the exterior. It was amazing so rustic and to add to this we had a zombie and a crazy doctor entertaining the crowd. My girlfriend was not at all pleased but I had agreed to go and see the fluffy penguins at the zoo so really she had to endure some horror as well.

We wish we had booked online before going now but to pay on the door the experience cost us £20.95 each (it was a little less for children - £15.95) I can't imagine most children enjoying the experience as my girlfriend spent most of the time screaming. The traitors gate, torture chamber and streets of dummies terrified her. I thought it was great and wanted to know w a lot more. I suppose it does make you realise how lucky we are to live in such a lenient society. Men dropping their trousers in a back alley on a Friday night is considered more normal these days than it was in Medieval times.

Live actors, life-like scenery and horrifying dummies are everywhere. The streets even smell like a Victorian street of the past. With the smell of pungent urine and the noise of scurrying rats you are sure to be scared; even I felt a little freaked out in places. Walking through the streets where Jack the Ripper once preyed there is a real sense of fear and the models were so life-like they were quite haunting. The Great Plague was really interesting and I love to learn about history I learnt a few facts about the Great Plague that I didn't know before, some of the scenery was quite horrifying but the live actors really brought it to life. In fact it felt so real I felt myself feeling the need to wash my hands in case the plague was real and I had caught it...its so easy to get into the action there. Like the Great Plague I was also very interested in the part about the Great Fire of London and how this started, we were shown a video but this was a little boring compared to the other sections.

Amongst other things there was the boast ride to hell - not as scary as the title would suggest, it was so nice to be able to rest our feet. We also felt les claustrophobic here as we all had our own space and arm/leg room whereas on the guided tour people would push past to get to the front. This was advertised as a 'thrilling' ride and to prepare to get wet...of course this was not the case and we did not get wet, still it was fun. In addition to this was the 'extremis' drop ride and although the dark room and story line added to the effect we thought the ride was pretty dull, still again it added to the overall experience and we had a brilliant time. We had a fabulous time and would love to go back again next time we are in London. If we hadn't had such a bad experience at Madame Tussauds we would have paid for the 3 attractions for £45 ticket.

Summary: A great place to go, in London, children may get a little scared!