London Dungeon- A Bloody Hit! (London Dungeon)

Member Name: sherry284

Product:	London Dungeon
Date:	04/01/09 (332 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great actors, great atmosphere, educational!

Disadvantages: queuing could be long unless you fast track yourself, price of ticket

I went to the London Dungeon for the first time ever the other week despite having lived in London all my life. I remember hearing not so brilliant stuff when I was younger and then in more recent years the opinions had changed. I decided to book my ticket when my friend from Japan came over and got our tickets online. This I found was definitely the way to go about it. Admission at the door is £20.50. You can get deals for around £45 to see the dungeons and 4 other London attractions but I didnt want to book a bunch like that. I booked through lastminute.com and managed to get my tickets for £10. Not bad! For an additional £5, you also have the option to fast track yourself to the front of the queue.

The queue went all the way to in front of London Bridge station exit, which isnt that far as the venue is right next to it. As I went on 31st December the opening hour was 11am and we got there 10.40am. The queue looked longish and there was also a queue outside the other door that i didnt notice till we got nearer. There is a Starbucks stall as well as other little stalls selling hot drinks to keep you warm whilst you wait and the Dungeons offer some of their actors to keep everyone entertained. Located in East London, some of the actors had rather strong cockney accents which I thought was a great touch but may have been a bit difficult to understand to the many foreign tourists in the queue!

Going into the venue (took us about 20mins after 11am, total of 40min wait) the experience begins with a ghoulish looking graveyard and dark lighting. You are then ushered into a room with a stock and axe where you and your friends can pose for a picture opportunity arranged by the dungeon. A great souvenir and I noticed nearly everyone bought one, including myself.

The London Dungeon experience is a series of rooms that you and a group of about 20-30 enter and learn about the gorey history of London. Most rooms contain actors that are very convincing in the craft. Be a cockney diseased guy with the plague, a lowly bartender to a hugh court judge. The rooms discuss events such as the plague, Great fire of London, torture, crime and punishment, Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper.

I found each room fun and enjoyable. Each were dimly lit to keep the audience at unease and anticipating what could be round the corner. I found the experience quite educational. Hard to believe that such strict laws existed and such cruel punishments occurred. I learnt a fair bit about some areas through school but it was great to hear about some of the histories again and through the talented actors who never once broke character.

Other interesting rooms included the mirrored labyrinth where you walk through a passage only to find mirrored walls and no way out... or is there?! What made that enjoyable for me was watching the people in front jump at the scary moments and scream! There are two other rides available in this experience and although the last one (a big drop ride at "the gallows") is probably the most theme park like and scary, the other one is like a log boat and not so. But that still didn't detract from the experience.

I also found that the dungeons catered quite well for people in wheelchairs as there was someone in our group with one. The have side entrances for people with buggies too, although I dont think this experience is for young children and I highly discourage anyone from taking children under the age of 12.

Right at the beginning with the first actor, her first movements were done to well to scare her audience, a young girl at the front cried and her father had to pick her up and take her out! Poor thing but after having experienced the whole thing I definitely think you have to be ready for a scare!

Overall, a great experience and I'm glad I've finally done it. I don't think its somewhere you can go again too soon as you'll know all the tricks and stories but I definitely recommend it.

Summary: A great London experience.