For the bloodthirsty, not the faint hearted. (York Dungeon)

Member Name: arnoldhenryrufus

Product:	York Dungeon
Date:	13/11/05 (3403 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining, Educational and Scarey

Disadvantages: A bit expensive, very hot and humid, waiting times

I have visited The York Dungeon on two occassions now, the first time was with my children about five years ago, which was great fun as they were young teenagers. The second time I went with my husband and two adult friends - so I will try to explain the reactions with both visits - as believe me it was totally different without the children.

Well to start with you will find the York Dungeon in the York City, it is just off the river in Clifford Street. You have to cue up for a little while, queuing all depends on the amount of people there. On our first visit there were about 30 or more people and it took about 30mins to get in, on our second visit there were only about 10 people infront of us and it was about a 10 min wait. Whilst you waiting you are entertained by the staff that are dressed up as plague victims - they come round and talk to you, shout at you and pick on the children in the queue. It is very entertaining, they say things like "Are you Brave or Stupid?", "We've got tortures for you, unbelieable pain awaits you inside". They also ask you questions about yourself and give you some cheeky reply to your answers. All in all they keep you entertained, which stops you getting bored waiting and gets you in the mood for whats to come.

Now for prices:

£10.95 for adult
£7.95 for children aged 5-14yrs
£9.95 for oap's
£9.95 for students

Guide books are £3.50 -

You can pre buy your tickets in the hope of jumping the queues - the prices are the same and can be bought with a credit card on line at www.thedungeons.com. If you decide to take the online route for your tickets, you would receive an e-mail confirmation which you need to print off to show at the entrance desk on your arrival at the dungeons. The disadvantages with this are, if you forgot your print out, you could very well be refused entry or have to pay again. The credit card holder must be in attendance for security reasons.

Back to the visit - you have queued up and got through the main doors, you now have a 5min wait whist everyone pays, then armed with your guidebook you start your tour. You go through doors (painted black), they close behind you and you find yourself in a dark tunnel, the walls look like dungeon walls complete with dangly things that brush against you making you nervous. You see displays of plague victims at their worse (not a pretty sight), there are information plaques on the walls to read and gain a little more knowledge of the history of the great plague. To think the childrens nursery rhyme 'Ring a ring of roses',' a tissue a tissue we all fall down', comes from the plague. The first signs were of a cold. It got so bad that if you sneezed you were bricked up alive so you couldn't pass on your germs.

This is demostrated on the first part of the tour, you are walking round a slim corridor looking at the models when one jumps out from behind a wall screaming, she is covered in boils and didn't look too well I must say. On our first visit with the children, this made my daughter jump out of her skin, she was with my husband just ahead of us, so they stayed put, hoping that I would trigger it off when I went past, fortuneately I didn't, so they started to tell me about it giggling away when the lady behind us let out a squeal (it got her). This put the atmosphere is a jolly mood as we continued on our way.

A little more info here about The Plague - it first appeared in Europe in October 1347 - carried on ships trading with South East Asia. The disease got into England via the Dorset port of Melcombe in August 1348 and quickly spread. There are no accurate records, but it is estimated that between 1/3 and 1/2 of Europes population lost their lives to the plague - that is estimated over 24 million people. People believed that plague was sent by god and it signified the end of the world.

Anyway back to our tour - to end the visit on the Plague you come to your first interactive experience. You are faced with an actor dressed for the part with a silver finger with a sharp pointed nail - he picked on the children and the adults, whilst telling the story of the doctors during the plague and what they had to do (model with a beak and black cloak in the background, next to a body all cut open). The actor really gets into his part shouting at us asking if we want to volenteer to be cut up, whispering in your ear saying you will be next. He was very good. Making it entertaining for both the children and the adults.

I enjoyed this part on both our visits. My only complaint is that it is a small space and people have to move into every corner available to fit in. This added to the heat and the stuffiness of the room. It was after visiting this with our friends, that my friend could not take any more and asked to leave. The actor had finished and people were moving on to the next stage when she announced the heat was making her feel ill. The actor could not have been more helpful, our friend told us to stay and continue the tour and the actor helped her up the stairs and out of the building. Just a note here whilst we continued the tour the staff from the Dungeon could not have been more helpful. Whilst entertaining the crowds queuing to get in, they kept popping over to make sure our friend was ok. A big thankyou to them for looking after her.

Back to the tour, the next section we visited was the Vampires - we had to wait for a few mins until the group infront of us had finished so we could go in. I think they do this to build up the tension and give you a little more time to look at the models of torture around the walls. Whilst waiting a girl dressed to impress (another zombie maybe), jumps out of the a dark corner again keeping the mood going.

Once you have gone through the doors and they close behind you, it is your group around the vampire catcher (the actor), a corpse of a man and a ram. The actor tells you the story of the vampire and some history of the legends, myths etc - demonstrating the instruments they use to kill a vampire. Once again he involves the audience and once again something scarey happens whilst you are concentrating to make you jump. I won't go too much into the details as I wouldn't want you to expect the climax, better to be surprised - ha ha. (evil laugh)

We found this quiet amusing, I must say it was better when we took our children, I think that's because you enjoy there reactions more. On our first visit the lady behind me all the way round was made to jump on numerous occassions, this seem to make our visit more enjoyable as well. On our second visit our group were a little less jumpy and not as interactive with the actors as our first visit. Which is possibly why we enjoyed the first visit more.

You know it is the end of the demonstration as they usually tell you to flee for you own safety, all part of the ongoing acting and building the tensions.

Next on the visit is the Vikings, again you have a little wait whilst the room is being made ready and whilst you wait another you girl is talking to you about what is coming up, saying that we are having an audience with her father - you go into a room where there is a display infront of you and a statue of the girls father - a hologram image appears on the face and he starts to talk to you - when he has finished he screams at you to get out.

This section covers the brutality of the vikings and their methods of torture, in the corner of the room there is a model of someone being tortured.

I found this section the least interesting of them all, it really made a difference not having the actor there getting the audience involved.

The next area was a court room, everyone crammed in and the judge was just above you looking down at you. He called someone out of the audience and made them take the stand accusing them of some siily crime and asking them how they plead, he then dishes out a punishment and calls someone else up. This area was called Judgement of the Sinners. I feel this was more for adult participation, but the children love their parents being put on the stand.

This section shows simply, the evil minds of the 18th century, when they gave judicial punishments for very minor offences. Your punishment could be banishment, loss of a hand, going in the stocks or dungeons and possibly even death.

There are 3 further sections left of your tour, during our 2nd visit we did not get any further than what I have just written about, so you will now have to rely on my old memory and our first visit around 5 yrs ago.

The Roman Legion - What we had for the Roman Legion was sitting on benches in a room and the walls lit up showing film and the history of the Romans and the hauntings - We laugh about this part of our first visit, my daughter put her arm round the back of me and lightly touched my back making me scream and jump (still living that down today).

Apparently there are around 150 ghost and ghouls wandering on the streets of York, which is one of the most haunted cities in Britain. (afraid I didn't knowingly see any).

The Gunpowder Plot - this gives you the story of Guy Fawkes (he was born in York, hence the connection). Here you saw some of the terrible and horrifying ways of torture that have been used. There are no holes barred here on the sights you see, it has been made to look very authentic.

Finally you have the story of Dick Turpin the most famous highwayman and his demise. You are there to witness the hanging of Dick Turpin and an actor tells you the story of Dick Turpin and what has bought him to this sorry state. You actually see him hang - the trap door opens and there he goes. They try to make it so you feel you are at a real hanging.

Your tour is over, it has taken just over 1hr and you make for the exit which of course leads you through the gift shop. Here they are selling souvenirs of your visit. I did find this expensive. But aren't all gift shops.

To summerize I feel that this is a great tourist attraction, a lot depends on how you approach it. If you go in with an open mind and are willing to have a laugh and join in, then it is great fun. Be ready to participate as you may not get a choice if they pick on you!!!

It is fun for both children and adults and as we found on our second visit the staff are wonderful and kind as they took care of our friend. As I stated earlier we enjoyed our first visit with the children more, I feel that children can make the visit as they are so attentive and really get taken in by the actors making it a thorougly enjoyable experience.

Although pricey, I would reccommend a visit at least once.

If you enjoy the experience there are other dungeons around the country and aboard all showing different exhibits relative to the area. These are sited in Edinburgh, London and Hamburg. There will be one opening in Amsterdam shortly.

Before I go thought I should mention Transport - there are lots of car parks around the city - we paid £7.00 for 5hr stay, £4.00 for a 3hr stay, to give you some idea of charges. There is also a Railway Station which is within walking distance from The Dungeons, the same with the Bus Station. There is also park and ride available for York.

Summary: A brilliant place to visit with the children