Jump to content

London Dungeons


Cringle

Recommended Posts

I visited the Dungeons in early February and the changes were already evident. The Jack the Ripper section is much smaller, with a building over part of the standing area. At the time they were obviously making the changes still as the Pub section was just an un-themed room with the old furniture, again this was much smaller. I am not sure if the pub section is being lost completely or staying this small size with new theming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What area will the ride take over in the Jack The Ripper area.Becuase there is quite a few rooms:The first part with the dead bodies and the prostitute explaining about Jack.Then its the steps with the window and the message on the wall.Then its the area with the projections and the fire.Then it is the Ten Bells Pub where you meet Jack.I think that they should place the ride in the first room, I find the first rooms of Jack quite slow and pub being the highlight. Also the pub was only placed 3 years ago and it is still a very scary aspect to the Dungeons, and its not ready to leave. I do love the Jack area but it is quite long. Tbh, I wish the Dungeons had a bigger area so they dont have to get rid of something everytime they want something new.So if anyne could answer my qustion that would be great, thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Managed to get down to the Dungeons yesterday to ride Vengeance.Was an odd one, as one second we were waiting to board and then we were moved into the what I thought was a pre show room.. Turned out to be the next section of the dungeon tour Jack the Ripper and finally we ended up in the gift shop. Tour over then.Tons of people left and didn't seem to even notice that they'd slyly skipped us passed the new ride. Well, time for Fever to investigate! Turns out that the ride has had some technical difficulties and usually when they happen, they just skip over the attraction. I understand all too much about technical difficulties, but I found it rather insulting that they didn't inform anyone or even apologise. I insisted to speak to a manager and by this point, several other people had gathered, all on the same page as us.A Manager arrived and was great, he found out that the ride was now back in operation and we were escorted back to the attraction and loaded straight on, nice work!So onto the ride.. The seats are very nicely themed into large comfy arm chairs, fitted with our own laser gun to your right. In front I could already see the movie screen and else where, very little theming-that I could see at least. It felt like a large seating platform in an empty room with a screen on the front wall and a screen on the back.Whilst the ride is certainly fun, the platform floor spins in both directions and quite fast too. Overall, It lacked any story and just started.. It quickly became an attack of 3D and the usual in seat effects and then quickly ended. I didn't really have any idea what was going on and wondered if perhaps by being fastracked into the ride, we'd missed some kind of pre show. The whole experience seemed a bit random, a back story of London's most haunted house would have been most welcome and with the ride film, some kind of intro. It all just felt a little rushed.It's also difficult for me these days to really get drawn into a 3D film, where both the screens are so small. I imagine it'was supposed to be an extension of the room we're sitting in, although with it's size, it just felt like looking out a window. The 3D effects then, didn't make me react as I was always too aware of how small the screen was and besides, it all comes so fast, I couldn't even see what was meant to be coming at me.The laser guns I won't really go into, as they're completely pointless. No visible laser. There is no scoring system. There is no easy way to aim and apart from perhaps a blinking light on the gun, no real reaction showing that you've hit a target or not. Bit pointless.So the spinning, yay for the spinning! It's a neat little ride the dungeons have added, but to me it feels like a ride platform and a couple of screens. Being in the dark and being the London Dungeons, I was hoping for a creepier build up or even, the odd scare. I'd like to get back down there again to have another look to see if there's any 'meat' to it, any smaller theming details and really give the ride another, even closer look. Sadly, my first impression was not as good as I would have liked; fun, but very average indeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the review Fever - I love yours, as they're always so unbiased and one of the best detailed ones we get on here.Seems interesting about the ride, I'll give it til after august before trying it, see if anythings progressed by then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Neil, I couldn't agree more with your review. It is such a shame that the guns do not currently have any real purpose if they could sort that out some how it would definitely improve the ride. As you said on twitter it's not really a stand out attraction and its maybe not worth going to the Dungeon just to ride Vengeance but if you were going to visit anyway it is definitely a very nice addition to the other shows and rides at London Dungeon.We were there at the preview event (I won a chance to go) and when we were waiting to go on to the ride we were stood in a room made to look like the hallway of the house. And then a butler type character explained to us the story about how haunted the property is and that a number of strange things have happened at previous séances but we should be ok tonight. He also told us that our protective eye glasses (the 3D glasses) should protect us from any spectres and spirits that may appear.So did you not get any of this when you went on yesterday?I must say the actors were all on top form the other week when we went.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like it's rather unfulfilling, but it's hard to judge when initially you ended up skipping it and had to complain to get a chance to experience it...But what's the point in laser guns without a scoring system? Let alone a reaction one... Though knowing me, I'll still probably jump at it annoyingly... Rar...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Double post but hey, I have a review here...So I popped to the Dungeons with John (peep) so we could investigate the new ride and see what Neil said was true... But not before I got picked for the torture sequence earlier on which provided much merriment, even if the girl refused to hear my retorts :DThere's two major differences in the first bit before Vengeance compared to the last time I went a few years, and that's the new positioning of Fire of London, which is very jarring and random and doesn't really do much... A bit poor considering how major the thing USED to be... The other is the new style surgery room, which is a lot more intimate and works much better, although not when the actor fails to close the curtain correctly at the finale :lol:Oh wells, Vengeance, which happens straight after old Sweeney Todd and involves just a small corridor with a TV saying a few bits about Berkeley Place, which is something I am not personally aware of in the long run, but still, sounds like a decent enough idea for an attraction in the Dungeons, but more information on the house rather than snippet based sentences (in varying languages) would have worked better...We get batched into the room and any bags and loose items are stowed in some boxes to the left as you enter, before you board the surprisingly comfy seats and everyone pulls down their bar (really, no automated stuff? Dungeons are poor on this lazy buggers)... We don the cardboard advertisement glasses, remove our guns and the ride begins...Now, I'll start with the postives, the spinning was a hilarious addition... Actually rather forceful and the noise it made wasn't toooooo bad as people seem to make out, too busy laughing about the force tbh... The animation was iffy but at least the extra effects worked well on everyone, and the 3-D wasn't bad either... But the guns are completely pointless... They don't do anything, there's no scoreboard, why they exist? I know not... This attraction would work perfectly without the guns and it seems that it was atypical Merlin thinking that they needed a World's First to attract new guests to the attraction... I don't mind such things when they make sense or work well, but the guns are just pointless... Still, I thought it was fun... It's not terrible but it's not amazing either... A solid 6/10 but needs more story behind it (like the other rides have) and needs to give reason for the guns... After that, the new Jack the Ripper is rather entertaining now (even if the pub scene was apparently there when I last went, I forget it personally, maybe due to the awe of the FIRE), though after the second room I was worried that it would be rather anti-climatic... But it wasn't...Then Bloody Mary involved John being the heretic (I blame him not liking Lord of the Rings personally), and hence being burnt at the stake... Again a new section to me and really amusing indeed... Though I don't know why they have barely changed the old Fire of London area... It makes no sense and just atm seems to filler between Mary and Extremis... Shame...I love Extremis, though toooooo much airtime due to a fatty in our row... Such the opposite to Scream at Heide which made me laugh... And the new pre-queue area works well... Overall, a very enjoyable tour of the Dungeons... I should go more often really... The actors were rather good (as well as the ride staff on Traitor), and I now have another Bear to add to my ever-growing collection (taking me up to 6 now)...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review Benin. One thing I have learnt from your post is that the 'full' London Dungeon show at the preview evening was not quite full. We did not get to see the new surgery room or Bloody Mary, the later being a show we have not seen before, following our tour that night I thought that maybe these were not currently being used as part of the normal show, just us that night then. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review Benin. One thing I have learnt from your post is that the 'full' London Dungeon show at the preview evening was not quite full. We did not get to see the new surgery room or Bloody Mary, the later being a show we have not seen before, following our tour that night I thought that maybe these were not currently being used as part of the normal show, just us that night then. :lol:

Yeah, if one thing Dungeons taught me today was how surprisingly long it actually is... At least an hour long and actually worth the time spent...Plus, first time a staff member has picked up on my pass still being gold instead of blue... Top marks to you sir :o
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually I have just looked at the map and that night we started with Torture which means we missed out Labyrinth of Lost Souls, Plague, Great Fire of London and Surgery from the first section. Then after the new Jack the Ripper section we were led via the old Fire of London spinning tunnel to the Extremis waiting area therefore missing out Bloody Mary. We did get to walk through the Labyrinth section later in the evening, just as a well lit mirror maze though.Despite this it seemed like a really full experience when we were there. But I think we will definitely have to go back again soon to see the rest of the attraction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...