The London Dungeon

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Coke
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I like both attractions, and having visited them, I think they are both very similar, except London Dungeons has rides.
In this argument I'm not too sure I support, we'll have to wait to see what happens...
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haydn!
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I think what is obvious from those press releases, is that one side has taken a much more "professional" stance in their argument and the other, somewhat more ammaturist and resembles more of a blog post than a official press response to pending legal action.

If, the London Bridge Experience has been deliberately touting for business in the queues for the Dungeons and been miss-leading guests then I see no reason why Merlin should not persue legal action.

London is a huge place, and there is plenty of scope for these businesses to work along side without the need for any copy cat marketing. In most cases within the tourist industry, similar businesses operating side by side can often lead to big rewards. Take Universal and Disney in Florida for example. Two different attractions, with similar underlining themes that heavily compete but also benefit from each others success.

Fair competition is good, blatant disregard of responsible ownership, management or lack of respect for an attraction which probably fueled thier desire to open a scare attraction, despite the statement saying it was state side, is another thing.
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TenZero
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London Dungeon shall be open till 10pm on 31st October..good times :)
Rowe

Might go there for a Halloween visit, and bring along the boyfriend since he gets scared quite quickly :lol:
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Joe Koopa
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I hope they've been sued all they've got becaue they're still at it. While lining up for the London Dungeons am actor was there making people jump and saying don't waste your time here visit The London Bridge Experience. It's half the price as well & geuss what half the people in the line left and came out The London Bridge Experience dissapointed and robbed of their money! [-X
It's just unfair! :evil:
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jonathan leake
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Jeees thats bad did you tell anyone in the london dungons.
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dstone_uk
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well well well, this doce not suprise me TBH, whilst queing for the dungens this year we were tryed to be poached out of the annual pass (AKA priorty queue) with promises of beating the price and a much better attraction etc.. but when asked if they could beat free gave up on us but it is toatly unfair. Everone who i have known who has visited london bridge has been disopointed, and even thougth the dungeons wasen't my cup of tea, i have heard far more good reports about it from others. I think that there is nougthing wrong with a bit of healthy comotision, BUT there should be limits on the comotison.

(*)corkscrew rules(*)D

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Joe Koopa
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[quote=""jonathan leake""]Jeees thats bad did you tell anyone in the london dungons.[/quote]

No I didn't, I was going to but couldn't find anyone who looked liked they'd actually care. I didn't want to tell a shop-worker because they would probably just shrug me off.
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jonathan leake
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You should send them a letter or an email im sure they would be thankful. It would only be more evidence to help them after all.
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nickhutson
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I love the London Dungeon. I've been more than a few times now :)

But, I think the Jack The Ripper and Great Fire of London bits really let it down - especially so late in the "experience".

I thought it was very sneaky of them to advertise a BRAND NEW Jack The Ripper experience, when only one tiny bit was added - and nothing was changed. I think it takes far too long (you now go through 4 rooms) to learn what you could do in a shorter, much more creepy experience?

I'd also like to see a re-vamp to the Great Fire of London. Watching a video narrated by Tom Baker is all very well - but, it just doesn't seem to match with what Merlin are doing to the rest of the attraction.

What do you all think? How could Merlin make these attractions more entertaining? I just don't know how they're going to be able to expand in the future.... how much room can they have left?
Nick Hutson
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Joe Koopa
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In my opinion, they should just rip ot the two attractions you mentioned above and start again with them. :)
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nickhutson
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Care to go into more detail as to how/why and what they should do with them?
Nick Hutson
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TenZero
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Great Fire or Boat Ride will probably be the next to get a makeover.
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Pennywise
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That log flume ride is AWFUL. It doesn't get you wet, it isn't thrilling whatsoever and the theming is poor to say the least!

Tear out the log flume! :evil:
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TenZero
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Merlin Entertainments, owners of the London Dungeon in Tooley Street are to receive a substantial compensation payment from London Bridge Experience.

This follows an out of court settlement of Merlin’s legal action against the nearby London Bridge Experience.

Merlin launched its legal action against the new attraction a year ago next week after it complained of unlawful business practices, breach of intellectual property rights and intimidation by London Bridge Experience and its staff.

The Dungeon claimed that the London Bridge Experience leaflets were "copycat marketing literature" deliberately intended to confuse visitors.

“This is a signal victory for Merlin in protecting the London Dungeon brand," said Merlin managing director Glenn Earlam.

"Merlin has invested significant resources over many years in creating the Dungeon concept and has built an enviable reputation for the brand, which has an unrivalled reputation among its core teen constituency. We work unceasingly to ensure that The London Dungeon delivers the very best experience for our visitors.

“We passionately believe in fair competition, and we operate in very competitive circumstances around the world. We would never object to fair competition from attractions offering a distinct proposition to visitors. However, the sort of activity undertaken by LBE was totally unacceptable and Merlin had no choice but to put a stop to their unlawful activity which was directly targeted at The London Dungeon.

“The settlement of this litigation by LBE paying compensation, legal fees and providing legally binding undertakings is full justification for the action we took to protect our brand. It should serve as a warning that Merlin will fiercely defend its brands wherever they come under attack.”

In addition to payment of legal fees and legally binding undertakings that the London Bridge Experience:

• Restrict leafleting or soliciting of people in the London Dungeon queue.

• Not prevent, obstruct or seek to discourage people from joining The London Dungeon queue.

• Not use intimidating or threatening behaviour towards the public or The London Dungeon staff.

• Not make false, misleading, disparaging or derogatory statements, comparisons or representations about The London Dungeon.

• Not represent to any person that there is any connection between LBE and The London Dungeon.

A spokesperson for the London Bridge Experience failed to respond to a request for a comment.

It was business as usual on Wednesday with a long queue for the London Dungeon whilst the London Bridge Experience staged mock executions on Duke Street Hill to encourage visitors to join its shorter queue under London Bridge.
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Visted the London Dungeons today - and they seem to have "spruced" the place up a bit!

They have finally got rid of that awful ticket booth in the middle of the room, and opened the room up with new desks either side of each other making the throughputs better!

The first room where the first actor is has changed slightly too - Its called Satans Grotto (for Christmas only) and has lots of Christmas Trees with bottles of blood and knives all over them, there is also a audio track change with children singing christmas carols which was a nice touch.

Still no MAP discount on on-ride photos though! (do you get it at Towers?)
Dormiens-Dave

No discount on photos anywhere i think. As much as its not an attraction i want to visit regularly dungeons are the only midway attraction i actually enjoy alot. Glad to see they are making further improvements

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nickhutson
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The new ticket desks have been installed for a while. Satan's Grotto is a fun idea - though it always annoys the church people!

I am sure the facade looked fab in the snow... has anyone been able to snap up some photos?
Nick Hutson
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http://www.theseasonpasspodcast.com
Producer and Co-Presenter - MusicalTalk - The UK\'s Musical Theatre Podcast
http://www.musicaltalk.co.uk
fredward

I'm very disappointed, that I'm not gonna manage to get to satans grotto! Looks very very good and amusing! although it'll probably trigger a restart a very old joke of my friends calling me a satanist! (a joke that went to far one day after my friend bought me a satanic bible for christmas :| !)

But beside that obvious downside, If it's on next year I would definitely have a look! How many letters do you think Merlin/The dungeons have received from the church? I also heard that little kids have to "sell their soul to Satan" in order to get their presents, although that could of been reviews blowing it out of proportions!
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