The London Dungeon

[The Beast]

i think this will be realy cool because there is like all this historical stuf and then it wil be like having a fun brake in your visit!! im sure it wil atract many poeple to spend the day there!!! im looking forward to seeing the end result

[Scary]

Hello,

I work at the London Dungeon so I thought I would clear up some of the confusion about Extremis and the Dungeon.
As you probably know the London Dungeon is owned by Merlin Entertainments which also owns Legoland and Sea Life, and has been discussed soon to be taking over the Tussauds Group.
Guests will experience Extremis at the end of their tour. There is a actor led pre show and the theming is based around the public hangings at Newgate prison. The ride seats 20 people at a time and there is a height restriction of 1.2 meters.
After you've been seated and secured, the lights dim until you are in total darkness, you are then lifted to the top of the arch to a sound of a drum. It is completely dark so you're not too sure how high you are!
Nooses then appear in front of you and there is a short animatronic show with a priest and a executioner. After you're read the last rites the executioner pulls a leaver, there is a loud bang, flashing lights and you free fall approx 5 meters very fast. You are weightless for approx 0.8 of a second.
Its really cool and visitors are loving it.
I hoped this helped!

[TenZero]

[quote=""Scary""]Hello,

I work at the London Dungeon so I thought I would clear up some of the confusion about Extremis and the Dungeon.
As you probably know the London Dungeon is owned by Merlin Entertainments which also owns Legoland and Sea Life, and has been discussed soon to be taking over the Tussauds Group.
Guests will experience Extremis at the end of their tour. There is a actor led pre show and the theming is based around the public hangings at Newgate prison. The ride seats 20 people at a time and there is a height restriction of 1.2 meters.
After you've been seated and secured, the lights dim until you are in total darkness, you are then lifted to the top of the arch to a sound of a drum. It is completely dark so you're not too sure how high you are!
Nooses then appear in front of you and there is a short animatronic show with a priest and a executioner. After you're read the last rites the executioner pulls a leaver, there is a loud bang, flashing lights and you free fall approx 5 meters very fast. You are weightless for approx 0.8 of a second.
Its really cool and visitors are loving it.
I hoped this helped![/quote]

Wow thanks for this information. Shame about the drop only being 5m

[Craig]

Sounds pretty good to me. I want to try it before I can give a full opinion, but from the description it could be an attraction that really shows off how special effects such as lighting can really add to the experience of what is a very basic ride without them. I know the height's not much, but have you ever heard of hangings from a height higher than 5m before? I think it needs to be remembered that this is an experience attraction rather than one that focuses on thrills alone.

[Scary]

I think it needs to be remembered that this is an experience attraction rather than one that focuses on thrills alone.

Well put Craig!

[TenZero]

We are sorry to inform visitors that due to unforeseen technical difficulties, Extremis: Drop ride to Doom is currently unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and will update the website as soon as it is up and running again.

I didn't know Thorpe Park operated The Dungeons

[TenZero]

Halloween Un-Cut at the Dungeons from 13-31st October. This years theme will be Black Magic.

The Dungeon’s medieval area will be transformed into ‘Halloween Street’; an old fashioned, gothic style lane with various magical stalls including a spell shop, apothecary and freaky pet store.

And an entire additional Halloween show has been developed, where visitors enter the lair of a particularly evil wizard with an obsession with all things dark and dangerous.

[Scary]

Yep this is all true!
There is also going to be a Human butchers shop which is being themed at the moment, it will be next to the Black Magic potion shop and is looking quite gory already!
The Labyrinth of the Lost will also get a Halloween makeover.
There is going to be later openning during half term when the last admission will be at 7pm.
Have a horrible time :0)

[altontowerskid]

I have been to the London Dungeons many times and once during Halloween and i have never found it to be that scary, the theming is great and so is the atmosphere but i find the mazes at Thorpe Park to be much scarier than a trip to the Dungeons. Are they meant to be a more calmed down version of mazes at Thorpe Park, especially The Asylum which i found to be one of the scariest times of my life last year

[Scary]

The Dungeons aren't designed to be terrifying, they are 'scary fun' and have to appeal to a very wide audience. Remember what some people find scary others don't, we have loads of visitors that have to leave the Dungeon after a short while because they are too scared.
At Thorpe Park you can pick which maze you go in to, where as whole families go through the whole Dungeon together.
Alot of time is spent on the themeing and creating the right atmosphere and mix between comedy and 'scary'.
In relation to Alton Towers Scarefest, some of the body parts for Terror of the Towers have been created by our themeing department.

[Lon]

Finished work this evening and decided to get the catamaran home, got off at London Bridge Pier and walked past the London Dungeons. Thought why not pop in. It was 6:50pm and the last admission was 7pm. I walked in and the guide said, you're the only one here so you'll have to go round on your own as the last group has just gone in.

I can tell you it was quite scary going round on my own as all the actors completely focussed on me. I had a great laugh with them and I made them laugh too. I thought the horse loved me your honour!!

My only complaint is that the smell that the dungeons used to be famous for has gone

[Anonymous]

[quote=""Lon""]Finished work this evening and decided to get the catamaran home, got off at London Bridge Pier and walked past the London Dungeons. Thought why not pop in. It was 6:50pm and the last admission was 7pm. I walked in and the guide said, you're the only one here so you'll have to go round on your own as the last group has just gone in.

I can tell you it was quite scary going round on my own as all the actors completely focussed on me. I had a great laugh with them and I made them laugh too. I thought the horse loved me your honour!!

My only complaint is that the smell that the dungeons used to be famous for has gone [/quote]


Your a braver man than me Lon, you should have seen me at Warwick Castle Ghosts Alive... S*** Myself....

[Coke]

Not sure where to put this- so I put it in Merlin Attractions- feel free to move it.

I found this here: http://www.blooloop.com/PressReleases/M ... action/922

Merlin Entertainments has taken the unprecedented step of starting legal action against a new London attraction which it believes is an attempt to copy its own London Dungeon attraction.

Merlin believes that the London Bridge Experience is transparently designed to mirror the London Dungeon’s concept and marketing positioning. Its location, just yards from the London Dungeon, compounded by its copycat marketing literature and promotional activity, are, Merlin feels, deliberately intended to confuse visitors and to unlawfully trade off the high quality, goodwill and reputation of Merlin’s own long established attraction.

The legal action is also aimed at putting a stop to misleading and deceptive statements to, and interference with, visitors in the London Dungeon queue intended to divert them away from the Dungeon to the inferior attraction.

Commenting, David Sharpe, Merlin’s Divisional Director, London, said: “Merlin has invested massive resources in creating the Dungeon concept over many years, and has built an enviable reputation for the brand, particularly amongst teens - a positioning which is quite unique globally.

We also invest significant resources to continually update the London Dungeon, to ensure both its quality and that it delivers very high levels of customer satisfaction. We will therefore fiercely protect the goodwill in the London Dungeon brand, particularly from such blatantly parasitic behaviour.”

While the historical period covered by the London Bridge Experience is in some respects different to that covered by the London Dungeon, it looks to mirror the Dungeon concept in practically every other way – right down to its marketing and promotional materials. Merlin has considerable evidence that some visitors have been confused into thinking that the two attractions are related or even the same, something which is potentially extremely damaging to the London Dungeon brand, given the materially different quality of the two attractions.

This effect could be compounded over coming weeks by the success of Merlin’s overseas marketing activity, and the consequent number of tourists wishing to visit the London Dungeon, for whom the likelihood of confusion is even greater.

Concluding Sharpe said: “While we believe in fair competition, the type of illegal activity we have seen from the London Bridge Experience is totally unacceptable, and is not something we will tolerate. Our proposal for a consensual resolution having been rejected, we have no alternative but to put a stop to this behaviour through formal legal channels in order to protect the London Dungeon brand.”

[altontowerskid]

hmm. alright, im not too sure if that was there intention but i think Merlin do have a point really. Being on Merlin's side i would obviously say i hope that the London Bridge Experience might have to pay some compensation but i wouldn't want it to close as this year it really has turned into a much better attraction.

[Liam]

Awww bless their little cotten socks - some actual competition - wow! Welcome to the real world Merlin.
Perhaps you ought to quickly by them out and merge instead. That's the usual tactic.

[TenZero]

[quote=""Liam""]Awww bless their little cotten socks - some actual competition - wow! Welcome to the real world Merlin.
Perhaps you ought to quickly by them out and merge instead. That's the usual tactic.[/quote]

The London Bridge Experience have already offered to sell their attraction to Merlin..Merlin decided against it. LBE have been hassling The Dungeons queue and giving false information like, '5 hour queues', 'rides are broken' etc..

[Skumfidus]

[quote=""Liam""]Awww bless their little cotten socks - some actual competition - wow! Welcome to the real world Merlin.
Perhaps you ought to quickly by them out and merge instead. That's the usual tactic.[/quote]

It isn't exactly fair competition though is it? Stealing people from queues with lies, standing with a megaphone at the tube station telling prospective guests that London Dungeons are across the road, tricking them into going into the London Bridge Experience. It is unfair, when look for London Dungeons it is so easy to mistake the London Bridge Experience as London Dungeons, especially tourists and people who aren't familiar with the London Dungeons brand. They use a similar font, the same style of marketing images, exact same price....and that's the thing that bugs me!

London Bridge aren't using the conventional routes of 'competition'. A better experience as a selling point it great, keeps the dungeons on their toes.....oh? London Bridge is in no way better then the dungeons, and is far less educational? How about ticket prices, cheaper tickets will set the market, also great for guests....oh, same ticket price? so no competition there then...

The only 'healthy' competition I can see is grabbing people who have gone to the dungeons toooo many times, meaning the Dungeons are going to have to try and stay fresh...and advertise the fact. Other then that, it's pretty obvious that they're tricksters, stealing customers from the dungeons with lies and illusions.

You know what? I might start a new supermarket right next to my local Tesco, call it Jesco, and put it right next to the car park entrance....people will just get confused and enter MY supermarket! Use all the same ideas, offers and style. Same font, logos and colours...Im on to a win!

[haydn!]

Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so atleast the dungeons must be doing something right.

[Coke]

There is an update on this over at Haunted Attractions UK, including a press release from London Bridge Experience.
http://hauntedattractions.co.uk/index.p ... &Itemid=34

[AstroDan]

This has made me want to visit the London Bridge Experience!