The London Dungeon

[djwarder]

Awesome! Always nice to see behind the scenes although it really breaks the illusion! If you stand in the right place you can see the wooden/fibreglass backing on the 'Sailortown' set at the Museum in The Docklands as well(also worth a visit!)

I expect plan-wise you could look on the Southwark planning site maybe? In terms of the Jack The Ripper section itself, I used to have a brochure for the theming company behind it and it had some pictures of the artists painting each wall section by hand! The company (Scenic Route) were bought by Paragon Creative a while back, might be some interesting pictures there ...

[url=http://www.paragon-creative.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.paragon-creative.co.uk/[/url]

[DiogoJ42]

I know that there used to be a club called The Drome next door to The Dungeon, also under the railway viaduct. I don't know if it's still there though. Maybe they bought it out and expanded?
Certainly, when I first went there with my dad in the early 90s, it was a lot smaller. (And much more of a traditional museum as well.)

Also, The boat ride used to have a vertical lift, with a single turntable at the top. Now it has a classic lift hill, with two turn tables. I believe there is a traverser style conveyer belt to take the boats from the exit station back to the start?

[evil cod]

I've spent a good part of my afternoon at work trying to sketch the layout. It's by no means 100% but I think it's okish, will try draw it up on computer tonight for ppl to suggest changes. Between us we should have able to get something reasonable... maybe lol


Sent from my E10i using Tapatalk

[Doopy Dan]

I have always loved seeing behind the scenes stuff of dark rides and attractions, really interesting stuff, and usually more plywood than you can shake a stick at!. Will be interesting too see this layout, even if its slightly improvised lol.

[DiogoJ42]

Well, they are just sets after all. Anyone who has ever worked backstage in theatre / film / TV will tell you that with the right combination of plywood, polystyrene, paint and gaffer tape, you can create anything! :P

I guess the sets at the Dungeon have to be a bit more hardwearing than those in a dark ride, since people can actually touch them. Vacform stonework F T W

[evil cod]

Turns out I made some pretty major mistakes on my guessed layout soo im back to the drawing board.

---- Post Info Added ----

Having no luck at all:

queues, photos, pay booths, toilet corridor, batching, maze preshow, maze, plague pit & street, apothecary, doctors, torture pre show, torture room, court entrance, court room, bedlam, boat batching, boat ride, sweeney pre show, sweeney todds, sweeney to jacks corridor, Jack street, Jack stairs up, Jack balcony, jack pub, bloody mary, streets on fire, extremis preshow, extremis batching, extremis ride, photos, shop, arcade (which is connected to tolilet corridor)

With the shop and exit to the left of the entrance.

I carnt work it out lol its driving me mad!

[DiogoJ42]

It's all rather maze like, isn't it?

Edit:


I've been doing a bit of pondering. I had previously assumed that the site was under the viaduct leading into London Bridge station. But it looks like it is underneath the station itself.

Here is the station:

The entrance is roughly where the arrow is. Potentially, the whole area under the station could be used by the dungeon.

Unfortunately a google search for a map of the place turns up very little. There is this:

Which is hardly accurate.

Or there are a few older maps:

From 2005.


This one seems to be when it was in the transition stage from museum to actor-based attraction. Maybe around 2000?

But I've not had any luck finding a proper plan.

[nickhutson]

From [url=http://www.time.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]www.time.com[/url]

A fiendish feud has erupted in London: two of the city's scariest attractions are going head to head.
The spooky specialists, the London Dungeon and the London Bridge Experience, are in the midst of a turf battle. The latter was set up in 2008, an independent newcomer to the scare scene. The former is a veteran spooker, set up in 1974, and part of an international entertainments company (Merlin Entertainments, who own attractions in the U.K., Europe and across the U.S.)

Ever since the newbie arrived next door, the two neighbors never got along. Amid mysterious tales of tourist-poaching and ghoulish goings-on, some very real threats have been made. Back in 2009 an out-of-court "proximity agreement" was drawn up between the two attractions, stating the boundary lines to which employees from either company had to adhere to: Neither the London Bridge Experience (winner of the 2010 Screamie award) nor the London Dungeon were allowed to "steal" each other's thrill-seekers.
For a blissful period after the agreement, the two operations worked side by side, hand in severed hand, if you will. This all ended when, in November 2010, the London Dungeon allegedly sent out letters to ticket agencies stating that it would no longer accept a 'shared platform' with its rival - in effect threatening to withdraw cooperation from those who served both companies.

According to James Kislingbury, General Manager of the London Bridge Experience, his company has never seen itself as a direct competitor to the London Dungeon. "We offer a unique experience," he says, "which is why visitors from all over the world keep coming."
"It's like Orlando in the United States," he added, "a cluster of tourist attractions in one area," not so much competitors as mutual attractions.
In response to the letters sent by the London Dungeon, the London Bridge Experience has referred the company to the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading, for undermining fair competition. "Our promoters have never gone beyond the arrangements set out in the 2009 proximity agreement," Kislingbury tells TIME, so seemingly this step by the London Dungeon is unprovoked. "We draw our customers from the Internet, cooperating tour agencies and the street. All our promoters sign a contract to adhere to strict guidelines about how and where to attract visitors."

"We offer a unique experience — we are a high brow scare attraction," he continues. "It's good for people coming to the area to have a choice, just like choosing between McDonald's or Burger King."
Sally Ann Wilkinson, head of corporate affairs for Merlin Entertainments, said in an interview with the Independent, that the group had "no problem with competitive businesses opening up" but that the London Bridge Experience was damaging the Dungeon's reputation. The Office of Fair Trading is yet to comment but it is to be hoped that they're not working on this case about the gruesome twosome with their hands over their eyes.

[DiogoJ42]

Ah yes, I saw this in the paper last week, but forgot to mention it by the time I got home! #-o I've not yet been to The London Bridge Experience. In fact, I know very little about it, other than that The Dungeons are clearly very threatened by them. 8-[

You never know, the way Merlin are going, they will probably buy them out in a year or two anyway...

[nickhutson]

I went as a media guest for The Season Pass Podcast. The first section tries to be very much like The Dungeon - and fails hugely.

The Tombs experience is brilliant, however. I did it without the actors (on my own) and was utterly terrified. God knows what it's like with the actors. I think the whole thing should be made into a huge scare attraction - that would be a huge pull and then make it a huge competition for the dungeon.

Fact is - The Dungeon still comes out on top. It has the constant queues in the busy period and LBE can't help but be threatened because of the confused nature of the attraction.

[saxineno]

The london Bridge experience tried to poach us a few weeks back when we were literally in the Priority queue for the dungeons. We'd explained that we'd got an annual pass and weren't willing to pay for a similar attraction, so they gave us a buy one get one free voucher!

Still didn't fancy it though!

David

[Sam]

Merlin are pathetic.

Competition is good and healthy and encourages more investme-- oh wait I forgot, without competition Merlin can keep charging extortionate prices for rare and lack-lustre additions.

[saxineno]

Even so, there is plenty of room around both attractions and the local tube station to ply for custom, without having to literally steal from the dungeon queueline!

It sounds like this battle between the two companies may be ongoing for a long long time!

[Benzin]

Don't think there's THAT much room, as soon as you turn right out of London Bridge you may as well be on Extremis...

Typical business fued though... Tbh if one company is trying to force people already in a queue then that's bad, and it's understandable about the Dungeon's frustrations over it...

It's mainly because they're such similar things that this is a problem... They advertise very similar things, even if LBE has a full blown scare attraction in comparison, to the general punters they are very similar if not viewed the same...

There's a difference between healthy competition and unhealthy competition... Very big one...

[davidju71]

Was there today, LBE were very 'aggressive' in their poaching. Even when I said I had a MAP they still tried to get me to change my mind. As has been said, competition is one thing but they were out of order.

[Jared]

Merlin should just do the smart thing, buy them out and expand the Dungeons massively!

[Benzin]

^Highly unlikely, considering the entrance to LBE isn't exactly close to the actual Dungeons...

[Nightfall]

It's understandable why Merlin is unhappy with the London Bridge Experience. To the average guest they appear to be the same attraction and it's not uncommon for someone to visit the LBE thinking it's the London Dungeons. Not only does this mean they lose customers but any negative reviews can tarnish their reputation. Add to that the more series problem of the LBE using The Dungeons queue to steal customers I can see why they've taken action.

However like Sam said Merlin is a Monopoly. They've already claimed the London theme parks and the LBE is there only real competitor left in there London market. If Merlin forced them out The Dungeons and Madam Tussauds could do what they like.

[James6]

To be fair, every time I've been to the Dungeons, an army of the LBE people have been standing the length of the queue persuading anyone near them to go across the road. I'd be pretty peeved about it too to be honest.

[Islander]

It's a bit of a shame, really - the London Bridge Experience is fairly awesome, and they should really try to win people over on their own merits, rather than using these 'dirty' tactics.