Madame Tussauds London

[davewasbaloo]

So the Marvel exhibit is an upcharge attraction? Is it not included in general admission and with Merlin APs?

[Adz]

£2.50 Extra Per Person. Including Annual Passholders

At least it was on my last visit. I've found things like this change very often in Madame Tussauds.

[onair]

Ive been twice with my annual pass and not been charged extra. I thought it was a enjoyable addition, it even got an applause at the end both times.

Whilst i do miss the Planetarium this is a welcome new addition and is so much better than the dreadful "wonderful world of stars" that was there before.

The comfy seats are back too ! I really do think the film is a great way to end a visit to the attraction. Gets the thumbs up from me.

[Fiyero]

I saw it a couple of weeks ago and quite liked it. No extra charge with an annual pass but I think it is rotten that they are charging for it anyway. As an aside do they still charge extra for the chamber of horrors? I always skip it as people saying boo at me isn't my thing.

Anyway the build up is pretty good and a few of the displays are now interactive though most people just seemed confused by them. The show is great and makes good use of the space with one main 3d screen while also projecting onto the rest of the dome. It seems like an attraction that could also be put into other Merlin parks and apart from the strong London theme work quite well.

[davewasbaloo]

Well Friday I went to the London Dungeons and Madame Tussauds and managed to get a good priority experience. I would never pay full price for either attraction though.

The Dungeons, it was the first time I have been since 1987. Back then it was more like a proper Chamber of Horrors and only had one interactive bit. It was a lot more educational. I hate to say it, I think I prefered the original experience.

My group had a number of American teenage scouts, some Brummie Muslim girls and a lot of Irish families. The standby queue was massive. It was fun though. Good fun for 90 minutes and more ornate than let's say the Knott's Berry Farm Haunt mazes etc.

After jumping after the first boo, I settled in and enjoyed the ride. The first cast member was funny, and very hammer horror camp, loved it. The mirror maze as always was fun, and I worked out how they managed the visitor throughput. At first I thought I lost my touch in finding my way through mazes, until I worked out how they manage this one. Then into the black death area, this was quite funny really. And it was amazing how little people seemed to know about it. Seeing the piles of bodies and the real rats was quite amusing.

The Great Fire of London part was interesting, but it would have been even better if they used the Backdraft/Armageddon technology. Because of the price tag, I was kind of expecting that level. But it was still good. Slightly educational, but in the older version, there was more to read and you could ask questions. Althoughthe attraction is still quite educational, it does feel more like an amusement park now.


The Bloody Mary was a fun section, seeing the german guest burnt at the stake was disturbing and entertaining at the same time. Isn't it funny what brings enjoyment?

The torture chamber was funny though, and people got a chance to talk about torture techniques which was humourous. Also seeing some of the audience thrown in a cage and simulate castration was scarily amusing (scared at myself for finding it amusing).

The surgeons chamber was interesting, thechest cavity still moving when the liver and intestines were extracted, the still beating heart, and getting "splattered with blood).

I really enjoyed the court room where a very funny judge (she was like Queenie in Blackadder the 2nd) sentanced us to death for dancing naked. That was funny, then the march to the boat ride to hell. It was no Pirates of the Caribbean or even Maelstrom, but riding backwards down a waterfall was unique for people in my party. It was funny.

The Sweendy Todd section was hillarious, the use of binaural sound as we had our hair cut (a little like the early 2000's incarnation of Great Moments with Mr Lincoln at Disneyland). But I did not expect the seats to tip back, that was amusing.

The Jack the Ripper Section was probably most interesting. It set the tone of the time right, and seeing the bodies mutilated in the way the ripper did it was interesting. Then going through the list of suspects made me want to go away and research it again. Fantastic. However, I remeber Madame T used to have the original ripper letters in the Chamber of Horrors decades ago, where have they gone? They are no longer at Madame T's or the dungeons.

Then, the pub haunting was great, and although I kind of expected what happened, it made me jump. Being sentance to hanging was a high point. Although I knew what was going to happen, it was still great. Sitting on the bench, we rose up about 20 feet - looked at the hangman's noose, while a judge sentanced us to our doom. When the executioner pulled the lever, we plummeted to meet our maker. Or at least end up in the gift shop.

Overall it was a lot of fun, but it is overpriced. Glad I got in for free with my Merlin pass though. But it was fun. Also a bit disturbing on what can entertain us. Lol

Coming up next, review of Madame T and the Marvel exhibit.

[cmpunk771]

I had a few spare hours today in london befor getting my train back from seeing a gig last night so i thought i would use and abuse my annual pass at the dungeons.

I had no wait at all and no pic (Because i was on my own ) but overall it was quite interesting, I loved watching all the peoples faces and the drop ride was surpirsingly good, Even got two go's :P

Just makes me wonder if anyone has seen the actors mess up befor becuse they seemed quite consistent.

[davewasbaloo]

They were spot on when I saw them.

MArvel story to come soon, awaiting a couple of other bits and bobs.

WE had a great time on Sunday at the Seal Sactuary in Hunstanton.

[Craig]

Seems to be a bit wandering off topic in here. Can we stick the the Marvel attraction at Madame Tussauds in here, feel free to put your trip reports for other Merlin attractions in the relevant forum .

[davewasbaloo]

I had to wait until my story was published, but I thought you may be interesting in the article I wrote about the new Marvel 4D attraction at Madame Tussauds:

[url=http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID513230.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID513230.asp[/url]

[Craig]

Nice review there, thanks for sharing . As much as I despise MT's after quite a few visits and it becoming a very stale attraction for me I'm tempted to have a quick fly through and try this next time I'm down.

[davewasbaloo]

I can't say I am a big fan of MT's, but between the Spirit of London and MArvel 4D, it is not bad if you are an MAP holder and have some time to spare in London. But I was very impressed with the Marvel 4D attraction. Must be the comic book guy in me.

[nickhutson]

Hey, all.

A friend and I wanted, on a whim, to do Madame T, so checked the closing time on their website. It says LAST ADMISSION 5.30. So, at 5.20 my friend and I arrived only to be immediately told "Can you come back tomorrow?" (not the nicest greeting). I said "...no". They said, "Right, well - you've got until 6pm to do the whole attraction... see what you want to see and don't see what you don't want to see". I had recently purchased my annual pass, so I wanted to try it out.

What annoyed me was, with only half an hour to do the attraction (and with the Spirit Of London Ride on scheduled maintenance) they still asked my friend to cough up £28 (or whatever the full admission price is).

I think they should certainly have offered her a discounted entry if we only had 30 minutes to do the attraction (with a big bit of it down).

What also strikes me as odd is that the website says last admission at 5.30. This, to me, would mean they would at least keep the whole thing running until 7pm and just shut the doors at 5.30. Even for this country - that's not too late of an opening hour. (Note the opening hours for NYC at 8pm Sun - Thu and 10pm Fri - Sat).Wish we could have at attitude.

I will be taking this up with Merlin, as well as mentioning it on The Season Pass Podcast.


Anyway - what do you all think?

[Islander]

[quote=""nickhutson""]Anyway - what do you all think?[/quote]
I definitely think that the website could be clearer - advertising a last admission time and a closing time would be sensible. That aside, I do think it's rather foolish to expect a reduced-price ticket when you entered just before the last entrance time - no attraction would offer that, and don't see why MT should. Also, I personally would have made sure I knew the closing time - it'd definitely be better for the gap between last admissions and closing to be longer (I can do MT in 45m at a very brisk pace, but not less), but to assume it is longer is silly.

As for the Spirit of London, that can be caught by their wonderful catch-all ToS which will state that not all exhibits and attractions may be available.

Definitely sounds like you had a bit of a bum deal, and the staff member sounds like he needs a little re-training, so it'd be right for you to contact Merlin. Bad publicity on TSPP, though? Strikes me as overkill.

[Crofty]

It sounds a bit naff and of course you would expect it to open a little later but to be honest.

I'd expect there to be a reduced price at that time of day but if your friend was willing to cough up £28 then I'm sure many others are. I know what I would have done, told them to get knotted.

[nickhutson]

I should make it clear that we didn't do the attraction.

[Crofty]

Ahh Good on you. I was thinking to myself that yuor friend must have money to burn. :P

I suppose you can probably get most of the attraction done in an hour so the need for a reduced price might be a little pointless, whereas at a Theme park you probably have no chance of getting around and you've probably missed most of the shows during the day. (providing they have shows lol)

[nickhutson]

Not at all - I would've been the one treating her!

[Islander]

[quote=""nickhutson""]I should make it clear that we didn't do the attraction.[/quote]
Ah, well that changes things a little - kinda did question the logic of going in with half an hour to go .

[mattbailey]

I went to Tussauds about 2 weeks ago and was very disappointed.

The staff didn't seem to have a clue how to issue annual passes, the attraction is largely devoid of anything fun and the sheer number of people ruin any atmosphere it seeks to create.

I hated the continuous gift shops along the way, and a lot of people were annoyed about the 4D cinema being an extra paying attraction.

If I hadn't had my MAP, I would've been deeply disappointed. The only saving grace was Marvel 4D... quite frankly the best 4D I have ever been on.

If you are in London, have a MAP and have an hour to kill, its worth it to just wander through and go on the 4D. Otherwise it's not worth a look in.

[nickhutson]

I think if you get MT on a quiet day, with a couple of friends and a camera, it can be quite fun. I think with the ride, the horror bit and the 4D experience, it's quite a fun attraction.

One does have to sit back and wonder why so many people are fascinated by statues of people!