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| Ghoulish scene from the London Dungeon where Halloween is a year-round event (dungeons.com) |
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In January of 2013, the London Dungeon closed
its doors after 39 years at Tooley Street near London Bridge and re-opened in
March on the South Bank of the Thames next to the London Eye.
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In its new haunt, the London Dungeon also
radically changed its focus in an effort to attract greater numbers of tourists
and to make it considerably more family friendly. The changes are markedly different,
dramatic and, yes, touristy, but given England’s notorious past, they are also
a rollicking good time.
The new dungeon is an indoor theme park complete
with 18 mini-shows, 20 performers and three rides where visitors journey
through ten centuries of English history to encounter the likes of Henry VIII,
Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd, the plague, Guy Fawkes and other creepy
characters and incidents from the past.
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Each mini-venue briefly tells the story of events
such as the Gunpowder Plot, the Black Death or the macabre Demon Barber of
Fleet Street. Several vignettes are interactive and guests are encouraged to
play along with the actors as they journey through history.
Rides include a “drop ride to doom“ where
visitors encounter a free-fall in which they are victims of a public hanging.
There is also a surprising boat ride in dimly lit surroundings where
unsuspecting guests are splashed with water...some considerably more than
others.
While the new dungeon attraction is a fun-filled
romp through some of England’s darkest moments, it is also an interesting bit
of history with tongue-in-cheek twists that appeal to visitors of all ages.
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| The London Dungeon is a proper museum of fright (dungeons.com) |
Today’s dungeon however, is nothing like its
older sister which opened in 1975 as a gory museum that showcased the bleakest
moments in British history.
The original setting on Tooley Street had a dank,
sinister presence that made visitors cringe with its foreboding models of
torture and animatronic horrors. Its maze of properly musty corridors was, at
times, gruesomely realistic making the cool, inky black atmosphere frequently
frightening for its patrons.
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| A haunting we will go (dungeons.com) |
Eventually the Tooley Street Dungeon added a
boat ride on the Thames called “Judgment Day: Sentence to Death“ which
introduced interactive scenes in 1997.
Guests were tried and sentenced to death. Then
they would board boats and cruise down the Thames to Traitor’s Gate where they
were raised by a vertical lift system to encounter a firing squad. The ride
ended with the boat plummeting backwards amid the screams and shouts of its
startled passengers.
Three years later the Dungeon opened the “Great
Fire of London“ with a re-creation of the burning streets of the city in the
17th century complete with a spinning tunnel that led visitors to the exit.
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So popular did the interactive sequences become
that the original grotesque torture chamber environment led to the contemporary
version of the attraction which is more fun, less terrifying and highly entertaining complete with a bit
of historical background added.
The dungeon experience has become so popular that
there are now eight different attractions scattered throughout Europe;
Amsterdam, Berlin, Edinburgh, Hamburg, York, Warwick Castle and Blackpool,
England. A ninth, and newest, dungeon is now open in San Francisco at
Fisherman’s Wharf.
As might be expected, lines can sometimes be
long. The necessity of limited occupancy for the various re-enacted scenes throughout
the venue can create human traffic jams at the entrance. The dungeons are also
popular for groups can also add to occasional delays.
Combined with the large numbers of people the
London Eye in the same location, it is wise to plan accordingly.
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Some critics have called the London Dungeon a
glorified haunted house, but given its location and the appeal of its
historical mysteries, the experience is a happy diversion, even if it is a bit on
the touristy side.
Halloween and New Year’s are particularly
ghoulish at the London Dungeon when it goes all out to awaken the Octoberfest
spirit of ghosts and goblins. But regardless of when you visit, the London Dungeon
and its relatives can be enjoyed any time of year.
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| Hanging around the London Dungeon is fun where no noose is good noose (dungeons.com) |
Tickets for the London Dungeon are not
inexpensive. Save money by purchasing online at approximately $28 for adults
and $25 for children ages 4 to 16. Add about $12 to an adult ticket at the door
and $5 or so more for children.
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If you plan in advance, the cost to enter is not
quite so hair raising. After all, you don’t visit London every day.
As one writer once said about they mysteries of
the United Kingdom, “The past is no ghost at this banquet, rather it sits at
the head of the table.“
The London Dungeon is a year-round Halloween festival of fun and a feast of
fright.
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