London Dungeon

Front entrance of the London Dungeon.

The London Dungeon is a popular London tourist attraction, featuring exhibits about various tortures from the Medieval Age. It recreates various gory and macabre historical events in a grimly comedic 'gallows humour' style, which attempts to make them appealing to younger audiences. It uses a mixture of live actors, special effects and rides.

It opened in 1974, initially designed as more of a museum of "horrible history", but the Dungeon has evolved to become an actor-led, interactive experience. The Dungeon is operated by Merlin Entertainments, which also operates Madame Tussauds, London Eye, Legoland, Thorpe Park, Alton Towers, Heide Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Warwick Castle and Gardaland.

Scenes

Labyrinth of the Lost

A mirror maze is themed around the crypt of All Hallows Church in London. A live actor playing the grounds keeper tells visitors of the crypt and then are led into the maze and left to wander, seeing reflections of themselves everywhere. Actors in period costume jump out unexpectedly, until the visitors are finally led out through a previously closed exit and taken to the era of the Great Plague.

The Great Plague & Surgery: Blood & Guts

This show is set in 1665 during the Great Plague of London, and London is depicted as riddled with bubonic plague, with thousands dying in agony. Disgusting smells are present in this exhibit, with recorded cries of panic and pain and shouts to "bring out the dead". Visitors are taken into a secret treatment room and are told of ways people tried to cure the plague. Actors portraying death collectors wander through, piling up the decaying bodies, with other actors made up to appear as decayed and vomiting plague sufferers.

At the end of the plague section, we see a doctor who (comically) tries to operate on a dead body: pulling out the intestines; the bladder, which squirts supposed urine at the audience; and finally the heart. A visitor is then 'operated' on, including being 'trepanned', having their 'blood' 'let', and having a hand amputated. As the blade falls on their hand, the lights go out, and air jets and water are aimed at the audience.

Judgement

The visitors are led into a 18th Century Courtroom and are "Sentenced" for humorous crimes such as "Doing unspeakable things with a bucket of fish," or "Because your girlfriend is ugly."

Traitor: Boat of Love to Hell

After being sentenced to death by the courtroom judge visitors are taken to an execution dock. The show is a boat vrhutr frequgfrrrhr ride,vhstduhguzgwtzweiotzweutzeirehrezuegfurezgThe ride is in almost total darkness, including the ascent the boat makes once it has gonefsbdhjagtjkhffghhjgdbhjbgvbhjgzdjbvdhfhfhzghhjrebeyond Traitors' Gate. Riders rotate 90 degrees and are shot downhill into the dark sewers below. This ride incorporates suduzhgfdisghuibvfuitzhz67it54hureueeFruitjuice

Sweeney Todd

After walking past Mrs. Lovett's pie shop, and being greeted by Mrs. Lovett herself, they enter Sweeney Todd's barber shop which is filled with seats. At the front is a chair with a covered up bloody model supposedly from having his throat cut. Visitors are seated in animatronic barbers' chairs, and special effects are used to try to make them feel as if Sweeney Todd were right behind them, giving them a very close shave. Afterwards the chair is pulled back, as if falling into a cellar (which is what Sweeney would do with his victims). This attraction incorporates the same binaural audio technology that Walt Disney World's Alien Encounter used. Sweeney Todd was supposedly a barber that was around in the mid 18th century. He of sometimes is known as "The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street", and slit the throats of his customers with his razors, supposedly giving the carcasses to Mrs. Lovett to be baked into large pies. Despite the Dungeons' claim to base their exhibits on historical fact, it is almost certain that Sweeney Todd never existed.

Jack the Ripper

Set in Victorian London, an actor talks about the first three murders before leading visitors to a room where a short film mentions the next two. A third room then shows an autopsy, and various possible ideas for the identity of 'Jack' are mentioned. As it is suggested that whoever it is, he is in Hell, a gas jet shoots out, warming the faces of visitors. Visitors are then led to a scene of a pub, ten years after the last murder. At the end of a talk, 'Jack' suddenly appears with a knife.

Bloody Mary: Killer Queen (New for 2010)

Bloody Mary: Killer Queen opened during the February half-term period. After a short introduction to the story of Mary Tudor, also known as Bloody Mary, a visitor is sentenced to death by burning for heresy. Light, sound and smoke effects conceal the visitor who is replaced by a model of someone burnt to death, complete with dropping eyeball.

Great Fire of London

This exhibit is set in the year 1666, when much of London burnt to the ground in the relentless Great Fire of London that started down in Pudding Lane, from the Royal bakery. Visitors are shown a short educational film, in a set representation of the bakery.

Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom

This feature opened at the end of March 2007. Treated just as if they are a criminal sent to hang at Newgate Prison, visitors are taken from a holding cell and sat in a seat which elevates to the top of the Dungeon. There, they see models of judges and an executioner reading the charges against them, when the noose drops in front of their face, and as the hangman pulls the gallows lever they suddenly drop towards the ground in the dark. Cameras are mounted in the walls to take photos of visitors as they drop.

Similar attractions

The Hamburg Dungeon, York Dungeon and The Edinburgh Dungeon are all affiliated with The London Dungeon. In 2005 a new location opened in Amsterdam, called The Amsterdam Dungeon. A Dungeon will be built in the amusement park Gardaland in Italy.

The Castle Dungeon opened at Warwick Castle in Spring 2009. At a cost of £800,000 it replaced the previous Dream of Battle Attraction. It extensively uses live actors and special effects, and features some of the darkest chapters of the castle’s history, including scenes of terrors in the torture chamber to the foul pestilence of the plague.

More recently, The London Bridge Experience, located less than two minutes away from The London Dungeons, was opened. Although featuring some similar themes, this attraction is not affiliated with the Dungeons.

Critical Reception

The dungeon has been the subject of mixed reviews by visitors and travel writers. Rick Steves described it as "just a highly advertised, overpriced haunted house" and an "amateurish attraction". The "Rough Guide to Britain" describes it as best enjoyed by "young teenagers and the credulous".

Criticism of Advertising

In July 2010 the Advertising Standards Authority banned a digital poster advertising the London Dungeon. The poster featured an image of Mary I of England which transformed into a "zombie-like character". The poster was deemed too disturbing to be seen by young children.

See also

• Merlin Entertainments
• The Amsterdam Dungeon
• Hamburg Dungeon
• Torture Museums
• York Dungeon

External links

• The London Dungeon (site includes other attractions run by the same company)