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London Dungeons

DiogoJ42 said:
I think I must be the only MAP holder in the Greater London who still hasn't been. :p (Well, and the missus.)
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I've been through London about eight times since it opened, and I'm yet to try it. And I'm a MAP holder!

I've even been to London twice with the intention of trying it, but found myself using my travelcard to continue on through London into zone six and accidently standing outside the gates of Chessington. Well, it can't be helped really! ;)
 
I visited the 'New' London Dungeons on the Saturday of South meet (rather than Chessington), and have mixed feelings about the place.

I arrived around 10:50, and the exterior queue was empty, as was inside - we walked straight in, had our bags checked by security, and then proceeded through to the dark corridor where you wait in line for roughly five minutes, in near pitch black darkness, to pay.
Something to note - This was happening in the old dungeons too, but they try to upsell you many different books etc when purchasing your ticket. Ever the money-grabbers..

Whilst I did enjoy myself, I also found myself wishing I was in the previous dungeons. At present, County Hall is just too clean, too polished, and not nearly as aged as it should be for the overall theme it's going for. After all, we are supposed to be exploring London in it's grimiest days. When you get in the pub, you'll see what I mean!

A few hidden surprises that I quite liked, that were unexpected!

The water ride was amusing, as was Drop Dead, of which I rode twice in quick succession (even with a group behind me!).

All in all, it has to age and settle in. At present, it's too clean, and even smells fresh. I am sure when it's bedded in it will come into it's own.
 
I finally got to go on Saturday.

The theming is pretty good, and the standard of the actors was high. But the place just lacks soul. It all felt fake, whereas at Tooley Street you knew that you really were in brick vaults.

There was far to much queueing in dark corridors. The old Dungeon flowed nicely from one room to the next. I also got soaked far too often by unnecessary water effects.

Most of the scenes are better than the old ones. Though one major flaw was that when we were let in to the mirror maze, the group before us was still in there. This meant it was so packed inside that we couldn't move. We just stood in a gridlocked queue for five minutes until they eventually let us out.

It took us about two hours from joining the "priority queue" to leaving the attraction. I'm pretty sure at least two thirds of that time was spend in queues.
We turned up in the morning, and since only one of us had a premium MAP were told we would have to join the pleb queue, which the guy said was an hour and a half to the front door. Sod that. We came back later in the day, and the queues were the same length, but a different guy allowed us in to the priority queue. Make of that what you will.

Overall, I was not impressed. The old dungeon had repeat visit value. This one simply left me feeling cold, dispite the improvements.
 
I may be going this Saturday - probably on my own (long story!)

If anyone would like to meet up please do let me know by PM or something, as I'm usually terrified of haunted/dark attractions, but am going anyway as I upgraded my MAP to a Premium and figure if I'm spending £150 on an overnighter in London I should make the most of it! I'd be up for Sealife as well since it's right there.
 
I don't know if this has been mentioned, or when the change occurred - perhaps its always been the case at the new Dungeon - but standard annual pass holders have to use the normal queue now. Premium pass holders can continue to use the priority entrance.
 
Tom said:
I don't know if this has been mentioned, or when the change occurred - perhaps its always been the case at the new Dungeon - but standard annual pass holders have to use the normal queue now. Premium pass holders can continue to use the priority entrance.
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It's been like that since it opened. It's a terrible thing to have in place in my eyes, it can cause chaos if you're in a group of people and one of you has a standard pass and the others all have premium passes and there's a jobsworth stood outside the priority entrance.
 
That's rediculous. It had better be a temporary thing, and not something rolled out across the London attractions.
 
AshleeKel said:
That's rediculous. It had better be a temporary thing, and not something rolled out across the London attractions.
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Ten quid says that's in next year's T&Cs. ::)
 
It says you're not guaranteed immediate entry at peak times anyway, so they have their arses covered on that one.
 
Hence one of the reasons why I upgraded :(

Does anyone have any experience with wheelchairs in the new dungeons? As I may be visiting with a wheelchair user, but they still want to experience Henry's Wrath.

If it's anything like the previous ride, doesn't it end in a separate station in a different area of the attraction? Meaning a wheelchair user wouldn't be able to reunite with their chair.

It's turning into a bit of a nightmare.
 
There are quite a lot of stairs in the attraction. It's not on one level like the old one was.
 
The accessibility guide says there are chair lifts and such but she wants to know if she can transfer for the boat ride. I'm thinking no because of the station change, but I'm not sure.

I've suggested she call them and find out but if she can't I will have to visit alone (I don't think she will go if she can't go on the ride)

So a different question...how late can a premium MAP holder join the queue?!
 
I remember reading online that the wheelchair lift was broken and wheelchair users would only be able to experience 1/3rd of the attraction until it was fixed. I presume it's been fixed now, as it was a notification on the website.

I wouldn't recommend it for wheelchair users, really; there are stairs and the boat ride does disembark from a different station from which it embarks. Give 'em a call, though!
 
Looks like my friend doesn't want to go now so it's just me! Thanks for clearing that up with the boat station though, I thought that was the case.
 
Merlin don't have very good Disabled access, do they? By all accounts, as was posted online somewhere this past week, The Smiler's disabled lift is/was (I am unsure on it's present status) working, so wheelchair users that couldn't walk were told they couldn't ride. If the Dungeons had the same issue, then it's not really very good.

However........... That's the Wizard for you!
 
With the old dungeons you could walk the empty wheelchair round the back of the 2 stations to the offload, then walk back to load for your ride with the non ambulant person

Maybe there is a door at the new one that allows the same procedure? If you call and ask I'm sure they can help.
 
LiamC said:
It's been like that since it opened. It's a terrible thing to have in place in my eyes, it can cause chaos if you're in a group of people and one of you has a standard pass and the others all have premium passes and there's a jobsworth stood outside the priority entrance.
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I'd say it's actually necessary to make sure that the priority entrance is still actually useful as a fastrack for people who have taken the time to plan their visit and book in advance.
 
T said:
Merlin don't have very good Disabled access, do they? By all accounts, as was posted online somewhere this past week, The Smiler's disabled lift is/was (I am unsure on it's present status) working, so wheelchair users that couldn't walk were told they couldn't ride. If the Dungeons had the same issue, then it's not really very good.

However........... That's the Wizard for you!
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I believe smiler isn't down to the disabled lift, more due to evacuation procedures. There is some notice about it at the entrance to the ride.

I'd say merlin does allow disabled on almost all of their attractions easily, surely? Probably goes beyond that of say, Drayton or any smaller parks.
 
Rocket is correct, I called them and asked about it. Still think I'm going to be going alone though :(
 
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