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Relocated London Dungeons at County Hall

I keep forgetting to post it but if anyone is interested this is what Network Rail is apparently doing to the space the nightclub and Dungeons occupied:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EzLerT1sdE[/youtube]
 
Lofty said:
Ethan said:
Mark, what did you mean by them "interacting differently"? How did they? :)
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Instead of just being a 'Scare Character' they were actually aiming most of the interacting back to their main character. It's hard to explain, but a lot of Dungeons St Theatre are just 'Scare Characters based on Real people', whereas the new ones were more factual on the character and trying to be realistic in their approach, it's ever so hard to explain.

marc said:
Wish they would just go back to how it was when I was 12. It was just a walk through with no stupid groups and actors, it was so much better back then.
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BUT, the acting is what's made them so successful to be totally fair. It must be so hard though, having a good attachment to the Dungeons and seeing it move from it's original home!
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It was around many years before the actors though. The actors is the reason I found it boring and far to slow, one visit in 5 years is enough.
 
I find the actors and rides give it more of an appeal and draws in the crowds. There's still places in London such as the Clink that are museums where you can wander round displays of torture equipment and stuff without actors. I wish I got to see what the Dungeons was like before all the actors though. Would be interesting. :)

I've been watching some of the rehearsals for the new Dungeons. The actors are as good as ever and the new scripts are fantastic. The lift scene called 'Descent' throws you straight into the action and looks good fun.
Don't like how they've renamed Extremis 'Drop Dead - Drop Ride To Doom' though. That's a bit crap. Although being over 3 times the height and a new top loading system will probably make up for it. :)
 
For me it was a lot more scary as it was really dark with things hanging down etc.

I was looking up walked straight into a woman and she screamed as I did.

There were no rides etc, the Jack the Ripper stuff was a lot better than it was the other year.

It was totally different. I can see why they changed it though, I just found it so boring though with the actors.

I'm looking forward to see what changes they make for the new one though.
 
I feel like I've heard the phrase 'Drop Ride to Doom' somewhere before, but I really can't fathom where from?
 
nadroJ said:
I feel like I've heard the phrase 'Drop Ride to Doom' somewhere before, but I really can't fathom where from?
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The other Extremis' and also Reaper hold the same tagline, they just changed the name of it. I kind of like Drop Dead, it's pretty witty and suits the new Dungeons perfectly.

So, just to let you all know in case you've not been following properly;

Not just the aesthetic values of The Dungeons are changing, but the whole performance direction is too. They're changing the scripting too, in a major way. They're moving back towards their larger scripts and basing them more on the actual fact of the characters (the real ones) instead of just having an entertaining piece, which is fantastic news. Now, the thing is, the duration of The Dungeons won't actually change, due to Vengeance going, they've lost 4 minutes from that, so everything has kind of shuffled up and worked perfectly.

I received a photo this week in my messages over Facebook, showing Drop Dead in it's new state, with the theming and stuff being added, it is without a doubt a top-loading system, which is just fantastic. I really think it will take people by surprise, even if it is named "Drop Ride" and you're warning, people will STILL be terrified by it, not to mention it being around double the height of the last one.

All of the 7 pre-existing Dungeons attractions are having a facelift, both aesthetically and through the changes with characters/scripts. It's great that they're re-envisioning The Dungeons and bringing them to life once again. Even The Castle Dungeons and Blackpool Tower Dungeons became somewhat old and tired soon as they opened if you've visited any other of the attractions. Now, with all the changes happening, they'll all have the TLC they deserve. Not to mention the brand new one opening in Berlin and the new York Dungeons that's opening (a £2million investment after a second flood in as many months).

The Dungeons are on the rise :D
 
Lofty said:
It's great that they're re-envisioning The Dungeons and bringing them to life once again. Even The Castle Dungeons and Blackpool Tower Dungeons became somewhat old and tired soon as they opened if you've visited any other of the attractions.
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The Blackpool one is the only Dungeons I've visited and while I thought it was alright I was disappointed there was only a fleeting connection to any local stories. Made me think that all the others would be just as generic, so I haven't bothered with them!
 
Robbie said:
Lofty said:
It's great that they're re-envisioning The Dungeons and bringing them to life once again. Even The Castle Dungeons and Blackpool Tower Dungeons became somewhat old and tired soon as they opened if you've visited any other of the attractions.
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The Blackpool one is the only Dungeons I've visited and while I thought it was alright I was disappointed there was only a fleeting connection to any local stories. Made me think that all the others would be just as generic, so I haven't bothered with them!
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Yeah that's so true, Blackpool is one of the worst offenders for that to be honest. The Pendle Witches is probably one of Lancashire's darkest and most infamous tales, and what do they do? Have a projection of a hanging witch talking like an illiterate moron. It's VERY bad planning.

Most of The Dungeons have smilar scenes; Judgement, Mirror Maze & Plague Doctor Autopsy being the worst offenders, they're all SO generic. Luckily, it seems that that's going to change and make everything PART of the location of The Dungeons and not just thrown in to drag the experience out.
 
^To be fair though, and bear in mind I haven't been, Blackpool doesn't have the history of London, York, Edinburgh to fall back on. It can only really be generic horror as they don't have the hundreds of years of history to fall back on. I don't get why people are shocked by that; I'd have thought it was obvious.
 
^ Not really, they've added quite a few bits to the attraction from the local area; Vikings, Smuggler's Caves, Pendle Witches. My point with it really is that they've added them, and barely actually touch on them. They're VERY half-arsed. It's hard to explain it.
 
gavin said:
It can only really be generic horror as they don't have the hundreds of years of history to fall back on.
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True. It's easy to forget that Lancashire was only invented in 1882 by bored Londoners.
 
Robbie said:
gavin said:
It can only really be generic horror as they don't have the hundreds of years of history to fall back on.
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True. It's easy to forget that Lancashire was only invented in 1882 by bored Londoners.
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It's true. It started as an expedition to dig out the troglodytes from the hills and caves - then they realised they could set them to work building holiday resorts for the civilised southerners ;)

Obviously, all they really need to do is have a one way mirror so that the guests can see into the local popular hen party bar - there's horror for you.
 
^ Cahoots? ;)

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Yeah, alright, you clever bastards, Lancashire obviously has history, but I said BLACKPOOL. York Dungeon doesn't focus on the whole of Yorkshire, as the city itself has enough material to work with. Likewise with Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Hamburg.

Blackpool, not Lancashire, pretty much was invented by the Victorians.
 
Went up to the entrance of the New Dungeons today and it looks great! Not as dramatic as the original, but still nice. Glad to see the flame torches back. I see small gas pipes leading into them, so that confirms that they will be flaming, just like the original ones. Im actually amazed with how much Merlin were allowed to do with the exterior. Some of the props are quite intrusive and require a lot of structural work done on the building itself.
 
^ With the amount of money spent on this move, I'm not shocked that they've let them do it ha.
 
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