Edinburgh Dungeons - Review
Having visited all the other Dungeons across the UK, we were excited to see how the Scottish attraction would live up to its sisters down south. One look at the brochure showed a number of locally themed shows scattered amongst the old favourites, so would it just be a case of “more of the same?”
The main entrance is in an unassuming building on the edge of a bridge which completely belies the size of the attraction. Your journey takes you down many flights of steps and this gives the impression of heading deeper and deeper underground. It really does start to feel like a dungeon as opposed to York which unfortunately starts with a climb UP, or London that remains on one level.
It’s always fun to see the order in which scenes and effects are structured in each Dungeon and Edinburgh starts with the now familiar court scene. Based at the start of the experience, this scene sets up the story of us as sinners about to be punished. After the usual amusing spiel we are summarily sentenced to death by torture and are taken straight down to the torture chamber.
As with all the Dungeons, short actor led scenes follow after each other as we learn more about Edinburgh’s grisly history, ranging from Sawney Bean the cannibal to William Wallace and Burke and Hare. Each attraction uses familiar Dungeons style effects (moving chairs, projections, authentic looking props etc) and it’s fun seeing how these are given a localised spin for the city.
For example, Sawney Bean and his family allegedly lived near by in the 1500s and under cover of darkness would sneak out to nearby towns and rob and murder innocent people dragging them back to their caves. When they were finally discovered, their cave lair was littered with hundreds of half eaten decomposing bodies.
The main entrance is in an unassuming building on the edge of a bridge which completely belies the size of the attraction. Your journey takes you down many flights of steps and this gives the impression of heading deeper and deeper underground. It really does start to feel like a dungeon as opposed to York which unfortunately starts with a climb UP, or London that remains on one level.
It’s always fun to see the order in which scenes and effects are structured in each Dungeon and Edinburgh starts with the now familiar court scene. Based at the start of the experience, this scene sets up the story of us as sinners about to be punished. After the usual amusing spiel we are summarily sentenced to death by torture and are taken straight down to the torture chamber.
As with all the Dungeons, short actor led scenes follow after each other as we learn more about Edinburgh’s grisly history, ranging from Sawney Bean the cannibal to William Wallace and Burke and Hare. Each attraction uses familiar Dungeons style effects (moving chairs, projections, authentic looking props etc) and it’s fun seeing how these are given a localised spin for the city.
For example, Sawney Bean and his family allegedly lived near by in the 1500s and under cover of darkness would sneak out to nearby towns and rob and murder innocent people dragging them back to their caves. When they were finally discovered, their cave lair was littered with hundreds of half eaten decomposing bodies.
 Sawney Bean. Copyright Edinburgh Dungeons |
 Sawney Bean. Copyright Edinburgh Dungeons |
The Sawney Bean attraction utilises a small boat ride as guests head inside the cannibal's lair to see for themselves. The thing that stood out the most at this point was how dark this part of the attraction was. In most other dark room scenes, there is a small amount of residual light from a door or somewhere. But not here - the boat ride takes place in impenetrable darkness so thick that it feels like you could cut it with a knife. Then, add in the surround sound system that pitches the family getting closer and closer and everyone is on edge until the unimaginable happens; in a quick blast of noise, strobe lighting and confusion we are attacked from all sides and the whole boat screamed. It’s a stunning scare effect expertly executed.
The tour continues with a number of really good “jumpy scare” scenes such as Mary King and William Wallace, with the whole group screaming as we are assaulted by sudden shocks galore. This all adds up to making Edinburgh the scariest Dungeons to date.
I had heard previously that many people have difficulty understanding some of the accents used during the show. Certainly Sawney Bean and William Wallace used actors with very strong Scottish accents unlike anything we had heard around Edinburgh itself. This may be a result of the actors chosen or deliberate to create the atmosphere for the story. Unfortunately, for a Southern England resident – I will admit to a few times where I was unable to clearly understand what was being said. Not that this ruined the scares or the atmosphere in any way, it just meant that I missed a bit of the story. It would be interesting to see how foreign tourists get on.
All too soon, it’s time face our fate and we find ourselves ready to be hung on the Exremis: Drop ride to Doom. The fast moving ride is actually smaller than its London counterpart, but packs a real punch and feels faster on the drop. In fact the description of the drop ride could summarise the whole Edinburgh Dungeons experience - short, fun and seriously packing a punch!
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Having now visited every UK Dungeon it’s quite interesting to take a step back and look at all the attractions as one. Many people don’t consider the Dungeons to be a real “scare attraction”. After all, most of what you see is dialogue led exposition with a number of jumps. But it is this nature that makes the dungeons so unique. Where else can you be educated one minute and jumping the next?
We visited with quite a small group of about 15 people early in the morning and 3 people had to leave half way through because they were too scared. Many others were hanging on to their friends and loved ones and as we moved around the attraction we could hear screams from other people in different shows! For fear factor and sudden jumps, Edinburgh is clearly the leader and had us physically jumping and screaming more than any of the other UK shows. For that we definitely have to declare it “The UK’s scariest Dungeons” attraction!
Edinburgh Dungeons is open every day except Christmas day.
For the latest information and to prebook discounted entry check out their website at www.thedungeons.com
You Review
Boring, don't see it, no point and a waste of money. Of course it is not William Wallace duh!
You Review
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