London Bridge Experience opening 2008
After a busy week of final preparations and a few setbacks, the London Bridge Experience opened this week with a lavish party and the chance for selected guests to delve deeper into the gory history of the famous London Bridge.
Buzz about the London Bridge experience has been quite intense over the last few months. Billed as Europe’s Scariest Attraction, it was finally time to go and check things out, as we attended the opening party this week.
Amongst the attendees were some noted famous faces including
Ben Elton (Comedian and author)
Simon Hughes (Liberal Democrat MP)
Graham Cole (Tony Stamp from The Bill)
Sam and Amanda Marchant (the twins from Big Brother)
For those unaware – the London Bridge Experience is a 2-part attraction built into the vaults and excavated tombs of the world famous London Bridge.
The first half of the show is a historical recreation of important moments in the history of the bridge including experiences with the original designer, Vikings, Charles Dickens and William Wallace (whose head was believed to have been displayed on a pole on one of the earlier bridge structures). Using special effects, authentic scenery and actors the show is designed to make guests believe they are living a part of history.
The second part of the show has much lower intentions. Designed purely to scare you a trip to the Tombs offers a grisly tour featuring special effects and a huge scare factor – all set in the authentic vaults once believed to be the plague pits used in the Black Death.
One thing that must be mentioned at this point, is that the opening party was effectively the first night of operation. With an unspecified electrical fault which meant they couldn’t open earlier in the week the cast and crew were literally thrown in at the deep end meaning that any teething problems, were played out in full to the guests as opposed to having been worked through over a period of soft opening. So with some background knowledge and a few drinks for courage, we took our place in the line.
The first thing that is striking is the attention to detail and authenticity of the sets around you. The creators have designed an immersive experience that immediately takes you away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. Unfortunately our first room was an ill judged conversation between an actor and a CGI ghost which should have been setting up the story to come yet ended up being an uneventful and non-interactive piece. Impressive effects and theming could not make up for a weak performance and we felt this opening scene lacked the impact that the attraction so clearly needed to get things started with a bang.
We then proceeded through a number of different scenes all with some sort of link to the bridge itself. Sometimes though it was difficult to hear what this link was and attraction narrative felt a bit stilted. For example a rollicking Viking had the entire group baying for blood along with him but all a bit confused as to why we were all pretending to row a boat. Were we rowing under the bridge or was this just a good excuse to have some Viking revelry?
Most of these early scenes had competent actors who delivered their scripts with ease and imparted quite a bit of information. We were very impressed with the actor playing Charles Dickens who seemed to actually enjoy interacting with his guests and it was obvious that some of his clever and amusing comments were ad-libbed in response to his audience. This made the scene feel very natural and real as opposed to an actor just performing a pre-written monologue.
With the historical section coming to an end we were confronted with a Yeoman who explained the choices in front of us. Hide and sneak out the back way or go deeper underground into the tombs. Now it’s here that we do see a serious problem with this attraction. Advertising both sides, yet not allowing people to pay separately is, we are sure, going to cause some problems. A family who have enjoyed the historical section may feel shortchanged when their underage kid and nervous mother have to take the exit route and miss out on a large part of the show. This wouldn’t be so bad if the Tombs were a quick 2 minute thrill but on opening night it felt that the Tombs section was at least equal in length to the first half and therefore many people paying full price will miss a lot of the their total experience.
What is most impressive about The Tombs is the amount of space on offer and the look that the designers have created. Using US horror company, Halloween Productions, the rooms are populated with detailed sets and props, which, with the foreboding atmosphere of the vaults made for a very creepy atmosphere. One thing we would suggest perhaps is that they turn a few more lights off along the way to make an ever darker and scarier environment.
The design and props rely on a myriad of animatronic effects that although sometimes effective, cannot replace the interactivity of a real actor. Haunted walkthroughs are a more intimate experience than a simple ghost train and people need to experience terror up close and personal for it to really effective. It was clearly obvious to us that the Tombs were seriously lacking in scare actors and this really let the attraction down. The few times that we actually jumped or were surprised were “attacks” by live actors while the animatronic “scares” generally passed without much reaction.
Negative reviews are always very difficult to write but as an independent website it is our duty to report on what we saw and what we genuinely believed the attraction to be like. We certainly had a good time and enjoyed the experience but kept thinking that it needed more. Fortunately they do have so much potential there that with a bit of work and a few changes they could have an incredible tourist attraction that actually lives up to it’s billing as Europe’s scariest.
So our final verdict? A great concept with an incredible venue and some impressive design elements. A tightening up of the script and the addition of some more staff will easily lift this attraction much higher and will get people coming back for more. London currently doesn’t have a proper scary attraction and the Tombs have the potential to blow everything else out of the water. Lets hope that the management see this soon and make changes accordingly.
Buzz about the London Bridge experience has been quite intense over the last few months. Billed as Europe’s Scariest Attraction, it was finally time to go and check things out, as we attended the opening party this week.
Amongst the attendees were some noted famous faces including
Ben Elton (Comedian and author)
Simon Hughes (Liberal Democrat MP)
Graham Cole (Tony Stamp from The Bill)
Sam and Amanda Marchant (the twins from Big Brother)
For those unaware – the London Bridge Experience is a 2-part attraction built into the vaults and excavated tombs of the world famous London Bridge.
The first half of the show is a historical recreation of important moments in the history of the bridge including experiences with the original designer, Vikings, Charles Dickens and William Wallace (whose head was believed to have been displayed on a pole on one of the earlier bridge structures). Using special effects, authentic scenery and actors the show is designed to make guests believe they are living a part of history.
The second part of the show has much lower intentions. Designed purely to scare you a trip to the Tombs offers a grisly tour featuring special effects and a huge scare factor – all set in the authentic vaults once believed to be the plague pits used in the Black Death.
One thing that must be mentioned at this point, is that the opening party was effectively the first night of operation. With an unspecified electrical fault which meant they couldn’t open earlier in the week the cast and crew were literally thrown in at the deep end meaning that any teething problems, were played out in full to the guests as opposed to having been worked through over a period of soft opening. So with some background knowledge and a few drinks for courage, we took our place in the line.
The first thing that is striking is the attention to detail and authenticity of the sets around you. The creators have designed an immersive experience that immediately takes you away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. Unfortunately our first room was an ill judged conversation between an actor and a CGI ghost which should have been setting up the story to come yet ended up being an uneventful and non-interactive piece. Impressive effects and theming could not make up for a weak performance and we felt this opening scene lacked the impact that the attraction so clearly needed to get things started with a bang.
We then proceeded through a number of different scenes all with some sort of link to the bridge itself. Sometimes though it was difficult to hear what this link was and attraction narrative felt a bit stilted. For example a rollicking Viking had the entire group baying for blood along with him but all a bit confused as to why we were all pretending to row a boat. Were we rowing under the bridge or was this just a good excuse to have some Viking revelry?
Most of these early scenes had competent actors who delivered their scripts with ease and imparted quite a bit of information. We were very impressed with the actor playing Charles Dickens who seemed to actually enjoy interacting with his guests and it was obvious that some of his clever and amusing comments were ad-libbed in response to his audience. This made the scene feel very natural and real as opposed to an actor just performing a pre-written monologue.
With the historical section coming to an end we were confronted with a Yeoman who explained the choices in front of us. Hide and sneak out the back way or go deeper underground into the tombs. Now it’s here that we do see a serious problem with this attraction. Advertising both sides, yet not allowing people to pay separately is, we are sure, going to cause some problems. A family who have enjoyed the historical section may feel shortchanged when their underage kid and nervous mother have to take the exit route and miss out on a large part of the show. This wouldn’t be so bad if the Tombs were a quick 2 minute thrill but on opening night it felt that the Tombs section was at least equal in length to the first half and therefore many people paying full price will miss a lot of the their total experience.
What is most impressive about The Tombs is the amount of space on offer and the look that the designers have created. Using US horror company, Halloween Productions, the rooms are populated with detailed sets and props, which, with the foreboding atmosphere of the vaults made for a very creepy atmosphere. One thing we would suggest perhaps is that they turn a few more lights off along the way to make an ever darker and scarier environment.
The design and props rely on a myriad of animatronic effects that although sometimes effective, cannot replace the interactivity of a real actor. Haunted walkthroughs are a more intimate experience than a simple ghost train and people need to experience terror up close and personal for it to really effective. It was clearly obvious to us that the Tombs were seriously lacking in scare actors and this really let the attraction down. The few times that we actually jumped or were surprised were “attacks” by live actors while the animatronic “scares” generally passed without much reaction.
Negative reviews are always very difficult to write but as an independent website it is our duty to report on what we saw and what we genuinely believed the attraction to be like. We certainly had a good time and enjoyed the experience but kept thinking that it needed more. Fortunately they do have so much potential there that with a bit of work and a few changes they could have an incredible tourist attraction that actually lives up to it’s billing as Europe’s scariest.
So our final verdict? A great concept with an incredible venue and some impressive design elements. A tightening up of the script and the addition of some more staff will easily lift this attraction much higher and will get people coming back for more. London currently doesn’t have a proper scary attraction and the Tombs have the potential to blow everything else out of the water. Lets hope that the management see this soon and make changes accordingly.
Return to London Bridge Experience
When we first visited the London Tombs in February, we were rather unimpressed at the scares on offer. It was clear that the design team had spent a lot of money on the attraction, but it just lacked any real spark or scares. Well what a difference a few months makes!
Very little has changed on the upstairs part of the attraction and despite a couple of good actors, the whole thing still feels slightly stilted and not particularly atmospheric. It’s a shame that the 2 attractions are included in the one price, as with the BIG changes that have been made downstairs; The London Tombs are now easily the scariest attraction in London!
What is most impressive with the Tombs is the length. We still can’t really recall how long we were down in the dark for but it seems longer than your average walkthrough. Many of our earlier criticisms about wide paths and well lit corridors have been corrected and even without the actors, a walkthrough here could be quite dark and intimidating.
The actors themselves though add a whole new dimension to the show. It’s almost as if someone has been feeding them steroids, as instead of the slow moving monsters keeping a distance we originally had, these monsters were very close, wild and crazy and were bouncing off the walls with abandon. Using many cut throughs and under cover of darkness the cast and crew had the whole group of us constantly screaming in fright and delivered MANY MANY good impact scares.
The expensive animatronics that were originally intended to provide the majority of the frights have now been consigned to background effects and in this capacity they work really well. They add to the atmosphere of the attraction and distract you enough so that an actor can surprise you again!
All in all we could find NO fault with the Tombs themselves. Members of the public with us didn’t even make it all the way through and we came out laughing and shaking in equal measures!
Well done to the team there on all their hard work on turning the attraction round. Let’s hope they keep up the great work!
Very little has changed on the upstairs part of the attraction and despite a couple of good actors, the whole thing still feels slightly stilted and not particularly atmospheric. It’s a shame that the 2 attractions are included in the one price, as with the BIG changes that have been made downstairs; The London Tombs are now easily the scariest attraction in London!
What is most impressive with the Tombs is the length. We still can’t really recall how long we were down in the dark for but it seems longer than your average walkthrough. Many of our earlier criticisms about wide paths and well lit corridors have been corrected and even without the actors, a walkthrough here could be quite dark and intimidating.
The actors themselves though add a whole new dimension to the show. It’s almost as if someone has been feeding them steroids, as instead of the slow moving monsters keeping a distance we originally had, these monsters were very close, wild and crazy and were bouncing off the walls with abandon. Using many cut throughs and under cover of darkness the cast and crew had the whole group of us constantly screaming in fright and delivered MANY MANY good impact scares.
The expensive animatronics that were originally intended to provide the majority of the frights have now been consigned to background effects and in this capacity they work really well. They add to the atmosphere of the attraction and distract you enough so that an actor can surprise you again!
All in all we could find NO fault with the Tombs themselves. Members of the public with us didn’t even make it all the way through and we came out laughing and shaking in equal measures!
Well done to the team there on all their hard work on turning the attraction round. Let’s hope they keep up the great work!
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