Vengeance at The London Dungeon - Review
London Dungeon has always been renowned for its gruesome history; tongue in cheek humour and, more recently, for the calibre of its rides. The first ride introduced was the Traitor: Boat Ride to Hell flume which has never really quite lived up to its billing. Short and actually quite uneventful, the ride could have offered some real scares along the way but really just meanders through some pretty scenes.
Then a few years back Extremis was added and no one could accuse this mini drop tower of being uneventful! I have ridden this numerous times and it still shocks me with the power of that drop. It is a great finale to the tour and will prove just as popular when it opens in Blackpool later this year.
The new attraction, Vengeance, comes half way between the other 2 rides and takes visitors to 50 Berkeley Square (alleged to be the most haunted house in London) where they experience a ghostly Victorian séance like no other.
As the séance gets under way, strange things started to happen all around us and we witnessed some VERY strange sights. With just one ride it’s actually quite difficult to really remember everything that happened. From the seat movement, the effects and the chaotic 3d projections, it really does feel that you are being attacked from all sides. The only thing to do? Fight back with your trusty laser gun!
Without wanting to spoil too much of the fun, Vengeance is quite simple in design but actually extremely complex in operation. The attraction utilises a group of seats on a moving platform that spin to show different sides and aspects of the room. This clever mechanism means that several aspects of the theatre are used and guests can be directed to face the action. It also means that at certain times, the platform can rotate extremely quickly and this effect is both thrilling and disorienting. Add in some “in chair” special effects and you never quite know what your chair is going to do next.
The show utilises computer generated 3D imagery but also claims to be the UK’s first 5D experience. So what does this involve? Well like it or not, this séance causes spirits to escape round the room and it’s your job to shoot and stop them. Personally this element of the ride felt a bit unnecessary and the plastic guns slightly anachronistic inside a Victorian parlour room séance! Also like a few “shooting” attractions at theme parks – it's easy to get distracted by the shooting element and miss some of the key story elements. Also, the shooting seemed to make no impact to the story. You never knew if you'd hit something or what it meant if you did.
Like all of the Dungeons shows, all too soon the experience is over and as visitors leave on a high, the mood is slightly dropped as we move onto the more sombre/talky Jack the Ripper show. It’s a natural pattern to Dungeons experiences, but after having so much fun, the next scene feels just a little bland and static in comparison. The excitement level isn’t then picked back up again until the final few scenes.
The siting of Vengeance is quite deliberate as it has replaced some of the existing Jack the Ripper scenes. As such, this makes the whole Ripper experience more compact and intriguing. Over many recent visits to the Dungeon, the Ripper experience has been one of the weaker elements of the show and it’s nice to see it tightened up and modernised.
When Vengeance was first announced many people expected it to be a copy of The House – an attraction previously created by the ride's manufacturer Alterface. The Dungeons though, were keen to have something unique and therefore all the story, effects and 3D segments were all created exclusively for this installation. As for any future installations at other sites, only time will tell if they recycle the story or create something more specific and local.
So the big question is – should you go to the Dungeons just to ride Vengeance? The ride is great fun and is a real blast (pun intended) and works as one part of the overall Dungeon experience. If you want a fun educational visit with a fast thrilling ride in the middle, we would definitely recommend it. If you are visting just for this ride, as fun as it is, you may not get your money’s worth.
Then a few years back Extremis was added and no one could accuse this mini drop tower of being uneventful! I have ridden this numerous times and it still shocks me with the power of that drop. It is a great finale to the tour and will prove just as popular when it opens in Blackpool later this year.
The new attraction, Vengeance, comes half way between the other 2 rides and takes visitors to 50 Berkeley Square (alleged to be the most haunted house in London) where they experience a ghostly Victorian séance like no other.
As the séance gets under way, strange things started to happen all around us and we witnessed some VERY strange sights. With just one ride it’s actually quite difficult to really remember everything that happened. From the seat movement, the effects and the chaotic 3d projections, it really does feel that you are being attacked from all sides. The only thing to do? Fight back with your trusty laser gun!
Without wanting to spoil too much of the fun, Vengeance is quite simple in design but actually extremely complex in operation. The attraction utilises a group of seats on a moving platform that spin to show different sides and aspects of the room. This clever mechanism means that several aspects of the theatre are used and guests can be directed to face the action. It also means that at certain times, the platform can rotate extremely quickly and this effect is both thrilling and disorienting. Add in some “in chair” special effects and you never quite know what your chair is going to do next.
The show utilises computer generated 3D imagery but also claims to be the UK’s first 5D experience. So what does this involve? Well like it or not, this séance causes spirits to escape round the room and it’s your job to shoot and stop them. Personally this element of the ride felt a bit unnecessary and the plastic guns slightly anachronistic inside a Victorian parlour room séance! Also like a few “shooting” attractions at theme parks – it's easy to get distracted by the shooting element and miss some of the key story elements. Also, the shooting seemed to make no impact to the story. You never knew if you'd hit something or what it meant if you did.
Like all of the Dungeons shows, all too soon the experience is over and as visitors leave on a high, the mood is slightly dropped as we move onto the more sombre/talky Jack the Ripper show. It’s a natural pattern to Dungeons experiences, but after having so much fun, the next scene feels just a little bland and static in comparison. The excitement level isn’t then picked back up again until the final few scenes.
The siting of Vengeance is quite deliberate as it has replaced some of the existing Jack the Ripper scenes. As such, this makes the whole Ripper experience more compact and intriguing. Over many recent visits to the Dungeon, the Ripper experience has been one of the weaker elements of the show and it’s nice to see it tightened up and modernised.
When Vengeance was first announced many people expected it to be a copy of The House – an attraction previously created by the ride's manufacturer Alterface. The Dungeons though, were keen to have something unique and therefore all the story, effects and 3D segments were all created exclusively for this installation. As for any future installations at other sites, only time will tell if they recycle the story or create something more specific and local.
So the big question is – should you go to the Dungeons just to ride Vengeance? The ride is great fun and is a real blast (pun intended) and works as one part of the overall Dungeon experience. If you want a fun educational visit with a fast thrilling ride in the middle, we would definitely recommend it. If you are visting just for this ride, as fun as it is, you may not get your money’s worth.
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Further details of the London Dungeon can be found at www.thedungeons.com