I was gripping Top Ender's hand as we stood next to a recently unearthed coffin listening to distant screams, and I was wishing I had eaten more carrots and tuna as a child so that I could see in the dark, when suddenly a man dressed in black ushered me into a room lit by torches and I started kicking myself for my own stupidity.
You see a few months back a kind man asked if we would like to go to
The London Dungeons and that he would provide tickets for us to go and we could write about our experience on this here blog. I knew that The London Dungeons was an attraction in London, but that was about it. So I asked my friend Google for some details and I didn't like what I saw.
I decided that as I am really a huge wimp that I would get Daddy to take Top Ender and that I would claim that Baby Boy was too young to go to such an attraction and that he would much more enjoy going across the road to The Hays Galleria with me... It worked right up until the morning we were set to go and Daddy asked my traitorous friend Google for some details. Somehow he managed to convince me that Top Ender would enjoy the visit with me more than with him.
A little known fact about me is that I'm scared of the dark. A well known fact about The London Dungeons is that it is a tour through the scary and horrible bits of London's History in the near dark with special effects, live actors and a big dose of your own imagination. Standing in the second queue before we were admitted to the tour gave me enough time to say a quick prayer mainly asking for me to not drop dead of a heart-attack during the tour and for nobody to jump out on us; Top Ender echoed my prayer but added a request for a torch. She's sensible.
Top Ender was the youngest in the group and I think that swayed in our favour as we didn't get picked on once during the tour. Mind you we also were smart enough to not go in the front or the back of the group as we knew if the guides were looking for volunteers that is where they would find them. A few of the friends we made during the tour (when you are all as scared as each other you make friends quickly) did get picked on, but I can say that they enjoyed the experience as much as Top Ender and I did.
Everybody was wanting to be scared (why would you go on the tour if you didn't want to just for a little while?) and so with belief suspended the over acting actors and the sometimes very dusty displays were very spooky. Even though Top Ender and I kept muttering to each other "It isn't real, they are only actors" we were at times clinging to each other and at others we were screaming, cowering, giggling and getting wet.
I don't want to give too much away about what happens inside the Dungeon, as if you go I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises (and there are plenty of places that already do that), but the hour and a half that Top Ender and I spent in the semi-darkness gripping each others hands was actually a lot of fun and fairly educational with a lot of what I had learnt at school being covered.
The tickets that we had allowed us to skip the main queue (thank goodness as it was huge!) but a quick chat with one of the ladies outside said that if you come first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening that the queues tend to be smaller, and more so if you come between Late September and Early June. The tickets do cost quite a lot but if you buy in advance and online they are cheaper and there are plenty of offers around. If you can afford the priority tickets to avoid the queue it would be worth the extra money, but there are entertainers who keep the waiting masses amused with the painting on of cuts and selling of guidebooks.
Top Ender and I would recommend The London Dungeons to anyone who is brave enough to go and I would say that ten year olds and older may enjoy it more than six and a half year olds but your own discretion should be used.
