York Dungeon

Much better than anticipated. The actors were very good and kinda scary. I wouldn’t bring 8 year old kids in there though.

We visited the dungeons recently on a trip to York. I attended on a ‘teachers go free’ ticket to see what the dungeons are like for school groups.
Both myself and my friend throughly enjoyed the dungeons. The actors were good and very informative about the history of York/​England’s monarchs.
We went at opening time (10am) and a line was already starting to form at the door. We went around the attraction in a group of around 18 people.
The attraction was great for adults, good fun. The audience was involved in different sections of the tour, participating in different roles.
I did see some younger children on the tour, who seemed a little frightened and upset at different parts (Jack the Ripper stories).
All in all a great hour or two!

This is my fourth dungeon tour, and it truly lived up to the standards in Amsterdam, London, and Edinburgh. I don’t think the poor actors had a clue what a fright they were in for as the group ended up consisting solely of women, ranging in age from early 20s to mid 50s. And while we were surprised and frightened, we gave as good as we got.
Like all the dungeons, it follows a theme of characters and storylines, adapted to be historically relevant to its location. They’re played by skilled actors, who go all out to make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time, rather than an exhibit.
One thing I would like to see is a cloakroom option. Especially during the bad weather, when you’re trailing round a heavy, sometimes soggy jacket.

A fantastic place to come for a good dose of black humor.
I hate the pop-​out scariness of similar attractions, but it wasn’t too awful here. If you play your cards right, you can hide in the middle of the crowd and avoid being used as a volunteer. Instead of the acting taking a back seat to the scare factor, I was quite impressed with the skill of the actors and the quality of the jokes. I was definitely pleasantly surprised by the way they educated, made you feel 100% part of the experience, and understood the back story of the characters they were playing.
If you book an appointment online, you can walk right in with no wait. The typical cheesy, green-​screen photo-​ops are available as well.

This was definitely an interesting tour, a little scary at times. It was a little more theatrical than I expected, but that didn’t necessarily take away from it. Personally, I get a little queasy with anything even remotely gory, so I was not particularly fond of all the torture devices and stories, but if you’re into that stuff you’ll love the Dungeon. I don’t think I would recommend it for younger kids. I used a voucher off SmartSave to save me some money on the ticket cost, and I think those are available year-​round to use. Still had to queue, but so few attractions are queue-​free these days that I’ve just come to expect it.
If you’re making a trip to York, this will definitely give you good insight as to what one side of the city used to look like!

York is supposed to be a really haunted city so it’s a good location for a day out at the dungeons. I used to go here quite a bit when I was younger and I used to find it really scary. It’s mainly scary because people jump out on you and really make you jump. It’s about £15 to go in which I think is a slight rip-​off but it’s not too bad I suppose. Not only are the dungeons scary they’re also quite educational as you learn about historical figures from York such as Dick Turpin and Guy Fawkes.

I went a few years ago and it was okay, so went recently to see if it was any better. Unfortunately not. We had to queue outside and it was freezing, so they had an overweight jester outside talking to the queue. She asked where we was from and when we replied she made a sarcastic face which I laughed off but really annoyed me. When we got inside the effects and interior are pretty poor and I only jumped once and that was when I wasn’t even supposed to. It seems to have gone backwards. Some of the actors were pretty good, the judge, surgeon, guy in the roman section and old guy in the hangman section. The others were poor. At £15.60 each it is very overpriced for what it is. Had I seen the two for one offer on this site I would still have been disappointed.

Went today with our 6 year old, some of the actresses were fab, all in all an ok experience but technoligically backward and lacking any real bite, just an old dark place with plastic walls and the lights off, very smelly and some poor videos of not so gory stuff going on. It has its moments but even with a discounted ticked was still overpriced for me, needs updating and bringing into the 21^st century …

The Dungeon is located in the basement of a multi use building, as most places in Europe are due to the lack of space. Its set up like a year-​round haunt with actors and dummies illustrating the medieval dungeon acts of torture. The tours are well organized with guides that talk about the devices of torture in good detail but not to the point that its boring.
You get a pretty good feel for what it might have been like to have landed in such a terrible predicament. Great fun for the whole family but keep in-​mind that it is dark inside for ambiance, plus its in walking distance from the Yorvik Viking Center.

A great place to visit, quite scary especially if you have a vivid imagination like me. my husband and I had great fun in there, at one stage a woman with an axe scared me to death and I ran as fast as I could, much to my hubbys delight. Go in with an open mind and a good imagination and you will enjoy it.

I have visited the York Dungeon on 3 occassions now. They do change some of the attractions every so often, which is good for regular visitors. My last visit was only a few days ago. There was no queue so we went straight in. We also used a 2 for 1 voucher so saved £14 there. Some of the banter can be a little bit too much with children present, but on the whole it is quite good fun. Individuals do get picked on to go into the dock at Judgement of Sinners and also to demonstrate the instruments of torture. Both my husband and I have taken part in this and it is not too scary, all in good fun! recommended.

We went there last year, we had to queue for a bit before going in and the member of staff at the front kept us amusing throwing insults at people in the queue. he was a bit over the top though. The tour lasts around 45 minutes, I expected to be really scared but nothing really scared me so I was disappointed. The ‘people’ around the dungeon were so fake looking u just wanted to laugh and I didnt feel I really learned anything so I was a bit disappointed. I thought it was really bad value for money. On the up side it is in York town and there is plenty of other things to see.

I went reluctantly to the York Dungeons with my four children and we had to queue down the street before we went in as it was very busy. I was a bit worried as various actors kept coming out and did look very scary, playing their part to us, and I thought my youngest child may get too scared.
The actors inside are very good and I myself was scared of being tapped on the shoulder or picked on by the Judge. But in the end we all found it a bit of a laugh although some of the torture chamber stories were a bit gory.
I would recommend it for a bit of a laugh for not for small children.

York Dungeon offers a bit of scary fun. It is a bit of fun based arround historic events in york such as the plague, tourture practices, mainly bestwed upon Vikins and Christians and vice versa and Dick Turpin. While on the tour there are a few supprises, a hand touching your shoulder at a perticalarly spooky part of the story being told by your guide, ghosts and the like jumping out to give you a fright.
It is quite educational but I would beware about taking young children as some of it can be scary. You are in a dark environment and the floors slope and turn so be carefull.
Personaly I love the place and can not visit York without going

This wasn’t really my thing, but the girlfriend loved it, and on the day that was all that mattered (grr :().
It saves money and time to book online first. Take the print out with you, and queue jump your way in via the fast pass entrance.
Once inside there are a variety of exhibitions and characters who guide you on your way. The entrance fee with the web discount is a fair price, but on the day tickets are overpriced.
The exhibits change regularly, so I afraid I’m going to have to go back soon!
A nice attraction and something a bit different too!

The York Dungeon is admittedly fun, but it’s also rather bizarre. The general theme of the attraction is horror, and it’s mostly a pretty classy waxwork display of torture devices, historic murder scenes and the like, but there are various ghouls and such thrown into the mix, too. It is quite something to go straight from a history lesson on the massacre of the Jews at Clifford’s Tower to a sideshow featuring a cackling zombie.
Nevertheless, it’s entertaining, suitably atmospheric and occasionally quite informative and educational. A fun afternoon out.

Great fun for adults, but can be a little scary for children at times, and the banter can be a little risqué on occasion. But all in all an enjoyable attraction. The only drawback was the party size, a few too many people being squashed into small rooms made it a bit claustrophobic at times.
The information given was quite interesting, but I imagine it could go stright over the heads of younger children as sometimes it was difficult to understand what the tour guides were saying, due to the fact they were acting out a role rather than just speaking naturally.
Rather expensive considering you just walk around there is very little interaction.

York Dungeon is a great day out for all ages. You walk through various simulated environments being told kid-​friendly ghost stories from the history of the town of York. The tellers of these stories are hammy actors in makeup and costume, like the plague doctor’s assistant or the torturer or the barkeep. The parts are all played over the top and are rather entertaining, and the stories are educational. The witch trial judge, in particular, is great fun with the audience participation. It’s quite Carry On esque, only less subtle.
Some children may find the experience too frightening, but it’s not overly gory or jumpy. The special effects and decorations are are rather basic, but do the job. I would say the ideal audience for this trip is pre-​pubescent boys, given the emphasis on death, disease, torture and double-​entendres.

Very interesting and educational,
My trip was let down however by the guide who put far too much innuendo into his patter, especially with the number of children present. A lot of it was very blatant. If I wanted a comedy routine I would go to jongleurs. Hopefully the staff ahve changed since I last visited.

York Dungeons is a great place to take kids on a day trip out. It offers history and fact, whilst being lots of fun. It has actors on the route round playing out parts and jumping out on you. It’s particularly a good one for boys as it does get gruesome when they show you old instruments of torchure.
It is located just on the very edge of the town centre.