Last week I attended the launch night of Edinburgh Dungeon's Deadly Diseases show, along with other press, industry experts and some fellow Edinburgh bloggers. Overall, the night was a massive hit with everyone -  there was lots of nervous laughter and even some screams as we made our way through the tour.

I am a huge lover of the dungeons, and made a few visits during my time at Edinburgh. I posted last week about my trip to the Edinburgh vaults (click here) which I love too, but the Dungeons give you a different experience into Edinburgh's dark and creepy past.

At the start of the night, we were treated to some lovely canopes and a gin, to help settle some of those nerves. Then we were split into two groups so that we could experience the tour for ourselves. The tour has a mixture of funny, creepy and down right terrifying shows and enhanced by dark rooms and spooky sound effects. After being sentenced to 'your doom' by the judge, you're taken deeper and deeper into the dungeons, where goodness knows what is waiting for you. Each show reveals more and more about the horrible scenes that were present on the streets of Edinburgh, or the frightening characters you don't want to bump into.

While the first half of the tour has a more light hearted feel to it, with some funnier characters telling their tales, the second half of the tour can only be described as scary. After taking a boat ride into Sawney Bean's cave, where he and his canibal family are waiting for you and the kingsmen, I was on edge. I'd visited the dungeons just in December, so knew what was coming, but if anything this made the whole experience worse. As some of Sawney Bean's children run around and creep up behind everyone, you'll feel lucky if you manage to escape without being picked on. One of the newer shows 'The Green Lady' is full of supernatural scares, with the pitch darkness allowing anything to appear in front of you as shelves fall down and books are thrown.

The main reason we were invited along was to experience the new Easter show (that's right, its only here for a short amount of time, so if you want to try it out then you'd better book fast) 'Deadly Diseases'. Certainly, this was one of the more light hearted shows, where an unlucky gentleman is invited into the barber's chair, where after examination, it is revealed that he has caught a number of deadly diseases. Prepare for juices to be squirted over your head, and nasty bugs and leaches wriggle under your bottom.



Once out of the dungeons, the first thing you'll do is let out a huuuuuge sigh of relief. After all, you did survive a hanging at the Grass Market (a 30m free fall drop)! The tour is very interactive, so be prepared to be picked on, and have your wits tested. After finishing, you'll find yourself in the new giftshop which has been redesigned as a market. The stalls are filled with merchandise, but be careful as there are rats that jump at you, and bags that growl and move!

The team at the Dungeon's were the perfect hosts, giving us each a bottle of vodka cranberry mix, followed by more wine and food once closer to the surface level. They also treated us all to a wee goodie bag, filled with Burke and Hare toffees (perfectly sweet, but tough going on your teeth) and cute pens, pencils and keyrings to remind us that we survived.



If was great fun experiencing the new show, as well as the rest of the tour, and I can't recommend the dungeons enough. Its perfect for a cold or wet day in Edinburgh (which are frequent here in Edinburgh) and will fill your afternoon or evening perfectly. Just prepare yourself - and your heart - for what the dungeons have in store for you!

Love,
Emily
xxx

SIDENOTE: Hey guys, just to let you lovely lot know, I made the decision to make a facebook page for Under The Scottish Rain. It was actually at the dungeons after talking to the girls above that I decided its the right time. After seeing how much my blog has grown over the last two years, I wanted to share it with more people on the world of Facebook. If you'd like to keep up to date over there, then I'd love for you to like the page and help my page grow! CLICK HERE