IMPORTANT VIRE ESCAPE ROOMS AYLESBURY UPDATE – Unfortunately the company has now closed permanently. If you had an exisiting booking please visit their website regarding your payment.
Recently we were invited to do a review of the Vire escape room in Aylesbury and we jumped at the chance! Over the years we’ve done a couple of escape rooms and I love them. We’ve done Harry Potter themed ones, virtual ones, postal ones, escape rooms in a box and “normal” ones. The adrenaline of being completely lost and then figuring it out. The pressure of trying to beat the clock before impending doom. The excitement when you do! Love it.
Vire have got various escape room options in their Aylesbury and Hemel Hempstead centres. There are also various outdoors escape rooms, again in Aylesbury and Hemel Hempstead, as well as Watford and various villages. In Aylesbury you’ll find Space Race, Haunted House, Arctic Survival and Nuclear Countdown. Previously I have done Nuclear Countdown with some friends. This time we tried out Arctic Survival as a family.
We were gifted admission to Vire in Aylesbury so we could review the escape room but they had no input into the content and didn’t see the review prior to publication.
The scenarios
We’ve been wondering across the Arctic and got lost (probably because it’s the Arctic and we’d be pretty rubbish at finding our way around). Stumbling across a wooden shack we find out that in order to be rescued we need to build a communication device before bad weather means no-one can get to us!
I mentioned that I’ve also done the nuclear countdown escape room. In that one you have an hour to stop find the codes to disarm an abandoned nuclear lab before disaster strikes. And you get to wear lab coats if you want to.
If you haven’t done an escape room before you have to use clues and resources in the room to solve puzzles, which usually give you a padlock code. You can then use that code to release more clues and so on until you’ve achieved your goal (in our case finding the four pieces of the communication device). Each room is given its own difficulty rating and different rooms are suitable for different ages.
It’s very hard to write a review of an escape room without giving it away!
But I’ll try my best. In the nuclear room there were a lot more steps to solve, but they were often quite quick. We were a fairly large group (8 people) so we kind of broke into little groups and did different puzzles at the same time. The Arctic room had less steps, but they took more time. Without giving anything away you have to wait for something to happen with one of the clues and it seemed to take ages before you got the clue that you needed. Mess it up (which we did) and you have to wait until you can start again. It’s all part of the fun but also really frustrating.
I was a little bit worried that it might be beyond Middle Child (he’s 9), and that he might get bored. He was fine with it. There were some frustrations along the way, but actually we all had our parts to play, our own strengths and our own weaknesses.
A couple of clues to help
These actually apply to all escape rooms, not just the ones at Vire. Before you do anything have a really good look around. On top of stuff, behind stuff, particularly underneath stuff. What moves? What weird things could potentially become clues in the future? What can you hear?
Pay attention to colours as they’re often relevant. Figured out a code but it doesn’t work on the lock? Try the codes on all the locks. That’s where we went wrong. Twice! So annoying. Sometimes a clue might be a red herring (although that’s quite rare), or it could just be that you haven’t got all the information that you need yet.
If you get stuck you can ask for clues, and don’t be afraid to use them. Usually these are just enough to give you a little bit of helping without actually giving you the answer. If you’re really struggling you can ask for multiple clues.
Haunted House
The haunted house escape room at Vire in Aylesbury is one of the ones they tend to recommend for younger participants because it’s the easiest. I’ve looked around and there is a little bit of fake blood etc so I asked how scary it is. Apparently it really isn’t and they’re able to tone it down for younger kids so it should be fine.
What else can you do here?
As well as the four escape rooms you can do VR games here too. They used to have a nerf room but that’s gone now. They do birthday parties and sessions where you can basically drop the kids off for a few hours and have to some to yourself! The outdoors escape rooms look really fun. Hubby and I have been looking at the save the circus one. We really like the sound of that so might have to check it out.
Our Vire Aylesbury Escape Room review
WE DID IT! We used two clues and took 56 minutes, but we did it. By the end we were so close to running out of time, and the last clue is a bit tricky, so my heart was absolutely racing! Actually scrub that, the last clue is a physical one and it’s really fiddly. And easy to mess it up. Which we (aka the kids) did, so we had to start all over again. All with the clock ticking.
Middle Child says “I can’t believe we got out. It was amazing and quite hard. I want to have my birthday party here” Hubby has done lots of escape rooms too and he thinks this was one of the best. Biggest Child had a brilliant time. Looking back at it, everything was completely solvable if you just thought about it. We shouldn’t have needed the clues, we were just being silly. Isn’t that always the case with an escape rooms?
Admission cost
The cost per person depends on how many people are doing the room. It ranges from £15-£20 per person. The minimum age is 10 bur we got special permission so we could do this review. You can check availability and book via their website.
Parking / How to get there
Parking – Use town centre car parks
Address – 14-16 Temple Street, Aylesbury, Bucks. HP20 2RQ
Toilets
On-site
Food
Cafe on site. Own food not allowed.
What else is there to do nearby?
Aylesbury has got loads of things to do with the kids. There’s soft play centres like Stay & Play or Zoomania. There’s also Rogue leisure for bowling, go-karts, .
Hi, I’m Vicky. My husband and I live in Aylesbury with our three children; a 14 year old son, an 12 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. I (mostly) love spending time together as a family. We visit all kinds of places and we’re quite happy to drive a fair distance for a decent day out. A few years ago I decided to set up Free Time with the Kids as a way to share our experiences of these family days out.
You’ll find the essential information you need to know before your visit that can be surprisingly hard to find out. Where do I park? How much will it cost me to get in? Are there any discounts available? Are there loos? Can I take a picnic or get food? My aim is to be your go-to guide for all your free and cheap family days out across Bucks, Beds, Oxon, Herts & slightly beyond. I really hope you find the reviews helpful. If there’s anywhere that you’d recommend please get in touch contact@freetimewiththekids.com or get in touch via Facebook
