As we explained in our review of Blackbeard’s Treasure, Escape Hunt Oxford offers a very smooth experience from start to finish. With well rehearsed room briefs and games masters who double up as actors at certain points, they clearly take immersion very seriously. We were quite excited by the idea of an Alice in Wonderland themed room and that’s actually what prompted us to make the trip as it’s a theme we have never seen anywhere else. We’ve seen the fantasy and sci-fi rooms, but Wonderland is typically though to be quite quirky and so we thought this would make for some interesting elements in an escape room.
When we entered the room we found ourselves in the Mad Hatters front garden, where a small dining table was prepared for the Queen’s party. A large street sign occupies the middle of the room and we observed plenty of nods to the Wonderland theme such as roses, the suits of cards and clocks. What grabbed our attention though was the large cottage at the back of the room which is complete with a small fenced garden, flowers, net curtains, locked doors and a little postbox. It was very fairytale and if we were to picture what the Mad Hatter’s house might look like, this would definitely be it. We felt it wouldn’t look out of place in the queue of a kids rollercoaster at Alton Towers.
Thankfully, solving a few puzzles eventually led us inside the cottage and into the Hatter’s kitchen. As with the outside, this room was just as immersive as the garden and the original theme was well maintained moving from the one location into the next. The kitchen was kitted out with a stove, french dresser and recipe books but also featured several nods to the Alice theme such as tiny doors dotted around the walls and more crazy clocks. It is very well executed and as a theme, we were very impressed.
If we had to be constructive, we did find a few areas where the room is showing a few signs of wear. There was a fairly key light fixture that wasn’t working, some of the crockery on the dining table was chipped or cracked and we also observed some nails poking out of a wall near the door (but behind a prop so not dangerous). To be clear though, this didn’t take away from what has been achieved in the room.