The ageing technology was given a £4 million refurbishment in its ninth year and after a short closure period, it reopened in March 1999. New parts of the attraction included a virtual reality simulation of the view from a Wembley Stadium stage, and an after-show party set-up featuring Robbie Williams, The Spice Girls and Jarvis Cocker. One aspect that was not updated in this refurbishment was a dot-matrix display mounted just below the waxworks present on the outside of the London Pavilion, and which used standard incandescent light bulbs. Originally, when the attraction opened, this read "Rock Circus" which was scrolled to give an impression of movement. Over time, more and more of the bulbs failed and were never replaced, leading to the sign becoming entirely illegible, although a number of bulbs still continued to cycle on and off. This was seen by many as an indication of the tackiness of what was little more than an expensive tourist trap. Closure in September 2001 Despite the update a few years previously, and having attracted up 682,000 visitors during its heyday in 1993, the attraction failed to meet its income targets, and closed permanently in September 2001. The space it formerly used was then replaced by Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum (which opened 20 August 2008, and itself closed permanently on 25 September 2017). Tussauds Group staff blamed the closure on the strength of the pound (making London an expensive destination for the young Europeans the attraction was largely aimed at), and a steady decline in visitor numbers, despite a reported 6 million total visitors since opening in 1989. Many of the waxwork figures were redeployed at the main Madame Tussauds exhibition, and Rock Circus staff were offered posts at other Tussauds Group attractions to minimize redundancies. Although unconfirmed, all or a number of the other wax figures used at the attraction were placed into storage by Tussauds. See also Madame Tussauds London Pavilion London Eye References External links KISS at Rock Circus Preview London (1992); Rock Circus – YouTube video footage of attraction from 1992 Tourist attractions in London Animatronic attractions