How are things coming along in saving the park?

The Save Dreamland Campaign was launched by Joyland Books in January 2003 and is now supported by several thousand people. This is the place to discuss all aspects of saving Margate's famous amusement park and its iconic , Grade II listed Scenic Railway, Britain's oldest roller coaster.

Moderators: dave771, porf, Sarah

How are things coming along in saving the park?

Postby Stateside John » 08 May 2004, 16:34

I've just stumbled upon your quest to save an aging amusement park. I'm from the US and have personally experienced the closing of three wonderful "smaller" amusement parks in my life.

All of these had fabulous wooden rollercoasters not unlike the ones I've seen pictured at your park.

It seems that all the parks here in the US are turning into MEGA parks. In doing this they lose that charm of a family business.

My favorite park from my childhood was a series of amusement piers on the Atlantic Seashore at Wildwood, New Jersey. When I was young there were 5 piers which were built toward the ocean from the main boardwalk. Each pier was a small amusement park and all were individually owned. Each one had a personality and vibe of it's own. I worked as a DJ/Ride operator for the Himalaya ride on Mariners Landing Amusement Pier for two seasons.

Recently, the largest of the 5 has purchased all the others and now tickets are universal between them. However, they have lost something in this. Hard to explain, but it isn't the same.

All this to say,... Keep up your efforts! Save the park! Buy the park! Do some market research and find out what it would take to make the park a viable year-round location to improve income. I have tons of suggestions but I really don't know the status of your situation.

Thanks for reading!
John ~

Your American Buddy from a state nobody really knows about.
Stateside John
 
Posts: 1
Joined: 08 May 2004, 16:23
Location: Delaware, USA

Postby Lou » 18 Jun 2004, 19:22

Well, the latest news seems to be that Dreamland is going to reopen for a few weeks this summer (as you have probably read).
Unfortunatly we seem to have a local council who basically seem unable to see that Dreamland is the heart of Margate and do not seem to be supporting the suggestion that Dreamland could and should be invested in and given a new lease of life.
We, the people of Margate and in my case, Birchington, a little village nearby, hold Dreamland very dear to our hearts and know that it can be viable. Unfortunatly we are ignored and the council will decide to do what they want to do with no consultation from us.........even the Margate Masterplan questionnaire, where everyone was supposed to be able to vent their opinions was worded in a very strange way, ultimately to give the council the answers that they wanted.
Anyway, despite all this, we will continue to fight because Dreamland is worth fighting for..Regards Lou
Lou
 
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Joined: 31 Jan 2004, 14:32


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