2012 and not 2011?

[dreamland]

all the news from last year stated that dreamland should be opening in spring 2011 but now reading the latest news is says 2012? is this correct?

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Um, that's what it says, right?
The same people updating the main site are campaign members who post here, so yes, if they say so.

Completely rebuilding Dreamland will be a monumental task, undoing decades of neglect and poor decisions.

[porf]

Yup, Nick does all the news page updates - so I'd consider anything there as straight from the top.

It also ties in with comments from Nick in the latest ECC "First Drop" magazine that arrived today and again mentions 2012.

As JDJ says there's a lot to be done before the place can open to the public.

[Nick]

Our current programme shows the development being completed late summer 2011. That is not a good time to open a tourist attraction, hence we are now looking at some time around Easter 2012. This will also allow for the inevitable slippage you get with development projects and it means that we can make sure that we get it right.

[Nick Evans]

Hopefully it will open in time for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend then when ideally lots of people may think of coming to Margate to celebrate - not to mention the Olympics (I said not to mention the Olympics!)

Are there any royal named/themed rides about the place? The Royal Scenic Railway or the Diamond Dodgems perhaps?

[vince69619]

Now there's a thought, no cars for the scenic amalgamate the two and you have the Royal Diamond Scenic Dodgems!

Could make for a fun ride, don't know what H&S would make of dodgem cars bumping each other down a scenic track!

Vince.

[dave771]

Well, Scenic trains have been known to play dodgems with each other on the track in the past lol

[porterm]

Hi all

I must admit, like dreamland, I was half hoping for a Dreamland revival to occur next year, as I believe was initially cited, however I think that we have to have some realistic vision of what can be properly achieved within the timescales. Whilst opening by Easter 2011 would seem a great idea to many I feel that it would probably be more beneficial launching a completed, or near-complete offering than one that would not justify all the hard work that will undoubtedly go into achieving the optimum attraction to complement Margate's best future tourism goals.

I would have personally preferred the park to open a year before the Olympics frenzy, however I am sure that this attraction will present some welcome distractions for those not entirely enthralled by sporting spectacles.

We have, afterall, been patiently waiting since 2003 to witness the real Dreamland renaissance, so another few months or so between friends should not really harm anyone.

Martin

[Nick Evans]

I'm sure we'll get a definitive answer before too long from the Dreamland Trust management.

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

A half-assed attempt to drag in some traveling carnival stuff and open the park in 2011 could be a huge public relations blunder.
1. People will come to see the new Dreamland ands see the same crapfest it was a few years ago. Word spreads.
2. The time the park would be open would be downtime for construction. if the green areas and such are really going to be installed, a lot of demolition and work will need to be done.
Do it right, or don't do it, basically.
This also gives the rest of Margate a chance to do something about itself. Unless the seafront is cleaned up, Dreamland will suffer.

[cliffc]

Hi

I have to agree with the majority of the posters on here that Easter 2012 gives the trust 2 years to get all of the work completed that is requred and all of the rides built up and tested, as well as the landscapeing and of course the biggest job of them all the old girl rebuilt and running again.

And as Nick said if the work all goes to plan and is on time opening late in the summer is not a good idea for a tourist attraction, allthough I do like the idea of a preview event for members of the trust this event could also be used to generate some teaser publicity for the opening at Easter 2012

Regards

Cliff C