Is time running out

[lutonlad]

With Easter just around the corner do you think that a suitable operator will be found in time to open the park for the easter half term holidays. With only a few weeks to go i feel that time is just running out.

Gary

P.s it would be nice to take the kids there in easter half term.

[Neil]

Well the developers either seem to be premature or late. On one hand they build a fence before they get planning permssion and want to demolish buildings covered by listed building consent before deciding what they want to do with the site. On the other hand they are very behind with preparing for this season when several parks are already open and most other will be open in a month.

[RowBot]

well if it's going to be another season like 2005 it won't open on time...it will be a travelling fair so won't take long to setup and of course it will close early to kill all the hopes of a nice end of season...personally I don't think there will be a real hope of anything special unless TDC do make sure that it stays as an amusement park.

[DN]

I have just read the main news section on the front page and i have to say i am disgusted. I dont understand what is wrong with this council, what gives these few officials the right to decide what THEy think is best for Margate. Look at the Turner Centre Fiasco, the Seafront Traffic Lights, the Flintstone rocks outside the Railway station, the thousands spent painting an re painting public toilets, is it me or are we being led by a bunch of self serving imbeciles?

Common sense dictates that Margate's main selling points are the seafront and related attractions. Last summer people coming from London or wherever would arrive, maybe find the Dreamland site open, then walk past some rough looking arcades, some boarded up shops and in the case i witnessed, sitting in th Dreamland car park outisde the coach looking glum. THen these people wonder why Margate doesnt get he visitors, well, you need something to visit.

THey want to build residential housing, do we really need More and More? Everywhere you turn places are being demolished to become retirement housing, or those hideous new build houses that are no bigger than a shoe box but cost way over the odds.

If we had an amusement park on the Dreamland site, people would visit. Iwork in the Tourism industry and different people want different things. Some people like flying off to sunny climes, while tohers love nothing more than a trip to the seaside. I think what people fail to realise is, that most people who live near the sea dont appreciate it, but those families who live in land, its a rare treat for them.


Margate could be so much more, its a shame a few pen pushers with their own agenda want to ruin it to suit themselves. Dreamland was sold to Mr Godden as an amusement park, something it has been for over a hundred years, its should not be redeveloped or re assigned as residential or whatever.

Finally, just imagine if instead of the Turner Centre, which im sure will pull in the punters in the hundreds and thousands, the council invested that amount of money into a theme park - that would have been more than enough to get two icon rides....just imagine a B&M Floorless, the first in the UK , or an Intamin Impulse, again, another first, put Margate on the map, compliment it with other rides and people would flock. Ok im dreamong now, but you see my point.

[porterm]

Yes DN, I feel exactly the same with this council's apparent stance on local issues. Any other town would surely relish the potential that having a listed amusement park ride would bring.

In Maidstone just down my road we have an old Victorian pub with attractive flower displays on its flat roof in the summer and a large Christmas lights display at Christmas times. Here, there is another "regeneration" proposal to build 49 flats and office space by Barratt Homes crammed into the former area by the West railway station. So imaginative! - another case of town cloning?

I think it really is time to object to Thanet District Council once again as they have surely not heeded any previous public and business opinions. (How many more public enquiries can one really have on the same issues by the way?)

We have to continue the fight whatever happens.

Martin

[James]

THey want to build residential housing, do we really need More and More? Everywhere you turn places are being demolished to become retirement housing, or those hideous new build houses that are no bigger than a shoe box but cost way over the odds.

Well these houses will all be bigger than a shoe box so you don't need to worry. Just keep cool and trust in Waterbridge, they aren't stupid enough to build houses that small.

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Dreamland could be so MANY things all at once, a park, an amusement park, an entertainment venue, and a collection of exciting places to eat.

Not interested in rides, there could be some sweet little cafes for the locals. Just a nice place to walk through and enjoy the sea air and a snack.

[Neil]

Perhaps, but only if the alternatives aren't effectively appeasement. Potentially an amusement park could be bigger enough to encourage day trippers from London to return in significant number, but to do this most of the 16 acres will need to be an amusement as with competition from the likes of Legoland, Thorpe Park, Chessington and Adventure Island some greatly scaled down park just won't do it. It looks really big at the moment, but when it's filled up with rides it will quickly seem smaller. It's also worth rememebring that plans like the 'I dream of Dreamland' require the entire site, not just a portion of it.

In terms of other entertainment the site already has a cinema, ten pin balling, lazar quest and extensive arcades. I am scepticle as to whether any more would be viable.

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Sure. Skip the dolphin show section and turn it into a live music and show stage. Dolphin shows are incredibly expensive to maintain.

Yes, 16 acres isn't a lot to work with and I agree and have always posted as I've assumed the idea is to retain the entire park.

Something that maybe nobody's thought of is that permenant roller coasters can be and are designed to fit over and around existing structures. Something to keep in mind in the future. This park's big enough to accomidate one more major and one semi-major coaster.

[Neil]

This park's big enough to accomidate one more major and one semi-major coaster.

Out of interest what do you qualify as a major attraction and a medium attraction? I'm sure they have space for more than 1 medium size attraction. Adventure Island has atleast three (Green Scream, Beelzeebob's and the Logflume). Dreamland is bigger, and I recon you could atleast two medium size attraction besides a major one. It can be deceptive, but you'll be surprised at how you can pack attraction around each other. On the 'I Dream of Dreamland' plan there are the following:

Major Rides:
1)The Scenic
2)Tsunami (Tidal Wave at Thorpe and Hydro at Oakwood are both classified as major rides so at Dreamland it would also surely fit this category)
3)Wind Walker (Perhaps this would be a modern equivalent of the Lady Bird which park visitors generally counted as a major ride)

Medium Rides
1)Loot Fume (A Log Fume can easily be a signiture ride, but if this only has 1 drop I guess Jim would count it as a medium size ride)
2The Flying Fish (Had trouble deciding whether it was a major ride or medium size. If you compare the layout to something like Dragon's Fury then probably medium. But some people counted the Wild Mouse as a major ride and this looks atleast as big).
3)Squiddy Scenic (perhaps a small ride, although it's quite ambitious for a junoir ride, maybe a bit more so than a mini apple).
4)Storm (whether a medium or major ride depends on the qulaity of the pre-show etc. But certainly more than a minor peripheral ride).
5)Silly Surfin' (having ridden one I recon it's definately big enough to qulaify as a medium attraction, although I won't class it in the same league as the Scenic)
6)The River Caves (again could be a major ride, but perhaps not judging from the size of the building)
7)Island on Top of the World (would certainly be a significant landmark).
Sea Serpant (any UK first looping coaster can't be described as small. If Thunderlooper was a medium ride at A|lton Towers, a similar style ride can at Dreamland)
9)Cannonball (although it is hard to designate a ride category without an indication of height)
10)Crow's Nest (if only because a topple tower is fairly marketable)
11)Blackbeard's (although Sally have a reputatation good enough to create a major ride)

Actually the more I think about it the more your estimation seems a little stingy. Then again you might be right, at this stage it is hard to tell. Am I right in thinking the I Dream of Dreamland is roughly to scale?

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Oh, you must have misread. I used the word coaster, not attraction.
I'm from the state of Ohio, where we have Cedar Point and Kings Island, home to some of the biggest rollercoasters in the world, so it takes a LOT to impress me.
Cedar point has a wooden coaster that I believe takes up most of 14 or 16 acres. That's the entire Dreamloand site... for ONE rollercoeaster. It's VERY big and considered a monster.

However, even a coaster half that size is still considered major and creatively designed, a couple that size, or one and perhaps an overhead track type coaster could be put in eventually.

[Neil]

Sorry, yes I have mis-read your post. It just goes to show how you read what you expect to read, so I thought you said attraction. You're probably right, although I suppose how many coasters you have depends on how many other attractions you have. To be honest I don't suppose Dreamland will ever have coasters on the same kind of budget as somewhere like Cedar Point, although you never know. It would be great though if they could get a B&M inverted, it would certainly help get the park back on track to where it used to be.

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

No, but that's the charm of Dreamland. It could and should have appropriately sized and spaced attractions, and one or 2 modern real eyecatchers.

[James]

Skip the dolphin show section and turn it into a live music and show stage.

That Jimbo person from America seems to be a bit confused. But I think he wants to see us demolish the Scenic and build a nighclub with live music in its place. I don't know whether we'll be able to build the nighclub he wants, but we can get rid of the old roller coaster.

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

Just keep cool and trust in Waterbridge, they aren't stupid enough to build houses that small.

How do you know?