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Dickens theme park falls on hard times

Funny, I was thinking about if this was still going just the other day. Can't believe it opened 7 years ago though! I'm really not surprised that they're not pulling in the crowds, for starters you don't see advertising for it anywhere. In such a crowded tourism market that's a sure sign of something failing. By the sound of it I'd loathe it if I was to finally visit what with some of the animatronics turned off and the boat ride closed and drained. Such a sad state of affairs but I don't think any of us saw it lasting this long.
 
When it was there, just had a look and they got rid of it last season. It was a Dark Ride themed around The Great Expectations and it is about how the convict in the story escaped London and ended up in Kent. It get to a scene on the rooftop and then rotates so the people at get soaked and then goes back into to the station. When we went in 2012 I found the place was really well themed but not something I'd go to often, seeing as the water ride has gone it looks boring.
 
The trouble with Dickens is that it's not exciting. Yeah, ok, so he might be considered a literature genius (I don't think so), but his stories are so gloomy. It's an interesting concept but if you were presenting kids with a choice where they would like to go, Dickens World or Harry Potter Studios Land Thing (or even Chessington) for a day out, they'd choose the four-eyed wizard every time.
 
We were going to do a Halloween event there and didn't end up bothering.

The thing is; it's been run into the ground. It has such potential on an education front, but it's been managed completely wrong. I have the floorplans of the building too and it's a lot bigger than people realise with pathways all around the edge of the main area that aren't open to the public.

They removed their boat ride and spent over £8,000 adding a wooden floor so people can walk the trough of it with nothing happening but random noises every so often...
 
I didn't have particularly great expectations of the place when it first opened!
(boom boom)

And I bet the owners house will be rather bleak this christmas!
(ker-ching)
 
Lofty said:
We were going to do a Halloween event there and didn't end up bothering.

The thing is; it's been run into the ground. It has such potential on an education front, but it's been managed completely wrong. I have the floorplans of the building too and it's a lot bigger than people realise with pathways all around the edge of the main area that aren't open to the public.

They removed their boat ride and spent over £8,000 adding a wooden floor so people can walk the trough of it with nothing happening but random noises every so often...
Click to expand...
I would have thought their biggest market was schools... It's nuts about the ride.

I imagined this place to be a larger version of hose victorian town things, like Flambards has? Was it?

EDIT: Sorry, is it? It's not dead yet.
 
Yeah. It's weird though you walk into a foyer that's like a scruffy £1 shop somewhere, are sent through a staircase and end up in the massive courtyard that's really well themed. The whole experience is based around their courtyard. It has little shops, buildings, areas and walkways that are themed to different Dickensian stories, it's really quite clever in that respect.

It's similar to Flambards but doesn't have as much to offer although the Theming and lighting is much better.


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