Kent News - Dickens World opens its doors to the public

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Sunday, March 14 2010, 18:39

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Dickens World opens its doors to the public

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Ned the Rat Catcher played by Eddie Sampson

Workers slaved round-the-clock this week so a £62 million theme park about the life of Charles Dickens was ready for its grand opening on Friday.

The attraction, which aims to bring the novels of the treasured British author into the 21st century, is expected to attract 300,000 visitors a year.

After touring the park Thelma Groves, of the Dickens Fellowship, said: “I think the park is as authentic as it can be for the modern age – it is as good as it gets.”

Dickens World will include the largest themed dark boat ride in Europe and the first 4D animatronics show in Britain.

It aims to draw in tourists from Europe and America – where Dickens has a major following, placing him in the premier league of British authors with William Shakespeare and Jane Austen.

The theme park had been due to open to the public last month but was called off just days before the ‘grand opening’ when life-sized robotic models of the author’s characters, including the Ghost of Christmas Future, had not been shipped in from the US.

Kevin Christie, the managing director of Dickens World, said: “The animatronics only arrived from the US this week.”

The theme park has been built on a 71,000-square foot site on the former naval dockyards in Chatham, where Dickens’ father worked and he lived as a boy.

The author counted this as one of the happiest periods of his life and he drew on his experiences and memories of Chatham and Rochester in many of his books.

The theme park has been designed to introduce a new generation to Dickens and his characters like Mr Micawber, Fagin, Magwitch and Ebenezer Scrooge.

Its attractions are set in Victorian Britain – the best and worst of times of the British Empire, when this country ruled much of the globe but many of its population lived in extreme poverty.

Its dark water ride, called Great Expectations, takes people on a 12-minute long ride across the rooftops of Victorian London before plummeting down in the only knuckle-ride of the park into the Thames estuary then on down to Chatham.

Entrance for adults is £12.50 and the theme park will take up to four hours to see all the attractions.

Mr Christie said: “We set out four years ago to turn a theme park based on the life of Charles Dickens into a reality.”

POSTED: 25/05/2007 17:07:43

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