Things are looking good!

Let's hope these early plans become reality, they look amazing!

Clicky

Plan

Discuss!

I think its an amazing plan and just what this town needs (its my local park), but 40% of the site has already been sold to developers, so the fate rests in the councils hands as to whether they re classify what the land can be used for

I would love to see this plan taken into action

Its the shot in the arm Margate needs, cos at the moment, well, the place is a dump, ive seen people come down in coaches from London just to sit in the car park as there is nothing to do


Hopefully if the next two years temp rides prove as success we could see great things

That looks amazing. Some of those rides look really good, The Whirlwind looks extremely scary and the two new dark rides Storm and Yellowbeard's ghost also look great.

Well this topic has been dead for quite a while but for those who haven't heard here is the next part of the story:
1) Public Inspector said that Dreamland should remain an Amusement Park!
2) Council voted on whether to accept Inspector's Recommendatiosn-all Labour Councillors vote in favour (good)
All conservatives vote against it (bad is an understatement).

Anyhow that's a very simplistic account of what has happened but if you want to hear more then the lastest news is on the Save Dreamland website
www.savedreamland.co.uk

OK, as the public enquiry rapidly approaches people have the chance to make their views known in the Isle of Thanet Gazette. Basically anyone can add a message (you don't have to be local', it's free and very quick. Although it won't directly influence the Council it will ensure that the campaign has the full support of the major local paper which would be a great boost in saving Dreamland. Presently the results are.
37 messages support preserving the entire site as an amusement park
4 comments would like atlest a portion to be designated to an alternative use (eg as an ice skating rink).

If you want to help save Dreamland then the link so you can make your voice heard is below:
http://ickent.icnetwork.co.uk/debate/pa ... 29&start=1
Thanks to everyone who is continually supporting the campaign!

Whenever I can, I keep an eye on Dreamland. Things are beggining to look up with the plans John Marc Taussant and it will be intresting to see what comes of these in coming years

Whenever I can, I keep an eye on dreamland. Things are beggining to look up with the plans John Marc Taussant and it will be intresting to see what comes of these in coming years

Yes however the council don't want that.

Currently they seem to want to bring in a travelling fair for a few months and run it badly so it makes a loss in profits. Then they can come out with "oh look dreamland as an amusement park is not financially viable. bring in the tesco's and JJB sports!"

"Adz-TTF" wrote:

Whenever I can, I keep an eye on dreamland. Things are beggining to look up with the plans John Marc Taussant and it will be intresting to see what comes of these in coming years

Yes however the council don't want that.

Currently they seem to want to bring in a travelling fair for a few months and run it badly so it makes a loss in profits. Then they can come out with "oh look dreamland as an amusement park is not financially viable. bring in the tesco's and JJB sports!"

Unfortunately that's true-however the good news is that the conservatives won the vote by a very small majority and with local elections coming up all could change very soon. One of the greatest things about Towers Times is that there are so many members Towers Times can make a genuine difference to things in the theme park industry if they want to. If only 10% of members add a brief message to the 'survey' supporting keeping the park as an Amusement Park it would be a massive boost to the campaign. Cheers to all who have helped and if you haven't left a message please do (voting is good but nowhere near as effective as a short message).

Thanks and please continue to support the campaign.

Pledged my support and will do whatever i can to help save this historical park!

I really do hope other members pledge their support, perhaps we could have this as a global announcement so that more people will see it?

perhaps we could have this as a global announcement so that more people will see it?

Done. for a day or so, afterall it's not to do with Alton Towers but if we can help the Dreamland situation in any way then it's all good. :)

Cheers Adz!

Please please please can people pledge their support on the site. It will help dramatically! Even if you have never been to Dreamland, or if you have no intentions to go in the future, it is a vital piece of British Amusement Park History and it should not be destroyed! Please! :)

Which site? Save Dreamland?

Well if you want up to date news and more ways to help save the park then you can sign up for the campaign mailing list (over 13,000 are on it!), go onto the main site (www.savedreamland.co.uk) and click on 'join us'.

I think the site Phil is refering to is the Thanet Gazette site. Leaving a comment won't lead you into any long term comittment and is a great way of putting pressure on the Council. The Thanet Gazette is a major paper in the area and messages cannot be easily ignored:
http://ickent.icnetwork.co.uk/debate/pa ... 29&start=1
If you are unsure what to put then feel free to have a read through some of the other messages. They certainly demonstrate the multitude of reasons to keep Dreamland.
PS Cheers for all of Towers Times help (eg making the topic 'sticky' etc), the council can't carry on ignoring the people for much longer.

Had an idea for a ride. probably nothing will come of it though but here it is anyway. The ride would be a Zamperla Alien Invasion like this http://i1.tinypic.com/n5hus9.jpg
I have no idea of the price of this ride as it is not displayed on the website but I know that it can come as a premade layout and is very compact, around 12mX15m I presume that it is pretty cheap.

The ride would be housed in a farm building such as this
http://i1.tinypic.com/n5ipgk.jpg with slight theming on the end that is presented to the customers such as this
http://i1.tinypic.com/n5iq34.jpg

The ride story is pretty basic. You are onboard a spaceship and aliens have broken into the basement and it is your job to annihilate them. This could be told in the queueline either through through a system of telivisions or just a looped sound recording. The theming of the ride would be pretty simple to do but look very effective. It would mainly consist of lots of plastic guttering paintet to look like matted metal with rust effects. here is a sample but I can't really draw in all the rust ect. with this programme so it is only a very basic idea of how it should look
http://i1.tinypic.com/n5izr5.jpg
The theming will be interupted by dark sections so there would be no need to theme the whole ride

I have made a 3D rendering of how the car should look but I still havn't included the guns
http://i1.tinypic.com/n5ju55.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/n5j2j8.jpg

I havn't started work on how the aliens should look yet but most will have to be static and highlighted by lightes but a few should move.

This ride may be a bit over ambitious but i think that it would be the correct approach to add one ride at a time rather than all at once because this may be more suited to the council. This ride although i have tried to make it as cheap as possible would not come cheap but would be a real crowd-puller with the element of interactivity but te ride may still require some sort of sponsorship

After the recent disappointment of Thanet District Council rejecting the recommendations of an independent Government inspector, there have been a few small but significant developments regarding Dreamland over the last couple of days.

Following many objections from those who live in Margate plus others who support the retainment of Dreamland as an amusement park, the Council have refused permission for the owners to demolish five buildings on the site, including one of the former amusment arcades. The council have also intervened regarding the erection of a permanent fence around the Scenic Railway, since no planning permission had been granted for this structure. The owners must now submit a planning application in order to retain this fence, which in light of the above, could prove difficult for the owners to gain permission.

Most interestingly though are the comments made by chairman Toby Hunter in the Isle of Thanet Gazette, regarding the forthcoming umpteenth 'public consultation' (arguably yet another attempt to use loaded questions to pull the wool over the Council's eyes regarding the owners' REAL intentions), "What we don't want, though, is for this activity to be dominated by the vocal minority who probably don't even live in Margate. We want to encourage the more thoughtful majority to air long-term proposals.". He went on to say that the Save Dreamland campaign doesn't invest in Margate and makes a lot of 'noise'.

The most interesting aspect of this is that it shows that the activities of the campaign continue to effect the developer's strategy to the point where they feel the need to voice their disapproval about it in newspapers. Nice to see they're running scared.

In an interesting parallel twist, the Save Dreamland forum has been presented with many posts allegedly from the Dreamland General Manager, who certainly seems to be backing himself into a corner.

Now is a crucial time for anyone who is able to assist, in any way they can, to visit the Save Dreamland.

:D

Yay! Dreamland's going to be open for 2006, with *rubs eyes* - an advertising campaign too. Let's hope this is better than lst years' fiasco (taken from www.savedreamland.co.uk ):

"Dreamland to open for the holidays

Margate will enjoy all the fun of the fair when Dreamland reopens at Easter.

Many residents feared that the park would be closed throughout the summer as doubts over its long-term future remain.

This week George Webb and his family, who have run travelling fairs around the UK and have been involved in the leisure industry for generations, confirmed that they will open the park at Easter.

Mr Webb said: "I can assure the people of Thanet and visitors to the area that Dreamland will be open for the Easter holidays."

Some rides have already arrived at the 16-acre park and others are expected in the coming weeks. The operators are planning a mix of white-knuckles thrills, family attractions, children's rides and traditional side-shows and stalls.

Mr Webb said: "The park may not be completely full of attractions when we open at Easter but within weeks I aim to have it packed and ready for the main season.

"We are also planning a staged area to attract people into special events."

The Scenic Railway, one of the oldest wooden rollercoasters in the world, will be one of the star attractions. And the ride holds a special meaning for Mr Webb. "It is a great old fairground favourite and I worked on it for four months last year in all weathers helping to restore it," he said. "I have a real affection for the ride."

The Webbs say that they have agreed a three-season deal with the park owners and are also considering out-of-season themed nights.

Admission to the park will be free with tokens on sale for each ride. The Webbs are planning a high-profile advertising campaign in the London area to draw crowds from the capital back to the seaside for days out.

Margate mayor Cllr Mick Tomlinson, who has worked closely with Dreamland for 50 years, said: "This is great news for our town. Margate really needs the presence of Dreamland to underpin its tourism, and the commitment by the Webb family is good for the area. Hopefully, it will attract lots of visitors from out of the area and they will spend time to find out more about the town and Thanet in general."

Just seen this! Yay! Great news. The 3 season-deal sounds promising too, at least it is getting investment and support from the industry, which is vital in the campaign!

George has already got an advert is World's Fair looking for major and 'juvenile' rides. Let's hope the owners don't manage to curb interest in the park too much.

Also, here are some photos of Dreamland I took in 1986 and 1987, back when it was called 'Bembom Brothers Theme Park'. There's some on and offride ones of the Mary Rose too - just like Alton's 'Space Boat'.

Clicky

I think you will find Marky, that the Mary Rose was the one that ended up in Alton Towers.

At least it would make sense if it was with where it is now.

Isn't it 'Black Pearl' at Loudon Castle now? I always assumed it was the same ride as the one at Alton, but I vaguely remember someone who I must have believed at the time telling me it wasn't.

Indeed it is. and Loudon is the Bembom Brothers.

Wasnt Dreamland Bembom Brothers at that time?

Would make sense as i believe the one at Alton Towers was leased by the Bembom Brothers for just one season.