dj-fireball999
Mega Poster
I think it’s no secret that Dreamland Margate is currently struggling. After 2019 being their most successful year to date since the reopening of the reimagined Dreamland, with over 650,000 visitors that year, the pandemic starting in 2020 seemed to send the park to a grinding halt.
You can see how packed the park was in Easter 2019, here:
The decision to make almost all of their permanent staff redundant at the first sign of the pandemic (which included their entire ride engineering department) meant that they’re absolutely not in any position to reopen the park in any meaningful way without essentially rehiring a whole new team to run the place. (They chose not to Furlough any staff during this time).
Spokespeople from the park keep stating that “due to the nature of their vintage rides, they are unable to run in a socially distanced way”. Which we all know isn’t the case considering that every other park in the U.K. has been able to reopen and run their attractions as normal, all be it with reduced capacity.
What resulted in 2020 and 2021 was contractors being hired to place several vintage rides into storage, as well as the park putting up a lot of the attractions purchased new from Zamperla in 2018 up for sale.
The Zamperla/Soriani Air Race 8.2 was sold even before the pandemic to Parc Spirou Provence and opened as Crash Blorks in 2021, however this was put down to excessive maintenance costs with the need for the floor sections of each gondola needing to be sent away for Non Destructive Testing every three months, as a result of the accident on the same model of Air Race at Brighton Palace Pier that year. This resulted in excessive running costs, ride downtime and manpower needed just to have the ride be certified for use. For Sale Ad Here
The Vintage Caterpillar was also removed not long before the Air Race, however this was due to unsatisfactory work being done by Littleboys Vintage Restorations when they “restored” the ride and meant that it wasn’t viable to operate. It’s currently in storage along with the Brooklands Speedway (which Littleboys also “refurbished” to a poor standard).
Since then, their Zamperla Twister Coaster 420STD (Pinball X) has been sold, relocated and reopened at Flamingo Park, Hastings where it opened in 2021.
The Zamperla/Soriani Midi-Discovery Revolution 16 (Pendulum) has recently been sold to an unknown park. Link here- generic pictures used in the ad
The Zamperla Samba Balloons (Up, Up and Away) and the Zamperla Magic Bikes (Soaring Seagulls) have also been recently sold to unknown parks.
The park’s Zamperla Jumpin’ Star is also currently for sale along with their Zamperla/Soriani Endeavour (Dreamcatcher) link here.
The park did reopen in 2021 with eight attractions, mostly being hired in travelling funfair rides operated by their respective owners, however I can’t imagine this is profitable for Dreamland in any meaningful way.
They have continued to run events as per usual though, so they’re potentially getting some income from those.
I personally don’t think that the park a ever going to reach the potential seen back in 2019, and I doubt that it’ll last much longer in its current state. I believe that if the park was run by anyone other than Sands Heritage, that it would be recovering in line with the rest of the U.K. leisure industry. But as we can see, poor decision after poor decision has led them to sell of their ride hardware to try and generate cash.
What do you guys think? Do you see the park lasting much longer? Becoming an events only space? Or something else? The Scenic Railway should remain in operating condition as per the conditions of the Grade II listed status, so whatever happens to the site should still have the coaster in place.
You can see how packed the park was in Easter 2019, here:
The decision to make almost all of their permanent staff redundant at the first sign of the pandemic (which included their entire ride engineering department) meant that they’re absolutely not in any position to reopen the park in any meaningful way without essentially rehiring a whole new team to run the place. (They chose not to Furlough any staff during this time).
Spokespeople from the park keep stating that “due to the nature of their vintage rides, they are unable to run in a socially distanced way”. Which we all know isn’t the case considering that every other park in the U.K. has been able to reopen and run their attractions as normal, all be it with reduced capacity.
What resulted in 2020 and 2021 was contractors being hired to place several vintage rides into storage, as well as the park putting up a lot of the attractions purchased new from Zamperla in 2018 up for sale.
The Zamperla/Soriani Air Race 8.2 was sold even before the pandemic to Parc Spirou Provence and opened as Crash Blorks in 2021, however this was put down to excessive maintenance costs with the need for the floor sections of each gondola needing to be sent away for Non Destructive Testing every three months, as a result of the accident on the same model of Air Race at Brighton Palace Pier that year. This resulted in excessive running costs, ride downtime and manpower needed just to have the ride be certified for use. For Sale Ad Here
The Vintage Caterpillar was also removed not long before the Air Race, however this was due to unsatisfactory work being done by Littleboys Vintage Restorations when they “restored” the ride and meant that it wasn’t viable to operate. It’s currently in storage along with the Brooklands Speedway (which Littleboys also “refurbished” to a poor standard).
Since then, their Zamperla Twister Coaster 420STD (Pinball X) has been sold, relocated and reopened at Flamingo Park, Hastings where it opened in 2021.
The Zamperla/Soriani Midi-Discovery Revolution 16 (Pendulum) has recently been sold to an unknown park. Link here- generic pictures used in the ad
The Zamperla Samba Balloons (Up, Up and Away) and the Zamperla Magic Bikes (Soaring Seagulls) have also been recently sold to unknown parks.
The park’s Zamperla Jumpin’ Star is also currently for sale along with their Zamperla/Soriani Endeavour (Dreamcatcher) link here.
The park did reopen in 2021 with eight attractions, mostly being hired in travelling funfair rides operated by their respective owners, however I can’t imagine this is profitable for Dreamland in any meaningful way.
They have continued to run events as per usual though, so they’re potentially getting some income from those.
I personally don’t think that the park a ever going to reach the potential seen back in 2019, and I doubt that it’ll last much longer in its current state. I believe that if the park was run by anyone other than Sands Heritage, that it would be recovering in line with the rest of the U.K. leisure industry. But as we can see, poor decision after poor decision has led them to sell of their ride hardware to try and generate cash.
What do you guys think? Do you see the park lasting much longer? Becoming an events only space? Or something else? The Scenic Railway should remain in operating condition as per the conditions of the Grade II listed status, so whatever happens to the site should still have the coaster in place.
Last edited:
