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Dreamland Margate News

It's the same reason that Wild Mouse at Blackpool is still running.

There's a set of new rulings for any "new" ride to meet certain safety standards. That includes compulsory seat belts and "caging" to stop riders from reaching outside the car if the track doesn't have a certain safety envelope.

However, old rides are allowed to continue operating under their current configuration - it's just if they go through a massive overhaul they need to adhere to the new rulings.

Good examples are the cars on Cosmic Typhoon at Milky Way. That's the first Zyklon/Galaxi layout built for ages and it had to have new cars to meet the new rules so have ugly big cages on them. Yet all the old models haven't had to be retrofitted with cages/new cars.

Likewise, when Grand National was rebuilt after being burnt down, the whole braking system was overhauled to meet the new standards.

So there we are, with all the new rebuilding going on, Dreamland have had to put in place features so they adhere to the new H&M guidelines/rulings. That will include a system where the ride isn't 1005 reliant on a human to stay on the track :)
 
^ Ahh, thanks for clearing that out for me. In this respect I also don't believe any of the big Schwarzkopf coasters will be making their way to UK anytime soon. :D
 
Yeah, if you ever rode Knightmare, it was horrid with the belts and cages (by cages, I mean big surrounds, I think Knightmare's where plexiglass). It never had them before it arrived in the UK.

I don't think it applies to travelling coasters though. There was a Zyklon travelling until a couple of years ago in its original configuration (the old Wildcat from Southport where it's now returned to) - so I think they're fine. It's just new/rebuilt permanent attractions - probably :lol
 
We just can't have nice looking things can we?! I suppose if Twist n' Shout stayed (and actually operated) in this country it might need these alterations as well if Knightmare had them. I think that model has a couple of head/arm choppers? (Still secretly hoping for it to come to Margate....although I think it might have lost it's train now so that sucks.)

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^ Interesting and expected to be honest.

I'm willing to bet that there was a healthy increase in revenue from 15th October until the end of Screamland though. A full season next year, hopefully with decent seaside weather should give a better idea on how the park is expected to run in the future.
 
Agreed, this sort of announcement was sure to happen, no company is successful within their first year. Especially with ride opening delays not helping matters. However they've been showing their strong suit is putting on great seasonal and one-off events, this should really help them over the next year or so. It'd be weird for the current creditors to not see this.

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There's a lot more to the story than that says though in all honesty. The main reason that the money wasn't present was the lingering opening of Scenic, which really had a detrimental effect on the yield for the year with Screamland bringing in the most money (YAY!)... the park is in no question of closing or not opening and will be back in the early year.
 
This story was on the news yesterday and nobody even mentioned about the delays with the scenic until they interviewed a contractor halfway through the piece. Just sounds like a good blame story for the press but I don't think any conclusions can be made yet, far too early.

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That is literally no surprise but they've clearly got their heads screwed on in terms of delivering a quality product when you visit the park, so hopefully that will start to reflect in their finances soon.

I do worry how sustainable a park like that is nowadays but if anyone will do it it's them.
 
I agree with Ben, expected and they're doing the right thing, but not convinced its enough. I want to be proven wrong, though. Really badly.
 
When I visited it felt a bit like...an art installation? Kind of like Dismaland I guess, but in terms of like oh we've brought an old funfair back to life. It's pure novelty, and whilst it's fab I don't see how that is strong enough as a sustainable business. Similarly to Joey, I really hope I'm proven wrong.


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I went for the first time last weekend, and I felt it was........missing something. It seemed as though all the effort had been put into getting the SR up and running, and the rest of the park was just a bunch of travelling rides.
 
I haven't been yet but I have always wondered whether they were putting too much 'artsy' into it, similar to what nadroj has said. Like how they had called in a fancy retro well known graphic design company for the branding and seem to heavily promote how unique rather than how good a day out the park is. Still early days though.

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The artsy aspect is definitely part of the right, IMO. I'm skeptical as to whether a classic park can exist without a quality ride of substance, because scenic never was and certainly ain't now. Instead of pretend that a park so weak on actual ride content is worth visiting for ride experience, they've made a beautiful brand image that's appropriate to its roots in a romanticised fashion that will appeal to the nostalgia loving cool kids of the 2010's.

I think food, entertainments, branding and being a pleasant space to be is the way forward. Events, events, events.

I'd love to see them pull a Knoebels one day and do something like Flying Turns, but not that ride type... I mean rather, an old fashioned style ride rather than a copy or rebuild. I think that would fit in with their brand whilst bringing people to the park. But money. I dunno how realistic his is.

But, parks with crap lineups can do well. Just look at Del Grosso's. The park with Leap the dips down the road is a dump with this unique coaster, whilst Del Grosso's have zero if interest, but is nice and PACKED.
 
^ But that was the point of the venue from the start - it never was a 'park' with added events and attributes such as the Roller Disco, Ballroom etc. It was all of those attributes and the park was the added bonus. That's what the company set out to do, not make Dreamland, just another seaside park, but a destination of nostalgia and a tie-in to the heyday of British Seaside Resorts.

It's worth mentioning that from what I last heard, they had been given the Cinema building to finally work on and restore that, this was all down to Lottery Heritage Funding etc., but it seems that they are opening more attractions for the area. Not to mention the current work on 'Hall By The Sea', that is going to be used for corporate events and expos etc., so there will be much more money flooding into the company as of next year.
 
That's all very well Lofty, but reality is that when someone hears "Dreamland" they think of a seaside funfair, and trying to bend that ingrained understanding of what such amusements are is near impossible without an IP to pull people in.

I'm not convinced that without big draws like a substantial ride or IP tie in Dreamland will live. I don't want to be right, I hope that everything is is and not everything it isn't is enough.

Just because something set out to do something different, won't change public perception. People will always see this place as an amusement park and people will always go away commenting that they need more rides. Some people will get it, some people will enjoy it on that basis alone for what it is. People felt Animal Kingdom lacked enough attractions, when in reality it is the most substantial Disney park in Florida, you've just got to see past the theme park stereotypes of rides, rides and more rides.
 
Maybe in the South and around your area, but, elsewhere in the country, if you mentioned 'Dreamland', they wouldn't automatically assume that it means a seaside amusement park. The company is trying to brand itself as much more than just an amusement park, and they have done since they started operating again this year, that's my point.

When it comes to the addition of new rides, that comes after the regeneration of the buildings on site, that's merely the way the heritage funding works, as I'm sure a few of you will know. Some of their rides are hired in for the year, sort of similar to the way that Southport Pleasureland works, hence why the Topspin went to another festival during the off season etc. I think that this is the way the park will work more next year, bringing in more temporary rides and we see an evolving lineup if you will, they have ample room for growth if you add their 'bone yard' and circus spot into it.
 
Anyone know how much the rides are individually over Xmas? Is it decently priced at all? Thinking of leaving it til it goes back to normal before I go.

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