Dickens World

The concept

First conceived as far back as the 1970s, Dickens World was designed by Gerry O'Sullivan-Beare, who also created Santa World in Sweden and Andersen World, and cost ₤62 million. Designers RMA Ltd worked closely with Dickens World and the Dickens Fellowship to ensure the production of authentic storylines, characters, atmospheric streets, courtyards and alleyways were true to the period.

Dickens World was based around the life of author Charles Dickens, briefly a resident of Chatham as a child and who, as an adult, lived at Gad's Hill Place in nearby Higham. Many of the locations and characters in his novels are based on buildings, places and people of the Medway Towns. Holcombe Manor was the inspiration for Dingley Dell, the house in Pickwick Papers, and some of Edwin Drood takes place in Rochester Cathedral.

Dickens World is an indoor attraction, centred on a courtyard with facades of buildings related to Dickens, like Warren's Blacking. Unlike many other theme parks, Dickens World was not designed to guide visitors through any particular path, but enables them to structure their own experience.

Original Attractions

When Dickens World first opened it included a Great Expectations-themed water ride; a Haunted House; a 4D movie at Peggotty's boathouse; an animatronic show in a mock-up Britannia Theatre; an interactive schoolhouse based on Dotheboys Schoolhouse; a "Fagin's den" play area for children; "The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters", a themed bar and restaurant. The park exited into a gift shop called The Olde Curiosity Shoppe.

The Great Expectations ride took visitors through scenes of Victorian London, and ended with a simulated drop from a sewer into the Thames River. Though featuring Magwitch, the ride did not follow the plot of Great Expectations. Instead, it emphasised the criminal elements of Dickens' novel, featuring a jail filled with criminal characters from several of the writer's books. The ride closed in 2013.

The 4D film in Peggotty's Boathouse tells the story of Dickens, featuring an inflatable Catherine Dickens, a winking Nellie Ternan, and a spray of water in the face during the Dickens's trip to America. The whole is framed with a magic lantern theme. The attraction closed in 2013.

At Dotheboys Schoolhouse visitors experience a Victorian classroom. Touch-screens replace slates, and visitors take a quiz on Dickens' life and works.

The haunted house was first advertised as Ebenezer Scrooge's house, but before the grand opening was renamed the Haunted House of 1859, possibly alluding to Dickens' Christmas story, "A Haunted House," published that year. The house features a Pepper's ghost effect, which is part of the tour.

Administration and restructuring

The original company Dickens World Ltd placed itself in administration when unable to meet an £6 million tax bill, investors losing £32 million. Former director Ed De Lucy revealed that the attraction was losing £500,000 to £1m each year, and only the company's ownership of the adjacent Odeon Theatre and Porter's restaurant had kept it open. Under new ownership, prices had been reduced to £6.50 a head and the boat trip had gone. From 23 March 2013, the venue offered a guide-led walking tour where the visitors met costumed characters, and hoped to host weddings and corporate events.

October 12th. 2016 Dickens world has officially closed. The restructuring and refinancing company have pulled out of negotiations and the staff have been told by text and email that company has now ceased to operate.

Use by the media

The courtyard scene in Dickens World was used for the opening titles for Oliver and Nancy searching TV show I'd Do Anything when it started on 15 March 2008.

The Hoosiers used Dickens World as the location for their fourth single's video Cops and Robbers in March 2008.