Dickens World

[FoxLee]

Has anyone been to the Dickens World Theme Park in Kent? There was a good write up on it in the papers a while ago and I planned to go there next month but there was a letter in the Daily Mail this week from someone who had been, rubbishing it.

[spudqueen]

Yes, I saw that letter aswell. I've not been but I will say that it's a new attraction and you can't please all of the people all of the time. Have you never been somewhere and loved it and then heard someone else rubbishing it? Go and find out for yourself if it's any good.

[roysigs]

I have been. I have not seen any write up in any papers so this is my opinion.
It is a fairly well thought out attraction, but need's a bit of work doing on their staff training.
I liked the boat trip (got soaked) I also enjoyed the classroom. The restaurant is quite good and not too much of a rip off. There is an excellent play area for children... I'm past ballparks. (66) But then I didn�t think they had ballparks in Dickens day. There were very little to no smells so that part is wrong. Quite a few of the staff were dressed in modern day clothing. Their were supposedly street entertainers who were supposed to help members of the public learn some of their basic skills, but they spent all their time teaching staff members and not the public who have paid. My over all impression is that it may well has improved by this time next year. I do think that the members of staff should not walk around carrying radios in their hands. There were far too many guys walking around in suits. I'd give it 6 out of 10.
One more minor point there are far too many plastic notices and other modern day bit�s and bobs showing they should have been more carefully thought about.

[FoxLee]

Thank you for taking the trouble to post an answer. i think we'll leave it for this year and see if it is still going strong next summer and then think again about going.

[JodieS]

I would like to add a couple of small comments to that already made.
I too found that most of the staff ignored the public. and were only interested in their own entertainment.
One of the things I would liked to have had was a map of the site layout. I nearly missed the classroom and also Peggotiys Boatyard. I think the haunted house part could have been in far better sync. some of the figures were roo large for the objects.
A couple of Hopscotches would have helped and what about a whip and top. also a hoop and cane for bowling along. There were lots of things that could be added, for the younger children, (8 to 14 year olds.) Where was the policeman? where were the costermongars? Lots of other attention to detail has been missed out. A really fantastic oppurtunity for an absolutley unique experiance has not been taken.
The site needs to think about getting a couple of visitors of various ages to really give them an honest opinion and not just what they would like to hear, if you need a volunteer?

[FoxLee]

It seems like the attraction needs a lot of tweaking to bring it up to an acceptable standard. Sometimes when you visit a tourist attraction they have forms to fill in to get your opinion of how things were run - I don't suppose anything like that was available at Dickens' World. Would it be worth sending a letter to the organizers on how they might improve things?

[JodieS]

There was a form on site but it did not have anywhere to make comments, and you also had to look for it . It wasn't really obvious. I do wonder if these attaractions do listen to the visitors.

May be someone should give them the information I wonder if any of their staff will read this? If so what their comments would be.