Planned £1 billion British theme park has a plan for the weather
A planned £1 billion theme park intended to be the nation’s biggest will be mainly indoors to guard against the British weather.
The London Resort will boast rides inspired by hit BBC shows and is intended to dwarf rivals Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, with a site selected close to the River Thames in north Kent.
Designers are taking no chances with the inclement UK weather, and will house 70% of the park’s attractions indoors.
Planners for the vast 535-acre London Resort anticipate that by the time the first rides open at the eco-friendly site in 2024, young people will be more attuned to electronic, indoor entertainment, including computer games and virtual reality.
A spokesman for the project said: “It’s a park in the UK and we want to operate all year round, and make sure we have got attractions when the weather is not good.
“It was always designed to have quite a large proportion of the attractions indoors.”
The site, located on the marshy Swanscombe Peninsula near the Dartford Crossing, will be divided into six “lands” centred on a High Street quarter. It is thought costs for the project could rise to £4 billion.
Developers backed by the Kuwaiti European Holding Company Group (KEH) have envisioned the fairytale Woods, the Arthurian-inspired Kingdom, the Isles’ “magnificent rides”, the Jungle, and the futuristic Spaceport. There will also be a gritty Studios section, resembling a backlot or warehouse district.
Designs will be kept flexible as it is anticipated that young people will be more engrossed by indoor activities, spanning e-sports and interactive technology, by the planned opening in 2024 and the final completion of the whole site in 2029.
“We need to consider that the customers of today will not be the customers of 2024,” said PY Gerbeau, chief executive of London Resort Company Holdings, owned by KEH.
“We need to create a park that can evolve and adapt easily.”
The location of the London Resort in Kent is, according to the Met Office, “one of the driest parts of the UK” with an annual rainfall of 23 inches, although a spokesman made clear “that doesn't mean it’s always sunny”.
A deal has been struck between theme park developers and the BBC, ITV and Paramount, meaning attractions could be based their productions.
