Kent, England | The London Resort | Entertainment Complex

[Tonkso]

Okay, so I am now optimistic. Shame about the height limit but as others have pointed out that can probably be negotiated (the QE2 bridge deck is at about 200ft, and the towers are just shy of Kingda Ka).

I didn't know about the other sites surveyed, weirdly enough my 'if I become a billionaire' fantasy park site is in Marston Vale, and now I know it's even more unrealistic.

Really keen to see how integrated it is planned to be with Ebbsfleet International, as unless I am missing something there is no fixed-link between the station and resort. Let's see what comes in the DCO as one of the most successful aspects to the Paris Disney resort is its integration with the TVG and RER stations. With a strong HS1 service, more talks of extending Crossrail out to Ebbsfleet as well as the existing local network, this could be as well connected as Disneyland is today.

 

[Tonkso]

Done some measurements, the QE2 bridge deck is approximately 3.7km from the centre of the site, so really not that far.

Additionally, thanks to the HS1 tunnel portal, I was able to measure from the approximate location of the dome to the Ebbsfleet station building and it's 1.75km. This is roughly the distance between Luton Airport Parkway and the Luton Airport terminal. The fixed link being built between those is costed at £225m, but that requires tunnelling, passes through a populated area, is working in an active aerodrome and has required the reconfiguration of the terminal and short-stay parking so a link here wouldn't even cost half of that figure.

The dome is actually only 800m from Swanscombe station, which could be cause for concern. I imagine it would be a better stop for hotel visitors, but could overwhelm the small station with visitors from London, making the issues Staines faces from Thorpe visitors seem like nothing.

 

[CrashCoaster]

I have no doubt if this gets built, visitor numbers at the southern Merlin parks will plummet. I think I'm more excited about the upcoming theme park competition in the UK than this development, can't wait to see all the elite coasters that Merlin will add. /s

 

[Matt N]

Thankfully, I don’t think LRCH are aiming for the regional market like Merlin’s southern parks do. They’re aiming for more of a DLP/PA style European tourist market; continental as well as regional. This will be a proper resort in the same vein as Disneyland Paris if it ends up coming to fruition.

Parks like Parc Asterix coexist alongside Disneyland Paris in France, so I don’t see why Merlin’s southern properties couldn’t coexist alongside the London Resort.

I will be interested to see if Merlin does attempt to compete in any way, however... the pandemic will have limited their finances temporarily, but 2024 is still a very long way away; I’ll be very, very surprised if we’re not back to some kind of economic normal for the tourism industry by then.

 

[emoo]

Well there goes my hopes for a giga that has a lift hill through a really tall hotel with sky bar to help get away with it.

But at least this give us an overdue document revision with some tangible hope. Even though history should discourage it.

We all wanted to see literal concrete by now but if this is what it takes to be more that an epic cinema that only locals attend on Wednesdays then so be it. Maybe they have found the right people now.

Competition done well helps everyone. IF this gets built that will end up being discussion in the YAY or WTF Merlin thread.

 

[Niles]

The Shapoorji Pallonji group, is one of three companies biding for the construction mandate of The London Resort, pegged at $1.8 billion in construction. I guess this is more good news making this whole project more likely.


full story: https://www.business-standard.com/a...e-theme-park-uk-s-largest-120070500293_1.html

 

[Matt N]

Wow; I don’t know whether I’m misinterpreting this or not, but this seems like a pretty big step! This isn’t just a piece of paper or a press release, this is actual money being put on the table, and quite big money at that; $1.8bn is no insignificant amount!

 

[caffeine_demon]

• Any roller coasters will not exceed 40m (131.3ft) in height. There goes my hopes for a hyper, but hey ho; 40m still isn’t an insignificant height to play with by any means, especially for a UK park!
• The park will clearly have some pretty breathtaking theming, as they’ve said that any “mountains” (?!) will not exceed 60m (196.8ft) in height and buildings will not exceed 32m (105.1ft).

If they build a coaster inside a mountain, they could almost reach 200 ft!

 

[rob666]

This is simply people putting in bids for the work.
Still zero reports of who is going to pay them!
Or where the money will come from.
Still got absolute zero faith in this, especially with the current state of the economy.

 

[Matt N]

I don’t know whether it gives away anything important, but PY Gerbeau has done some sort of interview for BBC Southeast where he describes the Resort as a “game changer”:
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000l5d2/south-east-today-late-news-21072020&h=AT3bYjI5mrqgaS4dloJ9FRedBy0TLTmyBJLdJhmBoPMIbS2bmFC2zTpTQzVlFUkdw_XiOb-iqA-5Uo-gkJ6jcVaq9UzyP5uXMT4zl5v8__zfA1MhRYKkD3t_XjibXB4&s=1
I couldn’t watch it, because I don’t have a BBC account, but if someone who does watches it, then does it say anything of note?

 

[Matt N]

Sorry for double posting, but there’s now a YouTube video of the interview, to make things a little easier for those who don’t have a BBC account:

Interestingly, they seem to have reduced their first year visitor target to 4 million instead of the previously mooted 6.5 million; maybe the 6.5 million figure was intended for the first full, 365 day season?

 

[Pokemaniac]

Your optimism never ceases to amuse.

 

[rob666]

He hasnt said where the money is coming from though, has he.
The dome was one big cock up of monumental proportions, he managed it effectively when it was too late, and it lost a lot of money.
A bit like his current project.
Will not happen.
Covid.
Recession.
Reality.

 

[Robbie]

He hasnt said where the money is coming from though, has he.

Privately funded by Kuwait, according to this article.

Although seeing as first year annual attendance has gone from 8m there to 6.5m on the previous page to 4m in the BBC report, everything should be taken with a very large pile of salt.

 

[Smithy]

That's the equivalent of me amending the number of lottery wins I'm going to have this year down from 6 to 4.





Spoiler: I don't buy lottery tickets.

 

[Matt N]

I have actual news to report once again! Public consultations are beginning on 27th July, and they will run until 21st September. They will be held online and will include webinars, telephone surgeries (I don’t know what these are?) and online Q&A sessions.

Here’s a Blooloop article talking about this, while also offering a few other interesting bits of info about the project: https://blooloop.com/news/the-london-resort-public-consultation/

Exciting stuff! Do you guys think I would be allowed to ask a question or two, as they’re online, as I must admit, I have some things I’d be very interested to know?

 

[Smithy]

Go for it - I'd be surprised if the majority aren't pre-vetted questions and self-submissions to allow them to create the illusion of wide interest - but you may get through.

 

[emoo]

I applied to attend one of these the first time round, way back before my hopes were dashed.

I suppose the younger anyone is they have a better chance of seeing this through so best of luck to you Matt.

 

[Matt N]

They’ve now got a consultation portal online, but it does not currently seem to have anything in it: https://consultation.londonresort.info/

I’ll keep an eye on the page and see if anything of interest appears.
EDIT: A consultation is now online, which closes on 21st September 2020 at 11:59pm. Various different Q&As and webinars are being hosted on various dates, and telephone surgeries with various members of the team are also able to be held.

I also read the Guide to Consultation, which has a few intriguing details, including:

• They have outlined a rough timeline of how they want things to go over the next few years leading up to the Resort’s opening. The DCO application is going to be submitted in Winter 2020, with contractors then being appointed in 2021-2022. The Secretary of State will make their final decision on the DCO application in Spring 2022, with construction then hopefully also starting in 2022 provided that approval is gained. The Resort is then expected to open in 2024.
• The Resort’s current visitor target is 6.5 million with Gate 1 operating (I’m assuming they mean once it’s bedded in a little, as they said 4 million in the first year on BBC Southeast the other day). The previously cited 12.5 million figure is an ultimate target, however they do not expect to achieve this until 2038, when the whole Resort will have operated for a number of years. They state that they have revised the visitor targets to be lower than in the original proposal back in 2012, which I believe was shooting for 8-9 million with gate 1 and 15 million with the entire Resort open.
• The theme parks (which are referred to as the Leisure Core in the guide) are only a very small part of the proposal. There will also be hotels built, as well as dwellings for staff, apartments and huge regeneration of the local area.
• In terms of when the parks are due to open, Gate 1 is due to open in 2024 and Gate 2 is due to open in 2029.

 

[Matt N]

Sorry for double posting, but here’s an interesting KentOnline article that includes a video interview with Pierre-Yves Gerbeau himself: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/news/theme-park-plans-revealed-231049/

Interestingly, he has said that they intend to submit the full planning application at “the end of November”, with a decision hopefully being made 15 months later (which would take us to approximately February 2022). If the Resort is approved, then he says “they will put shovels in the ground”.