Old London Town Theme Park Proposal 1
Old London Town
London Themed Land And Attractions
A Greater & Grander Proposal
Old London Town Introduction
Focused on family entertainment in a family-oriented community, Old London Town is primed to take advantage of the expanding and profitable industry of themed, location-based entertainment.
Entertainment has become a buzzword of the new millennium: David L. Malmuth, senior vice president of the TrizenHahn Development Corp. has observed, “People are not just interested in buying things. They want an experience, adding that the keys to providing successful experiences are authenticity, fun and participation.” More and more people have money to spend and will spend it on entertaining themselves.
Quality family entertainment is the focus of Old London Town. The construction and commercialization of our park is factored into the initial development phase detailed within. The company’s proposed development will be designed to provide the type of family entertainment and adventure the current market demands.
Based on the current entertainment prices and cost of revenue structure in the local amusement and recreation industries, we believe that our anticipated development will have the potential of several million dollars in gross sales in the first year of operations.
Old London Town will be a romanticized version of classical London. Similar to Rome or other cities in Europe, the history of culture will be overlayed in a stratified presentation, ranging from the Romans battling with British tribes, to the legend of King Arthur, to the current cosmopolitan and commercial hub.
Visitors will enter through a replica of the iconic Marble Arch, and will proceed to choose their own adventure in the park, including thrill rides, ferris wheels, shows, and great food. They’ll even have the ability to purchase high-quality and affordable souvenirs, as well as dine on delicious British cuisine.
Old London Town Purpose
The purpose of Old London Town can be many-fold:
- To provide a recreation venue where individuals and families can spend quality time in a day-long experience.
- To be part of an existing theme park, or themed shopping center outside of the United Kingdom, in order to provide a new and exotic experience to visiting guests. This can also include a themed hotel/casino (ex. The Venetian, or New York New York in Las Vegas), or themed shopping mall (as popular in China).
- The design could also potentially be used as the first floor for a themed real estate development (ex. Paris in Tianducheng).
Old London Town Story Theme
What we think of as London is actually not really London. The city of London is actually relatively small. Modern London is comprised of multiple cities and boroughs that have conglomerated together. It began centuries ago when many tribes and people’s united whether for security, conquest, or for trade, and evolved into the powerful hub it is today. So the theme of our environment is that there is strength between people when they unite together, even when they unite between the past, the present, and the future.
You cannot live your life just for you. You are part of a whole. You are part of a community. And we all must do our part.
The emotions we wish to convey are camaraderie, and respect for one another as human beings. The setting should be warm but also convey a sense of power and nobility. The visitors should leave with a sense of joy and a feeling of gratitude.
Old London Town Location
An ideal location would be outside a major city in the tropical or subtropical regions of the globe, either as a standalone park, shopping center, hotel, casino, or real estate development, or conversely, as a new land as part of an existing park.
One important note is that what we’ve learned from Disney’s California Adventure is to not locate the park in or near London. Creating a London theme park in or near London is setting the stage for disaster, because there is no incentive for Londoners to visit a theme park that they live every day. Each part of Old London Town is reimagined within the park to be “a romanticized, idealized version of the city, rather than a veritable postmodern spoof of British culture.
Options within the United States that currently have NO theme parks include Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Raleigh, and Nashville. Options around the world include Tokyo, Hong Kong, Osaka, Mumbai (India), Shenzhen (China), Shanghai (China), etc.
Old London Town Map
In order to fulfill our Unity narrative, we want to portray many different versions of London. Each city block will have its own style and theme, including royal block, Arthurian block, modern block, etc. Even though each block will be slightly different, there will be an overall cohesion by employing similar design details throughout.
Old London Town Attractions
CLIMATE CATASTROPHE; A River Rapids ride that takes you through the streets of a flooded London, as the historical landmarks collapse around you, and you surf the wild rapids through Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. THEME; We must work togethert to be stewards of the planet, or everything will fall down around us.
DRAGON DUNGEON; An indoor roller coaster where guests venture with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, into an underground cavern where Dragons dwell, and must escape from the fire-breathing beasts. THEME; We must trust in one another and work as a team in order to accomplish great things.
LONDON EYE; A ferris wheel themed to look like the famous London Eye, with LED light shows to be presented in the evening. THEME; Slow down and appreciate the world around you, and take a long look from above at everything we have accomplished together.
Old London Town Possible Alternative/Future Attractions
Hedge Maze – In the event of overwhelming popularity of Old London Town, one possible expansion attraction would be a classically designed, seventeenth-century hedge maze. Similar to famous London hedge mazes like Hampton Court and Hever Castle, this maze would incorporate classic British gardens in a tasteful and organic method. There can be many benefits to hedge mazes, including being a fun family-friendly activity, providing an opportunity for quiet contemplation & reflection, and being low cost compared to other types of attractions. In addition, a fine mist spray would be installed to give guests a source of cooling comfort during the hotter months.
Victorian Era Vehicles – Old-time vehicles that add color to Old London Town with our colorful Cockney chauffeurs; the vehicles include a Fire Engine, Horse-pulled Trolley, Horseless Carriage, and Omnibus (double-decker bus).
Act of Desperation – Derived from the theatre term (I.e. performing a play in five acts), and performed in our replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, our cast of comedic misfits will perform hilarious postmodern interpretations of British classics. If you like Shakespeare, you’ll love this new version performed in 18 minutes, where everything goes wrong.
Old London Town Other Possible Attraction Tie-Ins
Film franchises have always played an important role in theme parks. For this reason, we’ve identified several franchises and story worlds that could be incorporated into Old London Town:
- Alice in Wonderland
- Cars 2
- Fast And The Furious 6/Franchise
- Harry Potter Franchise
- James Bond Franchise
- Lord of The Rings/Hobbit Franchise
- Mary Poppins
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians
- Phineas and Ferb
- The Great Muppet Caper
- Thor: The Dark World
- Winnie the Pooh
Old London Town Possible Public Domain London-Based Characters
Character meet and greets have been a growing staple of theme parks, for the simple reason that visitors like being incorporated into the characters’ stories. To add additional color to Old London Town, we’ve identified the following characters/stories that take place in and around London that also are in the public domain. This allows us to add extra features and color to the park for low/no-cost.
- Sherlock Holmes
- Robin Hood
- Peter Pan
- Dracula
- Ivanhoe
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde
- Captain Nemo
- Allan Quatermain
- Beowulf
- Captain Ahab
- Dorian Gray
- Ebenezer Scrooge
- Gulliver
- The Time Traveler
- Winston Churchill
Old London Town Building Design
The building design is meant to represent a mesh of London architecture, presented in a stratified manner. Each block is designed to focus on a different style of architecture, alternating between noble, ancient, modern, and combinations of all three.
The facades of the buildings will incorporate several elements to add scope for guests. For example, the buildings will have at least two-stories for interiors, but will present an exterior of 3 stories or more to add a feeling of grand scope for the visitors, using forced perspective, similar to how the Disney theme parks incorporate forced persepctive to simulate a grander scale. In order to utilize forced perspective, the second and third floors of the exterior facades will be built in 5/8’s scale. In addition, the facades will be split to present multiple buildings and multiple landmarks, so one building will appear to be several.
Streets are estimated to be roughly 60 feet wide. From building face to building face: the street is 60 feet (18.2 meters) wide, including a 28-foot (8.5-meter) roadbed and 16-foot-wide (4.8-meter-wide) sidewalks on either side. This measurement is designed to allow for fire truck access and emergency services.
Key functions will be built into the land’s design. For example, outside doors for bathrooms will be disguised as classic London call boxes.