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Dreamland - Margate

jww

jww

Registered
10 Years
Joined
Aug 4, 2013
Messages
145
Location
Walmer
Hello friends,

I live in Deal, south east England. Near me is Margate which used to have a theme park called Dreamland before it got burnt down and closed ;(

Yesterday on my mega train ride home from work, bored out of my skull, I was reading t'net and found an article about how the council are going to bring dreamland back. Not only that, but that there was a mini bit open with some arcade video games. Great thinks I, I love games, lets go out - and also at the same time, go to that Pinball Parlour place I'd heard about. Quick google, find their website and it says they've moved :( ...... to Dreamland!!!!!!!! :)

No way, right, I've deffo got an incentive and courage to leave the house to go there now. To explain, I get agoraphobia and am generally fine going to places I've been before but not new places at all. However, having a multi purpose goal of gaming, trying to force myself out, pinball and possibly finding someone who could help me with my pins - this couldn't have been a better carrot. So after a pant crapping night of planning, printing maps and rehearsing it on google streetview, I went out this morning and boy am I glad I did.

Not only did I get to the place and see some very very rare arcade machines, there was a load of pinball machines too, I got to play on every single pinball machine for a total of 2 hours, many I've heard you lot talking about before but that I'd never seen myself - it was really good. I got speaking to one of the nice chaps there from Pinball Palour who took my details and I've have since spoken to another nice man from there who is going to look at my Bally Knockout EM for me ; and has given me details of someone who can help me with my Sega Star Wars!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I did get lost and panicked on the way home and ended up driving goodness knows where for about an hour until I found signs for Dover and was able to get my way home!!!

Soz for long story, this is a big thing for me and I'm ever so happy I made it out. Dreamland is being rebuilt and there will be a ton more games and pins when they've finished. Currently there's quite a few machines and I loved playing on every single one of them. Likely embarrassed myself by dancing around while playing Jungle Lord - I got more than 3 million on my first go and really really like that game having never seen it before in person. Iirc Mr Wells fixed one up a while ago? (soz if my memory is playing games with me)

Fireball was great too! I'd never seen a game where you can move the flippers together to stop losing the ball - I was shocked and at first thought I'd broken the machine! Firepower made me crap myself when it started talking too!

But the one that stole my heart was the Space Invaders. That machine is really big. It's wider than other pinballs I've seen before and has a presence, if that's not a strange description. I loved it and had many goes and can still hear it in my head hours later!

I am still incredibly grateful for all of the help all of you have given me with my pinballs, but I got very stuck, depressed and scared to ask you for more help. It doesn't help that I get zero time in the week to do any investigations and that regarding my SWT I couldn't lift out the playfield to investigate the shorting problem I had because I didn't know anyone to give me man power help. I had (with your help) narrowed it down to a connector but couldn't see/reach all the bits I needed to, in order to take the investigation further. Then had some serious family problems and it all got a bit much for me. Now I have some local contacts who are going to try to help me. It's been quite an emotional day which I'm calling Episode IV A New Hope :)

So the purpose of this post is to flag Dreamland so you can all go there if you didn't know about it already and to explain why I've not been about. I think if I wasn't working the whole time or worrying about my families health issues, I could have made more progress with my pinballs but now I think sometimes you have to be pragmatic and ask for help.

Thanks for reading my post and your reward for reading this far is some pictures I took:

IMG_2296.JPG IMG_2297.JPG IMG_2298.jpg IMG_2299.JPG IMG_2300.JPG IMG_2301.JPG IMG_2302.JPG IMG_2303.JPG IMG_2304.JPG IMG_2305.jpg IMG_2306.JPG IMG_2307.JPG IMG_2308.jpg IMG_2309.jpg IMG_2310.JPG IMG_2311.JPG IMG_2312.jpg IMG_2313.jpg IMG_2314.JPG IMG_2315.JPG

Thanks for reading my post, don't mean to talk about myself so much, but I like to be transparent. I am ever so grateful for all the help you've all given me, it has not been wasted. I think I could've made more progress with my issues if I had more time and some physical help. I intend to continue my fixing-skills-learning once I've had help getting them all working. For now I just want to play them and it feels like not long to go now! *phew*

Thanks again and stay cool PinballInfo friends!

Cheers,


Johnny
 
Awesome ! Thanks for posting.

I knew Dreamland was happening and PP were involved but this is first pics I have seen. My wifes friend is closely involved and she kept mentioning the pins as she knows I'm into them. Shame summer has just ended ( looks out window at pouring rain) but I'm down there very soon :cool:
 
Good for you mate. Looks awesome. Thanks for posting the pics. Are the games for sale too?
 
GrizZ said:
Awesome ! Thanks for posting.

I knew Dreamland was happening and PP were involved but this is first pics I have seen. My wifes friend is closely involved and she kept mentioning the pins as she knows I'm into them. Shame summer has just ended ( looks out window at pouring rain) but I'm down there very soon :cool:
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Thanks dude! Gis a shout when you're down as if I'm not working or at my folks house I'd very much like to buy you and anyone else from PinballInfo a beer, or ten :)

Right, I'm off to advertise one of my kidneys and gonads because I want a Space Invader pin :) he he

Cheers,

Johnny
 
Gaz Shiells said:
Good for you mate. Looks awesome. Thanks for posting the pics. Are the games for sale too?
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Hello Gaz,

I honestly dunno, I saw no for sale signs, it's probably worth you contacting Pinball Parlour sir - http://www.pinballparlour.co.uk/

Please don't empty the place - he he, I need somewhere around here where I can meet other pin-heads! ;)

Cheers,

Johnny
 
I popped down to Margate and Dreamland earlier this year to see what it was like. Looks like not much has changed since then.

I don't think any games after 1984 are going to be able to be displayed at Dreamland, as it's a historical museum. That only allows EM and early Solid State machines, no System 11s or DMD games.

By the way, the Bally Space Invaders used to be my machine. I sold it to Pete at the Pinball Parlour at last years Daventry show during my big cull in my collection (14 down to 6 pins). SI is an excellent early Bally SS machine to own, and they often come up on Ebay and the forums for sale.
 
I TiltAlot said:
I popped down to Margate and Dreamland earlier this year to see what it was like. Looks like not much has changed since then.

I don't think any games after 1984 are going to be able to be displayed at Dreamland, as it's a historical museum. That only allows EM and early Solid State machines, no System 11s or DMD games.

By the way, the Bally Space Invaders used to be my machine. I sold it to Pete at the Pinball Parlour at last years Daventry show during my big cull in my collection (14 down to 6 pins). SI is an excellent early Bally SS machine to own, and they often come up on Ebay and the forums for sale.
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Hello,

Ah cool. They did say once the place and theme-park was all restored and reopened that they'd be moving in and that there would be more stuff - can't wait! Makes sense now why I didn't see any DMD games.

Heh, small world re: your old Space Invaders machine. It is in lovely condition and I can tell that it, and all the others were being looked after. Every machine looked to be cared for and with new rubbers on. I felt really honoured to play on them all.

Thanks for selling it to them as I really enjoyed playing on it so much!

Cheers,

Johnny
 
Nice pics, reminds me of my younger days of going down there with the school and then on scooters,
How does it work, do you pay an entry fee ?
 
It's awesome that's it's going to open again, can't wait. I too have a lot of memories of going there with my parents in the 70s and 80s, soon I'll be able to take my own kids :)
 
mission65 said:
Nice pics, reminds me of my younger days of going down there with the school and then on scooters,
How does it work, do you pay an entry fee ?
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Hiya,

No it's free entry and you buy tokens. I think it's £1 for 1 token, scaling up (cant remember the middle ones) and £10 for 16 iirc. You get 5 balls per token. Hope that helps :)

I forgot to mention earlier that there's a mini cinema showing a 20min film about Dreamland restoration project and history.

Gotta dash my knockout is being picked up in a sec, I just had a call!

Cheers,


Johnny
 
I had some of my first arcade experience's at Dreamland back in the day as I used to regularly holiday in Cliftonville a few miles away from Margate with my mum.
I remember a cockpit cabinet of Exidy's Starfire (1979) I would walk from Cliftonville just to play that one machine. I was 10 years old in '79 and I remember how amazing it was to have tie fighters in it!
 
i was just reading about this place this morning while sat on the bog reading Pinball Wizard magazine, looks like a lot of fun so thanks for sharing, Johnny.

i think you might be surprised at quite how many of us pinheads have social or psychological or confidence or trust issues, i've met more of 'us' in this hobby than in any previous endeavours. agoraphobia can be quite disabling so good for you for venturing out. there are plenty of like-minded types in the pin community who will welcome you with open arms and accept you for who you are, so long as you appreciate the silver ball and so share a common interest. pinheads are good people.

my only comment on the report you wrote is that it seems a bit expensive if every game is on £1 a go, 5 balls or not. that's top pub prices for new or modern games, so i hope they don't put people off. no doubt they've done their research and know what they are doing.
 
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cooldan said:
i was just reading about this place this morning while sat on the bog reading Pinball Wizard magazine, looks like a lot of fun so thanks for sharing, Johnny.

i think you might be surprised at quite how many of us pinheads have social or psychological or confidence or trust issues, i've met more of 'us' in this hobby than in any previous endeavours. agoraphobia can be quite disabling so good for you for venturing out. there are plenty of like-minded types in the pin community who will welcome you with open arms and accept you for who you are, so long as you appreciate the silver ball and so share a common interest. pinheads are good people.

my only comment on the report you wrote is that it seems a bit expensive if every game is on £1 a go, 5 balls or not. that's top pub prices for new or modern games, so i hope they don't put people off. no doubt they've done their research and know what they are doing.
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Yup I think I have borderline autism or Aspergers (have the social skills of a potato) and my son has Aspergers and its ment to b passed on from the father
 
Hey Johnny, thanks for posting! Dreamland brings back so many memories - when I was a kid we used to go there quite a bit, and I remember it being called Dreamland, then "Bem Bom Brothers", then Dreamland again - and it was fantastic! Although when I went to the pinball show in Margate a while ago, maybe 10 years or so, I looked in and it looked in a very sad state - all closed down, overgrown and generally looking very sorry for itself. If anyone wants a reminder of what it looked like "back in the day" watch Only Fools and Horses - Jolly Boys Outing episode!

I didn't know about re opening or the pinball aspect though, so will definitely put that on my radar and try and get along some time!

Thanks again, cheers, Mark
 
Great stuff and thank you for posting.

Gaz Shiells said:
Are the games for sale too?
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Pinball Parlour certainly used to sell games but not the ones on display in the museum. Best thing is to contact them for their latest stuff at http://www.pinballparlour.co.uk/contact.htm

That's what I did when I bought my first EM, they sold me a Bally Hi-Deal - it's been very reliable.
 
Hi All,

Great reading all the posts as I took the family to the PP about a month ago. Although I'm not really a 'EM' pinball type of guy I did love the machines and appreciate the history. It was great playing one of my 'youth' favorites Space Invaders and this was the most modern machine there (I think). PP was originally actually in Ramsgate and relocated to Margate to the exhibition for Dreamland.

Great pictures, Regards
 
Thanks for all the great photos, Johnny, and well done getting yourself out. I've got a couple of family members who, whilst not agoraphobic, are none to keen on going to new places. The panic starts to creep in a few days before any planned trips...

Awesome line-up of pins there! FIREPOWER and SPACE INVADERS - two pins I'd very much like to own. FP is a great game. Personally I don't think SI is a good game at all but it wouldn't stop be having one as it just looks so cool! I nearly bought a project SI complete with spare fully-populated playfield, but decided to go for VECTOR otherwise I'd have 2 unplayable pins.

Keep at it with you SWT!
 
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