The £70million Disney-like theme park that nearly opened in one of the UK’s coolest cities
A HUGE space-themed theme park could have transformed Manchester – and was even compared to Disneyland.
Announced back in the 1990s, the huge attraction would be themed around Dan Dare, a comic book spaceman from Manchester.
The £70million project would convert old wasteland area at Pomona Docks, the MEN reports which would be “built on the lines of Disneyland”.
Inside would be four different worlds – Interplanetary Headquarters , Atlantis, Mekonta and Red Moon – which would all be undercover.
Each would would be connected by a monorail, while inside would be a rollercoaster, 3D cinema, swimming pool and an ‘astronaut school’.
A 5,000 seat arena and nightclubs were also part of the plans, as well as its own ‘luna credit’ currency to be spent inside.
A BBC report on the project at the time said: “This piece of wasteland in the heart of Dan Dare’s home city is about to be turned into his ‘space city’.
“Looking at it now it’s hard to believe, but they reckon in just over three years this place will be full of Dan Dare-themed attractions from rockets rides to a real space school.
“And on days like this with smashing British weather they are promising it will all be undercover.”
It hoped to open by 1996 with one million tourists in the first year.
However, despite given planning permission, the plans fizzled out with no works ever going ahead.
Space City Limited, who where behind the plans, then closed in 1997.
Ponoma Docks has since been converted into a new housing complex with the Castlefield Viaduct also set to be built over it.
It was once even home to a 30,000-person concert hall – the biggest in the country at the time.
And Space City wasn’t the only futuristic theme park that hoped to open in the UK.
Battersea Power Station hoped to be turned into a theme park back in the 1980s.
John Broome – who founded Alton Towers – revealed plans including six floors of entertainment based on different continents, as well as a bullet train and “Space Probe ride”.
It also hoped to have the world’s largest aquarium and Europe‘s largest ice rinks.
However, plans were shelved due to both bad building integrity and asbestos, with the power station now converted into a major shopping attraction and housing area.
And a ‘cutting edge‘ theme park like Disneyland was even planned for Milton Keynes in the 1980s although never came to fruition.
Here’s the latest update on the London Resort, dubbed the ‘UK Disneyland’.
We’ve even rounded up the new theme parks and attractions opening across Europe this year.