Great expectations for Dickens park

CHATHAM, ENGLAND — In Dickens World, rat catchers hunt vermin on London’s cobbled streets, pickpockets roam the alleys -- and visitors line up for a fun-tastic water ride.

A new theme park inspired by the work of Charles Dickens aims to transform a 70,000-square-foot warehouse near London into a teeming -- and family-friendly -- corner of Victorian England.

Literary purists may balk, but the attraction’s backers are confident.

“Would Dickens approve? Yes,” said Thelma Grove of the Dickens Fellowship, a global association of the writer’s fans. “He loved to see people enjoy themselves, and he had a very sharp eye for the latest fad.”

Dickens World’s backers say they are trying to capture the vibrant landscape he described in more than a dozen novels in their $125-million theme park.

The indoor attraction includes a central square of cobbled streets and crooked buildings, where staff dressed as pickpockets and wenches will mingle with the crowds. Visitors who pay the $25 admission charge -- $15 for children -- will have the chance to see the Ghost of Christmas Past in Ebenezer Scrooge’s haunted house, be hectored by a schoolmaster at Dotheboys Hall -- the dismal school from “Nicholas Nickleby” -- and peer into the fetid cells of notorious Newgate Prison.

Tourists can also have a meal in the cafeteria, which has resisted the temptation to offer “Please, sir can I have some more?” 2-for-1 specials.

There may be a whiff of kitsch in the air, but its supporters include some serious Dickens buffs. “It’s like a dream come true,” said Grove, who acted as an advisor on the project.

At the moment, Dickens World is a work in progress. A planned opening this week was postponed until May 25 because of a glitch with the “4-D animatronic theater show” about Dickens’ life and work.