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NOTE - This is an April Fools Story
An application for Planning Permission has been submitted to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council for a 90 acre family theme park on a site alongside Newry Canal, just north of Carnbane Industrial Estate. The £1.9bn 'Canal Kingdom' will be the world's first canal themed amusement park and the largest theme park in Ireland.
Currently the developer is keeping the tenant for the new park a closely guarded secret and it's not known if it's one of the big players such as Universal Studios or Disney Experiences or a completely new operator.
The theme park is expected to bring £36m+ a year into the Newry economy. It's thought the success of the much smaller Game of Thrones experience at Banbridge was one of the major drivers of the new project with it's easy access to the A1/M1.
Speaking on the project Antonio Dredger from Portuguese developer Faro Liplo said "A total of five years of research has went into getting the development to this point. It was a very conscious decision to position Canal Kingdom right in the centre of the Dublin to Belfast Corridor, making it accessible in an hour or under by around 2.5 million people.
"From the beginning we were enspired by Newry's unique position as Ireland's oldest inland port and the fact that Newry Canal is basically a blank canvas and ripe for development.
"This will be unlike anything Newry has ever seen and we fully expect to have 400,000 visitors through our gates in the first year, with the aim of 1,000,000 visitors a year by year five."
A look at the planning submission casts some light on the kind of facilities and rides on offer and shows you how much research has been done for this project. There's a ride called 'Lock till you Drop' a terrifying free-fall ride that plunges people through a series of 14 replica locks at breakneck speed which then drops you 78ft in the space of 2 seconds into the Canal in deference of the actual drop in height from the canal's summit at Poyntzpass to where it ends in Carlingford Lough.
A replica of the Albert Basin will also have a life size replica of Tall Ship Asgard II which visited Newry in 1997 and sank in the Bay of Biscay 11 years later. A world class Newry City Park replica is also planned complete with concrete surfaces, derelict buildings and unique habitats.
Adding a touch of humour to the park there will be a Fun Trolly Fishing challenge and a quirky 'Blow Up the Fixed Bridge' game for the children.
An integral part of the theme park will be a new 200 bedroom hotel on site with water beds in every room.
Plans also show an area of the site called 'Carnal Kingdom' an adults only section.
If Planning progresses construction is expected to take around 2 years and provide 1500 jobs with a further 200 jobs once the theme park is opened.
