A HUGE theme park that could have rivalled Disney nearly opened in a surprising UK city - only for it to be 'too ahead of it's time'. American businessman Dennis Speigel said he was approached in the 1980s to approach building the new resort - in Milton Keynes. 3 A theme park similar to Disneyland or Coney Island (pictured) could have opened in Milton Keynes Credit: Milton Keynes Citizen 3 Discussions started in the 1980s to open the attraction in the UK city Credit: Getty Milton Keynes is often overlooked as a city destination, and was even featured as one of the worst places to live in the UK.
But Mr Spiegel told Milton Keynes Citizen : "I was with a very large entertainment company known as Taft Broadcasting here in the USA back then. "They came to our company to assist them on the exploration of building a Theme Park at Milton Keynes ." The theme park, called Wonder World would be a "major US-style theme park" if opened, similar to Disneyland or Coney Island (which was said to have also inspired Disney).
He added: "It was a cutting-edge Theme Park project geared towards families with young children." Along with chief architect Derek Walker, they travelled to the US for inspiration on building the attraction. However, the park was never able to get any lift, despite Mr Speigel leaving his job and setting up his own theme park company, International Theme Park Services (ITTP) which he has been running ever since.
He said it was "too new and ahead of it's time" so was unable.