Literary Tourist Attraction

English majors from around the world will soon be flocking to London for their spring break vacations. Who needs South Padre Island when there's Dickens World?

Dublin has Bloomsday, featuring walking tours that take fans of James Joyce to the many places he memorialized in his novels. With pub crawls part of the action, it's relatively popular, far more than the writings of Mr. Joyce ever have been. Now London is hoping to capitalize on the whole 'fun with authors' concept and take it up a notch.

Dickens World is a theme park, not as expansive as Disney's World and not as thrill-oriented as Six Flags, but a theme park all the same. Dickens World is entirely indoors, featuring a replica of Main Street USA....wrong place, sorry. It's a replica of Main Street UK in the Victorian era, with faux cobblestone streets, authentic storefronts and actors portraying pickpockets and whores. Advance publicity claims it's even got the smells to go along with the sights. Makes for wholesome family entertainment, and you'll finally learn what a tussy-mussy is, and why it was so very needed. Perfumed handkerchiefs are optional.

Thelma Grove, an expert on Dickens, acted as a consultant on the project, and she's over the moon with the end result. Visitors to the exhibition can see such Dickensian thrills as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and peruse the innards of Newgate Prison. Bring the children, please, as they will also have the opportunity to frolic in Fagin's Den. Where, one might presume, they would be lectured in the delicate art of picking pockets, since that's what Fagin was up to in his fictional den.

When it finally opens, the entrance fee will set the tourist back about $25, which is rather cheap compared to the price of admission at most other amusement parks. Once inside, visitors will discover that there's real value for the dollar (or more accurately, the pound sterling) at Dickens World. No other amusement park can offer the endless fun of the 'Bleak House' attraction. A replica of the famed Chancery Court, those who enter find that their exit is delayed through endless writs and postponements. Only those wise enough to not pin their hopes on leaving with money in their pockets manage to get through the place.