Characters like Oliver Twist, Ebenezer Scrooge and David Copperfield stalk the streets of "Dickens World." Victorian street urchins, barmaids and pickpockets are also waiting inside the park in the naval dockyard town of Chatham in southeast England.

The attraction, built on a 71,000 square foot (6,600 square meter) site, offers a step back in time into the Dickensian environs conjured up "Oliver Twist," "The Pickwick Papers," "A Tale of Two Cities," "David Copperfield" and "A Christmas Carol."

"It's a dream come true," said Thelma Grove, a member of the Dickens Fellowship, a fan club created in 1902 with some 6,000 members.

Appealing to the young

"When I heard about the project, I was very scared but then when I saw the plans, I found it great," Grove said. "They found a fun way of presenting Dickens to a younger generation."

As with many new attractions, the finishing touches still have to be completed on the 91 million euro ($122 million) complex. The 4D section -- featuring smells -- will open in June.

Gruesome experience

The showpiece feature, Great Expectations, has already got the thumbs up from many visitors. Though it's not for the weak stomached, the boat ride starts off by descending to the vile depths of the sewers.

"Go to the front, you'll get less wet on the descent," said Tony Bates, one of the actors in period costume who wander the streets recounting Dickens' tales to captivated children.

When he was their age, Bates read "Great Expectations" during the bombardments of World War II.

"I was more afraid of Magwitch than I was of the German bombs," he said.

Dickens, who lived from 1812 to 1870, "writes very dramatically so you can actually see the characters," Grove said.

Harsh times

In Dickens World, there's Scrooge's haunted house, Fagin's Den, and Nicholas Nickelby's Dotheboys Hall school, presided over by an authoritarian teacher who does not hesitate to scold anyone who answers a question wrong on the interactive screens.

A 3D film also recounts the life and times of Dickens himself.

The idea for Dickens World was spawned some 30 years ago by Gerry O'Sullivan-Bere, who worked on Santaworld in Sweden.

"In 2001, he came to me and asked if I could help him realize his dream by finding the financing," Dickens World chief Kevin Christie told AFP.

"Gerry died last year so he didn't see it completed," he added.

Sparking interest

"Nothing can replace reading the books," Christie said. "Our role is to stimulate reading."

He added that -- regrettably -- Dickens was not on the school curriculum in Britain.

Dickens World had 6,000 visitors over its first three days of business over the Pentecost holiday.

"We had to stop people from entering on Monday because it was overcrowded," Christie said.

The attraction hopes to welcome 300,000 people per year and needs to draw in at least 110,000 visitors to break even.