Council bosses take £15k Disney World trip for research
Nine Kent council bosses are travelling to America to research Florida's theme parks at a cost of£15,441.
The Gravesham District Council group, including five councillors and four officers, said the trip would help prepare the borough for the planned £2billion Paramount theme park in Swanscome, Kent.
According to The Sun, the team are on a five-day trip and will visit Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios and the Islands of Adventure.
Regeneration director Kevin Burbidge said the costs came from the council but developers would return the funds to the authority.
He said the group were there for research and added: "Rest assured we're not there to go on the rides."
"We need to understand what works and what doesn't work," he said.
The BBC reports that the team flew to Florida during the Easter holidays and are due to return on Wednesday.
The council wants to find out how tourists visit the theme parks, how they move between hotels and how traffic is managed.
As well as visits to some of Florida's most popular parks, the itinerary includes discussions about "behind-the-scenes issues" in the development and running of a global attraction.
Last year, it was reported that plans for the new £2 billion Paramount movie theme park in Kent could have to be put on hold following the discovery of rare spider colony on the site.
An environmental audit of the brownfield site at Swanscombe Peninsula, Kent, discovered the group of jumping spiders, which can only be found in one other place in the UK - the West Thurrock marshes in Essex.
The spiders made a home in the area as they flourish in the alkaline soil created from cement kiln dust created by former workers on the site.
The spiders are on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species list, although they are not actually legally protected.
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