The White Cliffs Experience was a visitor attraction in Dover, attached to Dover Museum. It opened in 1991 and, though it underwent a refit halfway through its life, it still did not prove a success and was later closed. It included a Blitz Experience (an audio-visual street scene of World War II). Its building is now occupied by the town's library and Discovery Centre.
Only a small portion of the actual archaeology was on display, the attraction instead being reliant on dioramas and audio-visual displays. Even after one redesign, it did not prove a success and has now been closed and its building converted into the Dover Library and Discovery Centre. That portion of the archaeology can still be viewed, but only by request from the library staff. Many of the dioramas and reconstruction figures have been reused in Dover Museum.
The White Cliffs Experience was closed in 1999 for a combination of reasons; the Labour opposition group on Dover District Council had always been against the WCE, labelling it 'The White Elephant' and opposing the amount of money it took to run as well as complaining that it fell short of achieving the predicted 300,000 visitors a year.
When they came to power in 1997, the new Labour council were obviously not too keen on the WCE. Their policies for regenerating Dover relied on attracting industry and acting as an 'enabler' rather than a provider of heritage and tourism facilities. They withdrew much of the money previously paid to tourism initiatives. At the same time, the technology used to run the animatronics and shows (laser discs, carousel slide projectors and 35mm film projectors, etc.) had quickly dated and become obsolete and by 1998 needed replacing. Various quotes were received to update the WCE but were beyond what the Council were prepared to pay so they decided to cut their losses and close the Experience.
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