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City councillors grilled Pacific National Exhibition leaders Tuesday over an ambitious plan to turn east Vancouver’s Playland into a “world class family-oriented theme park.”

Mike McDaniel, president and CEO of the PNE, came to city council seeking $1.5 million in city cash to pay for detailed design work and a funding strategy for the proposed $120-million, 10-year expansion.

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But what he got instead were tough questions from all three political parties over park themes and funding, before being told to wait until Wednesday for a response, after council had a chance to hear from other speakers.

McDaniel gave councillors a brief overview of the latest conceptfor the redesign, created by the company behind designs at Universal Studios, Legoland and Six Flags. It includes a handful of theme zones that reflected the region’s coastal and rainforest surroundings.

Coun. Kerry Jang, who revealed himself to be a theme park aficionado, said parks can be beautiful, tawdry, crazy or boring depending on design and asked if residents could help pick Playland’s themes — perhaps an east Vancouver World, he joked.