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Where dreams don't come true

Walt Disney World: Wonderland in Beijing, abandoned theme park.

From Chad H
Posted August 13, 2012 at 6:43 PM
Have a look at these pics of Wonderland near Beijing. Apparently it was supposed to be a science based park, but that castle looks awfully familiar.

Click Here

Here's the authors summary:

Wonderland is an abandoned structure left over after funding was cut on another of China’s legion of newly developed tourist attractions. The project first began in 1998 but with developers and local farmers still unable to reach an agreement over the rights of the land, the discarded structures of the half built theme park have remained dispersed and vacant throughout empty cornfields for over a decade. The aim of the Wonderland developers was to create the biggest theme park in Asia, set to cover 120 acres of land. Adopted by the locals, these dilapidated skeletons now exist as unconventional playgrounds within the town. Concrete objects that somehow become more remarkable due to the ever-present option of a direct comparison, between reality and representation.

Trapped in limbo, a hybrid space between the ‘real’ and the artificial, this environment induces a sense of transformation or manipulation that appears to permeate and displace the realm of fantasy. Tamed by the locals, the uncompleted remnants of Wonderland become the antithesis of everything it was supposed to be, its value altered permanently.


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From Bradley Keith
Posted August 13, 2012 at 10:15 PM
Six Flags New Orleans is an awesome place abandoned since 2005... There are still 4 coasters there. People explored it all the time, and I was lucky to go there before the announcement that an outlet mall is coming there soon.

From Carrie Hood
Posted August 14, 2012 at 5:08 AM
Bradley, I'm not sure considering a friend who lives down that way reported to me a few days ago that he spotted lights on within the park as well as the lights on the Ferris wheel turned on. There are also reports of cranes being set up within the park, I'm waiting on pictures myself.

From Bryce McGibeny
Posted August 14, 2012 at 6:42 AM
^That might be for the filming of Percy Jackson 2.

From Bradley Keith
Posted August 14, 2012 at 8:34 AM
Oh, yeah. They got permission to film there. From my first hand experience, if that place becomes a fully operational park again, they're starting from scratch. The Mega Zeph's track couldn't look worse. Everything else is a wreck from Katrina. If what your friend saw wasn't filming, (hey, you never know) the park coming back would be good for the city. New Orleans lacks a park.

From Mike Gallagher
Posted August 14, 2012 at 8:39 AM
Bank On It: Six Flags New Orleans will never re-open as an amusement park, under the Six Flags banner or anyone else's.

From Joey Till
Posted August 14, 2012 at 8:52 AM
I don't think its worth making it an amusement park again. Six Flags even said that the park was not a money maker for them before the storm hit. If a company is actually interested in fixing it up, they should start over in a new location.

From Bradley Keith
Posted August 14, 2012 at 10:03 AM
Yeah, it seemed to be another unloved location... If it was still around I'd consider it to have a weak coaster collection. SF left it for dead. They moved all the rides they wanted. Back to the Disney one, at least China puts the land to use! The abandoned american ones are forgotten.

From Marc Benz
Posted August 15, 2012 at 2:54 PM
There seems to be several of such abandoned parks around Beijing, when I was there in 2004, I saw one with an almost identical castle, but with more buildings around it:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XJzWL7W8kkw/TC47HG5tafI/AAAAAAAAdY4/2b5P8x9yL3I/s800/PICT0266.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lPTlI-rJi8E/TC47HnockoI/AAAAAAAAdZA/RmJE3L2owLc/s800/PICT0267.JPG

Splendid China near Orlando has also been abandoned for quite some time now. On Google Maps you can still see some remains of it.

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