China Off-The-Beaten Path: Wonderland — The One Amusement Park Not Meant for the Kids
Walt Disney once said that there exists only The Past, The Present and the World of Fantasy. On a brisk Wednesday afternoon, we found out exactly what happens when that world doesn’t quite pan out as expected.
About 30 miles away from the center of Beijing, where the skyscrapers end and the farmland begins, there lies Wonderland — a creepy, old skeleton of an amusement park, whose construction began over 13 years ago. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter after they started building, the company in charge ran out of money.
With no sources of financing in sight, they abandoned the project and just left the structures they’ve already built as they were. Over the years, the area around it has been reclaimed by nature and converted to farmland, making it the only place in the world where the farmers get to work on their crops around abandoned castles and the like.
With a camera in hand, we set out to explore the world that could have been:
Originally published at boba.wordpress.com on January 31, 2012.
