Catfish Cove: Welcome to the Bayou

Catfish Cove was probably the most atmospheric and picturesque land in Wonder World. Built along the banks of a slow-moving river, this rustic, waterfront town featured all the sights and sounds of a bygone era. Situated in a remote spot, somewhere in the deep South, this land offered a touch of Southern hospitality, mixed with mystery and adventure.

There are two entrances to Catfish Cove. 

This one is is located off the south side of Expo 3000.  

The Seven Seas Boat Cruise

When Alpine Village was rebuilt using custom scenery, the Seven Seas Boat Cruise received a beautiful refurbished exterior. In addition, it was the only attraction in that land to get major enhancements to the ride itself. In the original version, guests were taken on a cruise through five major scenes, each depicting a unique time period or location from around the world. In the new version, there were major changes to the ride layout. The final scene, depicting a castle in Transylvania, was completely removed, and two brand new scenes were added. Also, three small drops were added to the ride to increase its excitement.

Panoramic view of the Seven Seas Boat Cruise exterior.

Alpine Village - Mountains & Castles

One of the most popular lands at Wonder World was Alpine Village. This colorful land featured quaint shops and eateries, and was the home to three major attractions...The Rumbling Ridge Bobsleds, The Wizard's Castle, and the Seven Seas Boat Cruise. Whereas I has created one custom scenery set each for Circus Center and Expo 3000, it took three large scenery sets to re-create Alpine Village to be as true to the model as possible.

The Park Inspector welcomes guests to the newly refurbished Alpine Village.

Professor Fate's House of Fun

What is the "history" of Circus Center, you might ask? Well, it's only rumor, but from what I've heard, it all goes back to a strange and mysterious character named Professor Fate. Who was Prof. Fate? Well, supposedly, he was a showman, a world traveler, and most notoriously, a compulsive gambler. And as luck would have it, a very good gambler, who won a fortune over his lifetime. With his winnings, he built Circus Center, and also, a large manor in which to live. He flippantly called it his House of Fun. But it soon would become anything but "fun".

Well, as the story goes, shortly after returning from a trip to Egypt to visit the pyramids and the tombs of the pharoahs, he was found dead. Whether by natural causes or foul play, no one ever knew. Soon, more rumors spread about a fortune in treasure, hidden deep within the walls of his manor. Other, more sinister rumors spread about secret dungeons and strange noises coming from within Fate's "House of Fun". And so, the residents of Circus Center decided what better than to open up Fate's manor to the public, as another attraction for guests to explore...and hopefully, survive.

A view of Circus Center, with Fate's House of Fun looming in the background.

Circus Center at Wonder World

The original Circus Center suffered greatly from the lack of custom scenery. There was no way to create circus tents with the scenery that came with the game. So once I learned how to create and import my own custom scenery, it became quite clear that I would have to re-build the land from the ground up, unlike Expo 3000, which was only augmented with custom scenery. You can see the huge improvements made by checking out how Circus Center originally looked in the article, "Wonder World...The Story Begins." Circus Center would eventually double in size, but in this article, we'll take a tour of the Circus Center before the expansion.

The Circus Center entrance. To the left is a small snack stand.

 

War of the Worlds comes to Expo 3000

The War of the Worlds (WotW) attraction was the most ambitious project to date to be built for Wonder World. It was located in the new expansion to Expo 3000 which I showcased in the previous article. This attraction was never actually a part of the original scale model of Wonder World, built many years before. In the model, this massive indoor dark ride was originally called World of the Future. I never really had any master plan for what specifically the ride would be, other than slow-moving vehicles that would take guests through futuristic environments. This would have been very difficult to create in RCT3 at the time, especially since I had used most of the futuristic game scenery for the Expo 3000 Space Port. And my skills at creating custom scenery were not quite up to the task at that time.

The War of the Worlds building with the Super-Sounds Bandstand in the foreground.

Expo 3000 - The Expansion

One of the biggest additions to Wonder World was the expansion of Expo 3000. The star attraction to this new area was the War of the Worlds, a multimillion dollar dark ride taking guests on a harrowing journey through a devastating invasion by aliens from another world. This new area was nicknamed War of the Worlds (WotW) Plaza, although none of the other attractions had any relation to that theme. But because the massive WotW show building dominated the area, the name seemed appropriate. This article will take you on a tour of the new area, but I'll be saving the WotW ride for its own exclusive article.

When designing the new area, (and this goes back to the original model) a large, elevated walkway needed to be built to "attach" the new area to the existing land. This was because the entire right side of Expo 3000 was "boxed in" by the Auto Raceway and the Loop Coaster from Circus Center. The walkway created better traffic flow, as well as uniting the two areas. Without it, the WotW Plaza would have been to isolated and would seem to be a separate land instead of an expansion of the existing land.

To the left, you can see the elevated (and not very attractive) walkway which takes guests over the Auto Raceway and Loop Coaster into the new expanded area of Expo 3000. While far from an ideal solution, my goal was to re-create my Wonder World model as closely as possible...warts and all.

Expo 3000 - A New Beginning

In the first article on Wonder World, the park I created with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, I gave a brief tour, showing how it initially looked using only scenery sets that were included in the game. During the period that I was building Wonder World, two expansion sets were released. But the biggest impact on the RCT3 community was the new ability to create your own custom scenery for the game. It soon became apparent that Wonder World could be greatly improved and made to look much more realistic and closer to the original model I had built years before. So once I learned how to create and import my own scenery, I decided to give my park a new face-lift.

Here's the Wonder World entrance which takes you underneath the Space Port building and into the first land, Expo 3000. This was created before any of the expansions were released and obviously, before the ability to import custom scenery.

The new version, using new scenery from the expansion packs and custom scenery. 

So now begins a more in-depth tour of Wonder World in its final incarnation. This tour will span across several articles, each featuring a specific section or major attraction. You will see how Expo 3000 and Circus Center both doubled in size. And while the use of custom scenery in Expo 3000 was limited, the other lands were nearly re-built from the ground up as my cs designing skills improved. I also need to point out that not all the custom scenery used was my work. Many wonderful cs sets created by other talented members of the RCT3 community were also incorporated into the final version of the park.

So on to the tour, beginning with Expo 3000.

Wonder World...The Story Begins

Once upon a time, a young theme park enthusiast, who also enjoyed model building, decided to combine his two passions by designing and creating a model of his own theme park. He created a base of styrofoam and matboard, roughly 2 x 3 feet. And out of cheap materials such as cardboard (cut from old cereal boxes), cardstock toothpicks, paper mache, plaster of paris, tempera paint, and lichen (used to make trees and shrubs for model railroad kits), he began to build a model of a small theme park that would come to be known as Wonder World.

After about six months time, the model was "finished". It was shown to the public, briefly, at a college art show. Now you might think that this was the folly of a young art student, and that the model would be stored away, and soon forgotten. But that, of course, was not the case. The model would continue to grow, as new areas and lands were added, meticulously built in sections that all fit together like one big jigsaw puzzle. Over the next few years, Wonder World nearly tripled in size, and was still not complete. But the artist's interests began to shift to computers and more specifically, computer gaming. The pieces of Wonder World were carefully boxed, and stored away in the garage. As time went by, it seemed that Wonder World would remain forever hidden away in storage.

Then, one day in 1999, a computer game called Rollercoaster Tycoon was released. Developed by Chis Sawyer and MicroProse, this theme park management simulation game allowed players to build virtual theme parks on their computers. Well I was instantly hooked. Oh yes... I am that crazy guy who spent hours upon countless hours, designing and building a miniature theme park simply for the shear pleasure that it gave me. And now, I could do the same thing, without all the mess, on my computer. Soon, a sequel to Rollercoaster Tycoon was released, followed by a third. And it was with Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (RCT3), that I really fell in love. With this installment, including two expansion packs, you could build nearly anything that you could dream of. And you could ride the rides and experience your parks in a fully three dimensional setting. And then I got the idea...I would build Wonder World with RCT3!

The original Wonder World model.

Red River Hogs at the San Diego Safari Park

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, located in the San Pasqual Valley, is roughly 32 miles NE of the San Diego Zoo. Both are run by the Zoological Society of San Diego. But they are two very different attractions. The Safari Park features animal exhibits similar to the zoo, but also includes huge expansive areas where herds of animals roam across natural habitats in a 1,800-acre reserve.

You'll need to take a tram to view the free-range areas of the park, but there are plenty of exhibits to view on foot. The Red River Hog exhibit is one of them. And during a visit to the park, I was lucky enough to see the 4 new young piglets, recently born at the park.

 Red River Hog Sign

Manta Construction at Sea World San Diego

On May 26, 2012, SeaWorld San Diego opened a new mega-attraction called Manta, a Mack launched roller coaster featuring two launches and speeds of up to 43 miles per hour. The new attraction would also include a bat ray aquarium and touch pool. The following collection of  photos were taken during the last few months of construction.

Fancy rockwork taking shape, surrounded by the bright blue tracks of the soon to be opened, Manta coaster.

Food & Shopping at the Elephant Odyssey

Being one of the largest areas of the San Diego Zoo, you're bound to get hungry during your trek through the 7.5 acre, $45-million Elephant Odyssey. Luckily, the designers of this exhibit had the good sense to add a counter service restaurant. The Sabertooth Grill features fresh ingredients from local farms. On the menu, you'll find offerings ranging from wraps and burgers to rice plates and fresh fruit salads. A large dining patio, adorned by sculptures of prehistoric animals, offers a great view of the elephant habitat.

Sabertooth Grill

Elephant Odyssey at the San Diego Zoo

These photos were taken on a trip to the San Diego Zoo in April of 2012. This exhibit opened on May 23, 2009 and features a 2.5 acre elephant habitat. Elephant Odyssey also features sculptures of prehistoric animals from Southern California's ancient past alongside its present day counterparts including lions, jaguars, tapirs, guanacos, cabybaras, camels, and California condors.

Entrance to Elephant Odyssey