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3. Wonderland (China)

Wonderland

Construction work on Shanghai Disneyland is now at an advanced stage, with the resort due to open in late 2015. But it would have been beaten to market by some distance by the magnificent Wonderland, if the park's backers had succeeded in pulling off their plans.

Wonderland (1)

Image: Catherine Hyland / Vimeo

Designed to be the largest theme park in Asia at some 120 acres, Wonderland was located about 20 miles outside of Beijing - giving it access to a potentially huge audience. Like many theme parks in China, it was "inspired" by Disneyland.

Wonderland (2)

Image: Catherine Hyland / Vimeo

Construction began in the mid-1990s. Workers installed an entire village, an enormous parking lot and a massive castle that bore more than a passing resemblance to one of Disney's creations. When work ground to a halt in 1998, this became a symbol of the park's failure - as well as of a potential property bubble in China. An attempt to kickstart construction some ten years later failed miserably.

Wonderland (3)

A major reason for the park's failure to open was that the government had wrestled the land away from local farmers, and they weren't too happy about it. They opposed the park, and soon returned to begin cultivating the site when financial problems finally killed the project off.

There's now no hope of Wonderland ever opening, with the abandoned structures having finally been put out of their misery and demolished in May 2013.

 

 
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