The Creepy Abandoned Disneyland

Visit Wonderland: Creepy Abandoned Chinese Disneyland

This is Wonderland, a creepy and abandoned Chinese Disneyland-style park. A 45-minute drive from Beijing, the full name is the Wonderland Amusement Park in Chenzhuang Village, Nankou Town, Changping District. Many years ago, photos of this artifact went viral on the internet, leading us to ask: what happened to it? 

What Was Wonderland?

Wonderland will become a huge tourist destination in China, covering 120 hectares. Aiming to create a Disneyland or Disney World-style theme park, they promise to be “the largest amusement park in Asia”. And damn copyright laws. The owners built a castle in the middle of the park and even used Disney-style fonts on the welcome sign.

Construction problem

The Reignwood Group initially started building the park in the mid-1990s. However, construction stopped in 1998 and the park is not yet completed. According to multiple sources, this is due to differences between the local government and farmers over real estate prices.

The English version of Sina.com quoted An Feng, director of the investment supervision department of Reignwood Group, as saying. Because much of the land covered by the park is woodland and policies to protect the land changed after the 1998 major floods, construction was halted, forcing the company to re-examine its plans, she said.

But Wonderland isn’t dead yet.

Another Couple Entrance Shots

For years, the place felt like an apocalyptic wasteland. Some reviewers have described it as Disneyland in a Fallout game. Scrubs grow around the skeletal remains of castles and other mythical structures.

There aren’t any rides to start, but you can imagine there are roller coasters full of screams of joy. It is both beautiful and unforgettable. Although the park is unfinished, the fairytale castle and other features attract many visitors every year. As a side note, a version of this parking lot still exists today. Find out why.

The building site was abandoned in such a hurry that you would see the walkway stop halfway through its completion.
Incredibly gorgeous, one can only imagine what this glass-walled fantasy castle will look like when completed. Especially the castle in the background.

Deconstructing Wonderland

In May 2013, bulldozers and cranes again drove towards the ruins of Wonderland. This time instead of building and expanding broken structures, they completely deconstructed them. Many people’s castles, hopes and dreams have been razed to the ground.

In an interview with Senna, An Fang revealed that Reignwood Group still owns part of the land. “In 2005, when the local government of Changping district was planning a new city, it took back the right to use part of the land in the park. However, now only 15 hectares can be used,” she said. She then revealed her grand plan for the area.

The Badaling Outlets

“Although a full-scale luxury supermarket will be built on the premises, the building permit procedure is still in progress,” Fang explained, and in fact, he arrived at a luxury shopping mall. Within two years, Disney’s rip-offs were destroyed, cleared, and replaced by an outlet called the Great Wall of Badaling.

The once eerie and ominous area now looks pretty trendy. Hattamine Outlet offers shops of various brands such as Bottega Veneta, Prada, Barberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Bvlgari, Chloe and Fendi. It has also created up to 1,600 jobs for locals in the region. But even among boutiques, parts of the wonderland are approaching far away.