Fantawild (Fangte (方特) in Chinese) has become one of the largest theme park chains on the planet. The theme park operator has a very rich portfolio when it comes to dark rides and show rides, though not much has been written about it in the western world. In this multi-part series, we will take a look at this fascinating and exciting theme park chain. We hope to uncover many of the secrets which it may hold when it comes to dark rides. Along the way this should provide an in-depth guide and insight into which attractions are on offer and where, throughout the vastness of the Chinese theme park landscape.
In our previous special, we looked at the original Fantawild theme park and the dark and show rides of the many parks that followed under the Fantawild Adventure name. Their first Sci-Fi Theme Park opened its gates in 2006 and was followed by several Adventure-parks until as late as 2015.
By 2010 however, fresh new ideas, themes and ride concepts had already been established and Fantawild were ready to roll out their next phase of parks. Today we will dive into the details of the next step in the evolution of theme parks and dark rides for the chain, through the Fantawild Dreamland parks.
Fantawild’s first Dreamland
The very first Fantawild Dreamland park opened in December of 2010, in Wuhu (Anhui province, China), a city approximately 300km west of Shanghai, that lies on the Yangtze river. As we saw in the previous special, the city of Wuhu had already received the first Fantawild Adventure park just 3 years earlier.
The park was set around a lake centrepiece, contained one large scale and one children’s rollercoaster and a number of commonly seen flat rides. It also opened with a total of 5 dark and show rides, two of which had been seen before at various Fantawild Adventure parks (simulator X-Cops and interactive train ride Space Warrior), while the other three were exciting new ventures in design and development.
Dreamland in Wuhu also saw the introduction of Fantawild’s highly regarded major shows within their theme parks, with the Bubble Ballet. This particular technical concept was able to create choreographed shapes from hundreds of objects on controlled wires, while live performers interacted or danced with them. After becoming an award-winning success, it would lead onto almost all future Fantawild parks containing a comparable spectacle of their own, sometimes with a well-known and shared theme, other times with stories unique to the local culture and traditions of the region.
The fact that Fantawild Dreamland Wuhu went on to become a wider resort with greater offerings and a second gate seemingly doomed its counterpart elsewhere in the city. Unusually, the two were constructed approximately 5 miles apart as it seems there was no opportunity for expansion plans on the original plot. By the early 2020s the original Fantawild Adventure in Wuhu had closed and now lies abandoned.
Continued IP branding
The Fantawild group made another significant breakthrough during the Dreamland era: Fantawild Animation developed the Boonie Bear animated series, which was first released in 2011. It would go on to become the most popular Children’s show in all of China. As this popularity grew, the characters of this series, predominantly the two bears Xiongda (Briar) and Xiong’er (Bramble) would feature on park maps and signs as casual decorations before eventually receiving their own attractions.
Several Adventure and Dreamland parks added the Boonie Bears Theater, a revolving theater. From that moment on, the bears slowly started to replace Duludubi, who was the original mascot of the Fantawild parks.
Not all parks received these attractions, but Fantawild would eventually make sure that the Boonie Bear franchise would be well represented in almost every Fantawild resort, eventually even receiving their own dedicated parks.
Worldwide expansion?
By 2012, Fantawild is well on their way to completing their 10th park in the chain after just six years, which is a remarkable achievement in itself. Such intense levels of theme park construction have never been seen in any other part of the world at any time in amusement history. During this early period, they were continuously looking to expand their reach to wider audiences.
They successfully exported their very first ‘one stop solution’ theme park package in 2014 with a ‘Dream Land’ in Isfahan, Iran. This provided the very same template and several of the rides that had become so familiar domestically, including one dark ride and one show ride, albeit both of their Adventure park vintage. As such, the Iran park appears to be a Dreamland in name only.
While, due to the location, very little is known about the operational history of this park, news as recent as 2023 states that their Dino Rampage ride received an upgrade to its 35 video projectors, so it is good to hear that the attraction still sees some attention.
So far, Iran is the only country outside of China to have invested in this concept, speculation would suggest that the template may struggle to appeal in countries that already have an established history with amusement parks. If you’re ever considering investing in a franchise on a grander scale than a local sandwich shop however, spare a thought for Fantawild – maybe you can make it work in your home town!
The Dreamland Parks
After Fantawild Dreamland in Wuhu, 4 more parks under the same name were constructed across China over the space of 6 years, with the second being at Qingdao in 2011 and the most recent being Zhuzhou in 2016.
- Fantawild Dreamland Wuhu – opened 2010
- Fantawild Dreamland Qingdao – opened 2011
- Fantawild Dreamland Xiamen – opened 2013
- Fantawild Dreamland Zhengzhou – opened 2015
- Fantawild Dreamland Zhuzhou – opened 2016
The Qingdao park is in a more restricted space with an unusually (for a Fantawild) inner-city location, but all four of the other Dreamland parks went on to form part of a larger resort, with a second gate, themed hotels and other offerings.
Zhengzhou and Zhuzhou were constructed and opened next to an existing Fantawild Adventure park, while Wuhu and Xiamen received a neighbouring Oriental Heritage park within just a few years.
While the Dreamland parks were still partly based on fantasy theming, like the Adventure parks, certain attractions and areas within the parks started to draw inspiration from Chinese culture, mythology and landscapes, leading to an interesting blend of styles. The parks also contained a centrepiece castle, often with a more distinct styling.
Along with the many new dark ride developments of the Dreamland era, there was a fair amount of overlap in attraction lineups during this period, with certain rides that could be found at other Adventure parks also making an appearance, especially if the particular city did not yet have a Fantawild property – leading to a bit of a mismatched combination of attractions and themes.
Besides the progression with their dark rides, by 2015, Fantawild also became more ambitious with thrill rides, installing their first major wooden rollercoasters from the Gravity Group. Three of these, known as Jungle Trailblazer, went to the Fantawild Dreamland parks, with varying layouts, putting the park chain on the map for many global theme park enthusiasts and inevitably drawing more attention to the accompanying dark rides. In the following section, we will take a closer look at those dark rides.
The Dark Rides
Wizard Academy
Known installations: 8
Wizard Academy was, after the Dino Rampage rides, the second generation of Fantawild’s 4D motion-based dark rides. They have opened at every Fantawild Dreamland park, along with a few of the later Adventure parks. As with its predecessor, it utilises an extensive themed queueline and sometimes a pre-show.
During the ride, riders undergo an intense and perilous journey that could loosely be considered ‘training’ for their course in magic. Multiple large fantasy creatures, like a rock man and a giant octopus, are encountered and proceed to attack guests.
The ride features mostly screen-based scenes, but also incorporates physical sets and effects during some of the transitions between screens. These transitions can vary over the different installations.
Check out our onride video here:
Wizard Academy is one of the major attractions to retain an entirely fantasy theme at Dreamland parks. Its narrative can be confusing at times, as the wizard who apparently runs the facility also seems more than a little corrupt, sometimes delighting in scaring the guests while at other times saving them, before eventually declaring that they passed the test and gifting them treasures.
In terms of scale and presentation, it does deliver an impressive package and thanks to the reasonably aggressive motion-base, it is often one of the most popular thrill attractions at any given Fantawild Dreamland park.
As we saw with Dino Rampage in part 1, Wizard Academy appears to have been looked back upon fondly by the designers as it also received a remake version in 2023 at Fantawild Wonderland in Xuzhou. This installation received the latest technological upgrades, a new wizard protagonist and several remade scenes, while retaining much of the spirit of the original, including the giant octopus who now adorns the entrance.
Qin Dynasty Adventure / Warrior’s Tomb
Known installations: 5
Exclusively built at all of the Fantawild Dreamland parks in China, Qin Dynasty Adventure uses an enhanced motion vehicle ride system similar in design to that of Indiana Jones Adventure at Disney Resorts.
The queueline often contains some rather dark imagery based around an archaeological expedition gone wrong.
The plot of the ride follows the same concept, with riders being invited to visit Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum, most famous for being where the Terracotta Army was discovered, at the time of excavation.
During the visit however, mysterious forces come into play and the visit turns somewhat more sinister as the Terracotta Army itself begins to come to life. Soon riders find themselves escaping various perils at speed, in order to return to safety.
Qin Dynasty Adventure is one of the rides representing the notable shift towards the use of Chinese culture in Fantawild’s themed attractions. It combines an interesting mix of slower paced, more traditional ghost train-type scares with the higher thrills of a fast-paced, enhanced motion vehicle attraction including elevation changes and even a drop.
The ride is noticeably less media-oriented than the full-on 4D counterpart of Wizard Academy, allowing for an interesting variation of dynamic entertainment within each Dreamland park. While ending up as the much rarer of the two ride systems within the chain, this attraction paved the way for some of the most impressive unique dark rides in the Fantawild arsenal to date.
Jinshan Temple Showdown / White Snake Maiden’s Fury
Known installations: 9
Jinshan Temple Showdown is a highly elaborately themed boat ride through an ancient Chinese water town. The scale of this experience leads to it being a time-slotted attraction in most cases, so visitors are advised to check park information on the day in order to not miss the must-see attraction.
The ride information board manages to sum up this attraction rather poetically: ‘The mist lifts gradually as the boat glides across the serene landscape of south China; suddenly a great flood comes, threatening to swallow everything in its path. It is the scene where the folk legend of the white snake maiden unfolds; when you feel the force of the flood, you will know how furious the white snake maiden is. For Fahai the monk has separated her from her true love and she is desperate to bring him back to her side.’
At the allotted time slot, guests are directed from a more ambient holding area and often must travel, unfortunately quickly, through a highly decorative queueline experience.
The process allows for immediate boarding of the boat upon arrival at the station, without need for batching or air-gates.
The ride vehicles are amongst the most massive that have been seen for any dark ride, large open plan boats with rows of wooden benches that can seat well over 100 people. No restraints are required and a member of staff stays with the vehicle throughout the ride, for supervision.
A voiceover sets the scene while everyone settles, before guests are floated through the sights and sounds of the Legend of the White Snake.
A wide range of multimedia scenes are used amongst the decorative facades of the ancient water town. These both outline various plot points, as well as provide other more atmospheric scenes of daily life in the background to make the experience feel more lived-in.
Varying between installations, or perhaps seasonally depending on the popularity of the park, live actors can appear during the ride sequence to enhance the story. Sometimes this can be Fahai the monk, other times Bai Suzhen’s (Lady White Snake) sworn sister – Xiaoqing (Green Snake).
The dark ride however only forms part of the overall experience, as upon departing from the ride system, the experience culminates with an impressive show of water effects, with projections and live actors. Perhaps most interestingly for a dark ride, the story ends without resolution. As with the legend itself, there have been various versions told throughout the years, and the conclusion is left to the imagination of the rider.
Check out our on-ride video here:
This attraction is widely considered one of Fantawild’s most spectacular achievements to date. It was first seen and operates at all five Dreamland parks and went on to feature in at least four of their newer parks that focus more specifically on the mythological story telling that Jinshan Temple Showdown performs so well.
Chicken Fight Back
Known installations: 1
With Fantawild Dreamland Qingdao opening in 2011, the Boonie Bears had not yet had their opportunity to take hold in popular culture. Fantawild Animation had another TV series at the time, by the name of Chicken Stew.
From this inspiration, a seemingly unique interactive dark ride was born.
Unlike previous interactive ride Space Warrior, Chicken Fight Back uses six-seater vehicles with guests all facing in the same direction. The cars can rotate a full 360° and travel through media based interactive scenes at a pace.
Check out our onride here:
Chicken Fight Back could be considered a significant upgrade over Fantawild’s original interactive dark ride, Space Warrior. The pace of the experience flows better without the stop-start style of waiting for screen sequences to begin. There is more to look at, both in between and around the ride media and the spinning element is used to add a little chaos and thrill.
It seems unusual that, while the Chicken Stew IP did not see the same level of success as the Boonie Bears, this particular ride system also appears to have become a relic of the time alongside it, as we have not yet encountered this hardware at another Fantawild park. However, the step up in decoration, pace and dynamics went on to feature in their future interactive dark rides.
Back to Fantawild Adventure?
With the opening of Fantawild Adventure Tianjin in 2014, the timelines of ride developments and overlapping park styles get more than a little muddy, so bear with us. Contrary to the name, the Tianjin park was, in the spirit of the dark ride lineup at least, a Dreamland park.
This was one of the most major cities and catchment areas that Fantawild had entered, being under 100 miles from capital Beijing as well. With rival chain OCT having opened a Happy Valley park in the same city just a year prior, Fantawild took the opportunity to debut three new dark and show ride attractions here, which went on to help define the second half of the Dreamland era as well as the imminent transition to the next generation of parks.
It’s possible that the Fantawild Adventure name still had more pull around this time as they outnumbered the newer Dreamlands by 3:1 and the resultant park in Tianjin was one of the most mismatched in styles of any Fantawild, displaying dinosaurs, mythology and Chinese opera all in harmony alongside each other.
It’s also possible that we’re looking for logic where perhaps there was none, but nevertheless, let’s look at the three attractions:
Dragon King’s Tale / Rumble Under the Sea
Known installations: 6
Dragon King’s Tale was one of the attractions that debuted in 2014. From Tianjin, it was rolled out in 2015 and 2016 to the final two Fantawild Dreamland parks in Zhengzhou and Zhuzhou.
Because the Dreamland parks in Wuhu and Xiamen had already missed the boat, it was also installed at the two neighbouring Oriental Heritage parks of those resorts instead, in 2015 and 2017.
The queueline often contains a preshow, which ends with the big reveal of a tunnel that uses water jets to create an impressive effect. Guests must pass through this to reach the station, taking care not to get wet!
The ride vehicles are large and simple, with long benches and no restraint. They transport riders along a fixed circuit, with the ability to rotate and face wherever the action may be.
The attraction also features a turn table with 360° projections, into which the ride vehicle enters for the finale sequence.
Riders are taken on adventure with the young deity Nezha, who must confront Ao Guang the Dragon King, who has flooded the ancient city. After breaking into the underwater palace, Nezha gains new powers which he then uses to defeat Ao Guang and the other dragons in order to restore peace.
Dragon King’s Tale has since been seen one more time in a more recent park, with Oriental Heritage Mianyang opening in 2020. This version showcased a significant facelift to the entrance and surrounding plaza, including roaring animatronic dragons. The ride experience itself remains unchanged.
Check out our on-ride here:
Dragon King’s Tale is one of very few attractions that was able to span three generations of Fantawild parks, due to the timing of its development. While the first of those may have been an Adventure park, it carries with it the spirit of the transitional period of Dreamland parks from common fantasy tropes to specific Chinese mythology and storytelling.
The ride vehicles suited the narrative for this attraction while not bringing any new technological developments to the table. However, the incorporation of a revolving theatre into a car ride layout went on to inspire a number of Fantawild dark ride attractions that followed. The size of the vehicles also continued to set the precedent for ambitious, large scale and communal ride experiences.
Devil’s Peak
Known installations: 7
Devil’s Peak was developed around the same time as Dragon King’s Tale and followed a very similar path. It was first seen in Tianjin in 2014, then at the two subsequent Fantawild Dreamland parks in Zhengzhou and Zhuzhou, and later at four more Oriental Heritage parks either next door to the older Dreamland parks or independently.
The ride was the first from Fantawild to use a robo-coaster system, where 4 guests are seated on the end of a robot arm that is attached to a ride vehicle following a fixed path.
The commonly known example of this style of ride system is the Harry Potter ride Forbidden Journey at Universal Resorts, however the loading sequence is rather different for Devil’s Peak. After the by now standard themed queueline and safety preshow, guests are grouped into small loading areas where, behind a closed door, one of the vehicles is parked and waiting. This station setup was also later seen on robo-coaster attractions such as Batman: Knight Flight at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi.
Once safety checks are completed, the vehicle reverses out of one of several station bays and joins the main ride circuit.
This design leans into Fantawild’s more casual approach to guest throughput, in that each major attraction can be treated as a time-slotted major event, rather than having a conveyor belt churning through thousands of guests per hour and a ride system that runs continuously for 12+ hours a day.
The story of Devil’s Peak follows the well-known character Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, one of the lead roles in ancient Chinese novel Journey to the West. The novel contains over 100 chapters of adventures, allowing for almost countless stories to be told and has become a popular source of inspiration for a number of theme park attractions throughout China, including an entire park in the case of Xiyou World of Adventure (Huai’an, Jiangsu province).
For Devil’s Peak in particular, the story encompasses a perilous journey through the flaming mountains and an encounter with the Bull Demon King. The Flaming Mountains themselves take inspiration from real life location in the Xinjiang province of north-west China.
Compared to the well-known robo-coaster attraction, Devil’s Peak takes somewhat more of a slower and atmospheric pace, with effective use of pause and sound design to keep guests in suspense. Parts of the ride lean into ghost-train style theming and scares with vehicle movements that can be quite deliberate, while the use of screen-based media is also prevalent for the transitional and main action sequences. The range of motion on the arms is enough to provide a level of thrill, with guests tipped flat on their back at times – an effective way to garner an audible reaction.
Overall Devil’s Peak is another impressive dark ride that took Fantawild down the path of reinventing mediums for telling folklore and mythology through highly decorative, story-driven attractions. The robo-coaster system put yet another cutting edge dark ride vehicle into their portfolio, although it hasn’t gone on to see as much use later in the chain, yet.
Havoc in Heaven
Known installations: 3
The last of the trilogy to debut in Tianjin was revolving theatre show ride, Havoc in Heaven. While complimenting Devil’s Peak with another tale of Sun Wukong, it was only installed twice more at the last two Dreamland parks (Zhengzhou and Zhuzhou). A new theme and story was created for the same ride system by the time the next generation of parks rolled around.
On Havoc in Heaven, guests are seated in a square or octagonal pattern, facing inwards, towards each other and the centre of the circular platform of a revolving theatre. Around the circumference of the theatre are a number of screens built into decorative rockwork and foliage.
There is also a domed screen in the ceiling of the attraction. During the ride sequence the seats themselves are able to gently tip riders backwards in order to look up, and a telescopic effect is used by transporting the entire seating platform upwards towards the domed screen for parts of the story.
The story follows an earlier period of Sun Wukong’s life, again from novel Journey to the West, in which he gets into an altercation with the Jade Emperor and the Marshal of the Central Altar, in heaven. The ‘havoc’ that ensues is brought on by Sun Wukong’s defiance as he proceeds to do some significant damage throughout an extended action sequence, before eventually being banished back to Earth.
This revolving theatre might not have been the most ambitious project to date, but it showed innovations with the rising platform aspect in order to create a more dynamic show ride experience with more than one visual medium to tell a story within the footprint of a show ride. One drawback of the system is that it can be hard to follow the main characters or action whilst the rider’s perspective is continually moving and changing, at odds with the media, and it can result in a sore neck if guests try too hard to keep up.
Though the story of Havoc in Heaven was used sparingly across the Fantawild chain, the ride system allows for the flexibility of media change and went on to be used many more times in the future.
The Dream continues
While there were only half the number of Dreamland parks vs Adventure parks, and the last was opened just one year later than the latter, these parks marked an important stepping stone for the chain through both depth of storytelling and a much wider portfolio of ride systems.
It was refreshing at this time to see an expansion into other styles of dark and show ride attractions that allowed for greater creative freedom within the chain, as well as improvements being built upon the staple ride systems that defined the first generation of parks.
To this day, Fantawild Dreamland parks contain one of the most iconic and impressive attractions in their history, both in terms of the ambition and quality. There is nothing else in the theme park landscape quite like Jinshan Temple Showdown and while the Adventure parks could be considered a premium experience against the average local Chinese amusement park, this ride is a premium experience on a global amusement scale and worthy of attracting a global audience. It went on to feature in the next generation of parks and almost certainly contributed towards the theme of those parks.
Which leads to a little irony, as a clear transition was seen over this period from the generic, fantasy themes of the Adventure parks and into the mythology and heritage of the Chinese populace who were inevitably the target audience of these domestic parks. It’s possible with Dream Land Iran and franchised plans for global expansion, that the earliest attractions of Fantawild were designed and intended to speak to a global audience moreso in their theme than in their execution.
Meanwhile the reality of the growing park locations within China, on the outskirts of less major cities, far from international tourist hotspots, the subsequent award-winning shows, domestic success of the Boonie Bears and homogenous visitor demographics of a wider than average age range seems to have led to the doubling down of making Fantawild parks about China, for China, while the quality of the dark rides continues to grow and grow.
© Dark Ride Database
Article by: Steven
Photos by: Steven, unless otherwise noted.
