Adventure Wonderland was a family theme park situated in the village of Hurn, near Bournemouth, United Kingdom. The park offered rides and attractions aimed at families with children up to the age of 10. It drew much of its theme from the novel Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Alice, The Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, The Cheshire Cat, and The White Rabbit make appearances throughout the day around the park and in the theatre shows.
In September 2023, the park announced it would be closing all outdoor rides but retaining its indoor play centre, with birthday parties and Christmas attraction. It plans a return to its roots of a traditional family park in 2024 with the Maze at its centre.[1] The indoor play centre closed in January 2024. [2]
The park also hosts a number of special character day events as well as seasonal Halloween and Christmas themed events.
Geography
Adventure Wonderland is situated in Hurn, Dorset. The park features 1.5 miles of pathways, covering 20 acres of land, adjacent to Bournemouth International Airport. The site is also home to Bournemouth's Aviation Museum, situated on land opposite the car park, having moved there in Autumn 2008.[3][4][5]
History
Adventure Wonderland was created by the farmer Russell Lucas-Rowe. The third generation of a local farming family based at Hurn, the origins of Adventure Wonderland started in approximately 1971, when the site was originally a pick your own strawberries and raspberries.[3]
Whilst parents were picking fruit, Lucas-Rowe wanted an area of the site for children's entertainment, so created a garden and maze. On first thinking about a design, Lucas-Rowe chose the theme of the Lewis Carroll children's novel, Alice In Wonderland, realising there was a local connection (Alice Pleasance Liddell, the inspiration for the title character lived in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, approximately 21.9 miles away).The name was later altered to 'Adventure Wonderland' in order for the park to appeal to boys and slightly older children.[3]
The site originally opened as The Alice in Wonderland Maze and by the end of the first season, 54,000 people had visited. This encouraged Lucas-Rowe to gradually expand the children's park, which having taken off, resulted in the closure of the pick your own fruit.[3]
In 2005, Adventure Wonderland opened a £1million Aztec-themed indoor play area named 'Wild Thing!' This allowed Adventure Wonderland to stay open year round, as they would previously close for the winter due to being an outside park.[3][5]
By July 2011, Adventure Wonderland was one of Dorset's most popular attractions, with approximately 100 staff employed during the peak season and 180,000 visitors each year.[3]
Attractions and rides
Attractions
The park featured outdoor play areas and features. There was also a cafe and gift shop. Visitors could meet live characters, such as Alice and the Mad Hatter. Other live characters would visit, including from local holiday parks, such as Shorefield.[5]
Name
Description
Adventure Wonderland Maze
Alice at the Movies (Mini Golf)
9-hole crazy gold course with a theme of favourite family films
Battle Boats
Guests board boats equipped with water jets they can use to shoot other riders with water
Charlie Cool's Driving School
Guests drive kart-style safari jeeps around a racetrack
Dig for Gold
Guests sift through sand to find gold nuggets which can be exchanged for a free gift
Mr Rabbit's Big Bouncy Burrows
Six trampolines
Pony Palace
Stables of horses and donkeys, with availability for pony rides
Shetland World
Guests can cuddle a range of animals, including alpacas, pigmy goats, lambs, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs
Shrinking Mirror Hedge
Guests walk through a series of pathways with various mirrors that distort their reflections
The Happydrome Theatre
A 300 seat theatre with live shows, including pantomimes, magic shows, singing and dancing, with an Alice in Wonderland theme
The park includes an octagonal, 240 ft × 240 ft (73 m × 73 m) beech hedge maze of 5,200 bushes, designed by Adrian Fisher.[9] It was planted in 1990 and opened to the public in 1992.[3]The maze has 1.75 miles of paths. As of 2011, it was four times the size of Hampton Court Palace's maze and the third largest maze in the UK, after Longleat Safari and Adventure Park and Blenheim Palace's maze.[3] The Maze uses a 'left turn' route to complete.
