8 Strange Abandoned Recreational Places

From the controversial Splendid China Park, to the water park in the middle of the desert, these are 8 Strange Abandoned Recreational Places !

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8.Consonno
LOCATION - Consonno, Italy

7.Nara Dreamland
LOCATION - NARA, JAPAN

6.American Adventure Theme Park
LOCATION - DERBYSHIRE, ENGLAND

5.Splendid China
LOCATION - ORLANDO, FLORIDA

At its core, the park was a collection of miniature replicas of famous Chinese buildings and locations. They even had the Great Wall of China. It just wasn’t so great, or in China… but whatever that's not the point.

It opened in 1993, and in the beginning it featured a lot of talented Chinese actors and performers… who immediately ran away from the park and claimed asylum in the United States… Seriously, never thought that a small park in Florida would be the site of so much controversy !

Splendid China closed down in 2003, and news from the area state that a Margaritaville is being built at the location.

4.Atlantis Marine Park
LOCATION - AUSTRALIA

This obscure little place was constructed in 1981, and it featured seven bottlenose dolphins as its main attraction. Oh and of course, the big statue of Neptune that has passed the test of time.

It seems like they didn’t plan for everything though, dolphins are active creatures, and there were 3 dolphin calves born in 1988. Due to regulations, the park had to build a much bigger enclosure for the dolphins. Unfortunately, there was not enough money to do so, the park went bankrupt, the dolphins were released into the wild, and Neptune got vandalised. The End.
3.Rock-A-Hoola Waterpark
LOCATION - Newberry Springs, California

If you have ever made the boring 4 hour desert drive between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, chances are, you have seen the remnants of the Rock- A - Hoola water park. It was constructed in the early 1960’s and by 1990, it was forgotten by most, and abandoned. That is until 1998, when it was reopened by new owners, hoping for a different outcome.

In 1999, it hosted the Electric Daisy Carnival, and by late 2000, the park had amassed over 3 million dollars in debt, plus a 4.4 million dollar insurance payout for an employee injury. Needless to say, the company filed for a Chapter 11, and the park was permanently shut down…

Except, for you know, all the cool stuff that has happened there since, including filming commercials, music videos, and having major paintball fights.

2.Flintstones Bedrock City
LOCATION - WILLIAMS, ARIZONA

Do you love the Flinstones? Do you love websites straight outta the 90’s ? Do you love abandoned theme parks? THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU MY FRIEND.

Not to be confused with the Bedrock City in South Dakota, this place is located in Williams, Arizona. It also not completely abandoned, the owner of the property still lives on the site, but is unable to do any upkeep.

They did try to sell the park for $2 million but, sadly, no one wanted to Make Bedrock City Great Again.

Honorable Mentions

Before we jump into #1, here are some honorable mentions, and of course, a little subscriber appreciation, thanks for the awesome support !

First we have the most famous abandoned place in the World, Pripyat, and the desolate amusement park within. It sure makes for a great photo location, apart from the general feeling of despair and sadness.

There is also the not so famous Boblo Island ! It is located on the Detroit River, and it closed down in 1993. There are not that many pictures of the place, and almost all of the rides were sold off to other parks.

Next up, The Six Flags New Orleans, a victim of the vicious Hurricane Katrina, this park has been used in a few hollywood productions, I go into much more detail in the 10 Restricted Abandoned Places video, check it out !

By the way, any Mr. Robot fans around here? Did you ever wonder if the FSociety Headquarters was a real place, or just a film set? Well it’s a little bit of both, the outside scenes were filmed in front of the Eldorado Bumper Cars & Arcade on Coney Island, for inside scenes, the production used Silvercup Studios, also based in NY.

1.Birnbeck Pier
LOCATION - North Somerset, England

Finally, we have the Birnbeck Pier, once a staple of the Bristol Channel, the Birnbeck Pier was opened on June 5, 1867. Making this the oldest location in this video.

Since then, the pier has been plagued by heavy damage from storms, and change of owners.

It was finally closed for safety reasons in 1994. It lay in disrepair until 2006 when it was sold to Urban Splash, a company specializing in fixing up abandoned buildings. Unfortunately, even they were not able to bring the Pier back to its former glory, the site is becoming more dangerous for urban explorers every year, with the latest collapse happening in Dec 2015.

[orangeblossom]

I love all your videos and your voice ! Keep it up xx

[andidixon-keeling]

Hey there, I worked as the sherif of silver city, American Adventure, for the last 2yrs the park was open trick and stunt riding, its nice to see it remembered

[hapymom]

Loved you including Rock-a-hoola!!! Driven past that way too many times. And many other abandoned places around the desert

[paulblack]

Great memories playing in burnbeck pier when I was a child, always been drawn to there even today. Beautiful island.

[jmstubbs]

Love this channel. Always interesting topics. Keep it up.

[KortKramer]

Love your channel. It is fun to "explore" so many cool and unusual things and places.

[tylerojala]

Love this channel! Great quality of videos and always interesting!

[skaluv]

Fun video, Splendid China was completely torn down by the end of 2015. The Margaritaville going there is actually a resort, not just a restaurant.

[krisnaisley]

I have actually never heard of Consonno before, very interesting The buildings at 1:21 looks heavily influenced by Le Corbusier's Domino design

[leekhat]

Went to Boblo in the late 70s when I moved to the US as a kid. Glad it lives on on YouTube

[juedwayne]

my dad worked at birnbeck pier and we was there everyday when i was a kid in the 1980s its so sad seein it everyday as i still live in weston super mare which is where it is. so sad

[the_dire_wolf]

Update: Bedrock City in Williams, Arizona has officially closed.

The park has been sold (reportedly for $2 million) and a new attraction - "Raptor Ranch" - is planned to replace it. The new attraction will feature birds of prey, not dinosaurs.

The new owners have stated that they plan to preserve some of the structures and figures from Bedrock City.

The restaurant and gift shop/convenience store operated on the site for 40 years has officially closed for redevelopment.

[yeomanpip]

Love your videos, especially when number 1 is a location near my home! Birnbeck Pier, which is located in Weston Super Mare, was once frequented by John Cleese and his father, they would go with friends to watch test match cricket on the big TV!

[laurametheny]

New sub. I find these very interesting-thankyou! Yeah there are some words mispronounced-but I also think I hear a bit of a foreign accent...Am I right? That might be part of it.😯☺

[cjw]

Boblo Island used to be so much fun. Spent my childhood going there every summer.

[holleyluvemmanuel]

Omg, I was just talking about Boblo Island a few days ago...I miss that place went all the time in the summer as a kid...

[doglover]

Great videos, and you can learn from them

[imShlievenhien]

I live like a hour from Birnbeck Pier thanks for telling me about it ;D

[harrystevens]

I use to drink on Birnbeck Pier and play snooker, space invaders, and listen to the juke box and play "we will rock you" by Queen before it became well known, I often wonder if me constantly playing the Queen "B" side helped, :)That bus trip to Kewstoke where we where holidaying via Badger buses was a hell of a thing....Great holiday memories, sadly I have followed the sad demise of the Pier over the years via the Internet then theres Shoestring and the cafe,

[Necrovamp]

Wow American Adventure made the list! I lived near there and visited as a Child. These days It is a wasteland with only the pond and some geographical features left. The houses and offices have never been built.