Random Absolutely Preposterous Theme Parks in Foreign Countries (15 items)

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  (#14) Diggerland

  • Employer

   

  A post shared by Diggerland Official Page (@diggerland.uk) on Nov 30, 2017 at 11:10pm PST

  And Bob the Builder changed the world. In April of 2000, the first Diggerland was opened to the public in Kent. The word "first" obviously implies there's more than one location, which of course there is, with four in the UK, and as of 2014, one in the US. It's no secret that kids love construction equipment, but it's still surprising that founder Hugh Edeleanu was able to build an entire empire out of that love. This "ultimate adventure park," as the site calls it, has everything from skid loaders to that one other piece of excavating construction equipment you might be able to name, with interactive exhibits and even a choreographed show called "Dancing Diggers." 

  Of course, there are activities for adults, too. You or your corporation can book all day experiences where you race dumpers of all kinds and control the mechanical arm of a digger, ripping up earth like an easily amused god. 
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  (#8) 'Stalin's World' AKA Grutas Park Is Lithuania's Nostalgic Nod To The Cold War

  In addition to the Soviet Bunker, Lithuania also offers Grutas Park, or "Stalin's World," in the wetlands of Dzukija National Park. The park opened in 2001 as a lasting homage to communism with "a Soviet-era playground, a restaurant serving Soviet-era dishes and, oddly, a zoo, complete with non-Soviet-era ostriches," according to Time. Stalin's World is as much a museum of communism as it is an amusement park, with dozens of sculptures memorializing Soviet leaders. Visitors meander through the wetlands on wooden walkways flanked by barbed wire fences and guard posts, reminding the guests what gulags were like. 
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  (#12) Suoi Tien Amusement Park

  • Amusement Park

  Because nothing says Buddha like go-karts, right? It's not that a Buddhist theme park is inherently weird, but it's what you can find in Ho Chi Minh's Suoi Tien Amusement Park that makes it strange. Beyond the go-karts, there are water slides, various rides, including a roller coaster apparently named "Roller Coaster," sprinkled in among more traditional Buddhist iconography, like temples, gardens, and statues of the cherubic Buddha himself. There's also a boat ride through a Buddhist representation of hell to keep park goers on their toes. This actually isn't the only such park in the world as a very similar one exists in Singapore called Haw Par Villa. And yes, it too, offers a whimsical jaunt through hell.
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  (#2) BonBon-Land

  • Amusement Park

  "In Denmark, on the island of Zealand, a 45-minute drive from Copenhagen, lies a disgusting and magical world every family should experience," reads the opening line in Atlas Obscura's exploration of BonBon Land. And disgusting it is. In the park one can find a statue of a cow with human breasts spilling out of her dress, a mural depicting a seagull crapping in an alligator's mouth, and a giant sculpture of a farting dog.

  Danish confectioner Michael Spang owned a successful candy business, and decided to step up his marketing game by building a theme park dedicated to his creations in 1992. If you think the toilet imagery is out of place, discordant, or even anathema to his sweet treats, you're wrong. His candies boasted such enticing names as Seagull Droppings, Large Boobs, Pee Diapers, and Hundeprutter (“Dog Fart”). So the wild and gross sights of the park are actually right in line with this dude's candy business, which proved successful because kids are gross.
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  (#11) Dickens World

  Dickens World boasted everything from corset-clad prostitutes to sewer boat rides to a classroom where girls weren't allowed to sit in front and were roundly admonished if they did. Unfortunately, the one thing it did not feature were guests. Not enough anyway. Located in Kent, near where Charles Dickens was born and died, this indoor amusement park was as authentic as a mid-19 century London recreation could be, replete with dilapidated buildings in the slums, replete with "carefully slimed brickwork and authentically crumbled plaster."

  The attraction that was decades in planning ironically survived less than one, opening in 2007 and closing its doors for good in 2016 after almost constant financial struggles. There's apparently only one British author who can create a world so immersive and loved that amusement parks based on the tale can flourish. "Dickens World" just lacks the "magic" of J.K. Rawlings's world.
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  (#6) At Parque EcoAlberto You Can Experience An Illegal Border Crossing Without Having To Illegally Cross Any Borders

   

  A post shared by Parque EcoAlberto (@parque_ecoalberto) on Apr 8, 2017 at 5:26pm PDT

  Parque EcoAlberto in El Alberto, Mexico, has all the grand vistas and protection of American National Parks, plus water slides, kayaking, ziplining, and of course, an immersive three-to-four-hour night hike through unforgiving terrain while being hunted by "border patrol" in a realistic simulation of illegally crossing the Mexico/U.S. border called Caminata Nocturna. The not-free rugged experience includes ski masks and a semi-hostile "tour guide" who hurries his charges through a rough landscape full of brambles and coyotes in the dead of night so they can truly appreciate the hellishness of an attempted border-crossing. 

  The Hñahñus, the local Native Americans, are the organizers of this experience, with the aim of deterring Mexicans from attempting the illegal infiltration of the States by showing them how terrible and dangerous it is, hoping that people will stay and help the community flourish and grow. The goal is noble, but there's yet to be any 

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