This section will focus on the major characters used by Wonderland, Hanna Barbera and Marvel.
The Marvel section will mostly consist of artwork designed by myself, which was about 90% of everything Wonderland ever did with Marvel characters.
The Hanna Barbera will contain basically everything and anything Hanna Barbera related that don't fit into any other sections of the website (eg. merchandise, general park theming....)
Since it's opening in 1985, Wonderland was always home to Hanna Barbera characters such as Fred Flintsone, Scooby Doo and Yogi Bear.
Full Hanna Barbera theming was given to the young childrens area of the park, Hanna Barbera Land.
In early 2002, even with the Scooby Doo movie on it's way, it was decided that Hanna Barbera characters were no longer a strong draw card for young children, and the licensing contract was not renewed. Hanna Barbera Land was stripped of all names and characters and replaced with generic theming that would appeal to children, and was renamed "Little Wonders Land".
Several months later, the entire Little Wonders Land area was shutdown and closed off from the rest of the park. The reason given to staff for this was that there was large amount of feedback from guests saying that the park was too big. So that area was closed off and all the rides were gradually relocated to other parts of the park with the exception of The Beastie(for obvious reasons) and Skyrider(which meant that the station at the Goldrush end had to be shutdown aswell).
Wonderland continued to operate without any dominant licensing. Several proposals were made to various studios in an effort to fill the void, and in late 2002 it was announced that Wonderland Sydney have obtained licensing with Marvel comics.
The characters permitted to use were Spiderman, The Green Goblin, The Hulk, Daredevil, Elektra, Wolverine, Storm and Captain America. With recent and upcoming movie adaptations of Spiderman, X-Men, The Hulk and Daredevil, the association of Marvel with Wonderland steered towards a promising future. It was exceptionally exciting for staff because this was the first improvement/addition made to the park in a long time.
While the potential seemed strong, the extent of Marvel usage never went beyond character suits for photo opportunities, parade, advertisements, movie promotions, selected signage and retail merchandise.
The very first piece of Marvel exposure were large canvas banners hanging on the Bush Beast, Beach tower and driveway entrance which all featured Spiderman, and also a double page spread in the Sunday Telegraph, all of which was designed by myself.
Wonderbuzz.
