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{{Generic|desc=Store Exterior, June 14, 2022|image=Billy Bob's Wonderland 2022-06-14.jpg}}
{{Generic|desc=Exterior of the Barboursville location, June 14, 2022|image=Billy Bob's Wonderland 2022-06-14.jpg}}


'''''Billy Bob's Wonderland''''' is a long-running, well-known FEC chain owned by Rex Donahue Jr. with its only currently remaining location at [[Barboursville, WV (5 Cracker Barrel Dr)]].
'''''Billy Bob's Wonderland''''' is a long-running, well-known FEC chain owned by Mark Hoffman with its only currently remaining location at [[Barboursville, WV (5 Cracker Barrel Dr)]].


The remaining store is noted for being the last public places in the US and the world to view the [[Rock-afire Explosion]], in addition to having a perpetual license for the characters - this being how they are able to use the Billy Bob name and design in their branding.
The remaining store is noted for being one of the last public places in the US and the world to view the [[Classic Stage|Rock-afire Explosion]], in addition to having a perpetual license for the characters - this being how they are able to use the Billy Bob character name and design in their branding.


== History ==
==History==
Billy Bob's Wonderland originally opened in 1989, with the first location being in [[Barboursville, WV (3419 US Rt 60)|East Barboursville]], which was a former Showbiz Pizza Place that rebranded the exterior and interior to avoid [[Concept Unification]]. They later opened a second location in [[Ashland, KY (12862 KY Rd. 180)|Ashland, KY]], and both locations combined in 2003 to become the larger location which they still reside in today at 5 Cracker Barrel Dr, Barboursville, WV 25504.
Billy Bob's Wonderland originally opened in 1989, with the first location being in [[Barboursville, WV (3419 US Rt 60)|East Barboursville]], Along with the East Barboursville location they had also opened a location in [[Clarksburg, WV (209 Emily Dr)|Clarksburg, WV]], both of which were former Showbiz Pizza Places that rebranded the exterior and interior to avoid [[Concept Unification]]. They later opened a third location in [[Ashland, KY (12862 KY Rd. 180)|Ashland, KY]], and all three locations combined in 2003 to become the larger location which they still reside in today at 5 Cracker Barrel Dr, Barboursville, WV 25504. As of 2024, this is the last FEC in the United States where the Rock-afire Explosion is publicly viewable as all the others have been closed, privately owned, or in a museum.


== Show Quality ==
==Show Collection==
Billy Bob's Wonderland had three shows, coming from three locations, Ashland, KY, Clarksburg, WV, and East Barboursville, WV. Two of which were originally Showbiz Pizza Place's. In 2003 they closed down the Clarksburg, Ashland, and East Barboursville locations to open up one huge location not far from the original East Barboursville location, The Ashland show went on stage and the Clarksburg and East Barboursville shows going into 3 trailers behind the building. Through out the years characters and cosmetics were sold from the trailers including 2 Mitzis being stolen, some bots from the trailer went missing which means they were either sold, stolen, or lost somewhere in the building. The characters that went missing including 1 Fatz, 1 Looney Bird, 1 Sun, 1 Moon, and 1 Choo Choo. They put the East Barboursville Mitzi, Dook, and Billy Bob on stage. Of the Remaining shows inside the trailer they have two Dooks, two Rolfes, one Fatz, one Looney Bird, one Mitzi, one Beach Bear, two Billy Bob's, one Sun, one Moon, one Choo Choo, and two Antiochs.
Billy Bob's Wonderland is infamous for their current location's show varying quality over the years, up until recent years they had been in extremely poor shape throughout, with many air leaks, broken parts, bad condition or dirty cosmetics and decaying latex masks, when in 2021 Braylon Giles started extensive repairs, mechanically and cosmetically, albeit with third-party masks and painting quality not as detailed or high quality as the originals.


The Rock-afire Explosion at Billy Bob's Wonderland was known for being in extremely poor condition until 2021 when it was fully restored by their show technician, Braylon Giles. As of 2024, the show remains in decent condition, with most of the issues stemming from the imitation parts and cosmetics. Giles no longer maintains the show.
=== Relationship with Creative Engineering/Aaron Fechter ===
In 2013, Aaron Fechter attempted to restore the show, but, according to Aaron, Rex was very rude toward him, and he has never returned since. He only ever posted [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-IFQbLxlJk one video] from Billy Bob's Wonderland which was posted two years after the fact, that showed the condition of Mitzi's valves which were then covered with bubbling water.


==Gallery==
=== Past Restorations ===
Around 2014-2015, David Ferguson, known for DSF Robots and Goofy Gas Fillin' Station, came to restore the show. Most of the broken movements were repaired, the previous show controller was replaced with David's signature Blue Box, and the cosmetics were also replaced. Though the show did get fixed, most of the parts and cosmetics were aftermarket and did not last very long (this was mainly caused by air pressure being too high, which caused the animatronics' masks to melt and some movements to break.)

In 2019, the show was in very poor condition, with deteriorating masks, and broken movements. Mitzi had a broken arm, Beach Bear wore a walkaround head, and Looney Bird was nonfunctional. The show went through a mechanical and cosmetic restoration by Braylon Giles and Anthony Ybarra until they were fired later that year. After they had been fired, the show began to deteriorate in condition yet again.

In late 2020, center stage was entirely shut down, to give the left and right stages more air pressure, Around this time, Beach Bear was covered with a garbage bag to preserve the bot from deterioration.

=== Braylon's Restoration ===
In late 2021, Braylon was hired again, to now attempt a restoration on the full restoration of the show, with changes made such as changing the character's positions on stage to be more accurate to the original, and adding artificial turf to the stage to also match an original show. Restoration was completed in February 2022, being unveiled to the public at one of two conventions the store has held, the other being in July of the same year.

=== Current State ===
In December 2022, Braylon was fired again/left after disagreements with Rex, and supposed stealing of items. He took the masks molds with him, due to the fact he created them, meaning it is likely the characters' masks will continue to deteriorate since he wouldn't be making any new masks for when cracks or rips occur.

Since his absence and to this day, the show has started to lower in condition slightly, though the current employees have been trying their best to fix them, such as in March 2023, Fatz's arm welds broke, leaking them to be non-functional, now being fixed. In addition, the masks have also started to fall apart slightly too, with visible cracks being around the mouth joints of a few of the characters, most noticeably Billy Bob and Dook.

== Extra Shows ==
In addition to the main show at their current location, Billy Bob's Wonderland also has two extra shows inside trailers near the building, which originated from the previous locations in Ashland and Barboursville. In addition, they also acquired the [[Parkersburg, WV (3500 Murdoch Ave)]] location's 3-stage after their closure in 1998. Currently, their show uses a combination of East Barboursville's and Ashland's shows, with Parkersburg being used for extra parts.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
<gallery>
File:Billy Bob's Wonderland East Barboursville.jpg|The original east Barboursville location
File:Billy Bob's Wonderland East Barboursville.jpg|The original East Barboursville location
File:Ashland KY BBWL.jpg|The Ashland, Kentucky location
File:Ashland KY BBWL.jpg|The Ashland, Kentucky location
File:3211624742_85b06f232c_o (1).jpg|The showroom in July 2003
File:Rolfe and Earl BBWL.jpg|Rolfe and Earl in November 2022
File:BBWL Center Stage Nov 22.jpg|Center stage in November 2022
File:Billy B. and Looney.jpg|Billy Bob and Looney Bird in November 2022
File:Fatz' broken arms.jpg|Fatz with broken arms in March 2023
</gallery>
</gallery>

== Videos ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Link
!Title and Description
!Filming Date
!Publishing Date
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-IFQbLxlJk Link]
|An Attempt to restore the show by Aaron Fechter back in 2013
|2013
|Apr 25, 2015
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwP0we6FPHQ Link]
|A video of the RockAfire Explosion at Billy Bob's Wonderland back in 2015 after a restoration.
|May 22. 2015
|May 24, June 2, and June 17, 2015
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jm7zyoKgEg Link]
|Rolfe & Earl performing "Rolfe And Earl Show 1" at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|July 16, 2022
|March 25, 2023
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDiccRusZ8Y Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing the Beach Boys Medley at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|July 16, 2022
|April 1, 2023
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgIZA2c8X3E Link]
|A video that shows pictures of the restored show while Braylon was still working with BBWL.
|November 11, 2022
|November 15, 2022
|-
|[https://youtu.be/OzMeWUJpMlE?t=1581 Link]
|A video documenting a trip to Billy Bob's Wonderland,
|January 2023
|January 21, 2023
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPAA82xnpz4 Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing Dance Contest Live and In Person
|January 19, 2023
|January 21, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/zQwznNVrjDs Link]
|Someone's first visit to Billy Bob's Wonderland
|January 21, 2023
|January 21, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/NzuOZ7QMP20 Link]
|90+ Minutes of footage of the RockAfire Explosion at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|February 22, 2023
|February 22, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/nFHCBXT_3zc Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing Segment 8 of Magic Night at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|March 6, 2023
|April 5, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/RfW6bpu82xc Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing Cajun Medley from Country Night III at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|March 6, 2023
|April 5, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/EF_tHiLGXSI Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing Guitarzan from Country Night I at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|March 6, 2023
|April 5, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/DjJdzkKCjDM Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing Happy Birthday Medley at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|March 6, 2023
|April 5, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/Zmz5oeUdB14 Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing Segment 6 of Magic Night at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|March 6, 2023
|April 5, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/AAZ3hN1rHp4 Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing Segment 1 of Magic Night at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|March 6, 2023
|April 5, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/pvYEJ1cHCj8 Link]
|Billy Bob & Looney Bird performing Goofy Gas Medley from Segment 5 of the Showbiz Pizza '82 Tape at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|March 6, 2023
|April 5, 2023
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5EAuhs0upQ Link]
|"Power Blew" being performed at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|April 2023
|April 16, 2023
|-
|[https://youtu.be/f9XMBJvJNr0 Link]
|The RockAfire Explosion performing Guitarzan from Country Night I at Billy Bob's Wonderland.
|April 2023
|April 19th, 2023
|-
|
|'''More videos will be added soon.'''
|
|
|}

Latest revision as of 05:14, 11 June 2024


Exterior of the Barboursville location, June 14, 2022



Billy Bob's Wonderland is a long-running, well-known FEC chain owned by Mark Hoffman with its only currently remaining location at Barboursville, WV (5 Cracker Barrel Dr).

The remaining store is noted for being one of the last public places in the US and the world to view the Rock-afire Explosion, in addition to having a perpetual license for the characters - this being how they are able to use the Billy Bob character name and design in their branding.

History

Billy Bob's Wonderland originally opened in 1989, with the first location being in East Barboursville, Along with the East Barboursville location they had also opened a location in Clarksburg, WV, both of which were former Showbiz Pizza Places that rebranded the exterior and interior to avoid Concept Unification. They later opened a third location in Ashland, KY, and all three locations combined in 2003 to become the larger location which they still reside in today at 5 Cracker Barrel Dr, Barboursville, WV 25504. As of 2024, this is the last FEC in the United States where the Rock-afire Explosion is publicly viewable as all the others have been closed, privately owned, or in a museum.

Show Collection

Billy Bob's Wonderland had three shows, coming from three locations, Ashland, KY, Clarksburg, WV, and East Barboursville, WV. Two of which were originally Showbiz Pizza Place's. In 2003 they closed down the Clarksburg, Ashland, and East Barboursville locations to open up one huge location not far from the original East Barboursville location, The Ashland show went on stage and the Clarksburg and East Barboursville shows going into 3 trailers behind the building. Through out the years characters and cosmetics were sold from the trailers including 2 Mitzis being stolen, some bots from the trailer went missing which means they were either sold, stolen, or lost somewhere in the building. The characters that went missing including 1 Fatz, 1 Looney Bird, 1 Sun, 1 Moon, and 1 Choo Choo. They put the East Barboursville Mitzi, Dook, and Billy Bob on stage. Of the Remaining shows inside the trailer they have two Dooks, two Rolfes, one Fatz, one Looney Bird, one Mitzi, one Beach Bear, two Billy Bob's, one Sun, one Moon, one Choo Choo, and two Antiochs.

The Rock-afire Explosion at Billy Bob's Wonderland was known for being in extremely poor condition until 2021 when it was fully restored by their show technician, Braylon Giles. As of 2024, the show remains in decent condition, with most of the issues stemming from the imitation parts and cosmetics. Giles no longer maintains the show.

Gallery

  • The original East Barboursville location

    The original East Barboursville location

  • The Ashland, Kentucky location

    The Ashland, Kentucky location

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