Billy Bob's Wonderland

Store Exterior, June 14, 2022

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

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.

History

Billy Bob's Wonderland originally opened in 1989, with the first location being in 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, 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.

Show Quality

They are 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 mechs, 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 as the originals.

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 one video from Billy Bob's Wonderland which was posted two years after the fact, that showed the condition of Mitzi's valves which where then covered with water.

In 2014 to 2015, David Ferguson of DSF Robots and Goofy Gas Fillin' Station fame 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 Mozzarella had a broken arm, Beach Bear wore a walkaround head, later being covered with a garbage bag to preserve the cosmetics. Looney Bird was also nonfunctional. The show went through a mechanical and cosmetic restoration by Braylon Giles and Anthony Ybarra until they were fired in late 2019. After they had been fired, the show began to drop in condition yet again.

In late 2020, center stage was entirely shut down, to give the left and right stages more air pressure.

In late 2021, Braylon Giles was hired again, to now attempt a restoration on the full restoration of their stage, with changes made to the show such as changing the character's positions on stage to be more accurate to the original, and adding grass 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.

In December 2022, Braylon was fired again after disagreements with Rex, and supposed stealing of items, resulting in him taking his mask molds along with his departure.

Since his absence and to this day, the show has started 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. 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. They also have a 3-stage show from Parkersburg, West Virginia, a Chuck E. Cheese's that closed in 1998. Currently, their show uses a combination of East Barboursville's and Ashland's shows, with Parkersburg being used for extra parts.

Gallery

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  The original east Barboursville location

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  The Ashland, Kentucky location

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  Rolfe and Earl in November 2022

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  Center stage in November 2022

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  Billy Bob and Looney Bird in November 2022

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  Fatz with broken arms in March 2023

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  Billybob's Wonderland Valves Condition

Videos

Link	Uploader	Title and Description	Filming Date
Link	The Rock-afire Explosion(Aaron Fechter)	"Billybob's Wonderland Valves Condition" This video was taken 2 years before I made it public. I am NOT helping BBWL fix their show.I never shared this with you until now. I wanted to refrain from publicly embarrassing Billy Bob's Wonderland and when I made this video and it was my intention and hope that I would be helping them put their show back in good condition and this would just be a clip in the "Restoration Video". However, now that Rex Donahue, the owner of BBWL has publicly announced that he plans to hit me in the face with a cow turd, I guess there will be no "Restoration Video".	2013