Billy Bob's Wonderland: Difference between revisions

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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).

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

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.

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 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.

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

The original east Barboursville location
The Ashland, Kentucky location
Rolfe and Earl in November 2022
Center stage in November 2022
Billy Bob and Looney Bird in November 2022
Fatz with broken arms in March 2023

Videos

Link	Uploader	Title and Description	Filming Date	Publishing 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". Shows Mizti's flooded valve banks when the show was in bad condition.	2013	Apr 25, 2015
Link	Connor Leschinsky	"Rock-Afire Explosion at Billy Bob Wonderland" Come see the Rock-Afire Explosion at Billy Bob Wonderland! This was recorded on 5/22/2015 using my Samsung S4 on a tripod. The band got a new facelift! Billy Bob, Beach Bear, and Mitzi got new masks. Dook's lower mouth and Fatz's hole in the side of his face was repaired. Looney Bird also got new feathers around his face. The band is working great! Part 1 features Billy Bob and the Band, Part 2 features Rolfe/Earl and the Band, and Part 3 features Rolfe/Earl and Billy Bob. Shows the band shortly after their restoration.	May 22. 2015	May 24, June 2, and June 17, 2015
Link	saan1ty	"Billy Bob's Wonderland's Rock-afire Explosion - November 11, 2022" Shows pictures of the restored show while Braylon was still working at the company.	November 11, 2022	November 15, 2022

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 == 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]], 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.
 == Show Quality ==