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 (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 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.