Quote:Yeah well, my line of thought was Skull Cove -> Tropical Island -> Millionaire's playground -> Noah doesn't have one of these -> 'Daneside theme park owned by Stellvia Corp.Ah, but I think maybe I came up with an even better idea...
Here's take two...
Theme Parks in Fenspace
There are those who would claim that every Fen settlement is a theme park of some sort, thanks to what many 'Danes think of as the Factions' "picturesque" habits. As Jonathan Helscher once wrote, that's just how Fen live. Actual Fen theme parks can be found throughout space.
Operating out of an asteroid purchased from Rockhounds, moved to Clarke orbit above 158°W (midway between Orlando and Tokyo, and as close to Hawai'i as possible), and rebuilt into a Cole habitat with Mouse ears, Disney's World is owned and operated by the Disney Corporation. The name is literal; Disney doesn't make space on their "world" available to other companies. It's much like the company's ground-based parks, although the Space Mountain ride has been replaced with a zero-g playroom. Disney's World uses no handwavium at all, which lets them use the slogan "All of the Magic, None of the Danger!"; however, the animatronics (while as good as any at the other Disney parks) are nowhere near as good as those at other theme parks (which use AI animatronics).
The Holopark, located in the middle of Utopia Planitia on Mars, strongly resembles an old-style movie studio's back lot. There's a thousand-and-one-nights zone (complete with green dancing girls), a Chicago-gangland zone, a Klingon-homeworld zone, ... if it showed up on an episode of Star Trek, you can find something like it in the Holopark. The more popular zones are physical constructions; the less-popular ones are holographic displays, adapting technology originally developed by the Professor for OGJ warship consoles. The Holopark's motto is "Set Phasers On Fun!"
Dream Park takes up three entire levels of Crystal Seattle's bedrock. Using the same holographic technology as the Holopark, Dream Park runs total-immersion experience roleplaying games for their customers. The park is operated by a holding company co-owned by Wizards of the Coast, White Wolf Games, Steve Jackson Games, and the Professor. (Nobody knows why the Professor has taken an interest in this business, and so far nobody has been brave enough to ask.) Their most famous event is the Gygax Memorial Dungeon Crawl, held every March. (The 2013 GMDC, based very loosely on the classic adventure Tomb of Horrors, was the first ever to be completed by a player party without taking losses; this was accomplished by paladin Haruhi Suzumiya, fighter Noah Scott, cleric Mikuru Asahina, thief Itsuki Koizumi, wizard Yuki Nagato, and elf wizard Sora Hasegawa. The event's game masters cited Scott's oft-repeated advice "don't get greedy" as the major reason the team survived the crawl.)
The Kandor Bottle is a small theme park in Kandor City, similiar in size and quality to the various "roadside attraction" parks throughout North America. While they concentrate on Supers-related exhibits, they have one room devoted to the events of Kandor-con. Just down the road from the Kandor Bottle is Mystery Rock, another roadside attraction "where gravity works normally in defiance of all natural law!"
Many people are amazed to discover the Wizards have nothing to do with Renfaire, until they remember the Potterites are interested in modern fantasy. Renfaire, found in the Main Belt, is owned by historical-reenactment fen. The park's biggest attraction is the resident Dandelion population, who act as wandering minstrels, troubadors, and bards. The second-biggest attraction is the monthly roasting of an entire ox - this is the only red meat some people in the Belt ever eat. Renfaire's Training Grounds have been open to all comers since the beginning of Operation Great Justice, and have completely modern medical staff on call.
Jurassic Rock is the nickname of an ex-Rockhounds asteroid owned by the Vesta Institute of Biochemistry. Originally intended as an easily-isolated place to perform dangerous genetic engineering experiments, successes at cloning pseudo-dinosaurs in 2011 created a tourist attraction. People come from across the System to see the (small) herds of Protoceratopses, Kentrosaurs, and Pterodactyls kochi. Jurassic Rock does not have a petting zoo, and nobody involved in the cloning project wants to even consider recreating a Velociraptor.
Techincally speaking, Fantasy Island is not in Fenspace, being located in "Skull Cove" on Earth. But it was claimed, decontaminated, and turned into a resort by employees of the SOS-Dan after the shipyards there were captured during Operation Great Justice, so it's usually counted as a Fen theme park. (When Larry King asked Noah Scott why Stellvia Corp. didn't buy the island from the SOS-Dan after OGJ, he replied, "I'd rather trust them with that than with something important.") Fantasy Island is much like any other island resort, except with catgirls.
(Brickbats? Bouquets? Any further additions?)
Edit for typos
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Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012