Orlando

Splendid China was abandoned, looted, turned to rubble and transformed into Margaritaville

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by Angie Cope

I’ve been working from home cataloging maps that were donated to the AGS Library. I thought I’d be able perform this task very quickly but, every other map I encounter seems more interesting than the last and distracts me. Today I ran across one called “Splendid China.”

Splendid China, Florida :  park guide and map, published in approximately 2000.

Splendid China was a theme park in Florida near Walt Disney World. The park opened in 1993, and closed on December 31, 2003. Splendid China, Florida had a sister park in Shenzhen, China which remains open today.

The Florida park contained over 60 one tenth scale detailed replicas of China’s most famous landmarks such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and the Terra Cotta Warriors. After years of controversy and protests, the park closed in 2003, vandals looted what wasn’t nailed down and the park was reduced to rubble.

The back side of the map

In 2018 the site was officially cleared, making way for the American resort Margaritaville that opened in 2018.

Read more about Splendid China, Florida

Atlas Obscura: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/splendid-china-orlando

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splendid_China_(Florida)

Roadside America: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2057

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