FridayFunLand

Friday Fun Land (sometimes stylized as FridayFunland) is a large amusement park located South of Oranjestad, east of Belthil, and north of New Venice. The park was originally owned and operated by Tweber Entertainment until 2021. It features over dozens of attractions and roller coasters.

The Twister at night

Early in its history, Friday Fun Land received widespread recognition for its record-breaking attractions and events. One of the park's most well-known attractions, The Deathcube, is often credited with reviving worldwide interest in theme parks in 2012. Others, such as "The Twister", have set several world records, some of which remain standing. The park has also suffered through times of negative publicity, particularly surrounding its poor maintenance record and run-down appearance between 2013 and 2020. Since early 2021, the theme park park has been majorly renovated and is being kept up to this day.

Early History

Friday Fun Land was one of the earliest developments on the Shire when famed land developer Tweber joined the server in early 2011. Construction continued until September 10 2011, when Tweber joined the server for the last time. His whereabouts remain a mystery to this day. Since Tweber’s departure, several additional rides and structures have been added by various members.

Tweber built some of the first iconic pieces of the park, including the famous Ghast and Creeper gates, The Twister rollercoaster, Park Offices, and the Ice Skating Rink. Also in 2011, the area was linked to a pre-Shire Transit Authority train station, built by LTTylerJ30 and Dendrago. The track, originally destined to New Haven in the south, would eventually become part of the Dulcia Line in 2015. The station has kept it’s 2011-era style throughout the years. It went through a minor renovation on August 6 2020.

Early in Friday Fun Land development, an adjacent project was started by Grunto and Fatllama called the “Pirate Cove”. It has now been developed into an attraction, named "The Old Pirate", and is part of Friday Fun Land.

One of the first major attractions featured at the park was The Twister, a single track wooden roller coaster. Designed by park creator Tweber, The Twister was the first of its kind and played an integral part of the roller coaster renaissance of the 2010s. It was distinguished as a Roller Coaster Landmark by Shire Coaster Enthusiast Quarterly Magazine (SCEQ) in recognition for its historical significance.

On the heels of early success came turbulent times beginning in 2013. Friday Fun Land’s location was chosen due to its proximity to the Mainland. However, the expected development of the area faltered. Infrastructure needed to bring crowds to the area was lacking, and the slow decay of Skylan in the north eventually cut off access from Oranjestad and brought an increase in crime. As of February 2021, access to Friday Fun Land is no longer restricted to small footpaths and the Dulcia Line train station in the west, but the Ghast Entrance has no direct access to Skylan or Oranjestad. An effort to restore this connection was underway as of early 2021.

In February 2021, a group of Shire developers led by Suntinfunny, SeagullsRule, and Zhenya17 bought the ailing property and began a massive campaign to revamp, restore, and redevelop Friday Fun Land. A Grand Reopening was held on February 5th.

Pirate Cove Today

2021

The first development in the restoration of Friday Fun Land was the rebuilding of "Acacian Adventure", along with its respective entrance. In addition to this, the nearby road was coloured and constructed. A Burger Restaurant named "Burger Comrade" was also built. The pig race track just past the entrance was revamped and restored, along with the entry and track-controls belonging to the Twister. The rides "On Point!" and "Trampoline Jump" were also developed. "Death Cube", although no longer functioning as it did, was left standing and was repurposed as a parkour game, in order to preserve such a monumental piece of the Shire's history.

Nether World

After this expansion, FFL secured more funding, allowing further additions to the park to be built. "The Space Spiral", by Zhenya17 was built just South of "Death Cube", connecting with "Button Tak Ender Pearl". FFL's central kept it's previous design, only being slightly modified to incorporate some new rides.

One of the most significant developments in FFL was the building of "Blue Lagoon" and "Nether World". These rides, though polar opposite in colour, were the pieces of the park that unified Friday Fun Land with the rich, exuberant nature of FFL's new surrounding environment. "Blue Lagoon" received a new track, decoration and lease of life, whilst keeping the charm of the already built castle (accredited to Chan04Stephen) that marked the entryway at it's heart. "Nether World" was constructed a few weeks after out of a small section of track left behind from Tweber. Despite this, it now shines as one of the core elements of the central plaza; its firey-red walls lighting up the area. "ATTI150SOL" ("Around The World in 150 Seconds or Less, now named "ATHACPIFFL" [see further below]) was also built, sharing part of the building belonging to "Nether World".

View over Alpha Lake

A few months later, (during the Summer) a new area, named Pirate Cove, was built behind Nether World. It didn't add any new rides, however, but instead focused on embedding shops and restaurants into a quaint, little seaside town. The minecart ride "Pirate Cove" changed it's name to "The Old Pirate" to avoid confusion. The entrance to Pirate Cove took some time to perfect, but now stands made of jungle-sourced wood and stone. An Aquarium was constructed in "Alpha Lake", adding to the area slightly prior to Pirate Cove. During FFL's low period of popularity, the lake was unmanaged, and various species of plants and coral flowered. As well as this, palm trees littered the landscape, along with many other plants. This was kept, as it was thought to match with the area's new theme. "Chateau Arbemaissones" was created by Zalidia, supported above the sea that connects FFL to Oranjestad, as well as "Sandy Hills Hotel".

The Aquarium

"The Suspicious Salmon" fish restaurant was developed underground as a means to gain the approval of a Shire governor. Soon afterwards, the comical ride "Nebsy Walk"(constructed by Zhenya17) was built-its name and design serving absolutely no connection to any Shire governors.

Sometime in October of 2021, the Horse Race Track started redevelopment: the area was going to be replaced by a new, bigger Horse Race Track and 2 other rides (Riptide and and unnamed kids coaster). Construction started by demolishing the previous race track and a new, white building which would house the new ride, was built. A large horse was then also constructed for the kid's ride.

2022

Later, plans changed and the race track (which was about 30% built) was scrapped and was ,at first, intended to be a mall, but then changed to a convention centre. Riptide and the unnamed kids ride remained. Finishing the building stagnated around October 15th and did not continue until the 5th of January 2022, where (yet again) plans changed to turn the whole area into a new district coined "Movieland SI". Riptide remained but the kids ride was not mentioned. The horse building was changed into a petting-zoo for the nearby rare horses. The convention centre was then built into a movie studio and cafe, as it stands today. Finally, on the same day, construction resumed. Movieland SI finally opened sometime in early 2022, harboring a new wave of style. "Riptide" dominated the coast as FFL's Longest Roller Coaster, and with its impressive architecture, showed the public what FFL was capable of.

Riptide

"The Grand Tweber Hotel"-inspired by the park's original creator- began construction slightly beforehand, but was finished at a much later date. The hotel contains rooms that are themed around various FFL rides, each containing unique design and decoration. This hotel was the first major hotel to be built in FFL, standing behind the office with it's 3 stories. It's construction suffered in haste, due to a sudden decrease in funding.

A few months later, On-Point shut down and later got bulldozed due to the lack of upkeep and attendance, it still hasn't been replaced by a new attraction. During the same time, plans arose to build an Egyptian-themed roller-coaster attraction in the lake nearby. These plans were later approved and construction began the same month. 1 pyramid was build with it's partial entrance done before budget was slashed and could no longer continue. All workers left the site and the husk of a to-be pyramid was left over. This pyramid stood abandoned over a long time as FFL suffered strikes and partial closures.

At last funding was secured for the upkeep of FFL and the continuation of construction of the pyramid (now called the Pyramid Of Doom). Construction resumed on the ride on the 7/01/2023. This rise in budget also meant that more decoration could be added to FFL. In addition to this, "Button Tak Ender Pear" underwent redesigning, and became "Tic Tac Toe Championships", along with "Horses for Rental" becoming a new restaurant. During this period, the "Death Cube" generator was unearthed, carefully being preserved inside the new restaurant, serving as a new historical attraction. "Trampoline Jump" was then scrapped, a merch store now occupying the space.

Pyramid of Doom

2023

Towards the first quarter of 2023, a considerable (and undisclosed) amount of funding was given to the theme park to be able to develop and construct more substantial and groundbreaking attractions. All of this money clearly had an effect as almost in an instant, the company behind FFL began to tinker the possibility of a new area beyond MovieLand SI.

A new ride named "Spanner in the Tracks" -a redstone themed cathedral-rollercoaster- was funded and constructed on the further headlands of FFL. The ride is the first to have many mechanical parts amongst its workings, since the construction of "The Twister" in 2011, which no-longer contains redstone. It is also the first rollercoaster that was created for 2 person riding. The ride was constructed quickly, due to a rise in the value of the FFL company, and now stands South of "Chateau Arbemaissones" and East of "Pirate Cove". Inspired by the new, darker theme of "Spanner in the Tracks", "Sculk Central" was built on the opposite side of the neighboring rode, around 2 months later. This ride marked the beginning of a new section inside FFL, that incorporated the newly-sourced deepslate materials, along with a taller, grander form of architecture. A new entrance was created just in front of the new rides, the previous remaining as an entrance to "Movie Land SI". "Prismarine PvP" was built next to "Sculk Central" near the end of the year.

Sculk Central Entrance

FFL once again rose in popularity, the crowd traffic soaring. This meant that measures to improve the park's decoration could be taken. The small adjustments to the streets of the theme park were carefully made to only add to the history, preserving the soul pieces that Tweber gave to the park. After the wave of new groundbreaking attractions, progress on new rides slowed down over 2023, with a few rides entering the planning state and only some of those ever entering construction (eg. On Point 2.0). This was most likely because of the said funding for upgrades and new attractions drying up.

2024

Construction is happening steadily, and funds are stable; FFL's future is looking prosperous.

Within the first week, the "Q1 2024 FridayFunLand Upgrade Package" was announced; while this package of new ride(s) and renovations isn't as grand as last year's, it still is planned to deliver a healthy injection of enjoyment to regular theme park-goers. This package was set to include:

• Renovated pathways
• Renovated and new lighting
• Renovations to older attractions
• The replacement of Sandy Hills Hotel with a viewing platform
• Complete renovation of FFL Ice-Rink
• Other miscellaneous theme park touchups
• A new, undisclosed, rollercoaster

Over the next few days, proper construction for the Upgrade Package (see above) began. The most notable construction was of the new ride, Niepospolitę (meaning uncommon) . It is perched high above any other ride above main street and the former On-Point attraction. Construction finished within the week and was announced for it to open on the 28th. Reportedly, the ride was extremely dangerous and difficult to build due to the fact that no such ride has ever been built like this before. Over the ride's construction there were several accidents happening on-site (although no deaths were reported). This grew concerns on whether the ride will be safe to ride by the time it is set to open.

On the 28th January, the FridayFunLand Time Capsule event took place. A swarm of people attended the the packing and sealing of the time capsule. Over 4 shulkers and chests were filled with various items which were of important to their persons'. The time capsule was sealed in the hours between 6PM and 7PM for it to open on the same date in 2 years time. Alongside the time capsule event, the new ride above Main street, now named Niepospolitę, (the name of the ride was not known until this point) held it's grand opening. However, due to the lack of budget due to the extensive RnD cost of the ride, the cloud around the track was not finished. This led to the ride showing quite a fowl skeletal exterior. This also certainly did not help the public's safety concerns of the rollercoaster. Nevertheless, Niepospolitę held a successful grand opening without any major accidents. The rollercoaster was quite heatedly commented as "heartstopping" by Nebbers, it is your guess if the comment was a metaphor or if the ride quite literally stopped his heart.

Abandoned/Unfinished Structures

As with many old destinations within The Shire, FFL has it's own fair share of abandoned and unfinished structures:

• Boat Lazy River Ride - Status - DEMOLISHED

The title mostly explains it all - it was built sometime after May 2011 and partially covered soon after. It was rediscovered in 2021 and promptly demolished sometime after by Space Spiral.

• The Twister, alternative tracks - Status - ABANDONED

Not much information is know about these alternative tracks (and maintenance tunnels that went beside it). The area is still somewhat kept up today but most untouched.

• Inner Maintenance/Office Hallways of Nether World - Status - ABANDONED/UNFINISHED

When construction started of Nether World, construction of various unrelated hallways and offices began but were shortly stopped, leaving a couple rooms behind.

• Nebbsy Walk's old location - Status - ABANDONED/UNFINISHED

A large cavern was dug out for Nebbsy walk but was left unfinished and abandoned. Recent activities suggest that the cavern may be being reused again but FFL Corp have been silent on it.

• Old Pirate Cove Entrance - Status - ABANDONED

Early into construction of the new Pirate Cove area, a new, different, entrance was built; a surface building would bring the player into an underground depiction of a fishing village (complete with a fake sky). The player would then take a boat to Pirate cove. Only the underground fishing village and part of the tunnel were ever finished before these plans were scrapped and the site covered up. The site still exists right under the current Pirate Cove Entrance. You can still see where the boat tunnel would've been (the art corridor in the aquarium was to be rebuilt into the boat tunnel - part of it was).

• Funtro - Status - ABANDONED/UNFINISHED

Between 2021-22 a "mini metro system/people mover" was being constructed under the themepark. Construction was extremely slow and later completely hindered with the construction company going bust. Currently, only the portion between the Creeper entrance and the Deathcube was built (and a tunnel near the main hotel).

FFL Underground/Depths

The FridayFunLand Underground/Depths is a group of highly secretive employee and maintenance tunnels located underneath the theme park. The owners behind FFL have been highly secretive of what is located within the network. Access to the network is also extremely difficult with 24/7 security surrounding all the KNOWN entrances. What is known however is that the network consists of 3 main arteries; Intersection Lzy-Enej, Point Blue (Unofficial name) and Point Alpha (unofficial name). There is some information that from time to time, some rides are developed within the larger sections of the network which implies that the Underground is large enough to accommodate large rides.

CONFIRMED AND UNCONFIRMED PHOTOS:

Depths Metro Map - UNCONFIRMED

Unknown Hallway - UNCONFIRMED

Large Hall (rollercoaster?) - UNCONFIRMED

Unknown Hallway - UNCONFIRMED

Unknown Hallway - CONFIRMED (Leaked in staff emails)

Plans for Line Two "Copied from a presentation" - UNCONFIRMED

Only photo of the "FFL Depths" book - UNCONFIRMED

Attractions

2011-2012

• The Twister
  • Built by Tweber in 2011, restored by SeagullsRule and Suntinfunny in 2021
• The Deathcube
  • Arena built by Mikeylegodude in 2012
• The Blue Lagoon
  • Originally built by Chan04Stephen and completely revamped by Suntinfunny and SeagullsRule on Feb 2
• Ice Rink
  • Built by Tweber

2021

• Acacian Adventure
  • Track originally built by nebbers, remodeled by Suntinfunny
• Funtro
  • Built by Zhenya in Feb 2021 as both a mini metro system/people mover that encircles the park, and also as a ride itself -ABANDONED-
• Pig Race Track
  • Built by Suntinfunny
• Around the Hottest and Coldest Places in FFL
  • Built by SeagullsRule and Suntinfunny
• Nether World
  • Built by SeagullsRule and Suntinfuuny
• Oceanatic Aquarium
  • Built by SeagullsRule and Suntinfunny
• Pirate Cove/The Old Pirate
  • Initial idea and Skull face built by Fatllama and Grunto. The dream was fulfilled 10 years later by Suntinfunny and SeagullsRule
• Space Spiral
  • Built by Zhenya
• Chateau Arbemaisonnes
  • Built by Zalidia

2022

• Riptide
  • Built by Suntinfunny
• The Rare Horse Exhibition
  • Built by SeagullsRule

2023

• The Pyramid of Doom
  • Built by Suntinfunny
• Spanner in the Tracks
  • Built by SeagullsRule
• Sculk Central
  • Built by SeagullsRule
• Prismarine PvP
  • Built by SeagullsRule

• Plus More!

Gallery

Lake In Shaders - evening, 18/02/24

Main Street - evening, 18/02/24

Different angle of the lake - evening, 18/02/24

Aerial view of main street - evening, 18/02/24

View of Pirate Cove & Nether World - evening, 18/02/24