Category: Reviews

Theresa Tennyson-Trang dropped a landmark into my hands recently, with a suggestion Caitlyn and I might like to pay a visit to the Unknown Theme Park. So – we did!

Established in 2006, by Ade Franklin, the park is now managed by Miyi Nishi, and  is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. And were I to sum it up and just a handful of words, I’d describe it as one , and it is quite simply one of those gems of Second Life which needs to be experienced rather than just read about.

Located on Heterocera, the park sits between Route 1 and the sea, offering everything a visitor might expect from a theme park – main rides, side shows, activities like 10-pin bowling or skating, all of which have been gathered from creators across SL and brought together for family friendly fun.  It’s a place in which you can quickly lose track of time – as Caitlyn and I found out when we discovered our visit had stretched over two hours – and we still had more to try!

“[We Have] 37,000 square metres packed with more than 50 activities,” Miyi says of the park. “Come on by and have some fun or do some fishing or skydiving, or relax at our beach or tree house! All rides are free with a money back guarantee if not satisfied!”

The landing point is located right in the centre of the park, surrounded by several of the larger rides. Some of these, like the tower drop, roller coaster and Ferris Wheel, are precisely the kind of ride you’d expect in any theme park in the physical world. But as this is SL, there are also one or two which blow a raspberry at gravity, opting instead to offer patrons the kind of ride physical world theme park designers can only dream about – such as Free Fall by Obione Klaar and the G-Force Spinner by Mr. Mad (MadLad Clip).

Alongside these, there are “smaller” attractions – bumper cars and boats, the old pirate ship swing, and so on, to be enjoyed. There also the side shows and attractions such as 10-pin bowling and roller skating as well as the skydiving Miyi mentioned. There’s even a miniature railways running around and through the park, offering visitors an easy way to discover all the park has to offer as the little train chugs its way around the track. Movie buffs might want to try the theatre across the water from the main park.

Filled with ambient sounds, offering a marvellous mix of old and new spanning a decade, and presenting many, many opportunities for fun and enjoyment, whether on your own or with a friend or two, The Unknown Theme Park is very much worth a visit. Should you do so, please consider making a donation towards the park’s continued presence in Second Life.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, Caitlyn and I are heading back to the Space Roller for another ride!

SLurl Details

• The Unknown Theme Park (Rated: Moderate)

Legacy Ridge – click any image for full size

Legacy Ridge is described as a private residential community within Second Life, although it is open to public visits. A full region, the design is largely the work of Isa (Isa Messioptra) and Cipher (Ciphertazi Wandin), the talents behind Crestwick Island, a destination I last wrote about a little over a year ago, at the start of June 2015.

Given Isa and Ciph are involved in Legacy Ridge, you might expect it to be somewhat special in look and feel – and if you were to do so, you’d be absolutely right. This is a beautifully imagined and designed coastal hamlet, tucked into a fjord-like lnlet cutting deep between tall mountain peaks which hunch protectively around it as if sheltering it from the rest of the world.

Legacy Ridge

A visitor’s journey begins at the welcome centre, down near the north-facing waterfront. The latter is without the expected beach; instead the grassy land sit protected from the waters of the bay be a strong of boulders which sharply define the waterfront and give every impression of having been hauled down from the mountains and placed as they are for precisely this purpose. Behind them sits a tarmac parking lot and the 50’s style Lucy’s Diner.

The road from the diner offers short run to the east, passing and ancient fishing boat which has been left well and truly high and dry, before petering out, a rough track completing the route to a small dock built out over the water. Southwards from the diner, the road climbs a short incline to reach a little row of shops sitting with their backs against a sheer cliff and looking out over a children’s playground to the bay beyond.

Legacy Ridge

A junction marks the end of the shops, offering a choice of routes: continue eastward, and you’ll arrive at another parking lot, this one sitting before the local motel. Turn left, however, and the road will lead you onwards and upwards to a further junction. This is denoted by the abrupt end of the tarmac surface as it is crossed by an unpaved road pointing west and east. It’s entirely up to you which route you take from here, as both will lead you around the rest of the region, climbing ever higher in the process as you pass houses cosily nestled under hill and tree.

It is this aspect which gives Legacy Ridge a very unique look and feel. Walking (or cycling) up and around the tracks, there is a real impression of moving along an old coastal road, winding slowly away from the little hamlet below and to some new destination “inland”. To the west and north, the land falls away, offering views out over the water. To the east and south the land rises to a series of rounded peaks, and while these don’t blend seamlessly with the mountains of the sim surround, they do nevertheless give an immersive feeling of being the foothills to them, as they naturally hide the tall peaks from view as one winds passes directly below them.

Legacy Ridge

The majority of the houses up in the hills were empty at the time of my visit, but they are defined as being for private occupancy, therefore investigation is not recommended, as requested within the region rules. Other than this, Legacy Ridge is open to exploration and offers some excellent opportunities for photography, and is perfectly completed with a natural sound scape, so be sure to have local sounds enabled. Should you enjoy your visit, do please consider a donation towards the region’s upkeep.

SLurl Details

• Legacy Ridge (Rated: Moderate)