Wannado City was an indoor

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

amusement center A family entertainment center, often abbreviated FEC in the entertainment industry also known as an indoor amusement park, family amusement center, family fun center, or simply fun center, is a small amusement park marketed towards families with s ...

at the

Sawgrass Mills Sawgrass Mills is an outlet shopping mall in Sunrise, Florida within the Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area and it is one of the tourist destinations in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. With of retail selling space, it is the eleventh largest mall in ...

in Sunrise, Florida, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was a property of

Grupo CIE Grupo CIE (Corporacion Interamericana de Entretenimiento. Spanish for: Interamerican Entertainment Corporation) is a Mexican entertainment and media company. It is leader of Latin American entertainment sector, focusing especially on the markets ...

. Billed as "where kids can do what they wanna do," it was a child-sized representation of a

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big ci ...

where children aged 2–14 could participate in different careers and other lifelike activities. Luis Javier Laresgoiti created the concept five years prior (1996) when he opened a similar park in Mexico City named "La Ciudad de los Niños", now known as KidZania. Luis sold his shares and left (now)Kidzania to open Wannado City at Sawgrass Mills Mall in Florida. Luis left Wannado City to start a new business named "Kandu", which now focuses on licensing a smaller hybrid model of Wannado City. Careers in which the "kidizens" could participate included but were not limited to firefighter, police officer, lawyer, physician, TV reporter, singer, actor, and model. They could also use issued money, "Wongas", to set up bank accounts. Due to financial problems, alongside lack of business, Wannado City was sold by Stampler Auctions on January 11, 2011. Wannado City closed on January 12, 2011 and was replaced by a new wing of stores called "Fashion Row" in 2013.

Overview

Money system

The system functioned by the idea of participation in different activities, gaining capital and spending their earnings in luxurious locations such as the Wonka Factory, The Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, a

Publix Publix Super Markets, Inc., commonly known as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and ...

supermarket, the Wannado City Fair and a permanent

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

. Guests were granted 150 Wongas upon their arrival, and were awarded 20 Wongas for each activity. There were also ATMs where guests could withdraw money or make a deposit at a State Farm bank, so that guests would not have to carry their money around. Children were given "ATM cards" so that they are able to deposit and withdraw more efficiently. The "ATM cards" were discontinued in 2006.

Careers

The city hosted numerous job occupations available for selection. Children could star in their own television newscast, join the city's fire or police department, the Miami Herald and the

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines Inc. (stylized as spirit) is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. carrier headquartered in Miramar, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin Americ ...

Flight Academy. The city also hosted a theater, circus, hospital, movie studio, recording studio, courthouse, bakery, dentistry office, public park, library,

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

, and an archaeological/

paleontological Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...

site, among other locations.

Security

Upon arrival, the children and parents were given RFID security bracelets. Throughout the park there were computer stands where a person would place their bracelet against a scanner and details of any known individual's location were shown.

References

{{coord missing, Florida Defunct amusement parks in Florida Buildings and structures in Broward County, Florida 2004 establishments in Florida 2011 disestablishments in Florida Amusement parks opened in 2004 Amusement parks closed in 2011