With the release of Tim Burton’s film ‘Alice in Wonderland’ I wondered if there were any sims in SL with this theme.  Although not directly linked to the Burton film there are some wonderful and wacky Alice in Wonderland places to explore.   Picking a sim called the ‘Alice in Wonderland Ride, I teleported over to an amazingly colourful and busy site.  As you would expect there was a merry-go-round with large teacups you could ride in, giant toadstools and rabbits along the paths and other fairground rides to try.  In the centre stood a strange house with what looked like a giant Alice inside it, her arms and legs sticking out and her eyes peering out of the top windows.  The house was where you could take the tour to see the ‘Wonderland’ paraphernalia.  The sign by the door said that there would be a gondola to take you round, but I clicked the board and the gondola did not appear to be working, it may have been SL playing up as it often does, so I decided to go on foot.  I passed through the phantom panel into another world, following the narrow chequered road into the dark corridors of the house I came across a large marmalade cat that swiped at me with its paw as I passed by.  There were many colourful sights to see, the Queen and King of hearts in their red chambers with heart shaped thrones, the Mad Hatter with his tall green top hat and teapot in his hand.  Onwards I went out into pretty rose bordered gardens and back inside again until I reached the top of the house where I found myself standing in Alice’s open palm, complete with her pink painted fingernails.  Because I had proceeded on foot, I had to be careful as I followed the narrow path in front of her eyes and around the top story of the house, as one wrong step would have sent me hurtling to the ground.  However I made it and re-entered the house on the other side where I fell down a dark tunnel with Alice in Wonderland ghostly images rushing past as dropped down.  I eventually came out of the house and back into the gardens to explore the rest of the sim.

There is a House of  Fun there too, a clown stands at the door directing you inside and as you enter you realise it is difficult to get back out.  In fact there is only one way out and many wrong turns you can take, which I did!  You wander through the corridors and rooms and they all begin to look the same, you can feel that sense of panic rising as you realise you have come back on yourself and are still not making any headway.  I did get out eventually, although I came out of the entrance, which was cheating, but I had spent long enough getting confused inside, I think if you explored with friends it would be a laugh.

I decided to try another sim called ‘All Things Alice’ and when I arrived I thought I had come to the wrong place as it looked like there was not much there, but I was wrong.  There in front of me stood a tiny cottage and I went inside to have a look.   The one roomed cottage seemed odd in the fact that there were no apparent places to go from there, then I saw the tiny red door which I clicked and it opened.  Inside the door there was a spinning black and white walled corridor, I clicked on this and suddenly I was on my hands and knees scurrying through the open door and into a similar room, but in different colours and it was all a bit eerie, you could travel on through the little red doors and out into the gardens with once again all the colourful and wacky Alice in Wonderland things.

I have a feeling that Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll have always been very popular themes in SL, long before Tim Burton’s new film, especially as it is something that the residents can let their imaginations run away with.  But with the release of the film I can see these sims will be very busy with even more visitors over the coming months.

Alice In Wonderland Ride

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Sand%20Beach/106/166/23

All things Alice

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Muse%20Isle%20West/62/89/24