Before I get started with the story... a personal note at the beginning:

It was early 2019, when I began to imagine this park. Ever since the heyday of SGW, which was already long ago back then, I’ve always wanted to create a park that was big already on opening day (or thread launch), instead of always growing parks over the decades, but hardly ever finishing. After a few discarded ideas during the 2010s, I eventually had a concept that kept me motivated, so construction began in the second half of 2019. I had to take breaks along the way, I did lose motivation a few times, but I always felt I should do this park.

Over all these years, the prospect of presenting this to you guys - one day - kept me aiming for getting my park ready, and ready for this thread.
However, the forum became a different one than expected, as 2023 showed... but whether it's SGW or ParkCrafters, we’re still a creative crowd and share our passion and our works with each other, and that big park on opening day, I finally made it. And here it is.

For this thread, I'm shapeshifting into the fictive storyteller of this story, which is written in the perspective of a theme park forum member. For simplicity’s sake, he’s German as well, so if either of us gets our English wrong, or mixes up American and British English, please bear with us ;)

And now… I am happy to finally say these words:

Welcome to Explorica.

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2008

Subforum: International theme park news

Thread posted by: thombrun86
Topic: Explorica
Post #1 - 16-04-2008

Hi guys, as you have read in countless theme park related threads around the internet, Explorica is finally opening in two days. You all know the concept artworks, the plans, the construction site photos… now it’s time to get ready for actual opening day!

I’m very thankful to have received an invitation for tomorrow’s Media Event, along with many other bloggers, fan club representatives and proper journalists. So I’ve travelled all the way from Europe to the United States, and now I’m here in Florida to blog from tomorrow’s Explorica Media Event, which will also have a guided tour around the park.

 

For those of you who don’t know anything about Explorica yet (hard to believe that’s even possible):
Explorica is a new major theme park with a focus on the spirit of discovery and adventure.

The four main areas are themed after different parts of the world:

• Taboo Lagoon (Polynesia)
• Eldorado (Latin America)
• Africa Adventure (Africa) and
• Shangri-La (Asia).

Two more areas make the park complete:

• Grand Gardens (a romantically landscaped garden) and
• Discoverytown (the main street, which is inspired by the architecture of different European cultures).

This park is Trimontis’ attempt to expand to the United States - on a large scale, all or nothing. There are rumours that they even plan to develop a bigger resort here.

 

So yes, I am already here, Hotel Magellan, Explorica’s own hotel.
I arrived yesterday late in the evening, so I couldn’t take any photos then.

However, today I went for a morning run around the park entrance before breakfast, and was thankful to have had my camera with me…

 

And when I returned to the laptop in my room, I found a new file in the digital press kit:

The park map!

 

So cool to get these delivered digitally, no scanner needed.

Anyway, as you can see, the park did NOT count the central hub as its own land, or „world“ as they say here, so these rumours were obviously wrong. Whether it belongs to Discoverytown or Grand Gardens remains unclear, or whether it’s completely unassigned. I guess the latter is the case, looking at how the paths in all the areas are coloured differently.

Other observations:

• Only five rides classified as „thrill rides“
• For the Latin American world, they went for the spelling „Eldorado“, not „ElDorado“ and not „El Dorado“.
• The massive building we know as „Project V“ (in the African area) hosts a shop and two attractions (one of them is a thrill ride… a coaster?)
• The tunnel in Taboo Lagoon isn’t visualized on the map
• We all didn’t expect that there’s actually another dark ride: „Bengali Nights“ in the Asian area

… and now it’s time for some more photos!

The first two pics are taken from the shuttle bus that goes around the park.

Here you can see the park’s own gardening facility, lots of trees (the park turned out very green), and more importantly: Rides! As you can see, the park is running last tests before the soft opening kicks off in two days.

 

That building in the next photo, nicknamed Project V (apparently V for „Voodoo“) looks massive in reality. Can’t wait to find out what kind of ride is hidden inside of it, they’ve been really secretive about it.

Next up: My hotel room. I even got a view on the looping of Tumu-Nui, the B&M Inverted Coaster.
Also, I got Explorica TV on my tv, showing Zambezi Cruise here - obviously during the publicity shoot with models on board.

Up on the hotel’s roof there’s a nice pool, but my focus was elsewhere. What a view!

Walking past the park entrance, I got a glimpse on Shangri-La with its strikingly coloured Karma:

 

And that’s (nearly) all. I better go to bed soon, to get a good sleep before tomorrow’s Media Event. I'm really looking forward to the tour around the park, and even with most rides remaining closed or in testing mode, I will surely get enough opportunities to take pictures of the park for you.

But first, I have to share at least one more photo of the park’s entrance (I took over a hundred). Took this one in the late afternoon.

 

I better sleep now.

Stay tuned for more of my blogging from Explorica.

 

Cheers, Thomas

Edited December 2, 2024Dec 2 by TrimoParks
updated title

Really nice work on the graphics for your presentation.  And that first screenshot is just plain GORGEOUS!  So is the last screen... Bravo!

 

(And here in Brazil we have an "Eldorado Mall", so their spelling works!  LOL!)

I agree with Wagi, that sunrise photo is beautiful! We even get a gold-engraved invitation to welcome us. Excellent park map; clearly laid out and informative. Congratulations on completing a large park, Trimo (I still think of you as Elch. ) Looking forward to you giving us a tour of Explorica over the next few months(?). Wonderful presentation!

nice - looks so real. I also love a good map.

I legitimately thought that park map was a photo from an actual park map in real life, haha - amazing work! The lighting is so beautiful in these images.

16 hours ago, Wabigbear said:

Really nice work on the graphics for your presentation.  And that first screenshot is just plain GORGEOUS!  So is the last screen... Bravo!

 

(And here in Brazil we have an "Eldorado Mall", so their spelling works!  LOL!)

Thanks, Wagi! And that's good to know :)

 

12 hours ago, JB said:

I agree with Wagi, that sunrise photo is beautiful! We even get a gold-engraved invitation to welcome us. Excellent park map; clearly laid out and informative. Congratulations on completing a large park, Trimo (I still think of you as Elch. ) Looking forward to you giving us a tour of Explorica over the next few months(?). Wonderful presentation!

Thank you JB, and that's fine regarding my old SGW name :D 

Yeah, I don't know yet how the timing of my posts will work out in the end, but I certainly plan to keep this thread updated for a longer time, so yep, "months" should be correct. I will post more frequently now at the beginning, and then spacing it out a bit, especially once the thread is reaching the park's (soft) opening and we're getting going with its timeline. 

 

10 hours ago, Wowman said:

nice - looks so real. I also love a good map.

Thank you, Wowman!

 

10 hours ago, wolfpaw said:

I legitimately thought that park map was a photo from an actual park map in real life, haha - amazing work! The lighting is so beautiful in these images.

Hah, thanks wolfpaw.

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Re: Explorica
Post #2 - 17-04-2008

Hello from the park’s own press center! In just a few moments, we will all move to the main entrance, and then through the main entrance.

We, at least the fan representatives and the creative heads behind Explorica, are all very excited for this big day.

We just had the press conference, when I noticed I forgot to charge my camera battery over night, so I did exactly that while listening to the moderator and the folks from Trimontis. Some insights out of my memory coming further down, but first:

There were new files in the digital press kit, new concept artworks that weren’t released before - one for each area, so I'm going to post them here.

Above these artworks, I'm also adding the highlights of each area that were mentioned in the presentation:

 

Discoverytown

Highlights in this area: 
Explorica Railroad - Central Station

 

Grand Gardens

Highlights in this area:
Scenic Drive (Oldtimers)
Sky Explorer (Balloon)
Explorica Railroad - Garden Station

 

Shangri-La

Highlights in this area:
Karma (Launch coaster)
Bengali Nights (Boat dark ride)
The Lotus (Show venue)
Everest Inn (Restaurant)

 

Africa Adventure

Highlights in this area:
Voodoo - Fear of the Jungle (Ride type not revealed yet!)
Zambezi Cruise (Gentle boat ride)

 

Eldorado

Highlights in this area:
Midnight In The Monastery (Ghost dark ride)
Gold Fever (Mine train coaster)

 

Taboo Lagoon

Highlights in this area:
Tumu-Nui (Inverted coaster)
Wailuku Cruise (Log flume)

 

Before we go, here are the promised quick insights from the press conference, out of my memory:

• The park has a total of 18 rides, including at least 3 coasters.
• The hot air balloon isn't counted here, you also have to book a ride in advance.
• Future additions to the park are a possibility, but nothing specific is planned yet 
• Christine Metzger, previously head of the German Trimontis parks, who we all know from our last fan meetup in Tauber-Park, Germany, is now the project manager of Explorica
• Trimontis is now introducing several subsidiary companies, such as Trimo Logistics, Trimo Creations, etc., but most notably:
• The actual Trimontis theme parks (like Three Mountains Park, Tauber-Park, and now Explorica) now all run under the brand „Trimo Parks“
• The guided tour around the park will take the whole day - that means you’ll hear from me after my return to the hotel. I'm not going to carry my laptop around the park.
• We are encouraged to take photos, however, most rides will remain closed or in testing mode
• There will be two exclusive ride times, one on „Midnight In The Monastery“, the other on „Karma“. No information yet whether it's allowed to film these, I will find out later.

That’s all for now.

I won’t be able to post before the end of the day, and I plan to split up all my photos into different posts - probably one post for each themed area.

Excited. Gotta go.

See you later!

Post #3 - 18-04-2008

What a day this has been! I don’t even know where to begin…

It's way past midnight and I’m finally back in my hotel room after an extended evening in the hotel bar. I am quite exhausted, but full of impressions from my first visit in Explorica.

There’s a lot to see, and a lot to walk in this park. Explorica is very spacious, in large parts very green (especially the center), but the balance between calm areas and rides, thrill and gentle rides, is still spot-on.

I took hundreds of photos, and selecting the best isn’t done that quickly, so today I’ll only be covering the entrance area and Discoverytown.

Here we go!

The first stop of the guided tour was the bus station, which gives us this view upon the park’s logo over the path towards the entrance gate. There’s no parking lot directly near the park, but frequent shuttle busses to the big one a bit further away.

The entrance area has several fountains, small lakes, ticket booths to the left and right of the gate, and a very inviting vibe.

Let’s go!

Grab your park map, and…

…we’re in the park.

 

The plaza right behind the entrance gate offers wonderful views over Discoverytown.
Especially from this pavilion:

 

On the left edge (above photo), you can see a bit of the main station of Explorica Railroad. The bridge in the middle is used by the train and a path, I’ll show you more of that later.

Sky Explorer, the hot air balloon, is located in - almost! - the center of the park.

The white building to the right houses the park’s main gift store. Broad paths lead the visitors left and right of the canal, under the bridge, through Discoverytown, right towards the central hub.

There’s a lot to discover here!

 

The largest part of the park is situated at a lower elevation than the land surrounding Explorica, so you first have to get one floor lower.

You can take either the stairs next to the pavilion, or one of the barrier-free alternative routes.

Speaking of routes, Discoverytown isn’t just a basic main street. It has a really complex path system, including side streets, bridges, plazas etc., and left some of us in confusion.

Time to approach the first ride… can you guess which?

Here it is: Explorica Railroad’s Central Station - one of four stops on its circuit around the park.

 

After one of those confusing walks around house corners, alleys, vista points etc., we’ve made it to the central bridge across Discoverytown.

Here you can spot the entrance gate in the right third, and the dome of „Explorica Theater“ (which is not a theater!?) just left from the middle.

Don’t ask me how we got back to this spot, but, here I am looking back towards the (double decker) pavilion:

 

After we’ve passed the bridge, there’s a weird mix of facades popping up over the canal.

The east side, where we find a candy shop, churros and the Explorica Store:

The west side with Captain Clutter's Tavern and the Harbor Bakery:

 

Finally, at the end of the „Main Street“, which is in fact what feels like dozens of confusing paths, we’ve reached the central hub and take a look back.

There are two major restaurants at this central junction, „The Plaza“ on the left edge (service, fine dining, lots of style), and „Captain’s Happy Place“ to the right (burgers etc.). And that was our stop for a coffee or two, some needed three.

And finally: The central hub with the „Balloon Plaza“.

 

That’s it for now - one area covered, five more to go!

And obviously, I will return to the park for the actual (soft) opening tomorrow (or rather, today already), so that means even more photos in the pipeline. Of course, showing you all these impressions will take some time. Weeks? Months? I’ll keep you updated - bit by bit.

I’ll cover the next area, Taboo Lagoon, in a few days, once I’ve returned to Europe.

See ya!

I love the warm lighting in your photos; very inviting! And great camera angles that really show the beauty of the park. Love that double-decker entrance pavilion. My favorite photo so far is the 9th image, showing the close-up of the railroad/path bridge taken from an angle above the canal. I also like the festive, warm yellow and orange colors of the umbrellas in the last photo.

VERY nice!  Love the varied facades, they really work well.  The bridge work and banks along the water are also really well done.  Kudos!

These are all so GORGEOUS - love the colors you are using and that hot air balloon is just the icing on the cake in these photos. Very beautiful park so far!!

On 11/2/2024 at 7:58 PM, JB said:

I love the warm lighting in your photos; very inviting! And great camera angles that really show the beauty of the park. Love that double-decker entrance pavilion. My favorite photo so far is the 9th image, showing the close-up of the railroad/path bridge taken from an angle above the canal. I also like the festive, warm yellow and orange colors of the umbrellas in the last photo.

Thank you, JB :)

On 11/3/2024 at 5:35 PM, Wabigbear said:

VERY nice!  Love the varied facades, they really work well.  The bridge work and banks along the water are also really well done.  Kudos!

Thanks, Wagi :)

54 minutes ago, wolfpaw said:

These are all so GORGEOUS - love the colors you are using and that hot air balloon is just the icing on the cake in these photos. Very beautiful park so far!!

Thank you! Of course, the colors are partially influenced by my editing software. It took me a while to find the right setting for editing these screenshots, and now I just found that the setting I used so far doesn't work that well for the next area which is a lot greener, so I had to finetune a bit for this one.

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Re: Explorica
Post #4 - 23-04-2008

Back to Europe! Finally time to write my next post.

After our little coffee break, the tour continued in Taboo Lagoon, the Polynesian themed area. Its two major rides welcomed us with this view, with the station of Wailuku Cruise (log flume) in the center, and the lift hill of Tumu-Nui to the right:

Before we entered the main part of the area, we turned right to check out Tahiti Beach Bar:

This is going to be such a cool place to hang out on on warm evenings.

As a big fan of log flumes, I am so looking forward to ride Wailuku Cruise!

This is the heart of Taboo-Lagoon for me: Watching the boats splash into the lagoon, with the snack stalls of Polynesia Pleasures behind me.

Between Polynesia Pleasures and Waikiki Lodge (see the big buiilding in the next photo which looks almost like the station of Wailuku Cruise), there’s this nice corner with lots of shades to enjoy your drinks or ice cream, while watching the splash of the log flume. Also in the next photo: The only bit of Kanaloa (the octopus) that I captured with my camera - maybe you can spot it near the center.

This view really. Tumu-Nui lift hill to the left, then the station of Wailuku Cruise dominating the view, then to the right (under the tower of Discoverytown) there’s the Beach Boutique and Polynesia Pleasures.

Passing by the octopus (sadly missed to take proper photos of it), we’re in this part of the area, with one of the Explorica Railroad stations to the left, and the entrance of Tumu-Nui (the B&M inverter) to the right:

Lots to do for the staff, one day before opening…

Tumu-Nui over Explorica Railroad:

Eventually, we turned to the right and entered a tunnel through the mountain, to give us this view from the other side upon the Wailuku Cruise station, with cute huts over the water:

Back through the tunnel…

…and more impressions of Tumu-Nui…

…

…before we leave Taboo Lagoon and enter Eldorado.

More soon. :)

Love Taboo Lagoon!  Great job on forming the Polynesian-style roofs, and - again - wonderful screenshots.

Love the lush vegetation here! Beautiful, bright 'island' colors on the Tumu-Nui trains!

Thank you, Wagi and JB :)

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Re: Explorica
Post #5 - 30-04-2008

Our guided tour around Explorica continued in the Latin American themed area, Eldorado.

 

Coming from Taboo Lagoon, the first thing you see of this area are these colorful houses.

To the right, there’s a flower shop, and to the left, we have „Las Trompetas“, a location that combines food and music performances.

Rehearsals were going on in Las Trompetas, so we could just take photos from the outside.

At the end of the part with the colorful facade, the main path continues further into Eldorado, but you can also choose to turn left, as did we.

It all seems so friendly and peaceful here… but not quite everything is….

if you have zoomed into the right part of the picture above, you probably already know what’s special about this corner of Eldorado…. but if you didn’t, now it should become clear:

Fog, white roses, more fog, and there always seems to be midnight in that monastery - it’s „Midnight in the Monastery“ - Explorica’s most scary ride!

This one was actually open for us, but I changed a setting on my camera by mistake, so my video of the ride turned out unusable. Maybe another time.

We continued to explore Eldorado, with Gold Fever, a mine train, in testing mode.

„Los Globos“, the balloons, are ready to do their rounds at the northern edge of the park:

Next to them: Agatha’s Arcades…

…and Café Balcón:

I guess you all already spotted the pirate ship La Tormenta:

 

We briefly walked into the tunnel that connects Eldorado with Taboo Lagoon, but only to be pointed to this window in the rock that offers a wonderful view upon Discoverytown.

Eldorado has its own vibe really.

One last look back…

…before we continued our guided tour with visiting the Grand Gardens.

That’s it for now!

Ohhh!  Love the colorful buildings! Nice detailing and it has a real 'fiesta' feeling.  The peekaboo in the tunnel is a nice touch too!

I agree, wonderful colors... on everything!  Each and every screenshot is beautiful. I want to spend time in this park!

This is all so beautiful, I don't even know what to comment on first 😅

Eldorado area is probably my favorite, love all the colors - everything is so dense and detailed!

On 11/8/2024 at 11:43 PM, Wabigbear said:

Ohhh!  Love the colorful buildings! Nice detailing and it has a real 'fiesta' feeling.  The peekaboo in the tunnel is a nice touch too!

Thank you :) Something with "fiesta" would be a cool name for a ride, maybe in the future, now you inspired me :D

On 11/9/2024 at 12:50 AM, JB said:

I agree, wonderful colors... on everything!  Each and every screenshot is beautiful. I want to spend time in this park!

Thank you JB, nice to hear :)

On 11/11/2024 at 4:47 PM, wolfpaw said:

This is all so beautiful, I don't even know what to comment on first 😅

Eldorado area is probably my favorite, love all the colors - everything is so dense and detailed!

Thank you! Haha... I'm also quite happy with it :)

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Re: Explorica
Post #6 - 07-05-2008

Hey everyone!

My visit to Explorica is now already three weeks ago, but I still have a lot to share. Let's continue in the Grand Gardens.

The actual Grand Gardens area is located on a hill in the north of the park, above the central "Balloon Plaza". This hub here is truly the center of Explorica, and here we learned a lot about the decision-finding process behind the overall layout of the park.

In the beginning, the creative heads were pondering whether the park should have a central signature structure - or not. After some discussions, one idea became the most popular one in the team: The one "thing" that should be the center of the park is the visitor. To symbolize this, they wanted to enable visitors to be exactly there - in the very center of the park. No structure, no lake, no ride should be "in the way" there. To highlight the exact spot, a windrose was placed right into the middle, so that visitors could walk or stand on it.

Behind the balloon, there are several ways (stairs or sloped paths) to get on top of the hill.

Up there, we have the Grand Carousel, but also the car ride "Scenic Drive", as well as beautiful pavilions with breathtaking views.

Some impressions:

 

 

North of the hill, there's another station of Explorica Railroad - the "Garden Station", located at the northernmost edge of the park.

Right next to the station building, there's this charming "Café Flora":

Coming from Café Flora, we get to see a little lake with a limestone cave, inspired by European landscape gardening of the romanticism era:

...and to the left, the path leads us away from Grand Gardens, right into the beating heart of the African themed area.

That's it for now. Grand Gardens is the smallest area in the park, so there were naturally less photos that i had to share, but I'll post more again when we get to Africa Adventure.

 

Re: Explorica
Post #7 - 14-05-2008

In the warm light of the afternoon hours, our guided tour took us to Africa Adventure.

The complex path system here, as well as the large amount of trees and shrubs make this part of the park feel very natural.
One of the highlights in this area is Anansi, a giant frisbee:

However, the absolute highlight in this area is Voodoo, previously known as „Project V“.

But wait, what’s inside the building? I’ll get back to that later in this post!

In front of Voodoo, there’s the „Savanna Deli Hut“ with a picnic area, right next to the lake. In the background, you can spot the Crazy Caterpillar.

Savanna Deli Hut, Voodoo and Anansi:

On the other end of the lake, there’s probably the largest restaurant in the park: Zambezi Lodge.

And of course, right underneath Zambezi Lodge, we have Zambezi Cruise, which takes us on an adventurous journey through the jungle.

But back to Voodoo!

The moment I took this photo, we all didn’t know yet what’s actually inside the massive structure…

…and after so many speculation threads across the internet, we were all excited to learn that we could now just walk inside and see for ourselves…

…

 

Tada!

The Voodoo building houses both, an enclosed spinning coaster (Voodoo - Fear of the Jungle) and a walkthrough (Voodoo - Walk through the Jungle). What a surprise!

Took this photo from the walkthrough path:

 

For me, finding out what Voodoo is, and even seeing the coaster in testing mode, was one of the highlights on our first day in Explorica.

As the sun moved further towards the horizon, it was time to get on our way out of Africa Adventure…

…through the jungle…

…until Shangri-La appeared in front of our eyes.

And that’s where my next post will take us to. Stay tuned!

WHOA!   LOVE IT!  Great job (and great screens...).  That Voodoo show buildings is fantastic!

I love the Voodoo building facade with all the muted earth-tone colors and African motifs! And once again, we are treated to more of your beautiful, striking screenshots! The interior theming of the Voodoo building looks fantastic!

Here I am trying to learn and build in PlanCo2 and you're over here making PlanCo1 look even better than what I'm doing 😅 These are amazing screenshots!!

On 11/23/2024 at 9:40 PM, Wabigbear said:

WHOA!   LOVE IT!  Great job (and great screens...).  That Voodoo show buildings is fantastic!

On 11/23/2024 at 9:50 PM, JB said:

I love the Voodoo building facade with all the muted earth-tone colors and African motifs! And once again, we are treated to more of your beautiful, striking screenshots! The interior theming of the Voodoo building looks fantastic!

Thanks Wagi and JB! And that's so good to hear. Originally I wanted it to be a dome, but once I had the track of Voodoo finished (a few years ago), I struggled to achieve what I had on my mind, and my work on the whole park project came to a critical break due to my frustration and lack of inspiration at the time. Eventually I had the idea for the final shape, and it kinda rescued the whole park. Glad you guys like it :)

On 11/26/2024 at 3:46 PM, wolfpaw said:

Here I am trying to learn and build in PlanCo2 and you're over here making PlanCo1 look even better than what I'm doing 😅 These are amazing screenshots!!

Aw thanks wolfpaw :) Appreciating it.

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Re: Explorica
Post #8 - 21-05-2008

Late in the afternoon, it was time to explore the last area of Explorica: Shangri-La.

The Asian area has a focus on the cultures around the Himalaya.

Besides the main attraction of the area, Karma, the launched coaster, there’s also the condor „Typhoon“.

The most iconic building in the whole park must be the Lotus, which hosts a magic show. And the Everest Inn is an excellent place for Himalaya cuisine.

On one side of the Lotus, there are food stalls, and on the other side of the street, we have the entrance to Karma.

 

At the end of Shangri-La’s main path, just where the curve leads the visitor in the direction of Africa Adventure, there’s another station of the Explorica Railroad: The Himalaya station.

Now we turned around again, observing the launch from the Karma station:

There’s still a small piece of land that we haven’t covered yet… home to Twisting Teacups…

...and the unspectacular station of Bengali Nights, a boat dark ride.

Our exclusive ride time on Karma was scheduled for 5:30 pm, so it was time to go back…

…and there we were, excited to ride Karma for the very first time!

 

Okay, so, you know I'm gonna say these screenshots are beautiful, right? Golden Hour photos are the best! That time of day when the sun is dropping below the horizon, but it's still light enough to see the details of things, and the lights are all coming on for the evening. That applies here, and in real-life parks. Love the Shangri-la architecture; a mix of Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern.

Definite bullseye on the Tibetan vibes!  I love that Lotus structure...very inventive and fits the theme perfectly.  You're another of my kind of players - loads of details and not afraid to use color.  JB already beat me to commenting about the screens...all I can say is 'ditto!'.