My Wayfaring Ways: THAT'S NOT THE ALICE I REMEMBER!

So, what do you like about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? Alice, the Madhatter, the Rabbit with his old style pocket-watch, the Jabberwocky, the Queen screaming "off with your head!" All these and more images popped into my head and made me smile fondly at how my imagination sucked up every word written by Lewis Carroll.
As I searched for Wonderland adventures in the Destination guide, I reflected how I should reread those popular tales of Alice. I was ready for an adventure and to see how the imagination of SL builders portrayed and bought Carroll's story to life.
My first trek was to Dysphoria This sim has been around for a few years, so I was curious to see what I would find.  The atmosphere is dark and brooding when you first step up to the Rabbit Hole.

I was excited to take the leap into the rabbit hole. The plunge down to the bottom was exhilarating.
The little trip is not too long and you don't have to sit....you just walk right into the hole! That little feature may seem small, but you really don't need any animations to stumble into a hole!

 Upon arriving, the room opened up into a large area that portrayed the huge checkered floor and antique wallpaper that is so much like my memories of Wonderland! The big inviting table with just an old skeleton key perched way up high on it's glass face and the small vial of liquid and the cake tempted me! To eat or to drink? The size of the room made me feel so tiny just like Alice was.
My mind smiled with reflections of all my childhood memories. I could almost smell the wonderful pages of the book as I looked around. But...and oh so sadly, there is a fee to explore further.  A little more than $1.00 in RL, the sim charges $200L to join the group Dysphoria.  Because I wanted to give this sim a fair shake and explore the area, I did pay the join fee. Now with that done, I crawled into the little door that would lead me to another dimension!

This sim grew into a heavily wooded and dark atmosphere immediately. I was alarmed but inquisitive to see how this creator interpreted Carroll's world.  Although dark and gloomy, the sim was done up with great colors and a few highlights of animate objects. Right away I stumbled upon the Cheshire cat grinning at me from afar.  

 There was a great deal of just walking and exploring.  This is very characteristic of how Alice stumbled along her many adventures. I kept a good look out for wordly interations, but did not find too many. The thought that I paid for such an excursion over ran the attempted design trying to be reached in Dysphoria.  My travel through the sim lead me to various settings of the Mad Hatter's table, a large rabbit with a twitching nose, and structures of the Queen's palace.  I was hoping that I might have to run away from the Jabberwocky, but alas, I only met up with some moaning ghosts.  The forest turned into more of a Halloween debacle with little pit stops of Wonderland-like furniture from point to point.  That is when I became disappointed and finished my tour of the sim.  With an asking fee, I found that I was very disenchanted and desperately searched for anything that might sway me from wondering why the sim had not been updated to match all the descriptions that I so eagerly read in the SL Destination Guide.  But, sometimes that happens!
So, I teleported to the next sim that promised me an adventure similar to Alice, and it did not disappoint!

Enchanted Alice offered that same little hole with a sit function to jump into, which was a bit clunky. The animation took a little start and then I was dropped down the rabbit hole!

This room was planned for fun and guess what? There was no entrance fee!

So, where to start?! The sim was magnificent!  It represented everything and more that I recalled from the story! I felt like Alice: startled, amused, delighted, and awed all at the same time. The Madhatter certainly planned a grand party!  Each little world showed me new adventures. The sim was crafted with the skill of a designer that really loved Carroll's work and wanted to give the SL community something to enjoy.  The scenarios were fun and easy to explore and the transitions from one to another were flawless.  

I had fun wandering the black and white checkered world of Alice and getting surprised by a squid monster that trumped the Jabberwocky!  Just as I thought my senses were gathered, this crazy sim would teleport me to yet another grand part to walk, stumble, dance, run, and touch everything around me.   The worlds provided spacious places to play, pose and enjoy with a friend!

This sim has a complete thumbs up compared to my first search for Alice and her cohorts.  I think the only people I didn't meet up with was TweedleDee and TweedleDum, but then that was "Through The Looking Glass!" Hmmm, I bet the Madhatter is hard at work creating the next big adventure for that one! I'll most certainly be back to find out! OHH, I almost forgot to say, that there are plenty of places and things to sit on...

Here are some more exploration picks I collected while having fun in the land of Enchanted Alice.

Don't mess with Alice!

A very macabre dinner!

ON-GUARD!

playing delicious tunes

the Jabberwocky dance

OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!

MY WAYFARING WAYS: THE STORY OF WHIMSY

What comes to mind when you hear the word whimsical?  I think of playful and colorful atmospheres or feeling that you can enjoy and lose yourself in imagination.  Let's see what Mr. Dictionary tells us: "whim·si·cal

ˈ(h)wimzik(ə)l/

adjective

1. Playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way. "a whimsical sense of humor"
2. synonyms: fanciful, playful, mischievous, waggish, quaint, quizzical, curious, droll, fantastical, Seussian.
3. acting or behaving in a capricious manner. "the whimsical arbitrariness of autocracy"
4. synonyms: volatile, capricious, fickle, changeable, unpredictable, variable, erratic, mercurial, inconstant, inconsistent, unstable, protean (Dictionary.com)."

So, I visited The Destination Point, in SL, " WHIMSY, BEAUTIFUL AND DANGEROUS".  This Island is founded on the fabled stories of Pele, a Volcanic Goddess of Hawaii.  The Island and its mysteries do not fall short of a grand tale with adventures of danger and beauty.  It fondly reminds me of the adventures found in Johnathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels." The Whimsians are mirthful inhabitants that discovered a hidden island with a possessed volcano in its midst! The playful atmosphere sets you in a story that is founded on a gleeful tale of the Whimsians and their discoveries. Apparently, they have developed the island for the adventure-seeking soul to explore.  The landmarks are craftily created to immerse you in the creator's capricious imagination. Each point is explained in detail how the Whimsy people have developed the area and what significance it has to the ultimate destination to Pele, the Volcanic Goddess.  I was delighted with the fanciful writing and background stories that added to the mystery of the island.  Such crafty writing and full immersion with a storied-sim is rare to find in Second Life. The sim is made up of smaller Islands that leads one to the hot molting lava of the volcano.  There are beautiful spots of scenery (but alas, one cannot sit on the flowers). The lush green plants, the oh-so-colorful native flowers of Hawaii, the tropical birds, and the animated poses all provide loving couples a chance to snap a gorgeous picture. There are several bridges and tourist signs that designate each area and lend to the background of the story.  But, be wary, bridges disappear and the explorer may find oneself in dangerous territory while walking through the sim! There are several ways to explore the sim, and each one lends itself to the crafty little Whimisical people that have put much time into creating a beautiful home.  One can walk, ride a train, or parachute around the sim to explore all of its beauty and rich history.  Although, either on foot or by craft, the adventure seeker still must keep their guard up for spontaneous interactions with the wildlife.

Secret doors, comical riddles, and puzzling games all lead to the mysteries that the Goddess Pele holds in her controlling power.  There is so much to do and such fun to be had on this sim that it would take several hours and multiple trips to learn about the interesting Whimsians and their guarded life in Whimsy Island. There was one submersion ride that was not fully developed and I hope to return one day to see that the Whimsy people tackled the technical issues and provide another design to show off the beauty of the area. 

 On the up-side, I did find a most suitable spot to sit upon that I’m sure enraged the Goddess to all ends: 

Thorne and I had a most enchanting time exploring this well-developed island. We had many laughs at the greatly woven story that it offered.

Please click: WHIMSY,BEAUTIFUL AND DANGEROUS  to be lead to a great adventure in Second Life!

Here are the remainder of the pics that I took along the way!