In 1993, the Vacaville community built the original Great Wonders playground in Andrews Park, located off of East Monte Vista Road in Vacaville, CA.  This was a community project with local residents and business people who came together to build the largest and most whimsical playground Vacaville had ever seen.  Afteralmost 15 years of heavy use, the playground was splintering and parts were broken.  The Vacaville Sunrise Rotary Club pledged $40,000 to start the process to have the a community project to “Rebuild the Wonder.”   The City of Vacaville also pledged $150,000 for the project and another $75,000 was raised by various fundraisers, play component sponsorships and the sale of hand painted tiles to decorate the playground.

The structure built in 1993 was one large castle type design, made of wood.  The new design incorporated two separate play structures, one dedicated to young kids, the other for older children, lots of shady spots to sit and watch the kids play were added as well.  This new play structure also has enhanced accessibility features and wasmade of recycled products that are more weather resistant, and sturdy. 

The construction project included tearing down the existing structure, digging new post holes, placing new posts, building new decks and installing new play elements.  The new play elements include:  a dragon with rope net wings and a curved slide for a tongue and water misters, a pirate ship with misters in the cannons, a castle entrance with King and Queen throne room, a bi-plane, race car, a spinner, swings (for both the other and younger kids play areas); benches, perimeter fencing and new base materials.

As was done in the past, the project was a “community building project.”  Volunteers from throughout the region donated tools and lots of time to the construction.  Over 1,400 people were involved over the week of October 7-12, 2008 to complete the project.  Today, the Great Wonders playground is used by hundreds of children a week.