Wonder World: Anti-Gravity House

San Marcos, Texas

This theme park found success with a quadruple threat roadside attraction: a natural cave, a gravity shack, an observation tower, and a train-like tram ride through an animal petting park. We first visited in the mid-1980s, and again in 2015 to observe that it offered essentially the same apparently timeless thrills.

The natural dry cave portion first opened to the public as an attraction in 1903, and a subsequent owner, A.B. Rodgers, named it Wonder Cave in 1916. The business was eventually bought by a local family in 1958 who continue its operation. Wonder Cave became Wonder World Adventure Park. For a long period it dwelled in the entertainment shadow of San Marcos' mega-attraction Aquarena Springs (featuring a Mermaid Spring and Ralph the Diving Pig). But Aquarena closed in 1996.

Wonder World Park's Anti-Gravity House offers the disorienting effects we've come to expect from any decent Mystery Spot. The rooms are skewed and tilted, and various props allow visitors to test the phenomena themselves. The design is more like a funhouse (with distorting mirrors and striped wallpaper) rather than a rustic mountain shack in the grip of gravity.

Wonder World Park has an extensive gift shop. We bought a foam 40-gallon cowboy hat.