Wonder World goes spooky for Halloween
In San Marcos, the depths of Mother Earth are profoundly open in one unique place: Wonder World Cave and Adventure Park.
Located at 1000 Prospect Street, it is as special as that name implies, and yet, its keenest features are not evident until one goes through the doors that lead visitors to a tour of the chilly, deep recesses underground: the cave.
This Halloween, Wonder World has transformed many of its attractions into an Halloween-themed experience. There are cave tours of a haunting variety taking place from Oct. 20-21, and again, from Oct. 27-28, each from 8 to 11 p.m. Then, on Oct. 28 from 4:30 to 7:30, the park will hold what it is calling its Wonder World's Halloween Community Event.
Guests should come in costume to enjoy free carnival games. Hay rides through the Wildlife Park are $5 per person but the highlight of the evening is certainly going to be the Halloween-Themed Cave Walk. Tickets are $7 per person for that activity. Families and children will have an opportunity to take that ghostly photo and there will be a food truck on site and other concessions.
For many who grew up with Wonder World as a childhood destination, Halloween is just the orange and black icing on an all ready well-baked feast of environmental and historic importance.
For Kristin Williams, owner and operator, it was even a place to have her own birthday cakes.
She is the latest member of her family to run the park, which includes a cave tour, a gem mining activity and a wide range of ever-expanding sights, geared primarily to a geological exhibition that dates back decades in this community as a place to tour, but eons beyond that in its creation.
“It is a family business. I’m the third generation. This is the 6th year that I have operated it. My predecessor, my father, for 40 years he had it, and my grandfather before him,” she said. Her father, Buddy Mostyn, made many of the changes that today define the park and he is now retired, though enjoying watching his daughter continue their legacy.
As a woman entrepreneur, Williams said she has many plans for the growth of the park going forward. For example, regularly, schools bring children to see the cave and to try their hand at finding gems.
Working with Williams is Stephen Manning, director of operations. As a young father, he took his past experiences working in child care and followed a friend's advice and applied to work at Wonder World.
'I went on a tour and saw how tour guides get to bring San Marcos' history and the Earth's history,' to people in an engaging and satisfying way, he said, and he knew he had found a new home.
