The Great Wall

Lore & Background

In the world of RollerCoaster Tycoon, the campaign missions follow a park manager as they travel the globe, rescuing or revitalising struggling parks. The Great Wall sets the tone: a modest facility tucked into the landscape of China, its rides aging and its guests thin. The local authorities have given the manager a finite window and a modest sum to turn things around, and the park's reputation—measured by the ever-present park rating—must climb before the deadline.

The park's starting layout is deliberately sparse. A handful of basic attractions sit among paths and landscaping, and the guest numbers are low because the offering simply isn't exciting enough. The challenge is not to build a mega-park but to make smart, targeted additions: a ride with good thrill value, a water ride for variety, and perhaps a shop or rest area to keep satisfaction high. Every dollar spent on construction is a dollar not spent on maintenance or marketing, so the budget must be allocated with care.

What makes The Great Wall memorable to long-time players is its simplicity. There is no rival park, no land purchase, no exotic terrain. It is a clean, focused exercise in the fundamentals, and succeeding here builds the confidence needed for the more complex missions that follow in the campaign.

In Their Own Story

The morning fog still clings to the terraced hillsides when you roll your sleeves up and spread the blueprints across the office desk. Outside, the park is quiet—two or three families wander the paths, a child tugs at a parent's hand, pointing at the slightly rusted log flume. The rating on the monitor reads a discouraging number, and the budget spreadsheet shows barely enough for two new rides if you're careful.

You sketch a small steel coaster in the corner of the lot, a looping water ride near the pond, and a snack stand to keep the foot traffic moving. The clock ticks. Four weeks. You have four weeks to make this forgotten patch of ground the talk of the region, and the wall behind it has been watching empires rise and fall. Today, it will watch you build something small, something fun, and—hopefully—something that makes a child's eyes go wide as the first train rounds the bend.

Reader's Guide

The brief is straightforward: you inherit a small park in China with a handful of aging rides and a low guest count. Your goal is to raise the park rating to the target threshold before the weekly deadline, all within a fixed construction budget.

Start by auditing what's already there. The existing rides are functional but uninspiring. Rather than demolishing everything, identify which ones still pull decent guest numbers and keep them running while you build. This preserves revenue during the construction window.

With your budget, aim for two to three new attractions that complement each other. A medium-thrill coaster and a water ride cover different guest preferences and keep the park from feeling one-note. Place them so queues don't cross, and add a small food or souvenir stand near the main entrance to boost satisfaction scores. Landscaping—trees, fences, and a few flower beds—costs little but nudges the rating upward.

Community consensus is that the mission is very achievable on the first try if you avoid overbuilding. A common approach is one coaster, one water ride, one shop, and light landscaping. Keep maintenance on the existing rides current, and the rating should climb steadily over the first two weeks, giving you a comfortable margin before the deadline hits.

Did You Know?

• The Great Wall is the very first mission players encounter in the RCT1 campaign, making it the de facto tutorial for the park-management loop.
• The mission's name is a playful nod to the real-world landmark, though the park itself is a generic small facility rather than a themed attraction based on the wall.
• Because the budget is tight, players who spend too early on expensive rides often find themselves unable to afford necessary shops or landscaping, causing the rating to stall.
• Many veterans treat The Great Wall as a free sandbox after completing the campaign, using it to test ride designs or colour palettes without the pressure of later missions.