The Land of Waldos is a land occupied by hundreds of Waldos. The location was first featured as the final scene in The Great Waldo Search, as Waldo's quest to discover the truth about himself led him to a world where he is "just one Waldo among many". Waldos often lose things - such as bobble hats, glasses and walking sticks - and throughout Waldo's journey there are such items scattered about foreshadowing his final destination in the book. Likewise, Waldo himself loses something upon first reaching the Land of Waldos - his shoe. In the scene, the "real Waldo" is only recognizable by his missing shoe and distinctive red and white striped sock.
The original scene became infamous for its difficulty and appeared on many pieces of merchandise - including t-shirts, bed sheets, neckties, mouse pads and jigsaw puzzles. A slightly edited version was released as one of the posters in The Magnificent Poster Book!, and the scene was updated (moving the location of the "real Waldo") for the 1997 special edition release, The Fantastic Journey.
The Great Waldo Search video game for Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis also featured a recreation of the Land of Waldos as one of the levels, and like the original book, the player had to find Waldo by locating the one with the missing shoe.
The Land of Waldos later appeared in The Ultimate Fun Book! as Waldo Land.
The Great Picture Hunt featured a return to the Land of Waldo, titled Waldo World. The scene also included multiple Wendas, Whitebeards and Odlaws.
The final scene of Where's Waldo in Hollywood, entitled "Where's Waldo: the Musical", features a scene full of actors and actresses dressed as Waldo, Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, Odlaw and Woof. While the characters in this scene are not from the Land of Waldos, it does incorporate the same theme of having to find the real character among a crowd of doppelgangers. The concept of lands full of multiple incarnations of a character was re-explored in The Wonder Book. The book featured domains similar to the Land of Waldos for Odlaw and Woof, these locations were known as The Odlaw Swamp and The Land of Woofs respectively.
Appearances[]
- The Great Waldo Search / The Fantastic Journey
- The Great Waldo Search video game (NES / SNES / Sega)
- The Fantastic Journey (video game) for Wii, DS, PC and Mac.
- The Ultimate Fun Book as "Waldo Land"
- The Magnificent Poster Book (republication of scene from The Great Waldo Search)
- The Great Picture Hunt as "Waldo World"