Beto Carrero was born in 1937 in Sao Jose do Rio Preto, a town in the interior of Sao Paulo state. His father, Alexandre Carrero, was known around town for driving an oxcart. The boy grew up poor, left home young, and worked his way through Brazil's entertainment industry from the ground up: first as half of a sertanejo music duo on regional radio, then as a show organizer at fairs and rodeos, then as the head of an advertising agency that ranked among the twenty largest in Brazil. In the early 1980s, he launched the character that would define the rest of his life. Riding a horse named Faisca, wearing a cowboy hat and carrying a whip, Beto Carrero became a fixture on Brazilian television. He befriended Silvio Santos, Fausto Silva, Gugu Liberato, and Xuxa. Comic books followed. But Carrero wanted something bigger, something permanent.

When Beto Carrero World opened on December 28, 1991, it consisted of a few children's rides and two circus tents on a coastal property in Penha, population roughly 30,000. Carrero had visited Disneyland and returned to Brazil with the conviction that his country deserved its own world-class theme park. What he built over the following decades sprawled across 14 square kilometers and divided into seven distinct themed areas: the Germanic half-timbered Vila Germanica, honoring Santa Catarina's German immigrant heritage; the Velho Oeste, a small Western town with saloons and horse shows; the Ilha dos Piratas, a pirate island reached by hanging bridge; Aventura Radical, home to the park's most intense roller coasters; Terra da Fantasia, a train-based tour through animatronic dinosaurs and giant sculptures; Avenida das Nacoes, the grand entrance with its 4D cinema and Ferris wheel; and the Madagascar area, built through a 2012 partnership with DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures.

Aventura Radical draws the biggest crowds in the park. The Big Tower, a free-fall ride standing 93 meters tall, drops riders at 120 kilometers per hour. FireWhip, a roller coaster opened in 2008, stretches 700 meters at heights up to 40 meters, reaching speeds near 100 kilometers per hour. Star Mountain, imported from the Netherlands, rises 35 meters and tops out at 90 kilometers per hour. For those who prefer being startled to being dropped, Portal da Escuridao walks visitors through seven horror scenes inspired by films like The Exorcist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The park also offers gentler experiences: helicopter tours over Penha, bumper boats, a nearly kilometer-long river ride through the Madagascar-themed area, and Raskapuska, a boat ride through a mountain filled with hundreds of characters from children's literature.

Beto Carrero died on February 1, 2008, at the age of 70. His family has continued to run the park, expanding and modernizing it while keeping his cowboy persona at its heart. The Velho Oeste area houses the Memorial Beto Carrero, where visitors can see his whip, his hats, photographs of his friendships with Brazilian celebrities, and a John Wayne trailer he kept for personal use. The show O Sonho do Cowboy, The Cowboy's Dream, recounts his life story through live actors and Old West artifacts. In 2024, the park closed its 32-year-old zoo, rehoming the animals to sanctuaries and other facilities, a decision that signaled the park's evolution while honoring the conservation ideals Carrero had championed. By 2023, Beto Carrero World welcomed 2.79 million visitors, making it the most attended amusement park in Latin America. The poor boy from the countryside had built something that outlasted him.