Wardley started his career as an assistant stage manager at Windsor's Theatre Royal, then moved on to the film industry creating special effects, including several of the James Bond movies.
Wardley collaborated with attraction developer Keith Sparks to produce the popular Prof. Burp's Bubble Works dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures in 1990 and The Haunted House at Alton Towers in 1992.
Continuing as a development director of the Tussauds Group, John produced roller coasters such as Nemesis, Oblivion and Air (now Galactica) at Alton Towers.
One of his other projects at this time was producing the Mystique show at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, with leisure developer Geoffrey Thompson, which ran for nearly 20 years.
[citation needed] Wardley also worked with Chris Sawyer and Frontier Developments for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, a game about amusement park management.