Nara Dreamland – An Abandoned Theme Park In Japan

Nara Dreamland

Nara Dreamland in Nara, Japan was integrated in 1961 and also was based upon the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It featured its very own variation of Main Street USA, Sleeping Beauty Castle, Autopia, Matterhorn as well as Jungle Cruise. It ultimately closed permanently in 2006 as well as was left deserted. It has started to fall under a state of disrepair and also is a preferred location for Japan’s city explorers, or haikyoists, as they’re known.The original Disneyland opened in Anaheim in California in 1955. Nara Dreamland adhered to just 6 years later on, available to the general public in 1961. The park was virtually a carbon copy of Disneyland. It included duplicates of the themed areas– Main Street USA, Adventureland, Fantasyland and also Tomorrowland. Attractions that were replicated consisted of Sleeping Beauty Castle, Autopia, Skyway, Tea Cup Ride, Submarine Voyage, the monorail, the pirate ship, dual decker omnibusses, vintage cars and the train. From above, the format of the park was nearly similar. Also the entryway looked the exact same.

The Castle in Nara Dreamland

The castle in Nara Dreamland was based upon Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland. After World War II, market in Japan was flourishing. The United States assisted reconstruct the economic situation after the war and American culture became incredibly prominent in Japan. One Japanese business owner was eager to capitalise on the pattern. Kanizo Matsuo, president of the Matsuo Entertainment Company, went to the newly opened Disneyland on a vacation to Los Angeles. He was quickly satisfied and looked for a conference with Walt Disney. His strategy was to develop a similar park in Nara, Japan’s old funding, and licence the designs and also personalities from Disney. Matsuo began collaborating with WED Enterprises, the subsidiary of

Abandoned castle at Nara Dreamland

Disney behind building of Disneyland and the precursor wherefore came to be referred to as Walt Disney Imagineering. The castle taken after the park had been abandoned.Kunizo Matsuo started construction of the Japanese variation Disneyland in Nara under the company name Japanese Dream Sightseeing Company. As building advanced however, Matsuo disagreed with the permit fee being looked for by Disney for use of its popular personalities.

Instead of abandon the job, JDSC paid WED Enterprises for the assistance they ‘d gotten in building the park to that factor and also created their own branding as well as personalities for the newly relabelled Nara Dreamland. It opened on July 1st 1961. Ran-chan as well as Dori-chan were the park’s mascots.Nara Dreamland was prominent for a while and welcomed 1.6 million visitors at its top. Despite starting as a carbon duplicate of Disneyland, various other destinations were added throughout the years to take it in one more direction. A wood roller coaster called Aska was built, based upon The Cyclone at Coney Island. There was Screw Coaster created by Arrow Development.

Abandoned screw coaster at Nara Dreamland

The Screw Coaster. This photo was taken BEFORE the park was abandoned as well as goes to demonstrate how bad it was prior to its closure. The Screw Coaster taken quickly after the park was abandoned.Disneyland finally

concerned Japan on April 15th 1983 when the Oriental Land Company opened Tokyo Disneyland. They had actually done what Kunizo Matsuo had fallen short to do and also effectively licensed the Disney brand and also personalities for their park. It was a substantial success and also visitor numbers at Nara Dreamland broke down. The grocery store chain Daiei acquired it later on in 1993 but didn’t make any type of substantial financial investments. In 2001, Universal Studios Japan opened up in Osaka, just 40 kilometres( 25 miles)away as well as drew in 11 million visitors in its very first year. Tokyo Disneysea also opened up that year, turning Tokyo Disneyland right into a two park hotel. Nara Dreamland battled on until August 31st 2006 before closing. It remained in a severe state of disrepair by the end.Nara Dreamland joins a long list of abandoned amusement park in Asia including Wonderland in China and also Okpo Land in South Korea. The amusement park was sold to SK Housing in 2016 and it was finally knocked down in 2017 to give way for housing.Location: Nara, Japan Abandoned: 2006 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amCZA877cnY!.?.! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SN8pGTw8ys

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