Жапониядағы Nara Dreamland саябағының тарихы

Former theme park in Nara, Japan

Nara Dreamland (奈良ドリームランド), or just simply Dreamland, was a theme park near Nara, Japan, heavily inspired by Disneyland in California. It opened in 1961 and was in continuous operation until its permanent closure in 2006 as a result of falling attendance. The park was left abandoned until it was demolished between October 2016 and December 2017.

When Disneyland opened in Anaheim in 1955, Japanese businessman Kunizo Matsuo visited the park, and was so impressed with what Walt Disney made, that he envisioned something like it to be perfect in Japan. He then got into talks with Walt to franchise a Disney park in Japan, and it seemed well, as Disney then supposedly had Imagineers create concepts for the park, but the deal fell through, likely due to licensing issues. Still wanting to open a Disney like park, Matsuo decided to move forward with the plans, whilst removing any Disney intellectual properties. On July 1, 1961, Nara Dreamland was opened to the public. The entrance to the park was designed to look almost identical to Disneyland, including its own versions of the Train Depot, Main Street, U. S. A., and the familiar Sleeping Beauty Castle at the hub. It also had a Matterhorn type mountain (with a Matterhorn Bobsleds type ride, called Bobsleigh) with a Skyway running through it, as well as an Autopia type ride and a monorail. The park also had its own mascots, Ran chan and Dori chan, two children dressed as bearskin guards. The park was initially popular due to its similarities to Disneyland, which did not have a location in Japan at the time. At its peak, the park had 1.7 million visitors a year.

In 1979, The Oriental Land Company made contact with The Walt Disney Company to create a Disney theme park in Tokyo. After Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983, the number of visitors to Nara Dreamland slowly began to decrease, as more people were interested in going to the said Disney park. This marked the beginning of the downfall for Dreamland, with attendance numbers dropping to around a million visitors a year. MEC, including Nara Dreamland, was bought by the supermarket chain Daiei in 1993. In 2001, Tokyo DisneySea opened next to Tokyo Disneyland, and Universal Studios Japan opened as well in Osaka, the latter of which is about 40 kilometers away from Nara Dreamland. After those two parks opened, Dreamland's attendance numbers worsened, plummeting to 400,000 visitors a year.

Nara City's government gained ownership of the park after the park's owner fell behind in property taxes. In 2013, the city put the site up for auction but the auction received no bids. It was later confirmed online by regular visitors that the demolition process was officially underway as of October 10, 2016 and that it was due to take 14 months.

Nara Dreamland was a popular destination for haikyoists, or urban explorers. Additionally, many have reported hearing strange noises near the park's boats. Some speculate that it may have been caused by a running water pump or a type of bull frog.