Nara Dreamland Abandoned amusement park in Japan

Nara Dreamland was a theme park near Nara, Japan which was built in 1961 and inspired by Disneyland in California. On August 31, 2006, Nara Dreamland closed permanently. The entrance to the park was designed to look almost identical to Disneyland, including the Train depot, a 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), and the skyway running through it, as well as an Autopia-type ride and a monorail.

The park contained several rides prior to closing, including:

• Aska, a wooden roller coaster based on The Cyclone at Coney Island
• Screw Coaster, an Arrow Dynamics designed double corkscrew steel roller coaster
• Bobsleigh, a steel roller coaster modeled after the Matterhorn Bobsleds
• Fantasy Coaster
• Kid’s Coaster

Other rides included a carousel, a small powered coaster, a Jungle Cruise styled ride, and a log flume.

If you want to go to Nara Dreamland please go ahead. But be aware that people say that the security there is tight. The whole park is surrounded by fences, most of them with nasty spikes and rusty barbed wire. There are talks about guards patrolling the area and there are motion detectors yelling automatic messages at you – scared me half to death when I was walking along a public street (!) around the northern part of the park, just minding my own business. I don’t know if those installations are inside the park, too, since it is so obvious that people are not wanted there… now even less than when the park was still open for business.
Oh, and at the eastern parking lot there are the main entrance and several buildings. The area has no fences, only some ropes preventing people from entering. Since it’s still private property of course I didn’t cross the ropes, but the northern building looks interesting and like a haikyo on its own. Especially the observation tower part is very tempting and must offer a great view. Rumors have it that a metal door on the southern side isn’t locked – but what do I know? I would never enter the building since the owner doesn’t want to draw attention to it. And by it I mean Nara Dreamland in Nara city, Nara prefecture, Japan.