Saturday, March 12, 2011

Postcards From Nara Dreamland Part 1

Nara Dreamland was a Japanese theme park based upon Disneyland. Built in 1961 and closed recently, the park was a fantastic vision of an amusement park. You may recognize many things from Disneyland, but everything was slightly changed. First up is the outside folder for the postcards.

The first postcard is of Adventureland. As you can see the land sign is a direct copy of the Disneyland original.

Next a view of the entrance with Main Street station.

Last postcard for today is Tomorrowland. Similar to the entrance, but with a different rocket. Check out the signs for the Main Street transportation.



This post goes out with good thoughts to the people of Japan.

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6 comments:

  1. Katella Gate7:43 AM

    Dreamland -- it's like it's from some weird, alternate universe where nothing really works right and Mr. Spock has a beard. There are a few websites that have picture galleries of this place and they are well worth looking at.

    The final caption about "the American artificial satellite program Dyna Soar" is a perfect groaner.

    I hope we see the NaraMatterhorn. It looks just like those paper mache volcanoes you made in the 2nd grade, but of course much bigger.

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  2. Katella Gate7:51 AM

    If you're interested, here's a Google Image of the place. It should all look very familiar, but I'm saving my pennies for a trip to Duloc.

    http://maps.google.com/?t=k&om=1&ll=34.699769,135.823422&spn=0.007656,0.013497

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  3. Major Pepperidge9:22 AM

    This place is so fascinating; was Tokyo Disneyland/Disney Seas the death-knell for Nara Dreamland? I would kill to be able to see their dark rides.

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  4. Katella Gate11:33 AM

    Major, I think you are partially right. Tokyo Disneyland is so perfect, and Nara Dreamland suffers so completely in comparison, I'm sure attendance figures simply collapsed.

    The other half of the story is probably legal. When Dreamland was built, Disney didn't have legal representation in Japan, and intellectual property right weren't taken seriously. Both of those things have changed, so my guess is that the jig was up, and Dreamland closed.

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  5. Chris Jepsen3:37 PM

    The Dyna Soar project was far from a joke, KG. See http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/winter2004/01.html

    Dreamland looks fascinating. I wonder if there are any ruins left. I'll have to Google up more info on the place now. What a blatant ripoff!

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  6. Jason Schultz6:10 AM

    Chris: There are some ruins. Check out this photo gallery: http://www.brandknewme.com/?p=845.

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