Next up is a dramatic view of the Castle and an early version of Fantasmic light show.
Of course Nara copied the Disneyland band with their own. Check out the Main Street and the slightly off kilter design.
The last image is the best image. In Ancestor Land (not found in Disneyland) is this building. According to the caption, the building is a brothel. A theme park with a house of ill repute is quite interesting, maybe they stole some ideas from Knott's Berry Farm.
There's so much misinformation and assumptions on why Dreamland existed, closed, etc. but the simple fact is, unless you're a Disney/Disneyland fanatic it's a not a very significant theme park. To put things in perspective, most Japanese people in their 20's have not even heard of Dreamland. Nara is not a major prefecture in Japan and Dreamland was only marketed locally to neighboring cities such as Osaka. By 1964, Yokohama (a city located next to Tokyo) had their own Dreamland and people living in Tokyo visited this location. As for the opening of Tokyo Disneyland impacting Nara Dreamland, the park was already on a huge decline by the early 1980's and most residents of Tokyo and it's surrounding areas never visited Nara Dreamland even it's heyday. Although the physical distance between Tokyo and Nara is comprable to Los Angeles and San Francisco, if you understand the Japanese infrastructure at the time, the distance is more like Los Angeles and Orlando. As for legal representation, a current Disney executive who visited Nara Dreamland several times before it's closure stated that Disney sent over three people (including two Disneyland executives and an attorney) shortly after Dreamland's opening but decided not to pursue this matter any further after viewing the park. In other words, Disney decided it was not a big enough deal to take any legal action. Afterall, they had plenty of time (40 plus years from that visit) to wield their global clout and enforce Disney's strict policy if they so desired. Dreamland finally went under on it's own in 2006 due to a lack of financial support and attendance. So simply put, outside of passionate Disney/Disneyland fans who still make a fuss, Nara Dreamland like Freedomland is now just another defunct theme park on the map. I say cool down and enjoy it for what it was; a view into what might have happened if Walt's not so innovative twin was in charge. Next week's topic: Role reversal - Lion King vs Kimba the White Lion.
ReplyDeleteHow do you say "wet blanket" in Japanese?
ReplyDeleteYeah, Matterhorn, why don't you cool down?! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think Anonymous maybe had too much coffee. Next week's topic: If Snow White fought Cinderella, who would win?
Cinderella vs. Snow White? Cinderella would win hands down.
ReplyDeleteShe's got a hard body from all that servant-girl work. Worse, Cinderella's picked up some ugly street-moves watching Drusilla and Anastasia fight. You do not want to cross her.