Built in 1961, this Japanese theme park was a Disneyland knockoff. Visitors had all but stopped coming by 2006, so the amusement park was closed. It was not demolished and became a playground for urban explorer photographers. Have a beer and enjoy this photo tour of abandoned Nara Dreamland. Photo #1 by © Bram Dauw
Nara Dreamland was closed and abandoned in August of 2006. This photo of the Screw roller coaster was taken 5 years later in August 2011. Photo #2 by © Ralph Mirebs
Today: Satellite and Street View of the defunct Japanese theme park. It is located in Nara which is about 2 hours outside of Osaka, Japan. Photo #3 by Google / GeoEye Maps
Yes, like abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans, Nara Dreamland has security guards. If caught exploring, you could be arrested and fined. We are grateful to the photographers who dared to explore so we can tag along on their illegal tour. This is derelict Nara Dreamland as of 3-3-11. Photo #4 by © Bram Dauw
The wooden roller coaster Aska was in operation from 1998 to 2006. It’s 3,547 feet 11 inches in length. Here’s the abandoned amusement park in August 2011 from Aska. Photo #5 by © Ralph Mirebs
Nature reclaiming Aska, September 2010. According to Wikipedia, Aska was based on the wooden roller coaster ‘The Cyclone’ at Coney Island. Photo #6 by © Michael John Grist
Screw coaster cars, August 2011. This double corkscrew roller coaster operated from 1979 to 2006. It was a “single train with 6 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 24 riders.” Photo #7 by © Ralph Mirebs
October 2010: High noon abandoned Main Street. In Japan, ruins of abandoned places are called haikyo, but haikyo is also associated with urban exploration or urbex. Photo #8 by © Jordy Meow
Faded dreams April 2011. According to an urban explorer, “Nara Dreamland is a rip-off of Disneyland in Anaheim. Disneyland was opened in 1955, Nara Dreamland followed in 1961. You have copies of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, Adventureland, Main Street USA, Autopia, Skyway, Tea Party Cup Ride, Submarine Voyage, Flying Saucers, the monorail, the fire station, a pirate ship, double decker omnibusses, vintage cars, and a train station (called DreamStation). Even the entrance looked the same!” Photo #9 by © Michael Libby
Climbing inside Aska, August 2011. The roller coaster database states this ride had “7 cars per train. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 28 riders per train.” Photo #10 by © Ralph Mirebs
July 2010. A former park visitor explained, “This was a maze building with a difference. You were given a card on the way in and had to find 3 checkpoints inside and get the card stamped.” Photo #12 by © Kyle Merriman via BrandKnewMe
In July 2010, the photographer wrote, “The bumper cars, screw coaster, merry-go-round and even Japan’s largest wooden roller coaster were still intact and almost tempting to climb aboard.” Photo #14 by © Kyle Merriman
Nature reclaiming Nara Dreamland monorail in 2006, the year the park closed. Photo #18 by © kore/okamo
Top of Aska (98′ 5″) on August 15, 2011. The coaster went 49.7 mph, had 2.8 G forces, and the ride lasted 1:45. Photo #19 by © Ralph Mirebs
Main Street in October 2010. The photographer wrote, “WARNING: The park being not colorful at all (or in an awful way), at the time of working on the pictures I converted everything to strong HDR and deleted the originals. Later, really disappointed by it I tried to re-work on them, and try to them look a bit softer.” Photo #20 by © Jordy Meow
Going up. The Screw Coaster was 1,253 feet and 3 inches long. It reached 55.9 mph and the ride lasted 1:20. Photo #23 by © Ralph Mirebs
Nature reclaims abandoned Nara Dreamland’s main attraction, the Aska roller coaster. In 2010, the urban explorer / photographer wrote, “I’ve been to Nara Dreamland three times so far (during daytime and nighttime), spotted security twice and got caught once.” Photo #27 by © Florian Seidel via Abandoned Kansai
August 2011:5 years after abandonment, nature is starting to take back portions of Nara Dreamland. Photo #30 by © Ralph Mirebs
Screw Coaster. The photographer noted, “The main entrance, filled with shops, restaurants, makeshift police and fire stations, ticket booths and even a public hall was showing clear signs that the plant life wanted back what was once theirs.” Photo #32 by © Kyle Merriman via BrandKnewMe
Top left: Nara Dreamland, Main Street in October 1963; Top right: Abandoned main street now; Middle left: Dreamland main entrance then; Middle right: Main entrance now; Bottom left: Screw roller coaster in 2004 while still open; Bottom right: Abandoned Screw coaster today. Photo #36 by © kevf, #37 by © Kyle Merriman via Imagineering Disney, #38 by © kore / okama, #39 by © Florian Seidel, #40 by © Theme Park Review, #41 by © Kyle Merriman via indoblogger
Inside the Matterhorn-like mountain where the photographer captured this rusted heavy machinery with heavy overgrowth in September 2010. He wrote, “A coaster ride goes round the outside, while the cable-car goes through.” Photo #44 by © Michael John Grist
Top left: Nara Dreamland castle in 2005 while still open with the British park mascot; Top right: Abandoned knockoff Disney castle in April 2011; Bottom left: Snow wtf White while Dreamland was open; Bottom right: Derelict Dreamland kiddie rides. Photo #48 by © Ivan Lucas, #49 by © Michael Libby, #50 by © MSN Money, #51 by © Florian Seidel
Urban explorers often have to dodge security and remember someone may be watching. “Say cheese,” the photographer wrote. He arrived at the park “a little after midnight. The streets were quiet and calm as we walked the 30 minutes to the Dreamland site. Both of us were pretty excited. There was always the possibility that the security guard might do night sweeps. There was still the threat of fines, motion sensors, alarms.” Photo #53 by © Michael John Grist
October 2010: Castle, maybe more like Grimm Brothers than Disneylike Dreamland? Photo #60 by © Jordy Meow
