This is amazing !!!

For those wondering, this isnt a Disney knock off. It was made with the actual assistant from Walt Disney himself. Only to have Disney pull out at the last minute. It was suppose to be Nara Disneyland. But they had to change it to Nara Dreamland.

To be the only person on the Jungle Cruise and the performer doing his bit. I would have felt bad for the guy who had to do his lines for only one person when it was meant for a multi audience experience. A piece of this parks history preserved in video format. Wonder what it was like back in the 60's.

No crowds? I can ride that roller coaster again and again. Although it's really hard to believe that this park survived for another 16 years.

Honestly this is the best footage of dreamland in 1990s i honestly wish this park wasnt closed and demolished. And i regret myself for not exploring before its demolition.

How sad that in 1990 that this theme park didn’t have a lot of people visiting and it pretty much looked dead :/ like yay no wait times but it’s so eerie and sad that the visitor count declined. Like others said, crazy how it was still operating until 2006 😔

You can't get mad at the man for making his dream a reality, he tried really hard! It seemed he wanted to bring a piece of the U.S.A to Japan. It was a great dream that didn't last long, sad to say for him 😞. Thank you for sharing! May Nara Dreamland Rest In Peace.... Lol

I can't believe it shut down in 2006, when it was clearly not doing very well 16 years prior

This is awesome! I have VHS recordings of DW from 1990, and I haven't looked at them in ages. I can't believe we carried those huge cameras on rides! I'll have to pull them out and get them digitized now. That safari ride, tho!!!!

Thank you to Defuntland for bringing me here. It is super sad and I would love to just go back in time and visit this place when it was alive and vibrant. Theme parks are so sad when they're abandoned. I wish things like this were preserved.

Defunctland brought me here. What an amazing piece of history. It’s such a shame that there was so little effort put into maintaining what was once such a beautiful and vibrant place. (I do think you should reword your description a bit though- the Park was originally made with Walt Disney’s guidance. It was only when licensing agreements couldn’t be reached towards the end of the park’s construction that it switched from Disneyland to Dreamland)

Man I reeeeeeeeally wish I could go back in time and go here! What? No, not in its hayday! In 1990! The eerie disembodied carousel music echoing through the empy park... the surreal experience of being the only one on the jungle cruise tour... plenty of room to stretch... I'd have gone every weekend if I coulda! To heck with that other more popular one... Who even likes mice anyway??

It's a miracle this place lasted til 2006. I mean, this is 1990 and it's practically abandoned lol

First time I saw a walk-around the park while it was still operational, having watched many sneak arounds after abandonment I honestly can't tell which is more harrowing! I lived in Kyoto 2017-2018 and just missed it by the time they demolished everything.

"Everyone turn around and wave goodbye to civilization." *Pans across completely empty boat*

This is depressing 😔

If it was dead in 1990 I'm surprise that it lasted another 16 years..

it looks like a GHOST TOWN in 1990. How did it stay open til 2006???? is that real??

This is an amazing video, thank you so much for posting this. You rarely see a video of the park while its still open. Very eerie too even though it was taken 16 years before closing.

There are some nights when I dream about Nara Dreamland and how it was full of people in its glory days and now is nothing left of it

3:15 I think it's funny that unlike Disneyland's Main Street, which plays music from the early 20th century to enhance the setting, Dreamland's Main Street is playing contemporary music lol

This is like time travel! Now all you can see is the abandoned rides.

Wow... it's sad to see a park so empty even if it's cool not to have to stand in line.

I'm 37 years old, wiping tears from my eyes whilst watching footage of a Japanese theme park from decades ago. What's going on? I can't come close to describing why this makes me feel like it does. A strange mixture of grief for the park, gratitude for the footage, nostalgia, mono no aware, and a little bit of envy i think. Thank you.

Great video. Thanks for sharing! It's hard to believe this place survived another 16 years after your visit.

You were smart to record this, good job!

I went there yesterday. Crazy to watch this video and see how it was when it was working compared to today all abandoned. I walked on the monorail track. There is something poetic about this huge abandoned amusement park when you're the only living soul walking there. Nice video!

There is another video here on KZfaq where 3 guys took a trip to Japan in 2005 & Nara Dreamland was one of their stops. One of the guys commented that being at the park was an unsettling, eerie experience & they didn't realize just how close it was to closing down. Yes it is hard to believe they survived another 16 years after this. There's only a handful of people here it seems :/

That makes me kinda sad to see nobody on the boat but you and the guy still talks like he's in front of a bunch of people.

It's so sad to watch this video and knowing that it didn't close for another 16 years. Also very sad to see some people still enjoying the park and the rides despite the state the park is in. When I originally saw some footage of this video, I honestly thought it was closer to when the park closed. If they would have been able to continue to to operate and update the park, it may not have met such a sad fate.

Thank you so much for posting this bit of history. Please never delete it! The world needs more awesome people like you!

I would have gone like everyday if I lived there! Just mosey on over to the tall grass and have a picnic with the wild animals... maybe find the lonesome ghost of the park owner making his regular rounds, and have a chat about the good old days! Who needs some fancy pants corporate Disney Land! I'll take the bizarrely ill fated Nara any day... with its haunting amusement park music echoing through its empty fields. Festive, yet serene! I guess the really sick part of this is that nothing I just wrote is sarcastic in the slightest...

That is SO sweet! THANKS for posting, man! I spent 6 months in Okinawa while I served and fell in love with Japan and its people. They're crazy but in the most beautifully awesome way. They are the most polite, clean, friendly, honorable and disciplined people I have ever known, and this is coming from an former Leaterneck who use to "piss napalm and eat Concertina wire for breakfast", as one of my favorite actors likes to describe life in the Suck. I had no idea this park even existed lol! I would've *loved* to visit. Damn. First Marine Land (RIP) and now Nara land? Sheesh! I'd love to visit the Nara period if I could time travel, too, although I'd prefer the Heian or Sengoku lol! Anyway, thanks for the post. It's awesome! And I love monorails, btw x) I'm one of those kids who collected train sets and the Monorail is my favorite "ride" at Disneyland (I live in L.A., but it's funny how infrequently I go to theme parks or the beach haha!). P.S. This is actually pretty damn good production work imho, especially for the '80s/'90s! I remember how messed up most of the video was then lol! Remember VHS? People are so spoiled nowadays with their 4K this and HD that hehe!

Even that I never gotten into this Nara Dreamland, I feel so nostalgic about this closed, abandoned and demolished theme park. It just really sad and heartbreaking what happened in this place, it was indeed one of the most beautiful and amazing parks that ever created in Japan. Seeing videos where it still open and operated, it seems very wonderful and colorful. Those happy and fun-filled unforgettable memories of the people who went there, spending their family time with friends and loved ones must be so magical and really worthwile. Looking the stores of this park, there was an minnie mouse plush toy wait isn’t that a Disney Character? yes it is. Nara Dreamland is supposed to be a first ever Disneyland Park in Japan, the owner said to Walt Disney that he wanted to brought Disneyland in Japan, so that how it started it all. But when the park is almost built, Walt Disney Company had been refused to the licensing of the park, I really feel bad for the owner, but in the bright side he continued to open the park instead of ‘Nara Disneyland’ it turned into ‘Nara Dreamland’ from 1961 that ended and closed to 2006, is a really good thing with fonded so much memories. And yet been abandoned for 10 years, fully demolished after a year. Hey there Nara Dreamland, even if I just saw you in videos, still you did a really great job to make people happy. So long one of the greatest theme parks in Japan. You are now a dream that faded away but full of unforgettable memories.

Its called dreamland for a reason. Its as wonderful as a happy dream. But dreqms dont last

Defuncfland brought me here. Cool video👍

Who knows this could be Disney world in 100 years

I am in tears, the sweet memories.. Thank you for filming and uploading this.

3:55 i spit out my drink!!! Waltersaki Disneyku

I LOVE how the jungle cruise comes complete with the groan-worthy comic tour guide!! Lol... "My mother in law..." Awesome!! They did a great job for being a knockoff, in my opinion! :)

Omg!!!! This person sure is lucky to have this video. Thank you! Beautiful park!

I’m so amazed that this filmed in 1990 at Nara Dreamland. How did they operated for more than 16 years before it was closed down in 2006.

I gonna make plushies from the charathers of Nara dreamland. The robot and the boy and that girl.

I’m surprised it was able to stay open for 16 more years

Dreamland back when it was still alive.. sad

It still looks empty even when it was open...

Thanks for this . Dreamland was actually Authorised by Disney but they weren't allowed to use Disney characters.

So sad to see only a few people, I would prefer this, not standing in line. It already looked so abandoned.

It's sad that it shut down. I wonder why it didn't do well and no one visited ?

it's such a shame that the park end as abandoned...it would have been better if the Japanese took care of it as a historical sight or a land mark or something..it a treasure of the past that an ASIAN to be proud of...it is also a nice tourist spot..man they just left it behind..such a waste..its so sad it end it this way..

It's been said before in other comments, but this is by far a great video as Dreamland is now an urban explorer "jewel" expedition. I appreciate the commentary as its exactly what everyone else was thinking. Thanks for posting this video.

Bright Sun films referenced this video in their video on this place and it brought me here. Subscribed now.😊

The fact that you’re one of like 10 people in the whole part is really eerie

This was so chilling to watch. It’s tragic what happened to Nara Dreamland, but I’m glad that it gave lots of people joy in its 45 year run. As for the video itself, it’s so reminiscent of travel vlogs on KZfaq nowadays! I’m sure your husband would start his documentation of theme parks on here if it was around in 1990!

Made in 1990 much better than many newer youtube content.

*Bet this place was a blast in its hayday*

This looks pretty new to be recorded in 1990

Amazing to see it before it was abandoned thanks so much for this video!

seeing this only makes me want to urban explore it more..

Thanks for posting. Best video on youtube of this place and was still open. So sad it was demolished Great quality video as well for the year.

I always thought this park looked like a real life version of those cheesey fictional theme parks that are meant to *parody* Disneyland that you often see on cartoons. ("Fun World" in Bebe's Kids, "Happy World Land" in Tiny Toon Adventures, "Itchy & Scratchy Land" and "Duff Gardens" in the Simpsons, etc.)

it was so beautiful

Rip dreamland always

Great footage thanks for posting ☺

Personally I'm always amazed with the videos people post of this park. I remember seeing one during its earlier years, and I've also seen it in its last few years and beyond. It's fascinating to see it in between the two, I mean it looked decrepit years prior to its closing but at least I got to see remnants of the park. Thanks for sharing!

This was so cool, I'm glad you taped this and shared this, it's sad to see it abandoned now. And petting that poor little stray was very sweet. Thank you . :)

It actually was built by the *squeak *ney company

It's so sad... The creator of a park had a dream of becoming successful as Disney and now....

wow dude thanks for sharing this video i just now barely heard of this park because of a youtuber who posted a current abandoned park series video. and i was blown away so i wanted to see what the place looked like and this is the only i can find that shows what i wanted to see. THANK YOU. but why did you bleep out the words DISNEY?

1990... who/what was this video produced for? Some kind of monorail club? Very interesting document, btw. I'm really glad this was filmed when it was.

I can't believe the park was this empty in 1990. It operated for another 16 years!

How cool. What a treasure! Not only Dreamland, but older vintage Japan!

I've just watched a video of how this place look now, all abandoned and forgotten. Its nice to see it in "all its glory?" not much difference haha. Great video sir.

Ran-Chan: Hey! I remember this place! Dori-Chan: Yeah. Me too!

I love videos like this. Thanks!

Very interesting if sad video, though it's a bit reductive to say it was an _imitation_ of Disneyland. It was originally intended to be the first iteration of an oversees Disneyland, but after Disney pulled out of licensing negotiations and with the park essentially already completed, the owners had little else to do but try to remove any overt references to Disney/Disneyland, change the name, and open anyway. So to say it's an imitation is a little disingenuous in my estimation. As I found out from Defunctland kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n7tmeqag2NjDfoE.html

The park is already being demolished now.

Fond memories

look Disneyland

I would of love seeing this place back in those days

Great footage & wonderful narration by the boss man, himself. =)

Great video! Don't see much footage of this place. Were people able to ride the train?

If this was still open i'd love to go.

Basically Walt started having imagineers draw up plans and started construction on Nara Disneyland and then Walt and Kunizo Matsuo had a falling out over the character licenses so construction was completed and they just removed all the Disney IP’s and replaced them with new ones, it’s insane to think it was the first Disneyland in Japan in a sense

A bit of sarcasm.... How did Kim ever get through all those huge crowds of people pushing and shoving, to get on those rides, while Kim and all the other imaginary riders were trying to get off? Was Kim the only person in the park? Oh that's right, we did see about 6-8 guys getting off the Matterhorn ride; but no-one else.

It looks so empty

*Jungle cruise was off the hook* 17:35

merci pour c'est magnifique image

i laughed out loud so so many times great!

i love so much this parck but now is abandoned :((((((

I'm not surprised to see the place so empty...with an actual Disneyland nearby,who'd want to pay to visit an imitation,and a poor one at that? Good footage of the "Jungle Cruise" ride!

What a great video! Nara Dreamland has been abandoned ever since 2006.

Things were different back then I don’t know why they had to Tarrytown the opera house the asker coaster wasn’t behind the church the red and blue paint wasn’t on the Emporium and that little dreamland building wasn’t right in front of Main Street I don’t know why they built that anyway when they built that they can’t do any more parades

hope you at least thanked the safari guy, made him feel a little bit better about his day

Why the quacks...

wow was a magnificent trip, but I wanted to see the terrifying house 😔is great your video✌🏻😁

Your Camera used must of been expensive asf for such good quality in 1990 FairPlay dude what did you film with out of curiosity ?

Incredible :) Thanks for ths video!

Gracias Karol Kim ahora ya se como era antes.

I so wanna go there now