It seems like Nara Dreamland is quite popular lately. The statistics on WordPress indicate that most of the visitors I get from search engines looked for information about Dreamland. Well, since the once so vivid memories of a crazy Japanese dude yelling like a madman and threatening me with calling the police to get me arrested slowly fades I guess it’s about time to give people what they want: Two more postings about the Dreamland with leftover pictures I took in December. I still wouldn’t recommend going there, and I doubt that I ever will again, but should already taken pictures been wasted?
This posting will be all about the Eastern Parking Lot and the Parking Garage, the next one will show some interior shots of the building with the observation tower.
The Eastern Parking Lot is easy to find as it is part of the main entrance – most of the people entering Nara Dreamland when it was still open passed through here. There are two ways to enter the area and both involve just stepping over a rope; no fence, no gate, no nothing; but a guard showing up once in a while on a scooter. Coming from the east you’ll see the former pay booths for the parking lot, with the phones and stools still in place. The main entrance is now right in front of you and to your right there is a white building with shutters down (it seems like it was closed down even before the rest of the park was, judging by the pictures I saw on the net) and a the Parking Garage – opposite of that building complex are a small building with windows, I guess it was a souvenir shop once, and a huge building that will be the topic of the next blog entry…
The Parking Garage is 4 floors high (including the ground floor) and the different floors are sealed by massive shutters. Next to the (locked) gaterkeeper’s office is a defunct elevator and next to that is a staircase without a door. Going up there you’ll realize that all the doors to the floors are locked – but to my total surprise the last door at the top isn’t. Behind it you’ll find a small room with some machinery and a great view on the top of the Parking Garage.
Overall the Eastern Parking Lot and the Parking Garage are not that spectacular – but writing about them offers me a good opportunity to post some more pictures and it gives me a great lead-in for the next posting that will deal with the exploration of the former hotel and its observation tower. And phew… that is quite an amazing haikyo on its own!
(For all your Nara Dreamland needs please have a look at the Nara Dreamland Special. For a look at the area around Nara Dreamland on GoogleMaps, including some fancy icons linking to articles on Abandoned Kansai and videos on YouTube, please *click here*.)
Abandoned Kansai 
Sweet! You got me dying to get out there.
Wait until you see the pictures from inside the observation tower building… 🙂
(And drop me a line when you come to Kansai!)
Glad this place closed. This is a haikyo, given it’s location, that ought to be torn down and turned back into fields and forest.
Hi Jeff,
considering Dreamland’s location I actually wonder why it doesn’t get demolished – due to its proximity to the city center of Nara I’m pretty sure the land is worth quite a chunk of money and if they would have sold the remaining attractions the owners could have gotten some of their investment back. Nevertheless I’m glad they didn’t destroy Nara Dreamland as it is a fascinating location and one of the few really unique abandoned places in Japan.
Ah the mysterious Nara Dreamland, nice to be able to read about it in English
Recently I found some pictures that were taken inside the park earlier this year over at Rusty Garden : http://rusty-garden.lix.jp/ruins_file/35_ndl/index.html
Looks like quite an interesting site, the rollercoaster especially
Yeah, I saw those, too, last week – absolutely fantastic pictures! I’m still hesitating going there again since my experience with the local security was everything but pleasant. Well, time will tell. And there will be another posting about Nara Dreamland soon with material from December!
Hello ! Im a french guy living in Osaka . I was looking for nice places to do Haikyo around kansai and i found your website ! In fact, I didnt know there were so many Haikyo places around there ! Im very grateful to you =) !
Anyway, great website , great posts and awesome pictures !!! this is my prefered post ! Mysterious and colored ! I gon’ try to visit it soon and…. I hope i wont have problem with the local security =) !
Flo.
Thanks a lot for your kind words – it’s always nice to get some feedback!
Good luck for your trip to Nara Dreamland, I love and hate the place… well, I love the location, but I hate the security there.
Please come back once in while – I already shot many places not covered by any other English speaking blog.