As Nara Dreamland (奈良ドリームランド) is getting more and more popular I guess it’s about time to dedicate a special page to this place I love and hate so much – just to organize all the blog entries I wrote about it so far. Pretty much every big *haikyo* page and even some foreign urban exploration blogs cover this amazing abandoned amusement park, but usually you get some pretty daytime pictures from inside the park and that’s it. I’ve been to Nara Dreamland more than half a dozen times so far (during daytime and nighttime) sind 2009 (!), spotted security twice and got caught once. And I not only have explored the park itself, but also the overlooked and underrated hotel on the eastern parking lot.
When I started my urban exploration adventure in the fall of 2009 one of the first places I stumbled across was Nara Dreamland. People mentioned security, but of course I had to see for myself, so I went to Nara in December of 2009; as one of my first 10 explorations actually. Since I approached from the south I first walked along the southern road surrounding Nara Dreamland and to the unspectacular western parking lot. From there I went to the eastern parking lot with the huge parking garage and explored the strange looking hotel. During that exploration I spotted a security guard on his scooter from the hotel’s observation tower. Since it got late already I called it a day and didn’t enter the park itself. A couple of days later I started this blog, publishing other material first.
In early February I went back to Nara Dreamland, this time with my haikyo buddy Enric. We entered the park and within half an hour I got caught by security – an incident that caused me to write a little rant. Days later I was still pretty upset about the run-in with security, so I wrote what I considered a risk free article about Nara Dreamland, using only pictures I took from public roads. After that I made my peace with the events and I didn’t even want to write about it anymore. Several months and quite a few picture sets by Japanese blogs later I finally decided to publish the material I shot in December: The Eastern Parking Lot and Parking Garage as well as the Hotel. Still no shots from inside the park. And to be honest: I didn’t plan on going back to take some.
But then in early September I got an e-mail from Tokyo “haikyoist” Michael John Grist, asking me if I want to tackle the Dreamland again. And against all reason I said yes, so we went to Nara Dreamland together in late September of 2010. Starting at around 1 am we explored and shot the place at night and then gave it a second round right after sunset to get some daylight shots, too, leaving before security even showed up.
Being back to where I got caught half a year earlier wasn’t a pleasant experience, but quite fulfilling as I was finally able to slay my haikyo nemesis.
There will be more about Nara Dreamland soon as I was lucky enough to go back there in February when the place was covered in snow for half a day – you don’t want to miss those unique photos!
On October 21st 2011 I added a *Nara Dreamland FAQ* with lots of background information on Japan’s most popular abandoned amusement park, on February 2nd 2012 *Nara Snowland* followed.
Here’s a list of all articles so far:
Getting Caught By Security
Nara Dreamland
Eastern Parking Lot And Parking Garage
Nara Dreamland Hotel
Nara Dreamland Revisited – Nighttime
Nara Dreamland Revisited – Daytime
Nara Dreamland – Nara Snowland
Nara Dreamland – Third Time Lucky
Nara Dreamland 2015
Nara Dreamland 2016
Nara Dreamland – 10th Anniversary
Nara Dreamland – Demolition
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*.
There will be more about Nara Dreamland soon as I was lucky enough to go back there in February when the place was covered in snow for half a day – you don’t want to miss those unique photos!
On October 21st 2011 I added a *Nara Dreamland FAQ* with lots of background information on Japan’s most popular abandoned amusement park, on February 2nd 2012 *Nara Snowland* followed.
Here’s a list of all articles so far:
Getting Caught By Security
Nara Dreamland
Eastern Parking Lot And Parking Garage
Nara Dreamland Hotel
Nara Dreamland Revisited – Nighttime
Nara Dreamland Revisited – Daytime
Nara Dreamland – Nara Snowland
Nara Dreamland – Third Time Lucky
Nara Dreamland 2015
Nara Dreamland 2016
Nara Dreamland – 10th Anniversary
Nara Dreamland – Demolition
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*.
And to round up this sum up I will re-post some of my favorite shots I took at the abandoned amusement park Nara Dreamland – for more pictures and detailled information please have a look at the articles linked in this text. (詳しい情報と写真は、テキスト内の上記のリンクをクリックして下さい。)
(And since I expect this article to be a quite popular one, especially with first time visitors: You can *like Abandoned Kansai on Facebook* and *follow this blog on Twitter* – and of course there is the *video channel on Youtube*…)
Nara Dreamland
Abandoned Kansai 
Hey there
I’m fascinated by your photos – I visited Nara in June 2004, when the theme park was still operating but it may have been closed at that time due to the humidity (perhaps it was closed for the time of year that would have been so unpleasant).
I mis-read my map in Nara and ended up walking right around the perimeter of this park. It was extremely spooky, there was music playing throughout the parking lots, of warbled disney tunes and the like, it would have made the perfect setting for a horror film.
Seeing your photos bring it all back! So very very evocative! Well done.
Emily
Australia
Thank you very much for your kind words, Emily! I started writing this blog for myself and for family / friends, but comments like yours give me some extra motivation to get out there and explore more places that people might have fond memories of.
Very cool indeed. I have always found abandoned places where life used to be rife, fascinating. Theme parks that ultimately failed are particularly interesting. You can almost hear the ancient laughter and imagine lost dreams that were experienced here.
Well done!
Thanks a lot, Darin! Shooting at Nara Dreamland was always an exciting experience and I remember all three trips vividly. I have to admit that theme parks are my favorite places to go, too. Theme parks and hospitals. Joy and suffering…
Hello Fantastic photos. I would have loved to have been there with you. Even the night shots of Aska {which are very creepy in a way~haunting} came out amazing. I am so happy that there are people like me who are fascinated enough with abandoned amusement parks that go the extra mile to take photos, videos, etc… I have but one question: Did you travel far to do this or do you live close to it? I don’t need to know exactly where you live I just wanted to see if you did some major mileage to get there? Thanks again for these incredible photos,
Rob/Boston
Thanks a lot, Rob! It was an exciting night and nourished my love-hate relationship with Nara Dreamland…
I live in the Kansai area (Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto) and it takes me a little under 2 hours (door to fence, including walking and train rides) to get to Nara Dreamland.
I went to NDL last in 1999 and trust me it was pretty creepy then too – the lagoon as already overgrown and smelly, and the park had a general state of disrepair about it. The one thing that was awesome was Aska – i would kill to ride that thing again, and your video has brought back some of those great memories. Thanks!
It’s always a pleasure to bring back memories. Was the Pachinko parlor at the main entrance still open when you went to NDL?
It’s actually amazing how many run-down places are still open in Japan. One of the cable cars at Mt. Hiei seems to be in pretty bad shape – if they’d close it you could take pictures there the next day and think they were taken 15 years after it was closed.
Gratulations on selling a story to spiegel.de http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground/20101/land_der_gestorbenen_traeume.html
Thanks a lot – sadly “einestages” is a reader content page and as a result there is no money involved. But hey, although the article was edited quite a bit it was a fun experience and brought some new readers to this blog…
Hi,
I came to this page across Spiegelonline and the pictures are really fascinating. I will look around a bit more!
Somehow abandoned amusement parks have such a whistful atmosphere..
They remind me a lot of the abandoned Spreepark Plänterwald. Like in these pics: http://bit.ly/vk7MSD a visitor from Canada once made..
Greetings from Berlin!
hello beautiful pictures that would be a wonderful experience! I would really like to visit the park like you to tell me to go from kyoto or nara? thank you very much
Hey Terry,
you’ll find pretty much all you need to know about Nara Dreamland on this blog – including my advice not to go there as you might get sued and fined… Abandoned places are dangerous in many ways – this one in even more ways!
Fantastic blog abandonedkansai one really wonders what happened to these places of once thriving people filled parks now left to ruins… Just like so many in America and the rest of the world, great job reporting…
Thanks! I’ll keep exploring – this blog will be continued for another couple of years… 🙂
Thanks for the visit and the like. You have good work here. Enjoyed browsing though. Come back again.
Cheers! 🙂
Very interesting. I have never heard of Nara dreamland and now I am curious about it. hmmm…
Nara Dreamland is one of the most famous abandoned plaves in Japan – and I think only a few people have been there more often than I have. As fascinating as it is, it’s also sad to see it fade away…
Those pix are just incredible, and makes one want to travel there. Abandoned places tourism, next trend in travel, maybe?
Abandoned places as tourism actually is kind of a trend already. In Germany there is at least one company guiding amateur photographers to “abandoned” places. Although I guess since they get permission by the owners and make a commercial effort those places are not abandoned anymore technically…
Interesting blog…will visit again.
There will be regular updates once or twice a week – I’ve seen so many places and I already revisited Nara Dreamland.
I’m going in Osaka next week, and will try to have time to go to Nara Dreamland. IThanks for sharing! Great blog
Thanks a lot – just be careful about the security guard. If he catches you, you’ll be in deep trouble…
Yes! I read the FAQ after posting this comment! I wont put me in trouble.
Do you organised photo tour? I’ll be in Sakaï for 14 days for an artist residency. Thanks
Sorry, I don’t offer tours – and neither is Nara Dreamland, unlike some German locations (Beelitz-Heilstätten and Spreepark for example). Sometimes I team up with fellow urban explorers / photographers, so if time allows and you are interested please drop me a couple of lines via e-mail, maybe our schedules match, although spring is quite a busy time for me.
Thanks for the like! This is spooky. lol
This is a very interesting post. I’m actually in Japan for the next two weeks and I’ve visited Nara on previous holidays here, though never heard of Nara Dreamland. There’s something undeniably intriguing about abandoned places, even though I’m far too much of a wimp to check most of them out: where I used to go to university in Staffordshire, UK we had an abandoned asylum which was an incredibly popular urbex location and I can’t deny that I often wished I was brave enough to go.
Thank you for sharing your photos and videos – an excellent insight and a topical one too for me, seeing as I’m here! 🙂
Hey Kylie,
Not a lot of people had heard of Nara Dreamland when it was still open – that’s why it closed… 😉
Abandoned asylums are quite rare and I’ve never been to one. Hospitals, clinics, retirement homes – but not asylums. And they are getting torn down one after another…
Enjoy your time in Japan – and if you find an abandoned building, just have a quick look and find out if it’s something you enjoy. I think nowhere in the world it is less risky to do than in Japan.
Thrills abandoned – nature gaining abandon.
A wonderful tribute.
Thanks a lot!
I love the grass growing through the cracks in the parking lot, attempting to return to a natural environment.
Thanks for stopping by my Post!
Yeah, it reminds me of your Savannah Sidewalks article. Nature really is taking over Nara Dreamland, especially in summer. 5 more years and it will be tough to access some of the attractions…
Was this the inspiration for Teruma Miyazaki’s animated film masterpiece “Spirited Away”?
Spirited Away was published in 2001, Nara Dreamland was closed in 2006, I started going there in 2009 – so no, ND wasn’t the inspiration for SA.
It’s very interesting to read about the Nara Dreamland. I live in Canberra Australia, and the two places are sister cities.
Nara Dreamland is the most famous least known tourist attraction in Nara – hugely popular amongst urban explorers, but almost completely unknown even to locals. Does Canberra have a similar location?
Yes, its called ‘Canberra’. 🙂
Ouch, that’s harsh… 🙂
Can you imagine if they reopened that place as a tourists attraction how much money they could make?
I still think that this is one of the best postings inside this outstanding blog. Many thanks for posting, macingosh photography
Thanks a lot – it’s actually one of the most popular ones, too. I still have material for half a dozen postings, maybe it’s about time to put the pieces together for some articles.
Thanks for visiting my blog:) I too would be fascinated by a place like Nara Dreamland.
Roller coasters are my all-time favorite ride besides the tilt-a-whirl. The silence with only the sounds of nature and footsteps in the background added to the feeling of abandonment. It contrasts well with memories of excited crowds as they wait to get on a ride.
Yeah, that’s why I don’t talk when I take videos. I like to let the location speak for itself. If people want to know more about the places I visit they can always stop by at my blog and read about them. I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed the video!
HI, thanks for stopping by my Blog which led me to yours. Your pictures are wonderful and remind me so much of the setting from an older cult movie called “Carnival of Souls”, It was one of my father’s favorites, and always scared the hell out of me.
Hi, thank you for visiting my blog- it brought me here. I love your shots of Nara Dreamland. I have never been to Japan but I am desperate to visit, and atmospheric photos like yours just add to the appeal. My boyfriend is a writer and he’s currently writing about Aokigahara which is a very sad and mysterious place. I wonder, when you’re on Haikyo adventures, do you ever feel spooked or have you ever seen anything strange that you can’t explain?
Hi Lauren,
I don’t believe in ghosts and other supernatural things, but exploring abandoned buildings can be spooky once in a while – most of the time it’s because I am worried about security, nosy neighbors and people like that. At the *Shah Bay Hotel* in Okinawa dripping water freaked me out so much that I left without finishing exploring…
Thanks for visiting my blog and wishing you all the best for yours!
Thanks, Kim! 🙂
Oh man this was one fun adventure!! Jealous! 😛
Nara Dreamland is always a special place to go to! 🙂
Thanks for dropping in on my humble meanderings. Your kind attention is much appreciated!
Did you drive to Nara Dreamland ? If you did, where did you put your car?
Hey Mona,
No, I never drove to Nara Dreamland.
Very interesting blog! I’ll have to read more. Thanks for stopping by and liking my blog post.
thank you for liking my ‘Abandoned’ but yours…yours is like..amazing! Hauntingly amazing. Such a shame (for the part) but such an adventure for you! Fascinating reading for sure!
Yeah, Nara Dreamland is a very special place! Not a year goes by without me having a look – if not entering, so at least to have a look at the parking lot and its abandoned buildings.
Florian, I’m always impressed with your intrepid sense of discovery and exploration. I can certainly understand your fascination with Dreamland. Keep the posts coming. They are always enjoyable.
Bronson (Lost, Texas)
Thanks a lot, Bronson – I can only return the compliment! Yours is one of my favorite blogs and I really should take more time commenting on your fantastic work instead of just leaving the occasional Like!
So spooky photos, you caught the essence of the place
Hi, thanks for the info – one of the best articles I found online! We are travel bloggers on our way to Japan and we would LOVE to visit the place! I have a few questions, was wondering if you could help out..First one, if we get caught – do we have to pay a fine? and how much? and what is the best way to get in? Thanks!!
One of the first ones, too – all the others are pretty much variations of this with different photos… 🙂
The latest signs there say that you’ll be handed over to the police. And those signs looked brand-new as of last Saturday!
The Nara Dreamland videos are my favorite. Have you ever thought about doing a video of Screw Coaster at night? I love that one. Especially the loops.
Given that I am not a spring chicken anymore I’d probably be scared to walk along that thin metal walkway during daytime, let alone at night. But the Screw Coaster is definitely on my list for more photos should I ever go back to Nara Dreamland.
Hello,
Have you learned the sad news ? The park has started being demolished two months ago…
Yes, I am aware of the demolition – I even wrote an article about it: *Nara Dreamland – Demolition*
So sad so see aska ripped apart and the screw coaster is next but I guess condos will be much more interesting… nice pics from old, new to abandoned also can u find any operation pics of takakanouna Greenland park I have searched and searched and I found a video that actually had some home video https://youtu.be/WHCjuF4fn0w tried to get info on where they got it but no success. Sorry to change theme parks on you but I really want to see lol
Visited this park when im 15yo back in ’97… Clearly its already passed its heyday even back then, but quite comfy with less crowd, they used to have this great burger joint there…. Actually meet my first girlfriend there 🙂
The burger joints are still available outside of the park if you mean DomDom Burger… 🙂
Hello!
It was through complete coincidence that I even found out about Dreamland, and it was actually because of an assignment in high school about urban decay ( lol ). The way I found out about dreamland was through this website, actually! I saw your photos and fell in love with the place. I’ve been extremely passionate about Dreamland since, and I’m so heartbroken that I never made it to Dreamland before they demolished it.
Anyway, I was asked to write a commemorative speech about something, and what better thing to write about than Dreamland? I was wondering if I could use a few of your photos for some visual aid.
Thank you so much for all that you do, and thank you for exposing me to Dreamland. It’s a shame that it unfortunately was tucked in for good.
Thanks a lot for your kind words – and you are very welcome to use some photos as long as you don’t alter them and use them for non-commercial purposes only.
I wish the park was back and the place open. Do you know if its coming back or if its sister location coming back? Or what the place is going to be?
Nara Dreamland has been demolished more than a year ago… 😦
https://abandonedkansai.com/2016/11/08/nara-dreamland-demolition/
Hi Florian,
I really love the places you go all around for urban exploring, it makes me feel like I want to go there as well! I know you documented and filmed at Nara Dreamland for a long time and unfortunately its now gone.
Can you please tell me if there are security guards guarding the demolished site? When you went back in there in April of 2017?
I saw that you went to the Abandoned Wonderland Park.Is this park in Japan or in where in Asia? I may go to Japan in the summer and would like to visit them.
P.S I found a website that contained old photos of the park and its sister location Yokohama Dreamland but its all in Japanese unfortunately.
http://dreamland.yokohama/ドリちゃんランちゃん
Hey Ethan,
When I went to Nara Dreamland in April of 2017 the site was guarded by security, mainly because it was an active construction site – entering active construction sites without having any business there gets you in much more trouble in Japan than entering abandoned places; mainly because you might be a thief, a vandal, or (even worse!) a trash dumper. The Wonderland park is / was in Japan.
It hurts a bit to look at these now…
Japan Property central has a series of articles about Nara Dreamland’s foreclosure & eventual sale. It sounds like zoning changes would’ve made it impossible to re-open the park.
http://japanpropertycentral.com/2015/11/nara-dreamland-sold-to-osaka-real-estate-company/
Not sure what they plan to do with it; it sounds like they can even build houses there.