Abandoned £118million fairytale theme park that would have been a Disneyland rival – but closed after four years

The Sun

07-06-2025

AN abandoned fairytale theme park that cost just under £118million was forced to close after just four years.
Mirapolis opened in 1987 in Courdimanche, France - less than an hour via train from Paris - featuring French legends and stories throughout the attraction.
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Architect Anne Fourcade was inspired to create the park after visiting the Disneyland theme park in California in 1980.
Rides included 'The Dark Ride', which was inspired by 'City of Ys' legend.
The ride was modern for the time, with a terrifying sea monster, sunken head and an underwater scene that even had animatronics.
It was thought it could have been a rival to Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992 and was around an hour away, with both based on fairytales and childhood stories.
Not only that, but it hoped to welcome as many as 600,000 tourists a year, according to AD magazine.
Yet according to the LA Times, the "French theme park experience began only in 1987," which meant a boom in new attractions that weren't being run correctly.
After just four years the park was closed, waiting to be rebuilt.
It was reportedly one of the biggest financial fails of the history of France.
The expectations for the park were said to have been too optimistic and were based off of incorrect market research.
This included looking at American tourists compared to French tourists, when it came to elements like eating habits and ticket prices.
I took my family to the perfect first UK theme park for little kids
Not only that, but the stories and characters the park was based on were mainly only known to French locals, unlike the international fame of Disney's characters.
After the closure of the amusement park back in 1991, it sat abandoned for a year waiting for a buyer.
When a buyer didn't emerge, a crew of journalists and operators created a film on the closed-down park with the attractions being opened for one last time.
From 1993 onwards, the buildings were gradually demolished, with some of the rides sent to other amusement parks.
For example, the ride 'Dragon des Sortilèges' went to Spreepark and Les pirates went to Meli Park.
In 1995, arguably the most iconic part of the park - the Gargantua statue - finally lost it's head.
The statue was the second tallest hollow state in the world behind the Stature of Liberty, and was of the giant from the story 'The Life of Gargantua' and of 'Pantagruel' from the 16th century.
The Dark Ride was located inside the statue and took guests on a journey through the giant's body with 120 animatronics.
In 2017, the park would have celebrated its 30th anniversary and to mark the occasion, an exhibition was set up showcasing the history of the park.
And in 2018, plans were revealed to built an "eco-friendly tourist resort" on the same site although this was also abandoned in 2019.
There was also a £70million Disney-like theme park that nearly opened in one of the UK's coolest cities.
Plus, the £346milion theme park that wanted to be the 'English Disneyland' in the 1980s… but was never built.
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