Current Events > The story of Nara Dreamland (Japanese equivalent to Disneyland) makes me sad.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Walt was contacted about possibly bringing Disneyland to Japan. He was on board with it, but he and the other company could never agree on the licensing fees. So, they made their own theme park without the Disney license. It went well until Tokyo Disney opened up in the 1980s. Everything was downhill from there.

It just made me realize that, if not for them being seasonal, the theme parks in the Midwestern United States would probably be put out of business by Disney expanding with an additional park or two. Cold winters are the only things keeping the mouse at bay.

If they were using Disney properties without their permission they're lucky they weren't sued into oblivion.
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From what I gather, it wasn't a one to one comparison. Like, they had similar rides and a similar layout. This area has futuristic stuff, this area has fantasy stuff, this area has stuff from the past (Samurai instead of western), etc. Their mascots were a brother and sister pair who were dressed like British soldiers.

Theme parks are tricky because you can't copyright a ride design the same way that you can a story. There are also a certain number of manufacturers in the world. Sometimes, you'll get suspiciously similar coasters or water rides simply because the same people that build for Disney and Universal build for the other parks as well.