Summary
Some of the world’s most famous and popular amusement parks are based on pop culture, includingDisneyand Universal Studios. That has never meant anything special specifically to otaku and anime fans, though. While Japan does now havea Studio Ghibli theme park, and a section of Universal Studios devoted to Nintendo, something arguably even bigger is coming. Except, despite being from a major Japanese franchise, it is not even going to be in Japan.
The latest theme park coming to thrill otaku and anime fans around the world is based on one of the biggest anime franchises of all time,Dragon Ball. And rather than being in Japan, theDragon Balltheme park is going to be in Saudi Arabia. The announcement for the theme park first came back in the end of March, and this week IGN posted the official trailer to theirYouTube, stirring up excitement around the world once more about the upcoming theme park.
The Dragon Ball Theme Park Details
TheDragon Balltheme park is beingmade by an Arabian companycalled Qiddiya, which is why the amusement park is located in Saudi Arabia rather than somewhere like Japan, where the franchise originally hails from. The company’s website refers to the theme park simply as “Dragon Ball Theme Park,” which is all it has been reported as titled so far and how it shall be referred to in the remainder of this article. It will be the first and only theme park in the world dedicated entirely to theDragon Ballfranchise.
The Quiddiyaofficial websitereports,
Get ready to immerse yourself in the world’s only Dragon Ball Theme Park, just in Qiddiya city! On a scale never imagined before, the park’s interactive and explorable themed experiences will allow you to live the adventures at the heart of the action, experiencing the journey from the first Dragon Ball series to the latest Dragon Ball Super.
Dragon Ballhas been around since 1984, and has since had five different anime installments:Dragon Ball(1986);Dragon Ball Z(1989);Dragon Ball GT(1996);Dragon Ball Super(2015); and the web seriesSuper Dragon Ball Heroes(2018). The Dragon Ball Theme Park will cover the first four, at least so far. While the trailer itself does not have any real footage from the park, which is likely to be very much under construction, there are features that are recognizable to fans of all the franchises that are going to be available.
What Can We Do at the Dragon Ball Theme Park?
The trailer for the Dragon Ball Theme Park only gives a hint at what kind of things there will be to do when it eventually opens, showing clips of buildingslike the Capsule Corporationwhich are straight out of the anime. The website, however, gives more details about what to expect at the actual park beyond just this artist’s rendition of it. Covering 500,000 sqm, the park will be massive.
The park will have 7 distinct zones that are themed after 7 dragon balls. It will also reportedly have more than thirty different themed rides, along with 5 “groundbreaking attractions,” which are likely to be something like live shows or similar to set them apart from the other rides. The centerpiece of the park, also shown whimsically in the trailer, will be a roller coaster themed afterthe famous dragon Shenron, standing at over 70 meters (229 ft) high.
Finally, the Dragon Ball Theme Park will also have a choice of themed hotels, and each of these hotels will feature “exotic” dining options. With how heavy the theming seems to be in the rest of the park, it sounds like there will bethemed menu itemsakin to what is served in other theme parks like Disney. With no official opening date in sight any time soon, it is likely to be a long time before the Dragon Ball Theme Park opens to the world. Qiddiya is working on several other theme parks and projects at the same time, but theDragon Ballone definitely has the most international hype surrounding it, especially right now.
Source:Qiddiya,IGN
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball is a franchise by Akira Toriyama which follows the adventures of Goku, a powerful warrior who protects the earth with his group of friends. A recent title from the series is Dragon Ball: The Breakers, an action style game where 7 players have to survive being hunted by the Raider.
