Nara Dreamland intended to become Japan’s Disneyland. After a disagreement on licensing fees for the Disney characters they created their own mascots. The castle, entrance and main street still looked a lot like a Disney park. The park opened in 1961 and was the closest copy of a Disney park in Asia. After Disney opened parks in Japan the visitor numbers slowly dropped until the park was abandoned in 2006. 10 years later demolition started.