These haunting photos show an abandoned Japanese theme park that used to look like Disneyland

On a recent visit to Japan, the French photographer Romain Veillon captured the haunting beauty of Nara Dreamland – one of the creepiest abandoned theme parks in the world.

Built in 1961, Nara Dreamland was inspired by California’s Disneyworld in the US, but it fell into abandon after closing in 2006 due to dwindling visitor numbers, according to Atlas Obscura.

Since its closure a decade ago, the park’s family-friendly attractions have been left to decay, from a stagnant tea-cup ride that’s being swallowed by vegetation to an empty pink castle that’s crumbling into disarray.

Go on a tour of the park below:

Welcome to Nara Dreamland, a now defunct theme park that was originally built in Nara, Japan, in 1961.

Nara was built to resemble Disneyland in California, US, and it still looks a bit like a Disney resort, with a pink castle that’s similar to the world-famous Cinderella Castle. “The fact that [the park’s makers] got their inspiration from Disney World and tried to build its Japanese brother was unique to me,” Veillon told Business Insider.

The theme park closed down in 2006. Though Atlas Obscura reports that it was bought in 2015 with plans to demolish the site, it remains eerily untouched. Though it’s empty now, Nara was once “a huge success,” according to a Bored Panda article Veillon wrote.

Sources: Atlas Obscura, Bored Panda

Veillon had no problem getting into the theme park. "I entered by the front door as the public used to do," he said, though he added that he's "pretty sure it's still forbidden to go there."

And because it has been isolated for a decade, he said "it is now a very dangerous place to explore [in] some parts, especially the roller coasters."

The entire park has fallen into disrepair.

The tea-cup ride is perhaps the creepiest, with its pale-coloured, rusty cups no longer fit for people, and instead teeming with vegetation. The rusty attractions and overgrown weeds have transformed the park into "a different place," according to Veillon.

"The atmosphere is strange," Veillon said, commenting that it feels both "sad and peaceful."

"When you think about all the good memories that have been made there, you become nostalgic of the time when the park was full of joy and people. You want to hear kids scream and have fun again there," he said. "But it stays an incredible source of wonder... to imagine how it was and what stories happened [there] when it was still active."

This is Veillon's favourite photo from his visit. He likes this image most because the vegetation looks like it is "slowly eating" away at the structure, and also because of the "incredible circular movement" of the ride. "It makes [the viewer] feel [like they] are riding the roller coaster with me," he said.

Overall, the photographer spent "a very peaceful day" at Nara, and said he didn't see any guards on the grounds. "You just need to be lucky, I guess!"