Haliaeetus
Well-Known Member
Hello,
I've been practically absent from the speculative zoo subforum for months, but I would like to present a project of speculative zoo in the former place of Mirapolis, in France.
I must give you a few explanations about the strange context of this place, that is probably the biggest failure of amusement industry in France.
Mirapolis is a former amusement park built in Cergy-Pontoise, in the outskirts of Paris.
It opened its doors in 1987. At this time it had a lot of public support, with several ministers presents at the official opening, and show-business stars went frequently in this place to shoot tv programs and commercials, and to give concerts. A couple of large sportive events (boxing contests, a part of the Paris-Dakar race) took also place in Mirapolis.
But it never has found its public and, only 2 or 3 years later, its closure has already been planned because of the growing debts and costs supported by the owners.
Finally it remained open until october 1991, date of its definitive closure.
During a few years the roller coasters and other carnival buildings remained in place, in an eerie, Chornobyl-like landscape.
Now all this stuff has been demolished or exported to other parks, and the site of Mirapolis offers a large unused zone of 55 ha (30 ha for the amusement park + 25 ha for the car parks), that is exceptional near Paris where the pressure on land is very high.
All the attempts to reuse this site have failed.
Here's the Wikipedia webpage of Mirapolis in English :
Mirapolis - Wikipedia
And the (more complete) French webpage :
Mirapolis — Wikipédia
I had the strange (?) idea to turn this huge abandoned park into a zoo.
Before any further description, you can retain that Mirapolis was divided in several themed areas (although the themes were often blurry and/or not respected) :
Current map (from Google media) of the Mirapolis complex (the proper park is in red, the car parks in blue), with the localization of each zone :
I would add that some attractions of Mirapolis were themed on animals (with especially a large gate with stylised elephants at the entrance, that is still present now) whereas very few animals (waterfowl and farm animals) were actually present. A project of dolphin pool was planned but never built.
Finally I would say that, even if most of the remnants of the amusement park are gone, I will try to resume its former zoning for the subdivision of the zoo.
I've been practically absent from the speculative zoo subforum for months, but I would like to present a project of speculative zoo in the former place of Mirapolis, in France.
I must give you a few explanations about the strange context of this place, that is probably the biggest failure of amusement industry in France.
Mirapolis is a former amusement park built in Cergy-Pontoise, in the outskirts of Paris.
It opened its doors in 1987. At this time it had a lot of public support, with several ministers presents at the official opening, and show-business stars went frequently in this place to shoot tv programs and commercials, and to give concerts. A couple of large sportive events (boxing contests, a part of the Paris-Dakar race) took also place in Mirapolis.
But it never has found its public and, only 2 or 3 years later, its closure has already been planned because of the growing debts and costs supported by the owners.
Finally it remained open until october 1991, date of its definitive closure.
During a few years the roller coasters and other carnival buildings remained in place, in an eerie, Chornobyl-like landscape.
Now all this stuff has been demolished or exported to other parks, and the site of Mirapolis offers a large unused zone of 55 ha (30 ha for the amusement park + 25 ha for the car parks), that is exceptional near Paris where the pressure on land is very high.
All the attempts to reuse this site have failed.
Here's the Wikipedia webpage of Mirapolis in English :
Mirapolis - Wikipedia
And the (more complete) French webpage :
Mirapolis — Wikipédia
I had the strange (?) idea to turn this huge abandoned park into a zoo.
Before any further description, you can retain that Mirapolis was divided in several themed areas (although the themes were often blurry and/or not respected) :
- 1) Le Sommet de la Grande Frousse (with a giant roller coaster)
- 2) Le Paradis des Comptines Gourmandes (area for little children, themed on candies, sweets and pastries)
- 3) Le Pays des Légendes (area dedicated to the celtic legends, with a dark ride that represented a trip in the engulfed city of Ys)
- 4) La Terre de l'Aventure (an area with various rides, without any real theme)
- 5) Le Royaume de l'Illusion (area initially dedicated to the artistic and scientific works of Leonardo da Vinci, then partially replaced with circus-like attractions)
- 6) Le Domaine du Moyen Âge (an area themed on the Middle Age where the most prominent attraction was a 33-m high statue of Gargantua, the Giant of the novel of François Rabelais, with another ride inside the statue ; in fact, many carnival attractions without relation with this theme were installed there over the years)
- 7) Le Jardin de la Belle Epoque (an area themed on the Belle Epoque, and especially dedicated to the Impressionist painters)
- 8) La Grand Place (a large circular plaza at the entrance of the park ; many festive events have been organized there).
Current map (from Google media) of the Mirapolis complex (the proper park is in red, the car parks in blue), with the localization of each zone :
I would add that some attractions of Mirapolis were themed on animals (with especially a large gate with stylised elephants at the entrance, that is still present now) whereas very few animals (waterfowl and farm animals) were actually present. A project of dolphin pool was planned but never built.
Finally I would say that, even if most of the remnants of the amusement park are gone, I will try to resume its former zoning for the subdivision of the zoo.
