According to this website, paramount parks is opening some new theme parks around the world. I've only heard of two so far in Spain and London. I'm a little curious as to if this is the same company that owned all those American parks way back when. I also wonder if these will be a success or if they won't last very long. What do you think about Paramount's decision to open international theme parks? Smart or bad decision?

http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/themeparks/la-trb-paramount-park-spain-10201107-pg,0,1506149.photogallery

DBI

Never heard of Murica before, so the first thing I saw when I read the title was:

As long as VIACOM doesn't get anywhere near this project, I can see this working out well.

Paramount is only licensing its intellectual properties in exchange for monetary considerations. It does not intend to own or manage the parks nor to risk financial loss.

I have seen this said since there has been internet to see it on.

Does Cedar Fair still have US theme park rights to the Paramount name?

I believe the original sale contract from CBS included provisions to continue use of the Paramount name on existing parks for a time. I highly doubt that would include use on nonlegacy Paramount Parks. And, given how quickly Cedar Fair dropped the Paramount moniker, such usage at even legacy parks may have required additional payments and\or was seen as giving Paramount free that which could quite conceivably be sold.

Wow looks great, great pictures, seems they used alot of thought from the Paramount Park Days, seems they (paramount) could have added a bunch of stuff if they had kept the parks also.

Looks similar to the Universal City Scape in Florida...

Wow actually looks pretty awesome, assuming they don't let it crumble and fall apart well why am I wording about that it is not like that has ever happened OH wait.(..)

I definitely see the Kings Island (and the other parks) influence upon the park.

Well, Tomb Raider+ ISJT= Just like home, I like some of the themes, but rango theme, I don't think that is on my list.

I also found this video showing the park in different views.....BUT its not in english......

Looks like someone took Disney World and Universal and mashed them together into one park. That future area looks pretty close to Tomorrowland and the enchanted forest looks an awful lot like Fantasyland. And you're right shark, it does look like city walk.

the video makes me miss hearing the movie themes when walking into the park...

Captain Picard is exactly right...there have been announcements of Paramount Parks around the globe (Japan, China, Europe, maybe even Dubai) for years (going back to the days when Viacom/Paramount still owned the US parks). All have involved some sort of licensing deal with a developer, and to date--none have panned out.

Somewhat interesting...I was hopelessly lost driving at night back in 1999 in Murcia Spain (this was long before the days of in-car GPS), and that single event made me swear I'd never rent a car and drive in Europe again!

Screamscape had a link to some updated news re: the proposed Paramount Park in Spain:

http://www.murciatoday.com/-alhama-council-approve-paramount-park-murcia-licences_16547-a.html

It looks like from a planning perspective it's ready to move forward...no details on the probably even more important component (financing)

Captain Picard is exactly right...there have been announcements of Paramount Parks around the globe for years (going back to the days when Viacom/Paramount still owned the US parks). All have involved some sort of licensing deal with a developer, and to date--none have panned out.

As far back as 2003...

Supposedly Paramount Park in Spain is officially green-lit [again...] and will begin construction immediately following a press shindig this week.

This article walks through each of the park's themed lands with official renderings of what to expect.

Basically... it's odd.

The park will have five themed lands, each very clearly based on Disney's precedent. But the properties the park has chosen to use from Paramount's catalogue are... dizzyingly odd.

"Adventure City," despite its name similarity to Disney's Adventureland, will contain a Spider-Man style dark ride based on Mission: Impossible, bumper cars based on Grease, and a restaurant based on the Godfather. Like... what? A "Titanic" walkthrough originally planned for the area has been cut.

Based on a film franchise with about as much pop culture credibility as Avatar (but lacking Avatar's in-production sequels), Rango's Wild West will feature what is presumed to be a Vekoma mine train, a small town, and Rango's Ragin' Rapids, all with "bugs land" style perspective and buildings made of oversized boxes, jugs, and hats. In all of Paramount's library, is Rango really the best "Frontierland" copycat IP they could come up with?

Enchanted Forest, the park's take on Fantasyland, will be divided into three really weird areas. The first (left-most in the above picture) is based on Tim Burton's 1999 film Sleepy Hollow and features a 3-D show. The middle area in the rendering is based on 2008's fantasy adventure film The Spiderwick Chronicles and appears to have a trackless LPS-based shooting dark ride. And the rear area is very confusingly themed to the not-quite-well-known fantasy film Stardust and will feature a kid's coaster, a hedge maze, a carousel, and a boat ride through a world of fairies.

About the only "relevant" land in the park appears to be Plaza Futura, mostly themed to Star Trek. It will feature a motion simulator ride (think Disney's very similar Star Tours) and a 100 foot tall outdoor launched coaster. Another odd scramble to use Paramount's catalogue appears to be the War of the Worlds restaurant that will be located here.

To me, this plan seems crazy. They're building this park for about $500,000,000, which is nothing, and of course adding an expansive CityWalk style shopping, clubbing, dining area; seven enormous resort hotels (two of which are "in" the park like the Disneyland Hotel in Paris or DisneySea's MiraCosta); a casino; a mall; a "Lifestyle" center; condos... Fans of Disneyland Paris would likely recall how they attempted a similar feat, only crumble under financial strain when their single park and shopping area couldn't fill a half-dozen elegant resort hotels... Disneyland Paris by the way, is still under massive debt and paying back tremendous loans even twenty years later.

Just based on this, would you plan a trip to Paramount Park Spain if you were in the area? What about if you were in the UK or France? That's what they're banking on, and I'm just not seeing much worth flying for...

Especially since, even if our rides weren't perfect, Tomb Raider, Italian Job, MTV, Nickelodeon, even the Outer Limits, could actually each support their own full, complete lands, each with a major ride, a family ride, a restaurant, and themed shopping. So all the decisions made here are.... odd. Have I said "odd" enough?

From a tourist perspective, that part of Spain (located between Barcelona and La Costa Del Sol area) probably makes a lot more sense than Disney's placement of DLP near Paris. (A lot of Europeans "holiday" in Spain...especially the British and Germans.). I agree that the mix of IP used for the attractions seems odd and generally not too appealing. (Bumper cars themed to "Grease"? Ok...)

I wonder what happened to the hardware (and software, for that matter) from the old Star Trek Experience in Vegas? Is that still with CF, or did the attractions somehow revert back to Viacom? They should try to install those attractions in the "Future Plaza" area. The "Klingon Encounter" simulator at ST:TE was by far the best of that type of ride (as was the walk-thru of the Enterprise experience...). The "Borg" 4D movie wasn't bad either. I always thought that Viacom missed a huge opportunity by not bringing attractions of that type into the then Paramount Parks. (Of course, I shudder to think of the "miscellaneous generic science fiction name & theme" they would have received after the CF acquisition :-)

If I was in Spain then I would go. If I was in the UK or anywhere else in Europe I would not specifically fly out to go to this park. It seems like it has some fun stuff but the mix of rides and theming is very odd. This will be an interesting park.

Spain is a smart choice, to quote a British friend of mine, "Spain is practically a second home for us."

If Europeans are willing to fly to Florida to go to Universal, or Disney, it almost a walk across the street to go to Spain.

Flying from most of Europe to Spain is like flying from Mason to Sandusky.

Impossible? Or are you talking in terms of distance?

Not impossible, but rather ridiculous given cost, difficulty and time savings given the short distances. European countries are smaller than some US states.

^ not to mention the really good rail systems. It literally took me less time to take the high speed train from Paris to London than it takes me to drive to Sandusky from Columbus. While Spain's passenger rail network isn't quite as good as the rest of Western Europe, it's still considerably more extensive than the US rail system.

Rango's Wild West? Did they learn nothing from Wayne's World? I mean, I love Wayne's World (the skits and movies), but c'mon, even I saw how ridiculous it was to theme a whole section of the park to it when I visited Carowinds in 1995.

I imagine they took out a Titanic exhibit as...well....the topic is rather depressing within a place like a theme park.

Yes, we'll enjoy the rides and entertainment based on fictional themes, but oh look, the real tragic death of over 1,500 people.

I heard of a few Paramount properties in Italy as well, it will be interesting to see the future.

It seems like the past is, well, gone. We will never see a Crocodile Dundee's Boomerang Bay again, and never see the carrier props of Top Gun in the future.

I don't like the new movies, except for a few that have came out under certain brands. They just lack the old spark that I knew and loved from the olden years, for example, remakes/movies that I can visit with a family. With this park, eh, there are a few good things here, and I can see improvement, but I am hesitant on a few of their decisions, because anything can go south, especially with this brand.

I am also perplexed that there is an complete drop out of the U.S. economy, which I would think they would land in California for the new age parks. Though, I have strong opinions on why they chose Spain, which are, "political" in style.

Fox has a foot in Asia, Cartoon Network has their foot in the door too, Disney, well, we all know where they are, Cedar Fair has the American continent, so does Six Flags, and Paramount is going to Europe.

Paramount isn't going ANYWHERE park-wise. They neither own nor operate any parks, nor do they intend to. This is an intellectual property licensing deal. Nothing more.

And in the USA and Canada, CBS sold certain rights to Paramount Parks to Cedar Fair for ten years. That ten years will soon be over.

And in the USA and Canada, CBS sold certain rights to Paramount Parks to Cedar Fair for ten years. That ten years will soon be over.

So, do you propose that a ride similar to the old movie themes could be in the mix.

When I said Paramount I meant the name, I am sorry for the confusion.