Dragon Ball Park Could Rise on France’s Disused Mirapolis Site with Saudi Backing

A Dragon Ball Park on Mirapolis Grounds: What We Know

The ghost of France’s first large-scale theme park, Mirapolis, could soon give way to a very different attraction: a Dragon Ball theme park backed by Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya Investment Company. According to multiple diplomatic sources cited by Politico, the Élysée Palace has been steering confidential negotiations for months to reposition the 35‑year‑old abandoned site at Courdimanche (Val‑d’Oise) as a fully licensed, entertainment‐led destination centred on the globally recognised Dragon Ball franchise.

The talks, led by the French state, have already involved high‑profile meetings. In late July, Île‑de‑France prefect Georges‑François Leclerc convened a government working group including ministers for the economy, ecological transition, trade and energy. A month earlier, regional president Valérie Pécresse met Qiddiya’s CEO Abdullah Aldawood and another senior executive. While no binding agreement exists, participants indicate the operation could exceed €1 billion, marking a transformative investment for greater Paris’s leisure economy.

Mirapolis is remembered as a costly failure. Opened in 1987 without an established international licence, the park relied on French literary figures and a giant Gargantua statue; it closed permanently after just five years, partly overshadowed by the imminent arrival of Disneyland Paris. Qiddiya’s plan departs radically from that model. The new project would tap a powerful intellectual property — Dragon Ball has an enormous European and global fanbase — and re‑imagine the site as a modern, anime‑themed park, abandoning the heavy reliance on French folklore.

The Saudi angle is not entirely new. Mirapolis itself was 25‑percent‑owned by a Saudi fund at its inception. Today Qiddiya, a key vehicle of Saudi Vision 2030, is building an enormous entertainment city near Riyadh and is aggressively expanding into international tourism and leisure — a Dragon Ball park west of Paris would be a flagship for that soft‑power push.

The Business and Diplomatic Stakes Behind the Dragon Ball Park Plan

Why Qiddiya Wants a Dragon Ball Park Next to Paris

For Riyadh, the attraction is straightforward. The Dragon Ball franchise, owned by Shueisha and Toei Animation, commands a multigenerational global audience that extends well beyond Japan; Europe alone represents a huge, underserved market for a dedicated theme park. By coupling that licence with a site less than an hour from central Paris, Qiddiya gains immediate proximity to a dense tourist flow that already sustains Disneyland Paris. The move aligns with Saudi Arabia’s broader strategy of using entertainment assets to diversify its economy and project cultural influence.

The French State’s Central Role

Unusually for a private investment, the Élysée is steering the talks. The involvement of so many ministries — economy, ecology, trade and energy — signals that the government views this not merely as a real‑estate deal but as a strategic economic project. It will almost certainly require state‑backed guarantees on infrastructure, potential tax concessions, and a fast‑tracked administrative process. The presence of the ecological transition minister’s office in the working group also hints that environmental remediation of the brownfield site will be a condition of approval, and the energy minister’s inclusion suggests a push for a carbon‑neutral or low‑energy footprint park.

What It Means for France’s Theme Park Landscape

Disneyland Paris remains by far the dominant destination, but it targets families with a broad Disney/Pixar brand universe. A Dragon Ball park would carve a distinct niche — anime, manga and perhaps broader Japanese pop culture — appealing to teenagers, young adults and collectors who may not be the core Disney audience. This could expand the region’s total tourist pie rather than cannibalising existing parks. However, Parc Astérix and the upcoming projects around the greater Paris area may find themselves competing for the same secondary‑visit spend. Success hinges on whether the licence agreement with the Japanese rights‑holders is robust and whether the park’s scale can justify a separate visit from other Paris attractions.

Lessons from Mirapolis’s Failure

Mirapolis collapsed because it lacked a universally recognised brand, charged high admission, and could not compete with the upcoming Disney colossus. Today’s plan flips those weaknesses: Dragon Ball is a global property, Qiddiya has deep pockets, and the site benefits from 35 years of demographic growth in the Île‑de‑France region. The risk now lies in execution. If the Saudi‑French negotiations falter on licensing terms or if local opposition grows over environmental and ethical concerns — France’s public is sensitive to Saudi human‑rights records — the project could stall. Politico’s reporting notes that nothing is yet concrete, and the final shape of the investment remains undefined.

What the Dragon Ball Park Talks Mean for Investors, Government and Competitors

The Dragon Ball park is still a diplomatic and business concept, not yet a signed deal. For the actors around the table, several concrete issues will determine whether Mirapolis’s second life is a blockbuster or a repeat failure.

• For the French government and Île‑de‑France region: Prepare to negotiate a binding investment protocol that ties any financial incentives to measurable targets — local employment, environmental performance and a clear opening date. Valérie Pécresse’s June meeting with Qiddiya’s leadership suggests the region is already aligning its expectations.
• For Qiddiya: Securing the Dragon Ball licence from Shueisha and Toei Animation is as critical as the real‑estate deal. Without an exclusive, long‑term master licence, the park lacks its prime draw. Early engagement with Tokyo stakeholders will be a leading indicator of progress.
• For local authorities and communities in Val‑d’Oise: The site’s history of failure and the Saudi dimension will trigger public debate. A transparent environmental impact assessment and a community benefit agreement will be essential to avoid the reputational baggage that helped sink Mirapolis originally.
• For Disneyland Paris and existing operators: No immediate threat exists, but they should monitor attendance trends among millennials and Gen Z, the demographics most likely to be drawn by an anime‑themed park. A successful Dragon Ball opening could spur other IP‑based entrants into the European market.
• For tourism investors: Watch for any formal announcement of a memorandum of understanding between Qiddiya and the French state, including a preliminary investment figure. That would be the first signal that the project has moved from diplomatic conversations to a tangible pipeline.