The theme parks in Spain were all or almost all built at the same time. PortAventura was the pioneer in 1995, followed by Isla Mágica in 1997, Terra Mítica in 2000 and Parque Warner in 2002.
A boom in the world of leisure, importing the concept of American theme parks to catch up with “EuroDisney” in France and the rest of Europe, where there was a greater tradition, coinciding with the economic boom.
Since then, the only newcomer is Puy du Fou Spain, a new theme park concept, based on historical shows with an educational component, but without detracting from the entertainment, which has had a tremendous reception.
But we could have had one more, another Levantine park that would have competed directly with Disneyland Paris. We talk about Paramount Murcia.
In the history of proposed but never built Spanish theme parks none is as significant as the Paramount theme park in Murcia. A gigantic resort and park, which hoped to attract 3 million visitorsmany international ones, of which nothing more than its entrance door was built.
The story of this Murcian hit, based on the belief of the regional government that Murcia would overcome the crisis with bricks and hits, is short, because not much progress was made; also tragicbecause its promoter, Jesus Samper, the only person who seemed to want me to move forward, died in 2015; and also controversial, because it was located on land protected by a national park and its promoters tried to recover their invested money in compensation of 40 million euros.
Brief history of Paramount Parks
Before entering into the case of the Costa Cálida park, we must do a brief review of Paramount Parksbecause it is probably not what you imagine.
Unlike Disney and Universal (and Warner Bros., albeit on a much smaller scale, for whatever reason), Paramount had no theme parks and experiences division in 2010, which is when this project was born.
What was known between 1993 and 2006 as Paramount Parks It was a much more modest venture than the Disney and Universal park complexes: Paramount simply bought and operated four regional theme parks in the United States, introducing some of its film and character licenses into them.
But in 2006, due to a restructuring of Viacom, Paramount's parent company, CBS divested itself of all its parks, selling them to the Cedar Fair chain including their licenses, although they decided not to continue with the Paramount brand image or their films (Top Gun, Face/Off, The Italian Job, Cliffhanger, Tomb Raider… they were not exactly the most popular films in the world either).
It was also around this time, between 2001 and 2004, when Paramount bought Terra Míticathe Benidorm park in which they did not get too involved either.
As of 2006, Paramount Parks did not exist as a company, but as a license: the film studio was interested in continuing to rent out its image and characters in theme parks, and after throwing in the towel in the United States, they looked further afield.
Specifically, to Dubai (with the Dubailand complex, already cancelled), to London (entering The London Resort, a project that is still in the air but with a lot of uncertainty, especially now that Universal may come to compete), and to Spain, specifically Alhama, Murcia (in a project that has definitely been completely cancelled).
The short history of Paramount Murcia
Financing the Paramount Park project, therefore, was not the studio, but a very famous businessman, Jesus Samperwho was secretary of the Football League between 1983 and 1996, legal advisor to Real Madrid and, most notably, president of the club Real Murcia from 1994 to 2009.
From his company, Grupo Santa Mónica, Samper decided to finance the majority of the project and buy some land of 133 hectaresafter the government of the Region of Murcia then chaired by Ramon Luis Valcárcel negotiate with Paramount the granting of the license for 30 years, extendable.
In September 2010 the company was established Emblematic Projects Murcianos SA (Premursa), owned 80% by Samper and 20% by the regional government. In a media gala, Valcárcel laid the first stone in May 2012, with the aim of opening the complex in 2015.
More than a theme park, it would be a “lifestyle center” and a strategic center for business, cultural and leisure activity with seven hotelsa luxury one with a casino, as well as a leisure center, walks with green areas, shopping and nightlife.
But the project did not go ahead, mainly due to the difficulty of Premursa in obtaining investors in this project during the financial crisis, but also due to resources provided by Ecologists in Actionwhich defended that 21% of the land fell into the Carrascoy-El Valle Regional Park natural park.
Between court rulings that stopped a project that could not be carried out due to lack of liquidity, Jesús Samper died on December 18, 2015 due to illness at 65 years of age.
The hot potato passed to his heirs, who, without hope of moving forward, tried to demand from the Region of Murcia a compensation of 41.5 million euros for all his money invested in the project, annulled by a ruling by the Superior Court of Justice of Murcia in 2017.
Premursa said he had suffered million-dollar losses and was seeking compensation from both the regional government and the Alhama City Council, but the TSJ of Murcia rejected the compensation in 2021, as reported by local media.
Precisely, closely linked to this park was the project of the Region of Murcia International Airport, which the park's international visitors were expected to receive. A private airport that was built in 2012 but did not open to air traffic until 2019, when Aena manages it as a concessionaire.
Offers on trips to theme parks
There are dozens of theme parks: Disneyland, Disneyworld, Universal, PortAventura and more. Many of them offer discounts on certain packages and dates.
See offers in parks
What if…? This is what Paramount Park Murcia and its attractions would have been like
Knowing that it will never open, it is interesting to explore what the theme park would have been likeof which many details are known: Premursa advertised the project with great fanfare with a corporate video showing a 3D render in videos in English and Spanish, in addition to a lot of conceptual art.
Of this park, then, we know its five thematic zones and its main attractions and shows. Did we miss a lot?
Let each one judge from now on, but it is true that the park looked like a pastiche of ideas imitated from Disney and Universal…with licenses from much lesser known films.
Like almost all parks in the world of cinema, you would enter through the Avenida Paramounta main street with shops, restaurants, a recreation of the iconic entrance doors of Paramount Studios…
The only show in the area seemed to be a musical where songs from the studio's most famous musicals would be performed, such as School of Rock.
As you walk along the avenue, you would reach the usual layout in the form of a central lake with four areas around it, which you can explore in any of the clock directions.
If you start on your left, you would find Adventure City, an urban-themed area with attractions such as bumper cars. Greasea restaurant The Godfather…
One of the most significant would be a dark ride, Mission Impossible 4D, by Mission Impossiblewith technology similar to that used in Spider-Man at Universal Orlando or Jurassic World in Beijing.
The other, and somewhat bizarre, walkthrough attraction of Titanic: Half immersive educational exhibit, half attraction… about the tragedy that killed 1,500 people.
Continuing along the path we arrive at the only area dedicated to a single film, taking the opportunity to also have the obligatory Wild West themed area: the movie Rangeawarded the Oscar for Best Animated Film in 2012.
Here, in a western town, we would find some water rapids, some flying chairs, a family roller coaster and a cinema or 4D simulator type attraction where Rango and other animated characters in the film Verbinski Mountains They would be introduced in some western classics.
The next area would be dedicated to fairy tales, and would be the main children's area, Woodland Fantasy. But Paramount's “Fantasyland” would draw on films like Sleepy Hollow, with an attraction using holograms, or The Spiderwick Chronicles.
In the attraction based on the “popular” fantasy film, guests would use wands to shoot 3D monsters. There would also be a host of children's attractions.
Finally, Plaza Futura, the “Tomorrowland”, would basically be the Star Trek(and particularly the 2009 version by JJ Abrams) with at least two attractions: a “Star Tours” type simulator and the only extreme roller coaster, which would launch the trains at full speed.
Here would also be the typical “Dumbo” (or rather, Orbitron), an indoor children's area, as well as a simulator War of the Worldsbut with a futuristic, white and pristine architecture, with “technological innovations and commitment to sustainability.”
As you can see, the park is powerfully reminiscent of a Disney park (it even seems to plagiarize the name, theme and even layout of the four main areas, Adventureland as Adventure City, Frontierland as Rango, Fantasyland as Woodland Fantasy and Tomorrowland as Plaza Futura.
That, together with licenses and films of dubious popularity, such as Rango or Spiderwick, or that do not directly fit well in a theme park such as The Godfather or Titanic, would have put the park in serious trouble in attracting national visitors, let alone foreigners. ..
Of Paramount Park Murcia Nothing more than a stone and some banners was erected, but the large amount of information, conceptual art and videos of what the park was going to be like, its attractions and licenses, offer a fascinating portal to an alternative world in which Murcia would host the second largest complex of Thematic parks from Europe after Disney…