France is trying to sign a Dragon Ball theme park deal TODAY. Not a leak from two weeks ago. Today. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in Paris, and Ile-de-France president Valerie Pecresse went on TF1 and said they have been working this for 18 months and they are waiting on the signature. The Straits Times (AFP) has her quotes. Nothing is inked yet!
Pecresse called it a project on the scale of Disneyland and would not give a cost. Politico reported on August 3 that Macron's office has been courting Saudi money to revive Mirapolis, the old French park that closed in 1991, as a manga park. They said the talks could top €1 billion, and Qiddiya Investment Company (the PIF subsidiary) is in the mix. AFP's source put the likely site in Courdimanche, northwest of Paris, which is the old Mirapolis dirt. Wild if that land actually comes back.
Macron and the Crown Prince were set to chair the first Saudi-French strategic partnership council today, and the Elysee said a pile of economic agreements would get signed. Pecresse's line was "We are waiting for the signature." So this is rumor with fresh meat, not an official park drop.
I cannot wait to see if they actually sign it. If they do, Europe just got a Dragon Ball park on abandoned Mirapolis land. If they don't, it is still the loudest park rumor in the room tonight.