“We are very good at many things in Israel – hi-tech, medicine – so I think it is also time for us to be good at something that is fun and enjoyable,” said Lea Malul, CEO of the theme park project.
The city of Dimona in the south of Israel is in the “advanced stages” of planning a Disneyland-like theme park, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Pla’im (Hebrew for ‘wonders’), or “Park of Wonders,” is slated to have a similar layout to Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, but with Jewish and Israeli themes, the Post said.
“We are very good at many things in Israel – hi-tech, medicine – so I think it is also time for us to be good at something that is fun and enjoyable,” Lea Malul, CEO of the theme park project at Or Movement, the organization who initiated the endeavor, told the Post.
Park of Wonders is being designed by the same company that planned Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
The idea for the park was brought forward by Rabbi Eli Taragin, a New Jersey native who would visit Disney World as a child with his grandparents in Florida and who dreamed of bringing that experience to Israel, according to the Post.
Mayor of Dimona Benny Biton is set to meet with the entrepreneurs, investors and government officials later this month to further discuss the project and move ahead with the amusement park, the Post said.