Napoleonland 
By 2014, construction is set to begin on Napoleonland, a new theme park designed to pay homage to the French leader some believe to be a hero and others think of as one of history's most loathsome dictators. Park-goers can expect a water show recreating the Battle of Trafalgar, tributes to Napoleon's crushing defeat of the Russo-Austrian Army at the Battle of Austerlitz, a ski run littered with the frozen bodies of soldiers and horses and a re-creation of Louis XVI on the guillotine — all of it on the site of one of Napoleon's greatest victories, the Battle of Montereau. Even the Battle of Waterloo, which ended Napoleonic rule, will be featured. "It's going to be fun for the family," Yves Jego, the brainchild behind the park, told The London Telegraph. Indeed. After all, wouldn't Disneyland be better if its grounds were scattered with war casualties and 18th century beheadings?
Grutas Park 
Grutas Park, a site about 75 miles outside Vilnius, doesn't have a roller coaster or a Ferris wheel — but it does have dozens of Soviet-era sculptures that escaped destruction when Lithuania gained its independence. The park's founder, Viliumas Malinauskas, used his family's mushroom-and-berry fortune to establish a place for those monuments to socialism to live on as a permanent reminder of past oppressions. But Malinauskas didn't stop there. Grutas Park, which opened in 2001, is also home to a Soviet-era playground, a restaurant serving Soviet-era dishes and, oddly, a zoo, complete with non-Soviet-era ostriches. If you're planning a trip, aim for April 1 and catch an annual comedy festival featuring impersonations of Communist Party bigwigs and bureaucrats.
Holy Land Experience 
Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, sits in the shadows of some of the world's most famous theme parks, but visitors expecting hair-raising rollercoasters may be disappointed. Holy Land is more of an outdoor museum than an amusement park, featuring exhibits such as the Jerusalem Street Market, which recreates what the holy city was like 2,000 years ago. For the less faint of heart, you can even watch a bloody recreation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
BonBon Land 
Some fifty miles southwest of Copenhagen sits BonBon Land, the whimsical, wacky and vaguely disturbing theme park home to attractions like the "Farting Dog" and "Skid Mark" rollercoasters. Though now owned by Spanish entertainment company Parques Reunidos, BonBon Land is the brainchild of Danish confectioner, Michael Spangsberg, who opened the park in 1992 to promote his developing candy business, BonBon. In addition to log flumes and rollercoasters, BonBon Land features a puzzling variety of cartoon animal statues, along with murals depicting seagulls defecating into alligators' mouths and dogs gleefully passing gas.
Hacienda Napoles 
Visitors make their way into Hacienda Napoles, a museum and exotic animal park located in Colombia, by passing through an archway decorated with an old airplane. But that's not just any old airplane — it's the same plane that transported the notorious Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar's first load of cocaine to the U.S. The park is located on the grounds of the former drug lord's ranch. Before police shot and killed Escobar in 1993, Hacienda Napoles served as his home and a playground full of life-sized dinosaur sculptures, vintage cars and more than a dozen hippos. Today, the park features guided tours, horseback riding, a swimming pool and a zoo and attracts upwards of 50,000 visitors per year.
The Children's Republic 
The child-sized Argentine theme park was a product of the Eva Perón Foundation, run by the wife of populist authoritarian President Juan Domingo Perón. Created to teach Argentinean youth about the virtues of democracy, young visitors to the park can elect their own congress and haggle with banks over imaginary loans. With its tall spires and bright colors, the park almost looks like the original Disneyland.
Dickens World 
Located in County Kent, England, was a $124 million idea that Sam Anderson wrote in the New York Times magazine "promised to be an 'authentic' re-creation of the London of Charles Dickens's novels, complete with soot, pickpockets, cobblestones, gas lamps, animatronic Dickens characters and strategically placed chemical 'smell pots' that would, when heated, emit odors of offal and rotting cabbage." But Anderson, who attended the delayed opening of the park in 2007, returned in 2012 to find a park wracked by the recession, surviving off of rent from the chain restaurants that abut the village.
Love Land 
Located on the South Korean island of Jeju — known in decades past as the traditional honeymoon island for arranged-marriage newlyweds — Love Land is one of the world's most salacious sculpture gardens. The park greets visitors with sprawling limbs and remarkably acrobatic (and unmentionable) depictions of love-making, created by art students from Korea's Hongik University. Besides phallic artwork, the park also includes sex-ed information at its visitor center and a gift shop for those who leave the park feeling, ahem, inspired.
Dollywood 
Dolly Parton is a modern day jane-of-all-trades, but who knew the Queen of Country was also a theme park connoisseur? Dollywood, the entertainer's thrill park is a full-fledged amusement extravaganza with rides like Dolly's Demolition Derby bumper cars and the Dollywood Express steam engine.
Shijingshan Amusement Park 
When ABC News visited Shijingshan in 2007, they reported that much of the place looked eerily similar to parts of Disney theme parks and that the characters bore striking resemblances to Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Snow White. Even the park's slogan, "Disney is too far, please come to Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park," hints as the park's motives.
By 2014, construction is set to begin on Napoleonland, a new theme park designed to pay homage to the French leader some believe to be a hero and others think of as one of history's most loathsome dictators. Park-goers can expect a water show recreating the Battle of Trafalgar, tributes to Napoleon's crushing defeat of the Russo-Austrian Army at the Battle of Austerlitz, a ski run littered with the frozen bodies of soldiers and horses and a re-creation of Louis XVI on the guillotine — all of it on the site of one of Napoleon's greatest victories, the Battle of Montereau. Even the Battle of Waterloo, which ended Napoleonic rule, will be featured. "It's going to be fun for the family," Yves Jego, the brainchild behind the park, told The London Telegraph. Indeed. After all, wouldn't Disneyland be better if its grounds were scattered with war casualties and 18th century beheadings?Grutas Park
Grutas Park, a site about 75 miles outside Vilnius, doesn't have a roller coaster or a Ferris wheel — but it does have dozens of Soviet-era sculptures that escaped destruction when Lithuania gained its independence. The park's founder, Viliumas Malinauskas, used his family's mushroom-and-berry fortune to establish a place for those monuments to socialism to live on as a permanent reminder of past oppressions. But Malinauskas didn't stop there. Grutas Park, which opened in 2001, is also home to a Soviet-era playground, a restaurant serving Soviet-era dishes and, oddly, a zoo, complete with non-Soviet-era ostriches. If you're planning a trip, aim for April 1 and catch an annual comedy festival featuring impersonations of Communist Party bigwigs and bureaucrats.Holy Land Experience
Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, sits in the shadows of some of the world's most famous theme parks, but visitors expecting hair-raising rollercoasters may be disappointed. Holy Land is more of an outdoor museum than an amusement park, featuring exhibits such as the Jerusalem Street Market, which recreates what the holy city was like 2,000 years ago. For the less faint of heart, you can even watch a bloody recreation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.BonBon Land
Some fifty miles southwest of Copenhagen sits BonBon Land, the whimsical, wacky and vaguely disturbing theme park home to attractions like the "Farting Dog" and "Skid Mark" rollercoasters. Though now owned by Spanish entertainment company Parques Reunidos, BonBon Land is the brainchild of Danish confectioner, Michael Spangsberg, who opened the park in 1992 to promote his developing candy business, BonBon. In addition to log flumes and rollercoasters, BonBon Land features a puzzling variety of cartoon animal statues, along with murals depicting seagulls defecating into alligators' mouths and dogs gleefully passing gas.Hacienda Napoles
Visitors make their way into Hacienda Napoles, a museum and exotic animal park located in Colombia, by passing through an archway decorated with an old airplane. But that's not just any old airplane — it's the same plane that transported the notorious Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar's first load of cocaine to the U.S. The park is located on the grounds of the former drug lord's ranch. Before police shot and killed Escobar in 1993, Hacienda Napoles served as his home and a playground full of life-sized dinosaur sculptures, vintage cars and more than a dozen hippos. Today, the park features guided tours, horseback riding, a swimming pool and a zoo and attracts upwards of 50,000 visitors per year.The Children's Republic
The child-sized Argentine theme park was a product of the Eva Perón Foundation, run by the wife of populist authoritarian President Juan Domingo Perón. Created to teach Argentinean youth about the virtues of democracy, young visitors to the park can elect their own congress and haggle with banks over imaginary loans. With its tall spires and bright colors, the park almost looks like the original Disneyland.Dickens World
Located in County Kent, England, was a $124 million idea that Sam Anderson wrote in the New York Times magazine "promised to be an 'authentic' re-creation of the London of Charles Dickens's novels, complete with soot, pickpockets, cobblestones, gas lamps, animatronic Dickens characters and strategically placed chemical 'smell pots' that would, when heated, emit odors of offal and rotting cabbage." But Anderson, who attended the delayed opening of the park in 2007, returned in 2012 to find a park wracked by the recession, surviving off of rent from the chain restaurants that abut the village.Love Land
Located on the South Korean island of Jeju — known in decades past as the traditional honeymoon island for arranged-marriage newlyweds — Love Land is one of the world's most salacious sculpture gardens. The park greets visitors with sprawling limbs and remarkably acrobatic (and unmentionable) depictions of love-making, created by art students from Korea's Hongik University. Besides phallic artwork, the park also includes sex-ed information at its visitor center and a gift shop for those who leave the park feeling, ahem, inspired.Dollywood
Dolly Parton is a modern day jane-of-all-trades, but who knew the Queen of Country was also a theme park connoisseur? Dollywood, the entertainer's thrill park is a full-fledged amusement extravaganza with rides like Dolly's Demolition Derby bumper cars and the Dollywood Express steam engine.
Shijingshan Amusement Park
When ABC News visited Shijingshan in 2007, they reported that much of the place looked eerily similar to parts of Disney theme parks and that the characters bore striking resemblances to Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Snow White. Even the park's slogan, "Disney is too far, please come to Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park," hints as the park's motives. time.com
