Parque da Mônica is a

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

themed with the characters created by

Maurício de Sousa Mauricio Araújo de Sousa (; born October 27, 1935) is a Brazilian cartoonist and businessman who has created over 200 characters for his popular series of children's comic books named "Turma da Mônica" or "Monica's Gang (Currently known as: M ...

. The first park had been designed by Maurício in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

at the ''Shopping Eldorado'' Paulistano, having operated until February

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

when it closed for good its activities due to contractual problems with the mall's administrators and debts. Since then, Maurício has been in negotiations to reopen it at another location. A new park opened at ''Shopping SP Market'' on July 4, 2015, in the location of the extinct ''O Mundo da Xuxa''. In 17 years of activities, until 2010, the park received more than 9 million visitors. In addition to the São Paulo park, there were already two branches: one in the ''shopping Città América'' carioca which operated from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, and another in the ''Shopping Estação'' curitibain which operated from

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

to 2000. There was also a smaller park called Estação Turma da Mônica, opened in 2004 in Campinas. In July 2018, a new Estação da Turma da Mônica was inaugurated at Shopping Cerrado in the city of Goiânia, Goiás. The following year, MSP inaugurated another Turma da Mônica Station in Olinda, Pernambuco. In addition to Brazil, Maurício opened in 2010 the first international branch of the park in the city of Luanda, capital of Angola.

Comic book

It was also launched in 1993, together with the first park, a monthly comic book called ''Revista Parque da Mônica'' (lit. ''Monica's Park Magazine''). The publication contained the opening stories taking place at the location and was also used to publicize news and new attractions. After moving to Panini, in 2007, the comic book was renamed ''Turma da Mônica: Uma Aventura no Parque da Mônica'' (lit. ''Mônica's Gang: An Adventure in Monica's Park''). With the end of the establishment at Shopping Eldorado, the comic book changed its name once again to just ''Turma da Mônica'' and the opening stories were no longer set in the park.

References

Monica and Friends Amusement parks in Brazil 1993 establishments in Brazil Brazilian comics titles {{Amusement-park-stub