| Monica's Theme Park | |
| Location: | São Paulo, SP |
| Location2: | Curitiba, PR |
| Location3: | Rio de Janeiro, RJ |
| Homepage: | www.parquedamonica.com.br |
| Owner: | Mauricio de Sousa Produções |
| Opening Date: | January 10, 1993 (Shopping Eldorado) July 18, 1998 (Shopping Estação) November 10, 2000 (Shopping Città América) July 4, 2015 (Shopping SP Market) |
| Closing Date: | February 16, 2010 (Shopping Eldorado) 2000 (Shopping Estação) January 19, 2005 (Shopping Città América) |
| Area: | 10,000m² (Shopping Eldorado) 6,000m² (Shopping Estação) 10,000m² (Shopping Città América) 15,000m² (Shopping SP Market) |
Parque da Mônica is a amusement park themed with the characters created by Maurício de Sousa. The first park had been designed by Maurício in 1993 at the Shopping Eldorado Paulistano, having operated until February 2010 when it closed for good its activities due to contractual problems with the mall's administrators and debts.[1] Since then, Maurício has been in negotiations to reopen it at another location.[2] A new park opened at Shopping SP Market on July 4, 2015,[3] in the location of the extinct O Mundo da Xuxa.[4] In 17 years of activities, until 2010, the park received more than 9 million visitors. [5]
In addition to the São Paulo park, there were already two branches: one in the shopping Città América carioca which operated from 2000 to 2005, and another in the Shopping Estação curitibain which operated from 1998 to 2000. There was also a smaller park called Estação Turma da Mônica, opened in 2004 in Campinas.[6] In July 2018, a new Estação da Turma da Mônica was inaugurated at Shopping Cerrado in the city of Goiânia, Goiás.[7] The following year, MSP inaugurated another Turma da Mônica Station in Olinda, Pernambuco.[8] In addition to Brazil, Maurício opened in 2010 the first international branch of the park in the city of Luanda, capital of Angola.
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).[9] 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).[10] 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.