There’s a new theme park opening in California but this one has nothing to do with Mickey Mouse or roller coasters. “America’s Next Top Model” creator and former Victoria’s Secret model Tyra Banks is opening a new ticketed attraction she’s calling “Modelland,” which is also the name of the young adult novel she published in 2010.
Modelland will be located at Santa Monica Place shopping mall and Banks says it will create “a fantasy version of the modeling world to let visitors be the dream version of themselves” through interactive entertainment, retail, and user-generated content that can be shared. She says it’s her “calling to bring modeling to the masses,” and she’s been working to make this project a reality for 10 years.
Banks is a little vague on specific details about Modelland, but she says the 21,000-square-foot space is a permanent attraction, not a pop-up, and that she’s inspired by Disneyland. She says the multilevel experience is more fantasy-based and that anyone can come and shop, not just for modelland merch, but other brands, too. They’ll have a restaurant as well, but she assures that it won’t be like that kitschy Fashion Cafe from the ‘90s, which she says “really missed the mark.”
When asked if there will be daily runway shows at Modelland, Banks replies, “that’s low hanging fruit.” But she is passionate about the project and says at her theme park, “Anyone can enter and feel like a model.”
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