Essel World was Mumbai's amusement park for 34 years — then the gates stayed shut

Essel World opened in 1989 in Gorai, on the outskirts of Mumbai: 26 hectares with more than 50 attractions — the Shot-n-Drop, Hoola Loop and Tunnel Twister among them — plus an ice-skating rink, a disco and the adjacent Water Kingdom water park. For a generation it was the city's default school trip and picnic ground, its advertisements a fixture on national television.

The ground underneath was contested from the start: allegations that the original 700-acre land acquisition was illegal, that mangroves were destroyed and coastal-zone regulations broken. Operations stopped in April 2022 and did not restart.

In May 2023 the operator confirmed on its website a closure 'until further notice', and nostalgia for the park flooded social media. No reopening date followed. The amusement park that defined a Mumbai childhood went dark without one.