An Entire Cirque du Soleil Theme Park to Open in Mexico

In a sense there has always been a natural fit between Cirque du Soleil shows and theme parks, and to a large degree many parks have copied the company's performance style for shows of their own.  It isn't a surprise then that an entire "immersive theme park experience" has been announced - entirely themed in Cirque du Soleil style - for Mexico.

The park will be a partnership between Cirque du Soleil and Grupo Vidanta, a large resort developer, and will be located in Nuevo Vallarta - a large planned resort community in Nayarit, Mexico.

The entire park is still described as being "in development," so I'm not sure that bulldozers are ready to hit the sand just yet.  In fact, details about the park are still few, with the best description of what is being planned coming from today's press release.  The release states that the development "may include a water park and nature park elements and will feature an outdoor evening show accommodating as many as 3,000 to 5,000 spectators.  Each experience within the entertainment park will be animated by Cirque du Soleil artists and follow a common storyline."

The images shown here, released today with the news, are from the Goddard Group, who is the designer of the park.  That is an important fact, as they're responsible for some of the greatest theme park attractions on the planet.
  

"Grupo Vidanta is offering us an amazing sandbox in which we can unleash our creativity,” said Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil. “Both our groups strive for perfection. Grupo Vidanta is passionate and cares for the environment. We set ourselves the challenge of creating something unlike anything the world has seen before.”

Grupo Vidanta is responsible for bringing the first permanent Cirque du Soleil show to Mexico, named Joya.  The show will feature a smaller theater with meal options - a nice write up of the show and its details can be found here. 

The new theme park will be located on the opposite side of Mexico from where Joya will be performed, however - but clearly the show has created a strong relationship between the two companies.  The new theme/water park has a planned opening of 2018.