- This is a ghost town,
of 500 abandoned Disney castles.
A $200 million development project gone sour.
The company went bankrupt.
Now, the question has to be asked,
what do you even do with a place like this?
Just a quick second before we get started
I think I've got something you might be interested in.
In honor of my brand new website that's just launched,
I'm going to share all of the locations we visited,
including this one on a giant online map,
on "Fearless & Far".
Now, that's about a decade of discovery served hot and fresh
into your inbox,
and I guarantee there's gonna be some secrets in there
that no one knows about but us, so, check it out.
Okay, it's castle time, let's go.
Good morning.
Behind me I've got
Nils and Maris,
two crazy Latvians I met a few days.
And just on the other side of these hedges
are the mansions.
You gotta be quiet though.
These are incredible.
Look.
So, we know there is a guard in the front.
We don't think there's one in the back.
So, we have to be careful.
These things are incredible though.
Man, these are crazy, right?
- Yeah (laughs).
400K this one's yours.
- €400,000.
Let's see if we can (dramatic music).
Okay, one of the big important parts of the
castle itself was the terrace and the tower.
We just
have to find the stairs, we just did.
Spiral staircases going up to the top.
Let's see, oh my God, look at this.
It really is like a castle.
Cold and crumbling.
- These are unfinished,
they just literally glued them together.
- Yeah, just slapped them together.
Look, these floors aren't even finished.
Wow.
It's still very much a construction site.
This is the second floor.
So, dangerous, right?
- So, cheap but so dangerous.
- How are they gonna sell these?
This is ridiculous.
- No, they won't.
- They won't sell them.
They're not fit,
they were supposed to be finished two years ago.
None of them are finished.
We get a strong man.
- Holy shit.
Oh man, this is how they build these houses (laughs).
- Yeah, yeah.
The sun is just starting to rise,
you can see it up on a mountain over there.
We're still not sure
what the security situation's like here.
- It's good, no worries (laughs).
- Yap.
We still have to be a little bit quiet.
Can we get to the top?
- Yeah.
(dramatic music)
(laughing)
- Holy shit (laughs).
You got smoked (laughs).
- I smoked my head on one of these (laughs).
I didn't do it on purpose (laughs).
I just didn't see it.
The construction started in 2014.
However, this fantasy paradise land didn't sell.
Some blame the Turkish real estate crisis.
Some blame the kitschiness of it all.
It's all so strange.
It's all so fake.
There are rumors of construction actually continuing again
in 2021,
but who would buy one of these toy castles anyway?
I gotta say though,
if there was one of them on a hilltop, it'd be beautiful.
A nice little castle.
But the fact that there's 500
kinda makes it feel like,
kind of cheapens it, doesn't it?
I think the point of having a castle
is being the only castle on the hill,
and there's 500 castles.
You kind of lose the flair, lose the appeal.
(dramatic music)
Guys.
- [Maris] It's freezing cold, eh?
- It's freezing, but it's a hell of a view.
- Even though we're from north (laughs), it's cold for us.
- Yeah, Canadian, two Latvians,
freezing their asses off in Turkey.
What a tower though!
(dramatic music)
Feels a bit creepy, doesn't it?
- Yeah.
- Let's take a peak in some of these other ones
but there's not that many that are finished.
Look at the flooring.
In my entire life of travel,
I have never seen anything like this.
(dramatic music)
One of the towers has toppled.
So as we're walking around, it's very quiet here.
I think we're still okay.
There's a shopping mall on the other side.
That's massive.
These houses were supposed to have
their own private baths of like thermal water, each one.
And there was supposed to be three lakes, a golf course
and a shopping mall with a mosque.
Luxury,
that will probably never happen.
They are very castle-like.
A lot of them do have some really beautiful trim
on the outside.
Unfortunately, it's all styrofoam.
- It's not trustee.
- No, it's not (laughs), I wouldn't trust it.
All right, here's the action plan for today.
See if we can get into the shopping mall.
And then last step is to fly the drone.
We've snuck around back.
There some of these work sheds here.
So, if there was a guards or dogs, they'd be there
but there's not even a door on it, so.
It's freezing out.
This definitely would be at least the door.
So, I think we're okay.
Here, look.
There's the shopping mall.
Just the beginning, it's a massive building just
the center of the entire area.
Let's see if we can get in.
So, right next to the mall,
which appears pretty empty,
there's a house that's almost finished,
at least the glasses on the windows.
Oh my God, look at this.
Man.
- Welcome home guys.
(Mike laughs)
- So, the sun is
starting to rise,
which means we gotta get out of here
very soon.
Last house will be the one we check out because it's
more finished than the rest.
(indistinct)
And originally they were all supposed to have elevators.
And I'm assuming this is where that would go,
right here.
We had heard that they had stopped that idea
because it was too expensive.
They were trying to cut some expenses of course.
Yeah, this thing is still pretty wrecked.
The windows are on, but that's about it.
Okay.
The idea was to build 732 Renaissance style Châteaus,
all side by side,
each house with its own thermal spring bath,
its own elevator,
and its own private pool.
Got to say though,
this balcony,
oh,
be really nice to have a coffee on in the morning.
This is a little bit too high profile for what I like.
A lot of the places can see us.
And this is where we're heading next (laughs).
(indistinct)
What?
- Third time.
- Third time we hit our heads on these things.
All right.
Let's go.
Here we are.
We made it to the shopping mall.
Let's explore.
A pool.
A pool, right?
Someday (laughs).
Maybe not in our lifetime.
- I get one free, you get one free.
- Here we go.
I feel safer already (laughs).
Cement (indistinct).
Oh man, all these old pieces.
The odds and ends used to construct the castles.
These are some of the towers,
and arches over the windows.
Over here for the facade.
Not quite stone, is it?
Over here too.
- Let's work 'em (laughs).
Let's do squat.
- Nils is squatting it.
All right(laughs).
So, we've been talking about how it's hard to use cameras
'cause our hands are freezing,
it's like minus seven this morning.
And so,
Maris has this great idea apparently.
- Oh, you should spin it.
Yeah, you see the hand.
- [Mike] Does the feeling come back?
- Yeah, no (laughs).
- It's supposed to bring all the blood back to your fingers.
The jury's out on whether it works or not.
Science.
(dramatic music)
Someday,
maybe this will be full of water.
But until that day comes,
we're gonna get out of here,
while we still can.
Let's find a spot for the drone (laughs)
Sometimes in this job, you've got to run.
Luckily though,
we're pretty fast.
(drone buzzes)
It feels like we're seeing what's behind the mask,
the ugly skeleton of a place that's too perfect to be true.
Like I mentioned, construction is planned to resume in 2021
but I think this place has had a lot of plans
that didn't quite work out in the end,
including the fact the first guests
were supposed to be moving in at the end of 2020,
which is exactly when I'm posting this video.
What do you think should happen here?
And what do you think will be the ultimate fate
of this strange, strange place?
Let me know what you think in the comments.
The best way to support this channel
is to share it with a friend.
So, do that and don't forget to get that online map
with all my secret locations.
You definitely want it.
Chase your fears, dragons,
and I'll catch you in the next episode here,
on "Fearless & Far".