UAE thrill-seekers, fasten your seatbelts. Starting on Wednesday, the emirate of Dubai will finally become a destination for lovers of rollercoasters and other head-spinning attractions when IMG Worlds Of Adventure opens, the first of a number of theme parks to launch this autumn.
The indoor park, which the operators say is the biggest of its kind in the world, opens with 22 rides and attractions in four themed worlds, under one roof on Mohammad Bin Zayed Road just beyond Global Village.
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It comes little over two months before four more theme parks open near Jebel Ali, where Dubai Parks and Resorts has Legoland (and Legoland Waterpark), Motiongate and Bollywood Parks coming on October 31. A Six Flags theme park — which the Wall Street Journal this week reported will have the world’s biggest rollercoaster — is coming in 2019.
Spider-Man: Doc Ock's Revenge, a rollercoaster in the Marvel Zone at IMG Worlds of Adventure. Zarina Fernandes/Gulf News
IMG Worlds of Adventure is a world-class theme park, said CEO Lennard Otto during a media tour last Monday, during which some, but not all, of the rides were opened to journalists (Otto says when the park opens on Wednesday, after a delay of two weeks from the planned launch of August 15, all attractions will be operational).
“From a ride standpoint, we’ve picked the best ride vendors from around the world — the same ride vendors you’ll see today in Disney and Universal [theme parks]”. The park has access to characters and themes from Marvel Studios, owned by Disney, which was actively involved with the design of the Marvel Zone — “how it’s been created, the standards that have been set”.
The Cartoon Network’s team was involved in the Cartoon Network zone, while the park’s own creation is the dinosaur-themed Lost Valley. “The owners, Mr Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari, came up with their own concept for the Lost Valley, and they worked with international designers to come up with and materialise their vision, their dream, into what you see today.”
Theme park technology is moving beyond simply throwing patrons down rollercoaster tracks, however. “Dark” rides are becoming a must-have, and there are several to try here. In these indoor attractions, riders board a coaster that still throws the traditional loops and bends, to sickening effect, but you never know what’s coming, because you can’t see the ride before you board. That’s nothing new — ghost trains have been around for decades — but multimedia displays have changed the genre, giving the feeling of flying through scenarios — if you can keep your eyes open. Orlando-based Oceaneering developed IMG World of Adventure’s interactive dark rides (they made Transformers rides at Universal Studios in Hollywood and Singapore), while the majority of the rollercoasters were made by Germany’s Mack Rides.
That’s not the end of, it, by the way: The park will expand to 27 attractions in the next five years, with one new ride each year, and those are likely to be pegged to new Marvel films, as the park has access to the whole bouquet of characters, adds Otto, a self-confessed thrill-seeker whose favourite ride is the Velociraptor (“it’s got a great element of media to it, which is unusual for a rollercoaster”).
Here’s tabloid!’s guide to the four park zones, plus details on the food.
Did you know?
The ceiling of the park is covered in sound-proofing black arches to muffle the noise created by the rides and the screaming guests as they fly through the air, and though it’s nearly 140,000 square metre in area, a circular format means the park isn’t exhaustingly large,. There are plenty of places to stop and rest, and be encouraged to shop for food and merchandise. It takes 6-8 hours to do 60 per cent of the park, which, says Otto, is what most people can manage in one go. Do take a sweater: The indoor park is chilly, and there are lockers all over where you can leave your belongings when needed. This is especially important as mobile phones and cameras are not permitted on any of the rides, and rides will automatically stop if anyone is spotted trying to take a selfie.
IMG Boulevard
The entry to the park, this is where you’ll find the Emporium, the park’s largest shop, and food options and street entertainers.
It’s also home to the Haunted Hotel, which is sadly not one of Dubai’s latest hospitality spots, although the makers have said they may consider late-night events in future. However cheesy and un-scary it initially appears, there are plenty of frights and all-out grossness here. I won’t ruin it by describing the scenes that await, but there is one room that wouldn’t be out of place in some of the worst (by that I mean best) horror films made. It’s brought to life by an amazing cast of actors, and some choice smells. This isn’t a ride so much as an attraction that you walk through — although you definitely won’t linger.
Marvel zone
The Marvel zone is a space dedicated to everything Avengers and Spider-Man; it’s modelled on a New York streetscape, and hence you’ll also find some good pretzels, as well as a shop with thousands of Marvel memorabilia items.
The Battle of Ultron ride, which was not open to test, is the first Avengers dark ride in the world. Spider-Man Doc Ock’s Revenge takes riders on a 400-metre coaster through the New York skyline with the web-slinger; each car spins independently for an added thrill. Also in this zone are Thor Thunder Spin, deemed the park’s most head-spinning ride, in which a gondola of riders is flipped back-and-forth, up-and-down; and Hulk Epsilon Base 3D, a cinema in which an Imax screen wraps 360 degrees around the viewers.
Lost Valley
Although it does bear some resemblance to a certain movie in which dinosaurs come to life and terrorise theme park patrons, the Lost Valley, the largest zone, is the brainchild of the owners of IMG Worlds of Adventure, the Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group. There are over 60 animatronic prehistoric creatures to take selfies with here, and you can explore more on the Forbidden Territory safari ride. Here also, are two of the park’s most intense rides, Predator, a vertical drop rollercoaster, and Velociraptor, which goes on a 1.1km outdoor track at 100km. For something more sedate, board the carousel and ride dinos instead of horses. The child in me would have loved to clamber all over the Adventure Fortress, a series of climbing platforms and slides.
Cartoon Network zone
Let’s say you’re only 10 years old, and have the soul of a theme-park junkie, if not the minimum height. What can you do? You’ll enjoy the Ben 10 5D Hero Time and Gumball rides. The former is an immersive cinema experience that takes users into the world of the TV boy hero.
If you don’t watch Ben 10, then, like me, you’ll be utterly baffled by the experience. Children, on the other hand, will probably want to do it over and over again. (Parents, my thoughts are with you.) Gumball is a point-scoring laser-shooting game that’s mild fun for the younger set. The really dinky types should head for Lazy Town, a large play area that will keep them busy for an hour, and the CN Live stage show (above) — it’s loud, colourful and full of song and dance.
What to eat
There are 28 separate places to eat in the park, which may make you have to make a tough choice between eating, and riding the likes of the beyond-vertical Predator. Each zone has dedicated eateries along its theme: Lost Valley is dedicated to carnivores, for example, and CN Feast is aimed at families.
My tour included lunch at Samosa House on IMG Boulevard, a spot with rickshaws for seating and variations on the popular Indian pastry snack (how about lobster and crab, Dh40; broccoli, cheese and basil, Dh30; kheema, Dh25; or spiced chocolate, Dh20?). I loved the samosa pao, a pair of warm, soft, buttered bread rolls with crisp Punjabi samosas inside. With a good level of spice and crunchy shells, they are Dh18.
*Entry to the park is Dh300 (Dh250 for children, and free for those under 3). VIP tours and annual passes will be launched on opening day.
