A day at Motiongate Dubai

Motiongate Dubai, the region’s largest Hollywood-inspired theme park is an immersive and exciting experience, where you can go beyond the screen with the characters that you know and love. Motiongate Dubai is part of Dubai Parks and Resorts, and brings together three major motion picture studios: DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Studios, Columbia and Lionsgate for the first time in a theme park environment. This is a global first, so visitors will get an experience something that isn’t offered anywhere else in the world.

Motiongate is connected to its sister parks, Bollywood Park and Legoland by Riverland Dubai, the free to enter recreational hub with a multitude of dining, shopping and entertainment options perfect for friends and families of all ages. 

Where is Motiongate Dubai located?

The park is located on Sheikh Zayed Road opposite the Palm Jebel Ali in Dubai equidistant to Dubai and Abu Dhabi International Airports.

Find it here:

How many attractions does the park have?

Motiongate Dubai features 27 rides and attractions inspired by Hollywood blockbusters like Ghostbusters, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Smurfs and The Hunger Games. There is also tonnes of live entertainment, like a dance performance by Step Up, All In. The park is spread across five zones, inspired by 13 of Hollywood’s live action and animated films, visitors will be transported into the world of movies including Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Hotel Transylvania, Ghostbusters, The Smurfs and The Hunger Games.

How many rollercoasters are there?

The park’s biggest attractions include five exhilarating roller-coaster rides, including, The Green Hornet, Capitol Bullet Train, Madagascar Mad Pursuit, Dragon Gliders and the Smurfs Village Express, as well as a water ride containing over 793,000 gallons of water.

What is a must-see attraction?

The Madagascar Mad Pursuit. It is one of the fastest rollercoasters in Dubai. It’s mainly a dark ride and is very fast with many sudden drops. Perfect for those who want an intense thrill.

How to spend the perfect day at MotionGate Dubai.

When it comes to amusement parks, I like to start from the back of the venue and work my way up to the front. Strategically, it causes the least amount of waiting in line. Luckily, the back of Motiongate is the indoor section of the park. We decided to spend the hotter portion of the day indoors, then move to the outdoor rides after 5pm, as the weather cooled down.

We started with Madagascar Mad Pursuit, to really get the blood pumping, before we went on anything else. It gives you an adrenaline rush and a sense of excitement before you head onto any other rides.

Moving on we completed the rest of the DreamWorks section, which included the world of Shrek, Kung-Fu Panda and how to train your dragon. The highlight of this section was Shrek’s Merry fairy tale journey. This is where you we watched Shrek and Fiona tell their triplets how they met. The story unfolded in a puppet show that was both funny and entertaining.

We then stepped outside, and moved to the Hunger Games section. The World of The Hunger Games is located in the park’s Lionsgate zone. Attractions include a replica of the movie set, along with video content featuring film characters Effie Trinket (played by Elizabeth Banks in the film) and Caesar Flickerman (played by Stanley Tucci).

The Capitol Bullet Train was the highlight of this zone. It is 360-degree ride with many loops and a backwards part. There is also an immersive 4D Panem Aerial Tour with a hovercraft experience over the districts, which takes you from District 12 to the Capitol on board a hovercraft to see the world of Panem.

A high-energy street show, an immersive shopping outlet with branded merchandise and a street-front cafe give a glimpse of the dystopian world of Panem.

Then came Ghost Busters Battle for New York. A fun and competitive ride that takes you through New York in the 80s, where you have to shoot ghost on an interactive screen.  Soundtrack included.

We also checked out the Zombieland Blast off is a 58 meter high drop tower. Too scary for me, but well loved by many children who were younger, smaller and braver than I was.

We finished off the night with the Cloudy, With A Chance Of Meatballs River Expedition, where Steve the monkey has gone astray and proceeds to splash those who ride this bumpy river ride.

What else does Motiongate have?

It is home to nine family-friendly restaurants, 15 themed retail outlets and the multi-purpose Hollywood Theatre, seating 1,000 guests, as well as multiple kiosks offering light bites and merchandise throughout the park, there’s a lot of other things to do beyond the rides and attractions.

What does motion gate have planned this month?

This Halloween. The park will transform into a ghoulish experience after dark, with its two zombies scare zones and live SAW Maze.

Debuting for the very first time in the UAE and the region, experience the true-to-film themed maze based on the terrifying movies SAW, one of the most successful horror films franchise, every weekend from October 18 to November 3.

Play a game with Billy at the SAW maze, you must however, be 16 years of age or older to enter the maze and experience horror, or a minimum of 14 years with an accompanying adult.

Additionally, the park will have two scare zones in the Lionsgate and Columbia areas where guests can meet their favourite zombies or monsters in person.  For a truly eerie experience, park hours will be extended during Fright nights until 11pm.

So that kids do not miss the fun, there will be child friendly Spooktacular Halloween festivities held at Hotel Transylvania during the day. Kids can meet and greet their favourite characters from Hotel Transylvania, including Drac, Mavis, Murry and Co in the Columbia Zone and families can participate in trick or treating, face painting, storytelling and pumpkin crafts.

Kids can also come dressed in their Halloween costumes and go trick or treating at the Hotel Transylvania castle and Smurfs Village.

Cost

Tickets are available online for Dh175 for UAE residents and Dh245 for non-residents. Entrance to the SAW maze, as well as the scare zones are all included in the park ticket.

Should you get an annual pass?

An individual annual pass for all four parks, including Legoland Dubai and Legoland Water Park, Motiongate Dubai and Bollywood Parks Dubai, is priced at Dh595 offering value for money.  Meanwhile an annual pass for two parks is priced at Dh475 or a single park pass for Legoland Dubai and Motiongate Dubai are priced at Dh345.

The annual Tickets comes with a host of benefits including:

• Unlimited access to all four parks - Motiongate Dubai, Bollywood Parks Dubai, Legoland Or Legoland Water Park.
• Free parking
• 20 per cent discount on Lapita Hotel Spa
• 10 per cent discount on merchandise
• 10 per cent discount on single day tickets
• 10 per cent discount on food and beverages at the parks
• 10 per cent discount on food and beverages at Lapita Hotel restaurants
• 10 per cent off on rooms best available rate at Lapita Hotel