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DUBAI and DUBAILAND
Multi Theme Park Resort Development
Dubai, U.A.E.
 New Theme Parks and Resorts - (4/5/12) TheThemeParkGuy has posted a nice little collection of artwork and details about several various theme park projects once announced for Dubai. This includes the Al Sahara Kingdom project which wants to get off the ground again, Six Flags Dubailand, Marvel Dubailand and links news article about F-1 X, Restless Planet, Legoland Dubailand, Dreamworld Animation Park and many others.
(3/5/12) According to this report Saudi Arabia based developer Al Hokair Group is hoping to restart construction on their Dubailand projects in 2013, which are to include the Al Sahara Kingdom hotel, an indoor theme park, restaurants and retail components, along with some residential areas. They hope to start off with work on the hotels and theme park in 2013, and should be ready to open their first phase by the end of 2014.
With all the different theme park projects pitched for Dubai years ago, does anyone remember which indoor park project this was?
(1/23/12) Wild Wadi, the popular waterpark in Dubai, has announced that they will remove the parks signature high thrill slide, the Jumeirah Sceirah. The tall iconic slide is being taken down to allow for the construction for a new thrilling slide attraction. The park just isn’t ready to announce what it will be just yet. You can see pictures of the highly themed Wild Wadi waterpark as well as the Jumeirah Sceirah over at The Theme Park Guy.
(12/22/11) According to ArabianBusiness.com, a new $600 million movie-based theme park project will start construction in early 2012. The park will be called Dubai Adventure Studios and will feature five themed zones, attractions based on major US-branded movies, and hopes to open by sometime in 2014. Dubai Adventure Studios is just Phase-1 of a 3-Phase project from Meraas, a Dubai based real estate company.
(10/3/11) According to Arabian Business, Dubailand is gearing up to being talks to re-negotiate four of their big projects for the resort. While they were not willing to say which of the various Dubailand projects may be part of the four they want to revive and begin work on, it does seem like a safe bet that the Universal Studios Dubailand and Legoland Dubailand projects will be seriously considered. After all, in the years since everything big project in Dubai was put on hold, we have seen new Universal and Legoland themed attractions opens elsewhere in the world with great success. Universal Studios Singapore has proven itself and we will see Legoland Florida open in two weeks and Legoland Malaysia open in 2012. They hope to have an announcement about their new plans by mid to late 2012.
(6/9/11) The Theme Park Guy has posted a nice look back at the start of construction for what should have been Dubai’s first theme park… Universal Studios Dubailand. While construction never really got beyond the dirt pushing phase, they did dig out a sizable hole for the park’s central fake lake as you can see in exclusive aerial photos of the site.
With the latest news reports claiming that they want to get this park project back on track again the real question is… will they attempt to reuse this same site on the outskirts of the rest of Dubai’s developments, or move it all to a site closer to the rest of the city?
(5/24/11) According to this article, Dubailand is back to having talks with their developers in order to try and get the scaled-back project back on track and moving forward again by the end of the year. They are also expected to announce this newly revised and scaled-back masterplan for the project later this year as well.
(5/20/11) According to this article, Tatweer Parks is currently back in talks with Universal Studios and Merlin Entertainment about building those theme parks that they announced a few years ago. They want to focus entirely on building only Universal Studios Dubailand and Legoland Dubai right now and will no longer be attempting to build any of the other park projects announced (aka: Dreamworks, Six Flags, Marvel Comics, etc…).
I’ve got to say that this is the first really smart move I’ve seen out of Dubai in a long time… as it was pure insanity to think they could build, let alone support, all of the projects they announced all at the same time. Focusing on building these two parks, each able to lure in their own different market segments, is the best way to go.
Note: This does not affect the proposed Worlds of Discovery project that would have seen a SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Discovery Cove and Aquatica built on one of the Palm islands. That project is still in limbo I believe, and was a project from Nakheel and not Tatweer.
(4/8/11) You can find an interesting article here claiming that as the economy in the middle east is now just starting to get back on track, the time has time for some of those big theme park and entertainment projects to get back on track. Incredibly, Dubai Holding, the group behind Universal Studios Dubialand, has reset their completion timetable for the park to... 2012.
Huh? Yeah... 2012. Time to put down the hooka... there is no way Universal can be built from scratch in that ammount of time... 2012 sounds more like a good possible date when they could actually start true construction on the site however, if they truely do intend to still build the park.
Still... the area feels that at least one of the proposed big parks needs to happen, if for nothing else than to give the area a new kind of attraction that it currenly does not have. And while the article does not mention it... I have heard some early rumblings that the once proposed Legoland Dubailand may also seeking to get on track and be that first big project to open.
(1/26/11) just a quick update, but the coaster pieces laid out in Dubai are actually from a few different coaster companies, for different rides, though all are believed to have been sold for the F1/X theme park. From what I’ve been told F1/X was planned to have a total of five coasters when built: the Premier Rides Drift Coaster, a suspended coaster from Premier, and a pair of dueling coasters from Intamin which was to be the Racing Coaster. The fifth intended coaster from Gerstlauer was already sold off and sold to Belantis where it opened this past year as Huracan.
I’m pretty sure the remaining rides are being looked over for possible sale to other locations, as the F1/X park is dead in the water.
(1/24/11) Coaster track and pieces labeled as being for the “F1-Racing Coaster – F1/X” park in Dubai have now been laid out neatly in a fenced off area. This seems to be Premier Rides track, similar in design to what they used on the Sky Rocket at Kennywood, but I’ve been told that this track was not laid out like this a month or two ago, so this is a new development. I wonder if the F1/X project is gaining traction once again, or if someone is looking to pick up the ride cheap and move it to a new location. Anyone know more?
(8/23/10) Great artwork of the proposed Six Flags Dubailand theme park concept has been posted to the Goddard Group’s Facebook page.
(8/5/10) The Theme Park Guy dropped into Dubai a few weeks ago to see what’s going on and the answer is… not a whole hell of a lot. There is sand… sand… and more sand. Nothing even resembling construction work is taking place on any of the area’s many announced theme parks and attractions.
(7/9/10) According to a comment from the head of Formula One, the half-built F1 Theme Park in Dubia is going to stay half built. When Bernie Ecclestone was asked about the theme park he stated, “It is not happening.”
(4/30/10) While Dubai hasn’t managed to open any of their proposed theme parks yet, they have built their own version of the Bellagio water fountain show which sounds like it’s playing to music inspired by The Lion King or something… check it out below.
(4/27/10) While Legoland Dubailand will not open in 2011 as originally planned, this report claims that the project will still move forward. They fail however to mention what the new timetable may be.
(3/18/10) According to this article, the hunt is still on to find $460 million in needed financing to finish the F1-X Theme Park in Dubai. No deal has been finalized, but at least they are in talks it seems, so some kind of progress is being made.
(3/17/10) I was told an interesting story this week, which makes one really think hard about what the future may hold for Dubai’s attractions. It seems a good number of the European Showmen who send their amazing portable rides around the continent to various events were booked to come down to Dubai earlier this year for a several week long fair event of their own.
In short… I’m told it was essentially an epic failure as the event failed to gather any kind of crowd at all during the entire run, only pulling in the very curious and occasional but rare tourists. It’s made many of these folks wonder just how they expect to get any of the expensive Dubailand projects off the ground, as they simply wont last very long if they get the same kind of reception.
(2/18/10) I received some interesting updates about Dubai today that really don’t paint a pretty picture for what is going on there. I’ve been told that the banks that made so many of the loans to Dubai World will soon be forced to make a choice… to either accept a deal for a rumored substandard long term payback… or to shut it all down and liquidate it for the assets. Given the amount of money that usually flows through the UAE, the banks are likely to accept the deal being offered to them, which is only a payment of 60 cents for ever dollar… stretched out over a seven year payback plan in exchange for reshuffling their $22 billion in debts.
As of late, the few projects still pushing along have been funded by a friendly loan from neighboring Abu Dhabi, but those funds will not last forever. Meanwhile from those with knowledge of the city itself, they claim that the already low real estate values have plunged another 30% in the last few months and there are lots of newly finished buildings just standing empty with no prospects of new tenants. Construction all over Dubai has come to a complete standstill in many locations, and it seems an interesting little “law” on the books in Dubai is going to cause some problems with all the foreign workers who came in for those projects.
From what I’m told, Dubai law states that any foreign workers who have been laid off from their jobs who are unable to find new employment within 45 days must LEAVE the country. If found in violation they can be arrested and jailed. Oh… if that wasn’t bad enough Dubai still has “Debtors Prisons” where those who fall behind on their payments on anything (cars, housing, etc) are thrown in jail. Abandoned cars have become a common site at the airport parking lots as foreigners are leaving them behind while they flee the country. To quote once source, “Dubai is coming apart at the seams.”
(2/15/10) Pictures and an great trip report showing off Dubai have been posted to Trips-n-Pics. The article is in French but you can read an English translation here.
(12/4/09) While there is an ever growing chance that the park will likely never be built (along with most of Dubai’s big dream parks) a ton of concept art has been found showing off the proposed Marvel comic themed park project, part of a deal between Marvel and Al Ahli Group. Oddly, it also shows the park sharing billing with Spongebob and his Nick pals as well. Fun artwork to look for include an Iron Man themed RoboCoaster – Coaster, some kind of dark ride featuring village Electro, a hero themed 4D theater, Spiderman and more.
(10/30/09) A Screamscape source tells us that there is still no work taking place at the F1-X theme park site. All of the equipment and construction cranes are still there, but no one is there to operate any of them. However, I've heard that construction is going ahead full steam on the Restless Planet dinosaur themed park project in Dubai. As we had heard previously, all of the dinosaurs are apparently built and waiting for the park to be ready for them. Until then they will remain in storage somewhere in Japan.
(10/2/09) I’ve been told we can ignore that model thought to possibly be a piece of Six Flags Dubailand. While the location is certainly right, as it was built for Dubailand, it is not a true representation of anything. This model was build a few years ago before any of the big Dubai plans were finalized and it was just supposed to be a wacky out-there blue sky kind of model showing off how over the top Dubailand could be.
(10/1/09) An interesting model pictures has been seen on the ‘net lately showing off a model of a proposed new theme park project. You can see it posted currently over at CoasterFusion where some believe that this could be a first look at the Six Flags Dubailand project. Anyone know more about what this is?
(8/6/09) I came across a funny news release (funny to me at least...) that proudly claims that the world’s first Casper The Friendly Ghost theme park will open in Dubai “by the first quarter of next year.” At first I thought that this had to be some kind of sick joke… I mean Dubai hasn’t been able to get any of the dozen or so major theme park projects open to date yet and somehow a “Casper” park will open in early 2010?
They go on with a few more “facts”, placing the park inside the Dubai Festival Centre, to be 6,340 square meters, feature a coaster, crazy rafts, bumper cars and “the middle east’s biggest monorail.” (Wouldn’t the monorail out on The Palm be the biggest already?) Of course if all that wasn’t enough to have you scratching your head, just ponder the concept of a Casper theme park in general. I mean we’re talking about a character created in the late 30’s that is virtually unknown to most of today’s children, unless there is some secret underground obsession with Casper in Dubai that I’m not aware of.
I’m starting to think that Dubai developers have begun to scrape the bottom of the idea barrel and are trying to grab any available I.P. they can. What’s next? A Heckle and Jeckle park? Super Chicken?
(8/5/09) A Screamscape source tell us not to expect F1-X to be finished in time for 2010. All work at the site is said to have been stopped for weeks now, the project team is said to have been sent home, and there is no set time line to begin work again. They tell us that at this point it will be at least 2011 before the park is ready to open.
(6/16/09) The CEO of Union Properties, the company behind the F1-X Theme Park in Dubailand has resigned this week and is being replaced by Khalid al Jarwan, a former executive of Dubai Investments Group and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. No reason was given for his departure but perhaps a little shake-up in the management tree will get the F1-X Theme Park firing on all cylinders.
(5/11/09) In a new announcement from Dubailand, they report that everything that they have announced will be built (The Universal Studios, Six Flags, DreamWorks, Marvel and Tiger Woods projects), but they will open in their own phases. Most of the projects should be ready by 2015 however. While no exact opening date was available for the Universal Studios park, they did report that the F1-X theme park would be ready for 2010. The dinosaur themed Restless Planet park was also moving ahead as planned, as 250 dinosaurs were reported as being “ready” for the park, in storage somewhere in Japan.
(4/14/09) While we haven’t heard much lately about the troubles in Dubai, there is an interesting article posted here talks about the dark side of trying to do business over there right now as countless contractors are apparently owed millions right now. The article used on UK crews, but it seems that many have been asked to lower their prices while many more have been waiting months to get paid for jobs done and reaching the point where legal action may need to be taken. It seems getting paid in Dubai may have become very difficult. A great quote is in the last paragraph where an anonymous source brings up the subject of a lawsuit to get paid and was told that if they sue they’ll never work in Dubai again.
(3/17/09) According to an interview with Mark Shapiro, Six Flags Dubailand is funded but could see its projected 2012 opening pushed back up to a year. He also mentioned that the park will open with two "world class coasters", one steel and one wood.
(3/10/09) The F1-Theme Park could be in danger of being canceled entirely if the project can’t get access to financing or government aid very soon.
(2/27/09) The news has confirmed that the opening of the F1-X Theme Park will be delayed for a year.
(2/26/09) According to this news article, the latest buzz in the middle east is that the F1-X Theme Park may be delayed because the developers has run out of money. Apparently the plan was to make money to finish the park with the sale of homes, but with the real estate market crash there, this has not been possible. They also mention that local rumors suggest that the Ferrari World theme park will also be delayed for a year.
(2/11/09) According to this article about just what is going on in Dubailand, the SVP of Dubailand reports that while they are reviewing all of their projects that have not started construction, they are going to finish the projects that are already underway. He goes on to name F1-X at Motor City (aka: F1 Theme Park), Universal Studios are currently “on track”, with Uni still looking to open by late 2010 or 2011 and F1-X to open by the end of 2009. Other projects still under-way include Tiger Woods Dubai and Asia Asia. The Global Village project however is under review right now and the City of Arabia is currently on hold for three months.
(2/6/09) A great list of some of the projects in the UAE that have either been cancelled or put on-hold can be found here along with their projected value. Aqua Dunya ($900 million) is currently listed here as only being On Hold and the Falcon City Of Wonders that was going to build scale replicas of world famous monuments (Eiffel Tower, Tower of Pissa, Taj Mahal, etc) has been cancelled. Now take a look at this article where they estimate that $263 billion in projects has been delayed or cancelled outright so far. Of note is this quote, “Five projects at the $110 billion Dubailand development, which was billed to be the pinnacle of the Dubai's tourism draw, are on hold or canceled, including the $2.2 billion Universal City development that was destined to be one of the world's largest theme parks.” So I’m confused… first Universal Dubailand is delayed until 2012 and now this article says it’s on hold. It also lists the Great Dubai Wheel project has either being cancelled or on-hold right now.
(2/5/09) Here is some of the latest news and rumors regarding Dubai projects as more and more projects seem to be getting the axe. An indoor “snow park” concept for Dubailand is now apparently dead. Some say Six Flags Dubailand is alive while the locals tell another story. According to a local source the huge billboard for the Six Flags park that was up next to the Dubailand site has now been taken down, which is not a good sign, as the billboards for other projects that have been canned like the Aqua Dunya waterpark also had their signs removed. On a positive note, the City of Arabia site is still full of active construction and even has a 20 foot T-Rex statue looking over the construction wall, as this is to be the home of the Restless Planet attraction.
(1/30/09) More sad news for Dubai this week as one of our sources claims that the F1 Theme Park is not going to make the deadline and open this year after all. Earlier we had heard that the Gerstlauer Eurofighter coaster wasn’t going to be finished until 2010 anyway, but now it seems that the entire park will be delayed as well.
(1/23/09) According to a Screamscape source there may have been a major shakeup over at Dubailand earlier this week. According to the whispers floating in from the desert sand, Tatweer apparently took an axe (or a nerf bat) to the various Dubailand projects, killing several projects outright and putting most of the rest “on hold” for at least 12 to 24 months. While the delayed opening of the Universal Studios park was already announced earlier this week, some of the other projects may not have been so lucky. Anyone know more?
(12/8/08) Over the weekend we learned that an plans for Intamin to build a bigger/faster version of Kingda Ka for Dubai are off the table. That doesn’t mean that something big isn’t still in the works, it just wont be another Kinda Ka / Top Thrill Dragster style coaster.
(12/5/08) During an interview with Mark Shapiro posted at the LA Times, they touched briefly on the Six Flags Dubailand project. While Shapiro didn’t confirm the exact coasters going into that park, he did say that it would receive major coasters on the scale of: Kingda Ka, El Toro, Nitro and X2. This kind of matches up with another rumor we had heard that Intamin had been asked to come up with another Rocket coaster design that would be bigger and faster than Kingda Ka for a park in the Middle East.
(12/1/08) I have to give credit to CoastersandMore for being the first to uncover a bunch of the Gerstlauer and Premier Rides news we posted last week, though it’s all in German so I’ll have to take their word for it. They also dropped off a bit of extra information about that Premier Rides launched coaster, claiming that not only would it have a gigantic 80 meter tall spike at the end of the run, but that the cars will actually spin 180º while going through this element, turning around half-pipe style to face back down towards the ground.
(11/28/08) Screamscape sources tell us that the customized Gerstlauer Eurofighter project for the F1 theme park in Dubai wont open until 2010. The coaster will feature custom designed trains, a 30 meter tall vertical lift hill, 97º beyond-vertical first drop and five inversions (zero g roll, two corkscrews and a Cobra Roll) along the 500 meter track. Meanwhile we’ve also heard that Premier Rides is behind three more coasters going into the park. One is said to be very similar to the Italian Job coasters at the former Paramount parks, but will be given an old style race car theme. They are also said to be working on some kind of new junior inverted concept as well as a classic Premier launched coaster project that will stand 70 meters tall.
Meanwhile I’ve been sent a few more details about Maurer Sohne’s racing/dueling coaster project for the Ferrari park. While it will not feature any inversions each of the two tracks is said to feature four different LSM powered booster sections to add the thrill of acceleration in mid ride as well as likely to allow for each side to take the lead from the other from time to time.
(11/12/08) Today we’ve got a few more updates about just what’s going on in Dubai… or rather what isn’t going on. First on the list today is the Legends of Araabia Dubailand project as seen here, which was announced back in 2005 and was actually supposed to open it’s first phase in 2008. The Legends project was supposed to blend a theme park with retail and residential areas. You can see what the site looked like back in 2006 here and then take a look at what it looked like in October 2008 over at TheThemeParkGuy.
Meanwhile lets look at some other projects that have been announced and when they are supposed to open. According to the billboards Marvel Dubailand should open in 2012, Dreamworks Dubailand should open in 2012, Six Flags Dubailand in 2011 and Legoland Dubailand in 2011. So far I don’t believe anything in the way of construction has even begun on any of those high profile projects. According to another trusted Screamscape source, most of the development on the various UAE projects has come to a screeching halt lately, such as the Warner Bros. park in Abu Dhabi which was said to have been put officially on hold just last week. Meanwhile an article has also been posted claiming that Nakheel may be slowing down their work schedule on the Palm Deria project, the largest of the three Palm islands. This is not to be confused with the Palm Jebel Ali however, which is slated to become the site of the Worlds of Discovery parks.
From what I’ve been led to understand, the only fully funded projects that are moving ahead right now and actually being worked on are Universal Studios Dubailand, the F1 Theme Park and the Ferrari park project. In the meantime, pop on over to TheThemeParkGuy to see some of the latest status updates on these and many more of the projects that have been announced for the area.
(11/10/08) Things are not looking so bright and cheerful in Dubia as the financial impact of the massive projects planned there are starting to crash. The real estate boom is coming to an end and the credit crunch is causing the developers to look into delaying or even canceling some of their projects. With construction already started on Univesal Studios Dubailand, it seems a good bet that the project will be finished, but the same can not be said for some of the other projects that have yet to make the leap from the drawing board.
Our first example of this may be the massive Aqua Dunya waterpark resort project which actually broke ground back in May 2007 with the goal of opening in January 2010. Now take look at the following two picture links posted by TheThemeParkGuy showing off the future home of Aqua Dunya (marked by a giant billboard) as seen in December 2007 and then take a look at the same site as of October 2008. Not only as the billboard graphic been removed, but there seems to have been zero construction progress on the site and the park’s official website has also been taken offline.
(9/23/08) It seems a little bit of a scandal has popped into the news for one Dubailand project. DIB (Dubai Islamic Bank) has sized the land assets of developer Plantation Holdings who was building some kind of equestrian themed resort project in Dubailand. The project itself is the Plantation Equestrian & Polo Club, a mix of a hotel, 100 villas for sale, as well as a polo and equestrian academy. The British owners of Plantation Holdings along with a few others are being questioned by police for suspected financial embezzlement of project funds. I believe you can find the project’s official website here.
(9/12/08) Today I’ve got a a few updates to share for the various projects going on in Dubai thanks to TheThemeParkGuy.com. First take a look at the amazing looking new Atlantis The Palm resort at the outer edge of The Palm island. According to the official website (AtlantisThePalm.com) the resort will open on September 24th. From here we’ll take a general look at the Dubailand site itself and according to the site, there just hasn’t been a lot of progress on much at this point. He pretty much goes down the list of all the major projects announced so far for 2008, 2009, 2010 and beyond and says that the only project that is clearly under construction right now is Universal Studios Dubailand. Everything else is just desert, roads, maybe a showroom or a few billboards, but nothing you would really call progress as these projects get further and further behind. I just hope this wasn’t all just a bunch of talk… as so far all we have seen is an endless stream of big announcements.
(8/14/08) As if Dubai didn’t already have enough high profile theme park projects in the works, the existing Wonderland park will be given an infusion of Dh615 ($167.4 million) to upgrade the park and build all new attractions, hotels, restaurants, shops and more with the goal of making it a more Disney style park. The work will begin within the next few weeks and be finished before the end of 2010.
(6/12/08) Some new details about the Restless Planet park and attractions can be found here, where they mention that even more details should be released later today.
(5/16/08) Six Flags Dubailand has announced that they have completed the basic master plan for the new park. The first phase will break ground in 2009, is set to open in 2011, will feature 30 rides and expected to have over 3 million visitors a year.
(5/15/08) Dubailand has announced the finalization of the master plan for the Marvel Superhero theme park project. The 4.5 million square foot project will consist of three themed areas: City Centrum, The HUB and The Marvel Academy. The article goes on to mention three of the park’s rides by name: Flying with Spidey, Fantasticar, and X-men: Danger Room, all of which are currently undergoing “offsite trial runs”. In total the park will offer 17 different rides and attractions. The groundbreaking is expected to take place in early 2009 and the park should be ready to open by December 31st, 2012.
(5/8/08) An article posted to ArabianBusiness.com says that Dubailand is on track to meet its deadline to open Phase One by December 2010, which is supposed to include the new Universal Studios Dubailand opening on December 10th, 2010. It goes on to say that of the 24 major projects in development, all of them should have started construction before the end of this year with six of them already well under way. The estimated total development cost for all of Dubailand is said to be a jaw-dropping $63.9 billion!
(5/7/08) The large Lego Miniland model of the The Burj Dubai seen in yesterday’s press release is currently on display already at the Arabian Travel Market as seen in these pictures (see below) sent in by a reader.
(5/6/08) Merlin Entertaiment has announced the creation of Legoland Dubailand this morning and sent out pictures of the first model created at Legoland California for the new park, a Lego version of The Burj Dubai, which upon completion will be the world’s tallest building. The model is made of nearly 140,000 LEGO bricks and took a team of model builders 1,342 hours to research, design and build. This model is the first of many of Dubai’s amazing landmarks LEGOLAND California’s Model Team is building for Miniland Dubai. Legoland Dubailand is scheduled to open by the end of 2011 and will be a 3 million square-foot theme park that features 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions. Merlin Entertainment and Tatweer are also looking at building a number of other possible developments including Legoland themed hotels and other Merlin Entertainment venues.
(5/2/08) Another new theme park concept has been announced for Dubailand called Freej Dubailand, a 4-million square-foot family entertainment area themed around the characters of Freej, the Middle-East’s most popular 3D animated series. From the description, the “four elderly ladies in Freej” will serve as ambassadors to four distinct lands within the park: Window on UAE, Golden Age of Discovery, Myths & Legends and Land of the Freej, a replica of the neighborhood seen on the series. I believe this is the official website for the show and you can find a short video preview of the series as well.
(4/21/08) According to this news report, Marvel Entertainment and Tatweer have finalize the design of the new Marvel superhero theme park going into Dubailand. The project will feature characters like Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Hulk and Spider-Man and open by 2012. The deal was originally announced as a partnership between Marvel and Al Ahli Group but Tatweer has stepped in to oversee and develop the project. Al Ahli Group also had previously signed a deal with Nickelodeon, but it’s unclear if that deal has also gone over to Tatweer as well.
(3/17/08) According to this progress update the Formula 1 Theme Park is on track to open in the third quarter of 2009. It also says that “the following year will see the launch of the first water theme park, Universal Studios and the City of Arabia.” In addition a golf course, Global Village, Dubai Outlet City, Plantation World and the Al Sahara Desert Resort are also expected to open in 2010.
(3/7/08) Today we’ve got a quick note as to why Six Flags Dubailand will not feature any of the Time Warner characters as well as why Thomas was left out of the mix. First off Thomas is technically part of HIT Entertainment, who just signed their own deal with Dubailand on 2/22/08. Meanwhile Time Warner’s characters (which includes not only the various Warner Bros. properties, but also Looney Tunes and DC Comic characters) are all locked up by another pre-existing deal to build a Warner Bros. theme park in nearby Abu Dhabi.
(3/5/08) I’ve got a couple of new tidbids on Six Flags Dubailand. According to Screamscape sources the park is looking to open in 2012 right now, though this could easily be pushed back a year depending on how quickly construction can begin. I was also told a surprising fact, that the deal would not include any rights to use Time Warner or DC Comic characters. So this means no Bugs Bunny, no Looney Tunes, no Batman: The Ride, no Superman coasters or drop towers… no Justice League. NADA!
So this is why the press release only mentioned the newer properties Six Flags has acquired like The Wiggles and Tony Hawk. Funny though… Thomas was not mentioned either. It’s hard enough to imagine a Six Flags parks before Batman was introduced anymore, going back to when the first Batman: The Ride was first introduced back in 1992. But even before that Six Flags was always about Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes, so it’s hard to visualize just what Six Flags Dubailand will look like or even have in the way of Costume Characters at this point.
(3/4/08) Six Flags has announced a deal with Tatweer (a member of Dubai Holding) to build new Six Flags Theme Parks in the Arab world, starting with Six Flags DUBAILAND. Groundbreaking is set for 2009 and the park is expected to feature attractions themed to The Wiggles, Tony Hawk and original shows and concepts. The deal will also seek to open other new Six Flags branded concepts across the region such as Six Flags branded hotels, restaurants, retail outlets as well as other theme and water parks.
Tatweer’s other Dubai projects in development include Tiger Woods Dubai, Universal Studios Dubailand, the Dreamworks Animation park, the Hit Entertainment park and the Global Village project.
It’s interesting to note that the press release keeps calling Six Flags Dubailand “the first Six Flags theme park outside of North America,” since they have apparently forgotten all about the previous managements wild but short run in Europe with parks like Six Flags Belgium and Six Flags Holland. And before everyone gets upset about Six Flags debt levels, keep in mind that Six Flags is likely not paying for any of these parks and instead will likely be paid very well for the rights to use the Six Flags brand names as well as their services in the creation of these new attractions. This can deal can only help Six Flags pay off their debts.
(2/25/08) A good update on the various Dubiland projects can be found here. It mentions that the focus point of “Phase One” will be the Universal Studios park, Ernie Els Golf Course, Global Village, Dubai Outlet City, Plantation World, the Al Sahara Desert Resort and the Foruma One Theme Park. I believe the idea is to finish most of these by 2010.
There is also the City of Arabia mall project that is said to be so large it may take your average shopper 20 hours just to walk through it all, which will also include the Restless Planet dinosaur theme park. All said the done City of Arabia will be the largest mall in the world for a short time as it seems there is a bigger project in the works elsewhere.
They also mention the massive Aqua Dunya waterpark and resort that will include a full scale ship on it’s lake called the Desert Pearl that will be bigger than the QE2. The ship itself will contain a 400 room five-star hotel, a theater and a number of indoor attractions for the theme park. The Desert Pearl is actually the focus of the entire story behind the park, said to be a steam ship built by a boy who grew up fascinated with the sea, traveled the world and then returns to dock the ship in the Oasis where it was covered up by a stand-storm until the Aqua Dynya team discovered it in the desert.
From the sound of it Dubailand may be divided into various themed “City” areas as it refers to Dubai Sport City which will have several stadiums, a Motor City area where the F1 Theme Park will be located and Dubai Outlets City. Other attractions and areas mentioned include: the Dubai Wheel (giant wheel), Dubai Lifestyle City (residential area), Beauty Land (for the ladies), Golf City (5 courses and villas, one of which I believe will be the Tiger Woods Dubai project), Falcon City of Wonders (more villas with plans to build a bigger version of the Eiffel Tower), a “health farm” and Education City. It seems this may be why the Universal Studios theme park is often referred to as Universal City Dubailand.
All this is just the start too as countless other projects and expansions are in the works for Phase Two, all of which they want finished by 2020.
(2/22/08) A deal has been signed with Hit Entertainment to bring a Little Big Club themed park project to Dubailand based on characters like Bob The Builder, Barney and Pingu.
(1/21/08) According to this article, Tatweer (A Dubia owned real estate company) has signed a deal with Dreamworks Animation to create a Dreamworks branded theme park in Dubailand. Tatweer is main developer of the Dubialand project and is also connect to the previously announced Universal Studios Dubai project as well.
(12/19/07) According to this article Restless Planet, one of Dubai’s new theme park projects, is set to open in late 2008. This dinosaur themed park attraction will cost $1 billion and use 109 different animatronic dinosaurs. Some of these next-gen dinosaur figures have been designed to be interactive. For example, they mention a a T-Rex with a sensor in it that will allow the beast to target and track guests wearing red as if they were prey.
(5/4/07) Nickelodeon has signed a licensing deal with Al Ahli Group (AAG) that will allow the use of SpongeBob SquarePants and other Nick characters into a new Dubai park project. This should be the same park that (AAG) just signed a deal with in March to use the Marvel Super Hero characters in. There’s just so much happening all at once in Dubai these days.
(4/2/07) A reader has pointed out a few new websites showing off new aspects of the massive Dubailand project. Our first stop is the Mall of Arabia, which is expected to be one of the largest malls in the world and contain Restless Planet, a new dinosaur theme park project.
(3/21/07) The United Arab Emirate based Al Ahli Group (AAG) and Marvel Entertainment announced yesterday a partnership that will bring the entire catalog of Marvel comic characters into play for a new theme park project budgeted at $1 billion from AAG for the Dubai area that will open in 2011.
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