Theme Parks
Desert Operations
Dubai is on the brink of a theme park revolution and the next few years will be critical in the development of the attractions market in the region. We talk to the movers and shakers
Things were looking bleak for Dubai in 2007. Money set to be invested in projects across the UAE suddenly disappeared as the global financial crisis hit. A number of theme park projects collapsed, with billions lost in investments.
But Dubai is bouncing back, presenting itself as “Orlando 2.0” in the run-up to its 2020 Expo. Research from PwC forecasts that theme park revenues in the UAE will increase up 78 per cent by 2019, to a predicted AED3bn ($817m, £561m €724m).
The Orlando 2.0 concept centres around three major developments: IMG Worlds of Adventure, Dubai Parks and Resorts and Fox World Dubai.
Opening imminently, the colossal IMG Worlds of Adventure site will be the world’s largest indoor theme park, while the multi-park Dubai Parks and Resorts continues to expand, recently announcing plans for a Six Flags park in addition to its Bollywood, Hollywood and Legoland theme parks which are opening in 2017.
The desert landscape heats up further with 20th Century Fox World, which comes to Dubai in 2018. And that’s all in addition to the existing Ferrari World, which is also working on a major expansion.
With hotel occupancy growing and Dubai on target to attract 20 million tourists annually by 2020, the Dubai Tourism Authority sees the under-development theme parks as crucial to maintaining visitor numbers both up to and beyond the 2020 Expo.
However, with the financial crash casting a long shadow and the UAE facing uncertainties around the future of its main export – oil – is Orlando 2.0 a viable option that can take Dubai to the next level? Attractions Management talked to three theme park heads who are driving the renewed growth in the region.
20th Century Fox Dubai
Senior vice president of location-based entertainment,,
20th Century Fox World
How did 20th Century Fox World Dubai come about?
Four years ago, we announced our first park in Malaysia and doing that offered us a chance to look at the rest of the world and ask where else the concept could work. We decided Dubai has learned a lot from its past experiences and applied some very thoughtful strategy to the way it’s going to enter and grow in this market.
What will the park be like?
The blueprint has a couple of key characteristics. Visitors walk through a movie screen and become fully immersed in the worlds of Fox film and television IPs. We’re going to have fun with the entry sequence from location to location but that will be the narrative that people experience when they enter the park. Once you’re inside, it’s going to be clear that we’re building lands around our brands. There will be multiple experiences wrapped with the individual brands. It’s not going to be a studio park in the traditional sense.
What makes this attraction different?
We want to create a unique experience in every market, but that doesn’t preclude the parks sharing some of our flagship brands. We’re intent on creating a DNA for the park that is uniquely Fox. When visitors walk into the park, they’ll know they’re in a Fox World park. There will be variations in the way we treat IPs at each location. I want people to go to Dubai and then go to Malaysia and feel like they’ve had very different experiences, but still feel that they’ve visited a Fox World park.
Some IPs are no-brainers for a park of this type. Ice Age and Rio lend themselves wonderfully to a theme park. Titanic will be part of the parks. In the case of Dubai, we’ve announced the Simpsons and Sons of Anarchy – hopping on that motorcycle will translate into a very visceral experience. Alien would be a terrific brand to explore.
How is Dubai shaping up as a global destination?
Orlando is the golden goose. I think that’s certainly the general consensus. But if you look at the key hallmarks of Orlando, you’ve got the same in Dubai. In Orlando there are the big studio parks like Universal and Disney – the kings of the hill there – and then you’ve got operators like SeaWorld and Legoland. You’ve got critical mass with the big operators and they’re all doing well. In Orlando, all ships rise on that tide and that’s exactly what Dubai aspires to. Fox World, Dubai Parks and Resorts and IMG Worlds of Adventure are the destinations that are going to sustain that critical mass. I think Dubai has entered the next phase of its development.
What plans do you have going forward?
We are planning additional resorts outside the UAE. I think it’s safe to say that Fox would be interested in certain markets if specific milestones are met.
20th Century Fox Dubai
Price: AED3.1bn ($850m, €745m, £589m)
Opening: 2018
Size: 4 million sq ft (371,612sqm)
Key IPs: Ice Age, Rio, Planet of the Apes, The Simpsons, Titanic
F&B/Hospitality/Retail: Fox-themed resort hotel
Key Groups: Al Ahli Holding Group, 20th Century Fox, Rethink Leisure & Entertainment
Projected annual visitors: 4 to 5 million
IMG Worlds of Adventure
General manager,
IMG Worlds of Adventure
How did IMG Worlds of Adventure come about?
The whole park was conceptualised by the owners, Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari. It was their vision. They acquired two strong brands in Marvel and Cartoon Network, and they wanted to build a dinosaur component of their own. Their passion for theme parks drove them to conceptualise the park.
What will the park be like?
The park is divided into four sections. Marvel is one of the strongest movie franchises, and in this zone we’ve put all the characters into a live setting. Then we have our Cartoon Network section. The network, part of the Turner Broadcasting Group, airs in more than 190 countries. The Lost Valley is where we created the dinosaur adventure, bringing a prehistoric environment to life.
What is the target audience?
We’re expecting to attract about 50 per cent local residents and 50 per cent tourists. Our strength is that we’ve eliminated seasonality: the attraction offer is year-round and that makes it appealing in the hot weather. There’s also a lack of activities like this for residents to do. With the mix of characters in the parks and the collection of rides and attractions, the key age bracket we are targeting is 18- to 35-year-olds.
What makes this attraction different?
Dubai is four hours away from one-third of the world’s population, but there’s nothing on this scale available for this market. Within an eight-hour flight radius you can reach two-thirds of the world’s population. There’s only a handful of attractions that can compete. It’s an untapped market and new attractions will help inspire people to want to visit this region.
What plans do you have going forward?
The park is built to be future-proof. We’ve left room for expansion to add new attractions over the next five years. In terms of our business model, we’re looking to replicate this – on a larger scale – across the world. It’s a highly replicable model because you can eliminate seasonality, which is such a key factor today.
What are your thoughts on Dubai as destination?
Dubai is following an Orlando 2.0 model and the competitive landscape is shaping up nicely. There are a lot of attractions opening. Dubai will eventually turn into an Orlando-style destination where theme parks are one of the main draws for tourists. There’s no reason why it can’t happen: Dubai has more hotel rooms than Orlando and the airport is twice as busy.
IMG Worlds of Adventure
Price: AED3.7bn ($1bn, €877m, £693m)
Opening: 15 August 2016
Size: 1.5 million sq ft (139,354sq m)
What’s included: Four themed areas based on Cartoon Network, Marvel, Lost Valley – Dinosaur Adventure and IMG Boulevard
Key IPs: Adventure Time, The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, The Amazing World of Gumball, Iron Man, Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers
Standout Rides/Experiences: Avengers: Battle of Ultron, Avengers: Flight of the Quinjets, Ben 10 5D Hero Time, Adventure Time - The Ride of OOO with Finn & Jake, The Powerpuff Girls – Mojo Jojo’s Robot Rampage!
F&B/Hospitality/Retail: 25 retail outlets and 28 F&B outlets on IMG Boulevard
Key Groups: Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group
Ticket price: Adults AED300 ($82, €72, £57), Kids AED250 ($68, €60, £47)
Capacity: 20,000 people per day
Matthew Priddy,
Chief technical officer,
Dubai Parks and Resorts
How did Dubai Parks and Resorts come about?
The plan for the theme park destination stemmed from Dubai’s mission for the 2020 Expo and its desire to bring in 20 million visitors annually. In support of that, we realised that providing a destination resort able to cater to all age groups was essential. There’s Legoland for young people; Bollywood, which has a huge fanbase within six hours of here, and Motiongate for the older audience. There’s a hotel, retail and dining area called Riverland. It’s the vision of Dubai Parks and Resorts CEO Raed al Nuaimi.
What will the park be like?
Legoland is its own brand and everyone has a level of expectation about what Merlin will deliver. Motiongate is the Hollywood-based theme park, which has DreamWorks, Sony, Smurfs and Lionsgate areas.
The Lionsgate land is based around the Hunger Games franchise and features a launch coaster themed as the bullet train from District 13. The Sony area features IPs like Ghostbusters, Hotel Transylvania and Zombieland and the DreamWorks area includes Shrek, King Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon.
Bollywood is going to be rich, colourful, playful, musical – all those good things. A Bollywood-themed attraction has never been done before. The attractions are based on iconic films from Bollywood from the last 50 years, motion-based, media-based attractions using some of the industry’s biggest films. We think these are going to be a huge draw. There’s also a Bollywood theatre which visitors can enjoy in the evenings.
Riverland is the F&B zone and it’s a walk through time. At the start, visitors experience a centuries-old architectural style. As they progress from one end to the other the style gets more up to date. The end is a high-energy citywalk area, with neon lights and contemporary graphics.
What makes this attraction different?
There were a couple of factors in selecting Dubai for the resort. The infrastructure was one of them. With the hotels and great airline services, the ability for us to absorb high numbers of guests is essentially already there. In addition, there really aren’t any multi-day mega-resorts like this in the region. I guess the closest would be EuroDisney, but in terms of the Orlando effect, there’s nothing like it within a six to 10 hour radius by air.
Dubai is all about world records and world firsts. We’re going to accomplish our own record, which is building three theme parks and a mega-resort all at one time, whereas similar resorts around the world have grown over time. That’s going to be a huge achievement for us. At the moment we’re also in a position where we are very confident that this is all going to happen on time and on budget.
What plans do you have going forward?
Right now we’re focused on the opening, but there is a built-in expansion capacity within each park just like any smart developer would have in any other destination. We’re expecting there’ll be higher demand than capacity so we’ll probably introduce some form of capacity management programme. So expansion is not on our radar, but there are plans in place should we want to grow.
How do you feel about the theme park boom in Dubai?
A second Orlando is a possibility. There are numerous parks and developments in the region. We don’t consider them competition, but complementary. Orlando is a destination city for theme parks and I think that’s going to happen in Dubai. I can think of half-a-dozen theme park projects under development in the area, not to mention the 2020 Expo.
It’s important that this region diversifies its economy. Dubai has its real estate, to some extent its oil, but it’s going to become a tourist entertainment destination. We think that will be very sustainable.
Dubai Parks and Resorts
Price: AED13.2bn ($3.6bn, €3.2bn, £2.5bn)
Opening: 31 October 2016 (Six Flags Q4 2019)
Size: 25 million sq ft (2,322,576sqm)
What’s included: Legoland Dubai, Legoland Dubai Water Park, Motiongate Dubai, Bollywood Park Dubai, Riverland, Six Flags Dubai. 85 shows, rides and attractions
Key IPs: Smurfs, Hunger Games, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, Shrek, Ghostbusters, Lego, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
F&B/Hospitality/Retail: A range of shops and F&B across all parks.
Also includes Lapita Hotel, a Polynesian themed family resort, and Riverland
Key Groups: Meeras Holding, Merlin Entertainments, Mack, Gerstlauer, ETF, Zamperla, S&M, Dynamic Attractions, Holovis, Simworx, P&P Projects
Ticket price: Annual Pass AED2,495 ($679, €596, £471)
Projected annual visitors: 5.5 million
TRUE BLUE
We catch up with P&P Projects to get the lowdown on the Smurfs zone they’re creating in Dubai
P&P Projects is overseeing the realisation of Smurfs Village, one of the major zones of Motiongate theme park at Dubai Parks & Resorts. The themed zone based on the famous Belgian cartoon creation – an enchanting mushroom-house town full of the lovable little blue creatures – is set to be one of the highlights of the development.
Tell us about Smurfs Village.
Stefan: We’re working on Smurfs Village at Motiongate Dubai, the first Smurfs-inspired theme park zone in the region and the largest of its kind in the world. P&P Projects is responsible for the design and build of scenery in the outdoor area as well as working specifically on certain attractions.
Ifat: P&P has created numerous Smurf figures, both animated and static, that will be positioned throughout the themed zone.
What attractions will there be?
Stefan: There are five immersive attractions within the zone. There’s a family coaster, Smurf Village Express, which takes guests soaring above the enchanted Smurf-themed land. We’re doing the theming for the rollercoaster. Then there’s a family-focused dark ride, Smurfs Studio Tours, and we’re working on all show sets for that, including the queue area. It’s all in keeping with the style of the movie, Smurfs: The Lost Village, which comes out in 2017. In the attraction, visitors see how the Smurfs make movies and they become the stars of the show.
Ifat: There’s also a live animated interactive show at the Playhouse, the outdoor Woodland Play Park play zone and the Smurfberry Factory soft play area. You’ll be able to see Smurfs walking around and interact with them, or even eat with them in the café.
Do you enjoy working with big IPs?
Ifat: Yes, of course! The Smurfs IP is really popular again and it’s good timing with the new film coming out. We’ve enjoyed working on many other IPs, including various Disney properties, Star Wars for Madame Tussauds, Ice Age for Movie Park Germany and Arthur in the Minimoys Kingdom for Europa Park.
Stefan: Well-known IPs are the symbolic children of the companies or people who create them, so it is a challenge to translate the IP and surrounding world into something tangible with an authentic visual language.
Ifat: Yes, you mustn’t underestimate how much is involved in translating an IP world into 3D and telling the story in the best way.
Stefan: The key is not only understanding what the IP holder and the operator want to accomplish, but also understanding the IP itself – the characters and world they live in. You have to empathise with all aspects. With this project, we’re at the point where we can tell what each Smurf is thinking.
Ifat: We have turned blue here!
Stefan: We know how they feel, how they act, how they react to each other and that’s what we aim to convey through the décor and the figures. You have to capture their personality. We work to capture all aspects of the IP, not just the visual language.
