Dubai Parks & Resorts: General Discussion

[Matt N]

Hi guys. I decided to make this thread for Dubai Parks & Resorts as I have some news that affects both Motiongate and Bollywood, so I didn't want to make two separate threads for the same news.

Anyway, on to the news.

Many of you may remember that Six Flags Dubai was due to be part of the Dubai Parks & Resorts complex, but was cancelled at the start of last year. Well, in an interesting turn of events, it would seem that Motiongate Dubai and Bollywood Park are to receive some of the rides intended for the cancelled park, as there is now a lot of coaster track of various types spread around the Dubai Parks & Resorts complex, as well as construction going on in both Motiongate and Bollywood Park.

There's a lot of track of various types and colours, but to make it a little simpler, roomraider on CoasterForce has collated some photos of some of the various track around the complex:

Are you sure it was Intamin track? I know in mid 2019 there were at least 2 coasters stored behind capitol bullet train.

One was an S&S Freespin with green track and black supports and one is a bit less clear cut but is thought to be a maurer spinning coaster with white track and blue supports. (Its perfectly possible Intamin track was added after of course)


Heres some images from the previous page of this thread showing those two coasters

S&S Freespin

Possible Maurer coaster


Those can also be clearly seen in this satellite view. Does that match up with your memory?

Theres also a few other coasters spread around.

For example to the south of the old Six Flags site we have this unknown red coaster as well as possibly bits for the power splash in blue and maybe even some more black bits for a different a bit further up

Then over behind Bollywood theres these interesting looking bits as well

All these satellite images are a little old now (mid 2019) and we know theres been quite a bit of groundwork at Bollywood at least since then.

Hopefully soon we might get some better views.

There are apparently also other planned coasters that can't be seen here.

However, it gets better. Ben from CoasterForce also states that he talked to the marketing manager at Motiongate, and some of the track stored by Capitol Bullet Train (which is apparently white Intamin track with a very distinctive Red Force-style spine, by the way) is apparently going to be used for a record breaking coaster. Here's what he had to say:

There’s a lot of big, white Intamin track behind Capitol and a lot of construction going on - or at least there was in September - take this with a pinch of salt, but we were told when we were there it was going to be the worlds tallest. I don’t know if that’ll literally mean bigger than Ka but I imagine it means at least pretty substantial!

That sounds very exciting to me!

So to summarise, there are a lot of unbuilt coasters lying around the Dubai Parks & Resorts complex. I was told that the coasters currently known to be available for Motiongate and Bollywood are as follows:

• Green S&S Free Spin (location unknown)
• Blue Mack PowerSplash (going to Bollywood; it's now listed as such on RCDB: https://rcdb.com/18311.htm)
• Coaster with white track and aqua supports that is presumed to be a Maurer spinner based on photos (location unknown)
• GCI wooden coaster (track has not shown up, but has been mentioned in previous press releases as having "the most airtimes in the world". Location unknown)
• Unknown red coaster (location unknown)
• Unknown white Intamin (location presumed to be Motiongate based on rumours)

If you want more info, here's the CoasterForce thread where I got the info from: http://forums.coasterforce.com/threads/no-six-flags-dubai-for-now.31689/page-4

And here's a Blooloop link that also talks a bit about the plans: https://blooloop.com/news/dxb-rides-bollywood-motiongate-six-flags-dubai-cancelled/

In my opinion, this is exciting for Dubai Parks & Resorts! What do you guys think?

 

[Matt N]

Sorry for double posting, but I've been searching around for more on these coasters, and I have found a little more:

• A key manager for Motiongate mentions "an upcoming expansion of the Lionsgate area" in this podcast: https://cdn.ek.aero/downloads/ek/trailers/220201389.mp3
• According to theparklifekid on TowersTimes, the S&S Free Spin is rumoured for Motiongate and will potentially have a Saw theme.
• I also talked to roomraider again on CoasterForce, and he told me that the GCI is being stored somewhere in Dubai and is rumoured to be starting construction at Bollywood Park very soon.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

This is actually amazing news and, based on how the other projects in the UAE have been built, I expect that it’s likely we’ll see these new coasters open very soon.

DPR is actually a really pleasant resort complex all round with some great IPs and beautiful theming elements. I really hope this achieves every success for them. Along with the Sea World park due to be opening in Abu Dhabi, this provides even more reason to visit the UAE.

 

[Matt N]

Sorry for bumping this, but I just found this really interesting website with very detailed info about a Six Flags Dubai proposal from the past, designed by a company named Legacy Entertainment (just as a side note, most of the art I'm referring to here is on page 1, with a little bit on page 2.): http://www.themeparx.com/six-flags-dubai/


I'm not sure whether this is the proposal that DXB Entertainment was going to build or whether it was the past Tatweer proposal (I'm going to assume the former, but I don't want to be too sure as quite a few of the proposed attractions are very similar to those that are currently stored at Dubai Parks & Resorts), but some of the interesting points to note include:

• The park's themed lands were based on emotions, and were to be as follows; Celebrate, Imagine, Play, Discover, Explore and Wonder.
• Some of the themed lands were also described in more detail, with concept art included (all credit for this concept art goes to an unnamed member on ThemeParX.com, by the way), and while I describe some of the lands, note the similarities between some of the rides described and some of the rides currently stored at Dubai Parks & Resorts, although I admit some of the exact technicalities have changed e.g. manufacturer; maybe these are the types of themes that some of the rides stored would have had if Six Flags Dubai had come to fruition?
• Explore would have been "a homage to the golden age of travel" and would have featured rides such as Screamin' Eagle, a B&M dive coaster, and Roaring Rapids, presumably a rapids ride. There would also have been a vintage cars and a parachute tower:

• Discover would have been "a showcase of some of Six Flags' most epic and heroic brands", and would have featured attractions such as The Dubai Giant, a B&M giga coaster that upon opening would have been "the world's tallest, fastest and longest hyper coaster" (which does beg the question of whether it was destined to be a hyper or giga, but that's besides the point; I think this could have evolved into the Mack hypercoaster), as well as Colossus, a clone of El Toro manufactured by Intamin (I'd assume that this could have evolved into the GCI):

• Play would have been themed as a "kinetic wonderland" and was inspired by the 1964 World's Fair. It apparently would have featured "wind-powered kinetic sculptures" to help power the land, and while not much is specified in terms of rides, I'm going to guess that this would have been the park's kids area:

• Imagine would have been themed as an "optimistic futurescape", and attractions would have included a family suspended coaster, a "hanging dark ride" and Z-Force, a madhouse. I couldn't guess what became of anything planned for this area:

• Wonder would have been themed as an Asian garden village, and would have contained attractions such as Ninja, a spinning coaster that looks to be a Maurer from the renderings (this could have been the white and aqua Maurer spinner currently stored), Tatsu, a Mack water coaster (could this have evolved into the PowerSplash?) and The Magic Pagoda, which is described as a "Tilt House Walkthrough" (I don't know what on earth that is and I couldn't guess what became of it, either.):

On the whole, I think the park would have been fantastic had it come to fruition, with some incredibly abstract themes! With regard to the rides, I think the link between some of the rides in this park and the rides present at Six Flags Dubai is something worth noting, but if this is a completely different proposal, then I hope you find it interesting; I know I'd certainly never seen this concept art before!
P.S. I did have to omit a few images, as the forum won't let me upload more than 30 images in one post; there are more on the website if you want to take a look!

 

[Maelstrom]

Those are the concept images are from the originally planned dubailand six flags park from the 00’s and not the most recent also cancelled Dubai parks and resort project ,

 

[Matt N]

Those are the concept images are from the originally planned dubailand six flags park from the 00’s and not the most recent also cancelled Dubai parks and resort project ,

Ah right. Thanks for the clarification @Maelstrom; that explains some of the different ride choices! I thought these different ride choices would be down to certain rides evolving through the planning stages!

 

[Matt N]

Sorry for double posting, but I have an update! According to CoasterMac305 on CoasterForce, what looks to be a steel-supported wooden coaster of some form is now rising at Bollywood:

Not exactly sure where to put this.


A friend of mine is currently in Dubai and spotted a seemingly mystery coaster going up. First picture shows (what I assume) is the theater at the Bollywood park at DPR, with the coaster going up somewhere near it. Second shot shows the coaster itself, possibly a steel-structured Gravity Group or GCI by the looks of it. Anyone know more?

Exciting stuff! Could we be seeing the GCI wooden coaster I alluded to in my opening post be taking shape?
EDIT: Here’s a link to the original CF post, as the images don’t seem to be loading here: https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/small-news-from-the-theme-park-industry.42689/post-1092242

 

[Matt N]

Sorry for triple posting, but the wooden coaster is apparently being built in Bollywood Park, as this update from the ECC would seem to indicate:

Looks like it should be exciting when open!

 

[Matt N]

Sorry for quadruple posting, but we now have official confirmation of an expansion to Motiongate’s Lionsgate area opening in early 2021.

This is the first phase, and the rides featured are:

• John Wick: Open Contract, an S&S 4D Free Spin where you can either “help” or “hunt” John Wick dependant on which “path through the Continental Hotel” you pick. (I can only assume that that’s referring to the choice between the left and right wings).
• Now You See Me: High Roller, a Maurer spinning coaster themed to a casino. Said to be “the world’s fastest single-car spinning coaster”.
• More info can be found on Dubai Parks & Resorts’ official blog: https://blog.dubaiparksandresorts.c...world-first-rides-and-record-setting-thrills/

This is very exciting stuff, in my opinion, especially considering that there’s apparently more to come!

I should add that Bollywood Park also currently has a Mack PowerSplash, a GCI wooden coaster, and possibly a Mack hyper coaster under construction. Exciting times to be a rollercoaster enthusiast in Dubai!

 

[D4n]

"the world's fastest single car spinning coaster" is such a desperate claim.

Might as well have called it "the world's first coaster themed to a movie franchise about magicians".

 

[Benjsh]

Very 'interesting' choices for IP's to use.

John Wick 1 was really good, the second was decent enough and worth a watch and the last one was utter rubbish. Does that movie franchise lend itself well to a rollercoaster? Not so sure myself.

Now You See Me is even more random in my opinion. The first movie did relatively well I think even though it was cheesy as hell and full of cliches. The second one i didn't even get to the end of as I was so bored with it.

These IP's aren't exactly brand new are they? I assume there must be sequels or spin offs coming or it seems a bit odd to use these for brand new coasters.

Then again thinking about it....there's quite a lot of odd choices in the parks out there already.

 

[Plastic Person]

There is indeed another John Wick due next year, although probably now 2022, as Reeves has only just returned to production on the next Matrix (at one point, they were scheduled to be released on the same day)

Wick is undoubtedly a mid-tier IP compared to Potter, Star Wars or Jurassic Park, but passable. Saying that, not sure I'm interested in the expanding 'universe' of John Wick. The second is my favourite, but only for what it is; brilliantly orchestrated action violence with Reeves' odd charisma at the centre. I don't know if I care about the shady organisation he's working for (or against) or any of the other spin-off nonsense we're being promised. Time will tell.

Now You See Me: The Ride is just a hilariously weak pitch. Given that they also have a Zombieland shot tower, Motiongate are at least cornering the market for theme park attractions based on moderately popular Jesse Eisenberg films with unnecessary sequels.

 

[John_P]

Think there filming John Wick 4 and 5 back to back.

At least their adding a preshow sort of thing with the queues. The ones at Six Flags whilst almost all Joker themed are pretty much barren of themeing barring the entrance.

 

[Benjsh]

Both coasters are now fully constructed however there's not been any testing as yet that I'm aware of. Can't be long till they're both open.

https://www.themeparx.com/dubai-parks-and-resorts-expansion/

Me and the wife have been discussing Holiday plans for next year and both want a change from the usual Spain/Portugal trip as it's getting a bit samey. We're seriously thinking about 10 to 11 days in Dubai at Easter. We'll definitely not be doing all the parks whilst we're there but Motiongate will definitely be on the list of must do's.

 

[Benjsh]

Very excited to say we finally booked for Dubai last night. Spending 12 night there in May (going to be hot hot hot)

So many new parks and coasters to experience for me.

Motiongate
IMG
Legoland Dubai (potentially but not confirmed we will even bother visiting)
Few incredible waterparks
New for 2022 - Storm coaster in Dubai Hills Mall (This is my most anticipated coaster in Dubai)

Can definitely see a visit to Abu Dhabi too and visit Ferrari World as it would be daft not to go and do it whilst we're there.

 

[Rick]

@Benjsh you have to go to Abu Dhabi, easy to get to and Ferrari World is worth seeing. They are pretty good at posting with regards to planned attraction closures. "Formula Rossa: unavailable from 3 May until 13 May"

Next stop Saudi when you have partially desensitized yourself to the human rights abuses !

 

[AstroDan]

As a gay man, I can't see a trip to UAE, to be honest. I'd love to go on some of the coasters there.

 

[Matt N]

I’m obviously not your holiday organiser, so take what I say with as much salt as you like, but if you go to Abu Dhabi for Ferrari World, why not head to Warner Bros World as well? I’ve heard very good things about that one…

Heck, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi and their Intamin launch coaster might be open by then… I’m not 100% sure on that one, though.

In Dubai itself, you’re also going to have Bombay Express, the new GCI at Bollywood Park (Bollywood is within Dubai Parks & Resorts alongside Motiongate and Legoland, so not far out of the way), open by May.

Just a few suggestions of mine if you’ve got any spare time and want to go anywhere additional… my main thing to say is have a great time!

 

[Benjsh]

@Benjsh you have to go to Abu Dhabi, easy to get to and Ferrari World is worth seeing. They are pretty good at posting with regards to planned attraction closures. "Formula Rossa: unavailable from 3 May until 13 May"

Next stop Saudi when you have partially desensitized yourself to the human rights abuses !

Terrorist attack the other day in Abu Dhabi. Current advice is to avoid going there however I'm sure that won't be the case by May.

I’m obviously not your holiday organiser, so take what I say with as much salt as you like, but if you go to Abu Dhabi for Ferrari World, why not head to Warner Bros World as well? I’ve heard very good things about that one…

Heck, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi and their Intamin launch coaster might be open by then… I’m not 100% sure on that one, though.

In Dubai itself, you’re also going to have Bombay Express, the new GCI at Bollywood Park (Bollywood is within Dubai Parks & Resorts alongside Motiongate and Legoland, so not far out of the way), open by May.

Just a few suggestions of mine if you’ve got any spare time and want to go anywhere additional… my main thing to say is have a great time!

This won't be a trip to just do theme parks so I'm not going to be able to do everything I don't think. I'm not a cred hunter either so I'm not overly bothered.

I'm sure we will do quite a few parks whilst we are there but I very much doubt we will do them all.

 

[Maelstrom]

When I went a few years back we did a good mix of parks and non park stuff. Went to IMG, Motiongate and Ferrari. Plus Atlantis water park. While IMG was ok and a couple of great rides (the avengers (Spider-Man style dark ride) was very good) I wouldn’t rush back there and would easily give it a miss.

Really enjoyed Motiongate, how to train your dragon the Mack suspended was a highlight. I also enjoyed the Hunger games themed Mack launched coaster and the Madagascar launched coaster.