Dubai Parks & Resorts: General Discussion

[Benjsh]

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.

Thanks for the info.

Yeah I'm not overly enthused by the line up at IMG either. It's decent don't get me wrong but it definitely feels like it's missing a stellar attraction or two. Be good if they had a fairly unique world class coaster as a bit of a USP.

 

[Benjsh]

OMG !!!! Video footage of ride starts at 3min 8 secs.



Can't wait for this in a few months when we go.

 

[John_P]

So they've just announced the Bollywood Park is shutting down for good today.

From the statement it sounds like they'll be re-branding it and re-opening it in the future. The wooden coaster has never opened, and they've got two unassembled coasters sat in the parking lot.

 

[pluk]

The biggest surprise about this is that even their money runs out eventually.

 

[Benjsh]

Their theme parks have sadly not taken off at all have they? The locals haven't bought into it so they must run a huge losses. Even the highly impressive Motiongate was a ghost town when we visited. Every ride was walk on all day.

If Motiongate or IMG were in Europe they would do very well indeed. Both nice parks with plenty of good attractions too.

Such a shame really. Dubai just isn't seen as a Theme Park destination for families and if the locals aren't getting behind them then that's a recipe for disaster.

 

[John_P]

It always looked to me that they thought we want to be like Orlando, but not realising it took 40+ years for that to become what it is today with the multiple parks ran by different companies.

 

[IanB]

I visited last Sunday, and had a great afternoon. It is ideally located halfway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The second park is now open, and themed to Real Madrid. I did not visit this park, even though there was an option to add it on for £6.

Flying with Emirates, meant that I use could my boarding pass to get 30% off the entry price, but it did mean I had to queue up at the entrance gate to get my ticket, which took around ten minutes. In the end this did not matter, as I still got everything I wanted done before I needed to head back to the hotel, and get ready for the airport.

The queues for the bigger coasters were 5-10 minutes, while the indoor rides at Dreamworks varied from 10-30 minutes.

The Mack Coasters were the highlights for me, Capitol Bullet Train and Dragon Gliders.

Capitol Bullet train was a little short, but when you have only been queuing five minutes, that is not much of an issue, and I enjoyed four rides on this. I really liked it. The launch was unique and fun, and it had that great inversion where you feel like your coming out of your seat. The queue line is very well themed, but you don't really get chance to take it all in. The only negative I would say is that the ride itself is not well themed, similar to Hypercoaster at Lands of Legends, where you can see outside the park.

I have wanted to do another Mack inverted spinning dark coaster since I tried Arthur for the first time, and Dragon Glider is great. It might not be the most thrilling or intense ride, but it is fantastic for telling a story, and being a great family ride. I really wish we had one in the UK, and again, it is something I think Paultons could pull off, and elevate the status of the park.

I also really enjoyed the Shrek ride, It was a lot of fun, and a great tribute to the first film. I really enjoyed it and thought the animatronics were great.

I did the 4-D coaster a couple of times, and was not really sure what to make of it, apart from coming off feeling quite sick the second time. Not sure I will be rushing back to ride this style of ride in the future. The queue line was fantastic again, with lots of props and things to look at.

Overall the park was clean, tidy, and everything was open apart from 1 ride. The resort area and shopping area was good with lots of choices, no pin badges though. The only negative I would call out is the amount of graffiti in the queue lines, which was a shame, since a lot of effort had been spent on making them really good.

When I go back to Dubai with the family, we will certainly be going back, but after one visit, I am not sure there is enough to make you go out of your way to attend a second time but it is worth visiting at least once.

 

[Benjsh]

I visited last Sunday, and had a great afternoon. It is ideally located halfway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The second park is now open, and themed to Real Madrid. I did not visit this park, even though there was an option to add it on for £6.

Flying with Emirates, meant that I use could my boarding pass to get 30% off the entry price, but it did mean I had to queue up at the entrance gate to get my ticket, which took around ten minutes. In the end this did not matter, as I still got everything I wanted done before I needed to head back to the hotel, and get ready for the airport.

The queues for the bigger coasters were 5-10 minutes, while the indoor rides at Dreamworks varied from 10-30 minutes.

The Mack Coasters were the highlights for me, Capitol Bullet Train and Dragon Gliders.

Capitol Bullet train was a little short, but when you have only been queuing five minutes, that is not much of an issue, and I enjoyed four rides on this. I really liked it. The launch was unique and fun, and it had that great inversion where you feel like your coming out of your seat. The queue line is very well themed, but you don't really get chance to take it all in. The only negative I would say is that the ride itself is not well themed, similar to Hypercoaster at Lands of Legends, where you can see outside the park.

I have wanted to do another Mack inverted spinning dark coaster since I tried Arthur for the first time, and Dragon Glider is great. It might not be the most thrilling or intense ride, but it is fantastic for telling a story, and being a great family ride. I really wish we had one in the UK, and again, it is something I think Paultons could pull off, and elevate the status of the park.

I also really enjoyed the Shrek ride, It was a lot of fun, and a great tribute to the first film. I really enjoyed it and thought the animatronics were great.

I did the 4-D coaster a couple of times, and was not really sure what to make of it, apart from coming off feeling quite sick the second time. Not sure I will be rushing back to ride this style of ride in the future. The queue line was fantastic again, with lots of props and things to look at.

Overall the park was clean, tidy, and everything was open apart from 1 ride. The resort area and shopping area was good with lots of choices, no pin badges though. The only negative I would call out is the amount of graffiti in the queue lines, which was a shame, since a lot of effort had been spent on making them really good.

When I go back to Dubai with the family, we will certainly be going back, but after one visit, I am not sure there is enough to make you go out of your way to attend a second time but it is worth visiting at least once.

Glad you had a great time.

Motiongate for me is one of my favourite parks I have visited. We've been twice now as the company I work for have offices in Dubai and I have had to go over there a few times to train staff.

I think it's got a great mix of everything. Lots of rollercoasters and dark rides.

Motiongate gate in Dubai and Warner Bros in Abu Dhabi are must visits on every trip. I wouldn't rush back for any of the others though even though I enjoyed most of them.