Ferrari World Abu Dhabi June 24

[Benjsh]

Well what can I say about Ferrari world other than what a total disappointment.

We have known for a while now that Rossa wasn't going to be open for our trip and we weren't sure it would be worth a visit but we decided to do it anyway just because we were staying less than 5 mins away and was visiting Sea World and Warner Bros on this trip. Both of those parks we absolutely loved too by the way.

What a souless place Ferrari World is. It's got no atmosphere/vibe whatsoever and the operations are truly embarrassing. We visited today and the park was completely dead as it was a non peak day and they were still sending trains out every 8/9 mins on some of the big rides. What makes matters worse is they didn't even bother opening Flying Aces or Mission Ferrari until 12pm when the park opened at 10am. They weren't down for maintenance they just hadn't tested them and got them open yet by the looks of things.

So first ride of the day was to be the racing GT coasters or so I thought because I was refused entry due to my height. I'm 194cm but with my trainers on I was 196 so unable to ride. I said to the staff member this happens a lot to me and I can usually just take off my shoes and I'm okay to ride. That's not possible on this ride they told me because if it stops outside the building you will need your shoes on for the ride evacuation.
They then told me that I can take my shoes off for Flying Aces though so will be able to ride that later when it opens. This made me even more confused though as Flying Aces is 99% based outside the building too. They didn't seem to get it though.

Then I was refused entry to the Turbo Track coaster for my height again even though this one is based indoors. Shoes must be worn at all times on this ride so nothing I could do. Just like the previous ride....my wife and son went on and I held our bag and waited.

Things did pick up a bit though after 12 when Flying Aces opened and the elusive and unreliable SFX coaster Mission Ferrari.

Flying Aces is a a terrific coaster in fairness. The queue line is incredible and the coaster is top notch. A solid 9 / 10 coaster. Only thing that let it down is abysmal operations. I had 3 rides on it today but in the amount of time I was in the queue and the fact it was walk on it should have been 6 or 7 in the same timeframe. The operations are genuinely some of the worst I have ever seen. They take an absolute age to dispatch.

Mission Ferrari is a unique credit. The only operating SFX coaster currently and you can see why. It's very complex and in my opinion too complex for it's own good. It's a solid ride though and we enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as Flying Aces despite all the new tech involved. It was a bit rough in places too. 7/10.

As for the rest of the park..... absolutely pap. The dark rides are woeful. Mainly 3D / screen type rides and none of them are any good. Compared to the dark rides at Warner Bros it felt like a huge step down.

So fair to say we didn't enjoy our trip there at all and probably won't bother to return even for Rossa. By the time it opens again it will soon lose it's title of fastest coaster on earth to Falcon's Flight and that will be that.

Warner Bros review to come. A park I can't wait to return to in the future.

 

[Matt N]

Great report @Benjsh; I do always find it fascinating to read a report from a (perhaps) lesser covered park!

I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t particularly enjoy Ferrari World, however.

For starters, I can imagine it being absolutely gutting to go that far and have Formula Rossa closed. Although it might be of some mild consolation to know that the ride’s been shut for a long while rather than it being a simple case of it just happening to be shut on the one day you went. It’s been closed for a couple of months now, if I’m not mistaken, so something pretty big must be wrong with it.

It’s unfortunate that you were turfed off both Fiorano GT Challenge and Turbo Track due to your height. From my own experiences with maximum height restrictions (my dad is around 2m, or a shade under 6’7”, so he quite often exceeds these), parks often tend to be quite lax with them, and I was told that they’re more of a recommended guideline than a hard limit like the minimum height restrictions. With this in mind, I’m surprised to hear that Ferrari World were so militant in enforcing them, particularly given that you were only over them in shoes by the sounds of things?

It’s interesting to hear about Mission Ferrari. One thing that’s easy to forget is that the ride tech is already the best part of 10 years old, as the ride has been built since about 2015. I wonder if the sheer amount of time it took to open the ride has meant that it was already somewhat dated and over complicated by the time it opened in 2023? Intamin’s Multidimensional Coasters probably do the same sort of thing with far less complexity these days.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in the UAE; I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on Warner Bros!