(Apologies for the delay on this trip report - alas had my previous one accidentally deleted, so it's taken the better part of the month to get back together!)
As some may have followed, I had the chance to visit Abu Dhabi for work last month, for work we are wrapping up with the Emirate. After a long weeks worth of meetings and interviews, I was quite ready to try my hand at some new credits! This also included the prospect of picking up Mission Ferrari, which was possibly opening after much anticipation.
Rather than replicate @Indy's phenomenal trip report from last year (basically same observations apply), I'll focus on some other, added key takeaways. Thanks also to @Dubaidave for the local tips!
Warner Bros. Abu Dhabi
Initial Thoughts
Taking the Uber to Yas Island (large mall and tourism district where both parks and the soon-to-be-opened Sea World Abu Dhabi sit), the size and scale of everything really sets in. This is particularly true for Warner Bros. Abu Dhabi, which sits as a massive, indoor theme park with a quite extensive layout. As I walked up to this big ol' box of a theme park, I was flabergasted to figure out how they pull off such famed theming.
And boy howdy, the reviews don't disappoint. The park is set up as a large figure-8, that snakes through various Warner Bros., Hannah Barbara, and DC Comics themes. From a structural engineering perspective, the high ceilings are what jumps out most, and the seemingly "endless" sky in sections of the park depicting an outdoors scene. Looking closely, this is quite a clever effect, as it's actually a woven mesh that allows ample airflow and AC for hot, 35C summer days. But to the onlooker, it's hard to spot a seam in the design.
Also, while the park is roller coaster-poor (only two credits here), it's remarkable how they make up for it in other flat and thrill ride attractions. While "second tier" by western perspective, you have to give it to the park for how much attraction they pack in here. What also far exceeded expectations were the shops and food options - thematically integrated to each part of the park, with merchandise ideas enough to make Disney and Universal blush.
That all being said, I had my sights set on maximizing time at Ferrari World, so a quick jaunt and cred run through Warner Bros. was what we had in store:
Tom and Jerry Swiss Cheese Spin
Queue Design
First, let's talk queues. Holy mackerel, is this one extensive! Walking through the front facade of a fully-built house, we find Tom has been chasing Jerry around various rooms, leaving overturned furniture, dinner plates, and other assortments. Walking further through the queue, we "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" our way down to the size of Jerry, "entering" the walls to find Jerry's pad, with everything from the perspective of a mouse. Quite clever queue design with great visual interest - I'd hate to see this queue at full capacity, but brilliant thought none the less.
Ride Experience
This is one of the few Zamperla spinners I have been on, and the only trained spinner at that. Genuinely had zero clue what the layout would entail, and was pleasantly surprised!
The lift hill has us ascending through a series of peak holes, where screen projections of Tom are peeking in at our mouse car. The rest of the ride follows a very Revenge of the Mummy-style layout, with large sweeping turns and drops that has us dodging various objects, swipes of Tom's paw, and other near misses.
One thing I also got a kick out of, the transition from the final brake run to the station has the trains go into an "overdrive" of spinning, the most aggressive of the entire ride. Fun way to pass the time doing the transition, other than "What's In the Shed?"
Quite pleasant surprise of a ride!
Fast and Furry-ous
Queue Design
Also note worthy queue, in this case going through various caverns to see Willie Coyotes different drawing board schemes and apparatus to capture the Roadrunner. Nice overhead pass of the actual coaster too, to keep things interesting.
Ride Experience
Another one I didn't really know the layout for and was quite surprised. While I expected a far more elementary, Family SLC ride, the coaster had a few more turns and dips within the rock facade, and packed far more positive g's. Very similar to Freedom flyer at Funspot Orlando, where what looks like a kiddie coaster is a lot more sport tuned than not.
Theming was also well played here, with our train a rocket the coyote is strapping himself to in pursuit of the Roadrunner. Going up the lift hill we hear dramatic music and see an animatronic of the Coyote ready for launch - as you can imagine, hijinx ensues with the plan being foiled yet again.
With this quick excursion done, having walked the full circuit and grabbed a lovely lunch (I mean honestly, where else can you find grape leaves in an amusement park!?), I jumped on an e-scooter and putted my way across the street to Ferrari World...
Ferrari World
... and when I say Ferrari World, I actually mean the mall entrance. Everything about this place, just like Warner Bros. World, screams mammoth scale. A 5 minute walk within the mall got us to Ferrari World's entrance, cross a bridge to enter it's unique three-star design.
With ticket in hand, I made a quick pass by none-other than Mission Ferrari, situated dead center of the park. While the lights and staff were all on and there, no queue opening - bugger.
In which case, I swept past and moved on to another highly anticipated coaster:
Flying Aces
Queue Design
I swear I've never talked about queue as much as I have in this trip report; but it remains an emphasis for the UAE! I honestly had zero clue to the extent of theming on this Intamin Hyper - how much theming could there be anyways? But entering the queue entrance you're immediately engulfed in a WWI theme, passing through canvas tents and trenches where solider animatronics (worse for wear unfortunately, a lot of effects were not working well) are chatting and interacting. A minor hilarity to this - they were all speaking Italian, so little to no folks walking through will be able to understand the conversations. The final holding room, which reminded me a little of Hagrid's Motorbikes for having a lot of airplane sound effects "outside" of the room being heard overhead/right of the walls, gave us our safety schpeal, and from there we are dispatched to a final, false door holding room for the row-by-row loading queue. While I imagine this is all in the interest of minimizing temperature exposure, it definitely gave the impression of Willy Wonka's elevator.
Oh, also, Flying Aces and Formula Rossa have significant loose article policies, borderline draconian. I appreciated the team members taking their job seriously, but when they were insisting I stash my passport in an unguarded, outside-the-queue locker for Flying Aces (Formual Rossa was gratefully in queue), it felt a bit much, especially when I had a zipped pocket.
Entering the station, the theming continues to impress with airplanes overhead as we board our "plane" and prepare to take off from the hangar.
Ride Experience
Those lucky enough to have ridden Skyrush with version 1 of it's cable lift will understand the catapult of a lift hill that yanks the train from the station, up and over the first drop. It genuinely classifies the lift hill as an airtime hill, especially when riding in the back. A well designed first drop and hard right turn push us into the non-inverting loop, which gives a similar, swoopy sensation to Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit; albeit a lot higher and with greater force. The layout careens and carves from here, with far more turn and airtime hill variance than I was expecting. Dare I say, some Alan Schilke inspired off-axis airtime hills? Overall the layout was more extensive than I realized, but didn't disappoint with a lot of nice, variation.
Overall I was very pleased with the ride, especially riding in the back right seat (props to @Indy for the tip). After several passes throughout the day, I found some seats with Intamin rattle, but nothing detrimental to the overall experience. One thing that was super interesting was the difference load had on the ride effect; during the final runs of the evening, I ended up on a completely empty train, with an enjoyable ride. Jumping immediately back on, the next train was somehow fully stocked with riders - I was doing double takes throughout the ride to make sure I was riding the same coaster, as the speed and airtime was farrrr more noticeable. Crazy how physics works.
Moving onto the next big mama:
Formula Rossa
Queue Design
This coaster definitely has a lengthy walk-up, with good effect. As you walk past semi-trucks holding up the Formula Rossa sign, and a subsequent billboard reading "fastest coaster in the world", the scale of the ride really sets in. The queue is designed as the pits of a racing team, with a nice, glassed overview of coaster trains as they launch from the station. This is juxtaposed to TTD where the queue is penned off in the mid-field, separate from the launch.
It was standing here, watching coaster launch after launch that it also sunk in, the last genuine Accelerator I rode was in 2021 at Knott's. Ironically, never rode TTD that season as it had been down during visits (even was "next to board" and still zilch) before the game-ending breakdown.
The queue took us to lockers were anything and everything were loaded and stored, and protective eyewear issued.
I have to say, racing themes still feel best for Accelerator coasters!
Ride Experience
I'd like to think myself a roller coaster veteran who has seen a lot. I've dangled off the edge of the Stratosphere tower, I've ridden some of the world's fastest, longest, steepest, tallest coasters. I'm a Cleveland sports fan.
But man, cue Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time"; Formula Rossa's launch is insane, and a new top coaster moment. Just as riding Kingda Ka or TTD feels longer and faster vs. Rita, Stealth, Xcelerator - so too is Formula Rossa even longer and even faster. The length is probably what got me the most; while I'm most conditioned to TTD's 4.2 second launch, the 4.9 seconds on Formua Rossa may as well be an eternity of difference. The coaster just goes and goes, faster and faster.
I was apprehensive on how effective a low-to-the-ground layout would compare to a thrilling 400+ ft. top hat, but this was quickly dispelled when I realized speeding 5-8 ft. above the ground at 140+ MPH actually helps you appreciate the velocity your body is being hurled even more. It wasn't until the third turn that I had the chance to take a breath and let out an exhilarating "holy ****!", as the 15ish seconds before then were just sensory overload and pure adrenaline.
While the coaster does lose steam more into the course, I also liked the airtime hills at the end, giving some nice flow and airtime. The scale of this layout cannot be emphasized enough, and really helps you appreciate how much force and speed can navigate through all that track.
To be honest, I only dared ride the coaster twice, as, like it's other Accelerator brethren, the wow factor can ware off quickly as your body acclimates to the speed. And since we are in the midst of de-Accelerator-ing my local Intamin Accelerator, I'd like to hold that wow factor as close as possible.
With the two big coasters out of the way, I made another failed pass at Mission Ferrari, still down due to maintenance. So we made our way to the second tier attractions:
Formula Rossa Junior
Overview
Cute kiddie coaster that interludes with other "kiddie land" style rides. This coaster is also elevated a little, which gives it a very fun sightline and overview of the park.
Turbo Track
Queue Design
The queue for this one was weirdly ornate and extensive. I even joked it felt quasi Disaster Transport, with a lot of emphasis on "test driving prototype" and random robotics and machinery. Just like Tom and Jerry's Swiss Cheese Spin, I'd hate to see what a fully saturated queue looks like.
Ride Experience
What an honestly weird ride. I remember when it was announced, my initial reaction was "they're just doing half an impulse?" And yes, that's what it is. I rode this a few times as the queue was minimal, and lord I'd hate to see it operate as the dual-loading station it's intended to use.
The ride car is set up to accompany varying permutations of rider parties from 2-4. The seating arrangement actually harkened back to Intamin's Surfrider design, but made for awkward navigation for ride ops to inspect and check restraints and seatbelts. Having the offset seating - you can ride forward or backward - was fun however, and made for different ride experience.
The ride, which is literally just the launch, gives a nice punch of LSMs over a sweeping airtime hill, sending you into a twisting spike, and back down to immediate braking. It's honestly a 7 second ride; riding backwards at least gives you a fun unexpected airtime float.
Please, other parks - if you like this idea, just do the straight up Impulse.
Fiorino GT Challenge
Overview
This coaster is unfortunately stowed a little further back and out of sight compared to other rides; a bummer as it's arguably the family attraction for the park! Carries the constant racing theme well, where we load into well-designed Ferrari GT's within the racing pits to drag race the non-existent racing coaster.
Ride Experience
I was thinking this would be more Italian Job affair, but a lot more punch through each of the series launches kept the layout peppy and flowing. I did notice on watching other POVs there used to be more ornate scenery - everything was just dirt and a hole in the ground - but strong lats and boosts kept the ride interesting and flowing. I've rideen very few Mauers, they remain an outcast in the American market, but wouldn't mind if more like this were built, especially to fill a family-friendly launch coaster gap!
Mission Ferrari
Oh yeah, that seven year delayed multi-million coaster sitting in the middle of the park, taunting me through my day. Alas, the coaster never opened, and became dead as a doornail around 6 PM. It was great getting to take in it's spectable, especially with how quizzically-small the ride's showroom is (on watching POVs, I still remain bewildered on how they fit everything together).
And so, I received one of the first Mission Ferrari spites in the world. No love lost, as we booked this travel before the opening date was announced. Between this and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, all the more reason to return!
Final Thoughts and Takeaways
As some may have followed, I had the chance to visit Abu Dhabi for work last month, for work we are wrapping up with the Emirate. After a long weeks worth of meetings and interviews, I was quite ready to try my hand at some new credits! This also included the prospect of picking up Mission Ferrari, which was possibly opening after much anticipation.
Rather than replicate @Indy's phenomenal trip report from last year (basically same observations apply), I'll focus on some other, added key takeaways. Thanks also to @Dubaidave for the local tips!
Warner Bros. Abu Dhabi
Initial Thoughts
Taking the Uber to Yas Island (large mall and tourism district where both parks and the soon-to-be-opened Sea World Abu Dhabi sit), the size and scale of everything really sets in. This is particularly true for Warner Bros. Abu Dhabi, which sits as a massive, indoor theme park with a quite extensive layout. As I walked up to this big ol' box of a theme park, I was flabergasted to figure out how they pull off such famed theming.
And boy howdy, the reviews don't disappoint. The park is set up as a large figure-8, that snakes through various Warner Bros., Hannah Barbara, and DC Comics themes. From a structural engineering perspective, the high ceilings are what jumps out most, and the seemingly "endless" sky in sections of the park depicting an outdoors scene. Looking closely, this is quite a clever effect, as it's actually a woven mesh that allows ample airflow and AC for hot, 35C summer days. But to the onlooker, it's hard to spot a seam in the design.
Also, while the park is roller coaster-poor (only two credits here), it's remarkable how they make up for it in other flat and thrill ride attractions. While "second tier" by western perspective, you have to give it to the park for how much attraction they pack in here. What also far exceeded expectations were the shops and food options - thematically integrated to each part of the park, with merchandise ideas enough to make Disney and Universal blush.
That all being said, I had my sights set on maximizing time at Ferrari World, so a quick jaunt and cred run through Warner Bros. was what we had in store:
Tom and Jerry Swiss Cheese Spin
Queue Design
First, let's talk queues. Holy mackerel, is this one extensive! Walking through the front facade of a fully-built house, we find Tom has been chasing Jerry around various rooms, leaving overturned furniture, dinner plates, and other assortments. Walking further through the queue, we "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" our way down to the size of Jerry, "entering" the walls to find Jerry's pad, with everything from the perspective of a mouse. Quite clever queue design with great visual interest - I'd hate to see this queue at full capacity, but brilliant thought none the less.
Ride Experience
This is one of the few Zamperla spinners I have been on, and the only trained spinner at that. Genuinely had zero clue what the layout would entail, and was pleasantly surprised!
The lift hill has us ascending through a series of peak holes, where screen projections of Tom are peeking in at our mouse car. The rest of the ride follows a very Revenge of the Mummy-style layout, with large sweeping turns and drops that has us dodging various objects, swipes of Tom's paw, and other near misses.
One thing I also got a kick out of, the transition from the final brake run to the station has the trains go into an "overdrive" of spinning, the most aggressive of the entire ride. Fun way to pass the time doing the transition, other than "What's In the Shed?"
Quite pleasant surprise of a ride!
Fast and Furry-ous
Queue Design
Also note worthy queue, in this case going through various caverns to see Willie Coyotes different drawing board schemes and apparatus to capture the Roadrunner. Nice overhead pass of the actual coaster too, to keep things interesting.
Ride Experience
Another one I didn't really know the layout for and was quite surprised. While I expected a far more elementary, Family SLC ride, the coaster had a few more turns and dips within the rock facade, and packed far more positive g's. Very similar to Freedom flyer at Funspot Orlando, where what looks like a kiddie coaster is a lot more sport tuned than not.
Theming was also well played here, with our train a rocket the coyote is strapping himself to in pursuit of the Roadrunner. Going up the lift hill we hear dramatic music and see an animatronic of the Coyote ready for launch - as you can imagine, hijinx ensues with the plan being foiled yet again.
With this quick excursion done, having walked the full circuit and grabbed a lovely lunch (I mean honestly, where else can you find grape leaves in an amusement park!?), I jumped on an e-scooter and putted my way across the street to Ferrari World...
Ferrari World
... and when I say Ferrari World, I actually mean the mall entrance. Everything about this place, just like Warner Bros. World, screams mammoth scale. A 5 minute walk within the mall got us to Ferrari World's entrance, cross a bridge to enter it's unique three-star design.
With ticket in hand, I made a quick pass by none-other than Mission Ferrari, situated dead center of the park. While the lights and staff were all on and there, no queue opening - bugger.
In which case, I swept past and moved on to another highly anticipated coaster:
Flying Aces
Queue Design
I swear I've never talked about queue as much as I have in this trip report; but it remains an emphasis for the UAE! I honestly had zero clue to the extent of theming on this Intamin Hyper - how much theming could there be anyways? But entering the queue entrance you're immediately engulfed in a WWI theme, passing through canvas tents and trenches where solider animatronics (worse for wear unfortunately, a lot of effects were not working well) are chatting and interacting. A minor hilarity to this - they were all speaking Italian, so little to no folks walking through will be able to understand the conversations. The final holding room, which reminded me a little of Hagrid's Motorbikes for having a lot of airplane sound effects "outside" of the room being heard overhead/right of the walls, gave us our safety schpeal, and from there we are dispatched to a final, false door holding room for the row-by-row loading queue. While I imagine this is all in the interest of minimizing temperature exposure, it definitely gave the impression of Willy Wonka's elevator.
Oh, also, Flying Aces and Formula Rossa have significant loose article policies, borderline draconian. I appreciated the team members taking their job seriously, but when they were insisting I stash my passport in an unguarded, outside-the-queue locker for Flying Aces (Formual Rossa was gratefully in queue), it felt a bit much, especially when I had a zipped pocket.
Entering the station, the theming continues to impress with airplanes overhead as we board our "plane" and prepare to take off from the hangar.
Ride Experience
Those lucky enough to have ridden Skyrush with version 1 of it's cable lift will understand the catapult of a lift hill that yanks the train from the station, up and over the first drop. It genuinely classifies the lift hill as an airtime hill, especially when riding in the back. A well designed first drop and hard right turn push us into the non-inverting loop, which gives a similar, swoopy sensation to Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit; albeit a lot higher and with greater force. The layout careens and carves from here, with far more turn and airtime hill variance than I was expecting. Dare I say, some Alan Schilke inspired off-axis airtime hills? Overall the layout was more extensive than I realized, but didn't disappoint with a lot of nice, variation.
Overall I was very pleased with the ride, especially riding in the back right seat (props to @Indy for the tip). After several passes throughout the day, I found some seats with Intamin rattle, but nothing detrimental to the overall experience. One thing that was super interesting was the difference load had on the ride effect; during the final runs of the evening, I ended up on a completely empty train, with an enjoyable ride. Jumping immediately back on, the next train was somehow fully stocked with riders - I was doing double takes throughout the ride to make sure I was riding the same coaster, as the speed and airtime was farrrr more noticeable. Crazy how physics works.
Moving onto the next big mama:
Formula Rossa
Queue Design
This coaster definitely has a lengthy walk-up, with good effect. As you walk past semi-trucks holding up the Formula Rossa sign, and a subsequent billboard reading "fastest coaster in the world", the scale of the ride really sets in. The queue is designed as the pits of a racing team, with a nice, glassed overview of coaster trains as they launch from the station. This is juxtaposed to TTD where the queue is penned off in the mid-field, separate from the launch.
It was standing here, watching coaster launch after launch that it also sunk in, the last genuine Accelerator I rode was in 2021 at Knott's. Ironically, never rode TTD that season as it had been down during visits (even was "next to board" and still zilch) before the game-ending breakdown.
The queue took us to lockers were anything and everything were loaded and stored, and protective eyewear issued.
I have to say, racing themes still feel best for Accelerator coasters!
Ride Experience
I'd like to think myself a roller coaster veteran who has seen a lot. I've dangled off the edge of the Stratosphere tower, I've ridden some of the world's fastest, longest, steepest, tallest coasters. I'm a Cleveland sports fan.
But man, cue Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time"; Formula Rossa's launch is insane, and a new top coaster moment. Just as riding Kingda Ka or TTD feels longer and faster vs. Rita, Stealth, Xcelerator - so too is Formula Rossa even longer and even faster. The length is probably what got me the most; while I'm most conditioned to TTD's 4.2 second launch, the 4.9 seconds on Formua Rossa may as well be an eternity of difference. The coaster just goes and goes, faster and faster.
I was apprehensive on how effective a low-to-the-ground layout would compare to a thrilling 400+ ft. top hat, but this was quickly dispelled when I realized speeding 5-8 ft. above the ground at 140+ MPH actually helps you appreciate the velocity your body is being hurled even more. It wasn't until the third turn that I had the chance to take a breath and let out an exhilarating "holy ****!", as the 15ish seconds before then were just sensory overload and pure adrenaline.
While the coaster does lose steam more into the course, I also liked the airtime hills at the end, giving some nice flow and airtime. The scale of this layout cannot be emphasized enough, and really helps you appreciate how much force and speed can navigate through all that track.
To be honest, I only dared ride the coaster twice, as, like it's other Accelerator brethren, the wow factor can ware off quickly as your body acclimates to the speed. And since we are in the midst of de-Accelerator-ing my local Intamin Accelerator, I'd like to hold that wow factor as close as possible.
With the two big coasters out of the way, I made another failed pass at Mission Ferrari, still down due to maintenance. So we made our way to the second tier attractions:
Formula Rossa Junior
Overview
Cute kiddie coaster that interludes with other "kiddie land" style rides. This coaster is also elevated a little, which gives it a very fun sightline and overview of the park.
Turbo Track
Queue Design
The queue for this one was weirdly ornate and extensive. I even joked it felt quasi Disaster Transport, with a lot of emphasis on "test driving prototype" and random robotics and machinery. Just like Tom and Jerry's Swiss Cheese Spin, I'd hate to see what a fully saturated queue looks like.
Ride Experience
What an honestly weird ride. I remember when it was announced, my initial reaction was "they're just doing half an impulse?" And yes, that's what it is. I rode this a few times as the queue was minimal, and lord I'd hate to see it operate as the dual-loading station it's intended to use.
The ride car is set up to accompany varying permutations of rider parties from 2-4. The seating arrangement actually harkened back to Intamin's Surfrider design, but made for awkward navigation for ride ops to inspect and check restraints and seatbelts. Having the offset seating - you can ride forward or backward - was fun however, and made for different ride experience.
The ride, which is literally just the launch, gives a nice punch of LSMs over a sweeping airtime hill, sending you into a twisting spike, and back down to immediate braking. It's honestly a 7 second ride; riding backwards at least gives you a fun unexpected airtime float.
Please, other parks - if you like this idea, just do the straight up Impulse.
Fiorino GT Challenge
Overview
This coaster is unfortunately stowed a little further back and out of sight compared to other rides; a bummer as it's arguably the family attraction for the park! Carries the constant racing theme well, where we load into well-designed Ferrari GT's within the racing pits to drag race the non-existent racing coaster.
Ride Experience
I was thinking this would be more Italian Job affair, but a lot more punch through each of the series launches kept the layout peppy and flowing. I did notice on watching other POVs there used to be more ornate scenery - everything was just dirt and a hole in the ground - but strong lats and boosts kept the ride interesting and flowing. I've rideen very few Mauers, they remain an outcast in the American market, but wouldn't mind if more like this were built, especially to fill a family-friendly launch coaster gap!
Mission Ferrari
Oh yeah, that seven year delayed multi-million coaster sitting in the middle of the park, taunting me through my day. Alas, the coaster never opened, and became dead as a doornail around 6 PM. It was great getting to take in it's spectable, especially with how quizzically-small the ride's showroom is (on watching POVs, I still remain bewildered on how they fit everything together).
And so, I received one of the first Mission Ferrari spites in the world. No love lost, as we booked this travel before the opening date was announced. Between this and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, all the more reason to return!
Final Thoughts and Takeaways
- Both parks were immaculate, with extremely kind and endearing ride operator staff.
- Getting to the parks is a breeze (I took a Careem/Uber from downtown where I was staying throughout the week, ~$15 fare). I'd recommend not worrying about bus service, and just ride sharing your way out.
- Lockers are readily available, both as park storage and for each individual ride. I was visiting on my way out of town, and headed straight to the airport thereafter - can confirm backpacks and small rolling luggage can be stashed.
- One day is plenty enough for both parks; you could even manage a half-day if pressed for time and needing to straight cred run. The opening of Sea World will give a nice, third park complement, all still doable in a day.
