MestnyiGeroi
Giga Poster
I had a great trip to the U.A.E., cramming a lot into ten days (ten including the travel days). We did so much that I don't have the wherewithal to write a proper report, so I will jot down here a "micro-report," a very condensed rundown of what a coaster enthusiast might be curious to know. We did a lot in terms of exploring the new and old parts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, eating fantastic meals of many cuisines, and meeting lots of locals, but here I'll keep it primarily to the coaster-related aspects.
Covid: Thanks again to those who gave me pre-trip advice. I got a PCR test just before leaving the States. This test and the vax card were checked at several points: in the airport, in hotels, and in most parks. Our hotel for the last night was at the Abu Dhabi airport, and it was easy and inexpensive to get a final PCR done there the day before our flight (the U.S. requires a PCR within 24 hours of departure).
Shoulder season/Ramadan: The timing of the trip (mid-April) was fortuitous in that all the parks were uncrowded, and nearly everything we did was a walk-on. Ramadan limitations were stricter in Abu Dhabi than in Dubai, but it was almost always easy to eat and drink whenever we wanted. The April weather was fairly hot the first couple of days, but then it remained largely pleasantly balmy.
Ferrari World: The big bummer of the trip was that Formula Rossa was down for maintenance the whole week. Obviously, this was a major damper. I said in advance that if this coaster is closed, the trip couldn't be considered a full success. If I had known, I would have re-scheduled the trip. That said, somehow we honestly didn't let it get us down at all, in part because we found the trip so easy and not that expensive, so we just told ourselves that we'd come back here soon enough, when all the new parks/coasters are open. Also, it was easy to half-forget about it because Flying Aces was SO MUCH BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. Holy moly, this coaster is world class! I'd heard it called a sister coaster to Skyrush but didn't believe it. Now I do, especially as I rode Skyrush just a week before. We marathoned this ride, and the op crew were a fun bunch with us, right up until closing time.
FunWorks -- We got a weird spinning coaster credit at an FEC in the same mall as Ferrari.
Warner Bros. -- Here also three of the four coasters were down, all of them smaller jobbies, some not really qualifying as coasters. But the star of this park is the theming. The Fast and Furry-ous coaster has great rockwork, and a Scooby Doo dark ride and Flintstones water ride were real highlights. It was also odd to be sitting in an indoor plaza themed to America under an artificial sky and hear the call to prayer over the loudspeakers. These are the constant incongruities of the U.A.E.
Motiongate -- Mostly outdoors, but it contains a large indoor area as well. The indoor theming for the How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek area was perhaps the best I've seen at any indoor park. Here there were several surprisingly good coasters, albeit certainly not world class. The Capitol Bullet Train is a wild ride that made us laugh, as was the indoor Madagascar Mad Pursuit. The new High Roller coaster was the wildest spinning coaster I've ever been on (aside from Time Traveler) in that it has serious speed and drops while spinning. In fact, afterward I felt queasy for a while and had to rest -- a rarity for me. The new John Wick coaster is just another 4D Freespin, but the queue and station are in a building that makes it all feel different.
VR Park -- Located inside the Dubai Mall. We were here anyway for the mall itself, for the Burj Khalifa next door, and for the fountain show, which we watched from an outdoor Turkish restaurant attached to the mall. So while we were there, we checked out the VR coaster at VR Park. For the first ride, my left lens was a tad blurry. For my second ride, both lenses were very blurry. Not worth one's time unless you want the credit.
IMG Worlds of Adventure -- Our third and final giant indoor park with ambitious theming. Here the surprise highlight for me was Velociraptor, which I thought was fantastic, certainly worthy of the marathon we gave it. This was the second best coaster of the trip, and I'd say it's really something special.
Storm Coaster at the Dubai Hills Mall -- There were about fifteen employees involved in maintaining this coaster, and NO ONE was there except us to ride it. It was expensive to do so, but we gave it four rides. This was the third best coaster of the trip, and the highlight here was the total uniqueness of this ride. It does very weird things, with sudden drops, g-forces, wild hangtime, and a launch directly up the vertical lift resulting in ejector air over the top hat, especially in the front row. I've been on coasters that power up lifts (Wicked, Lightning Rod, Skyrush, even i305 and El Toro), but nothing like this. This coaster is worth trying just for the unusual experiences it gives you.
Global Village -- The two coasters here aren't worth mentioning, but this place is quite an experience at night. There is a fun haunted dark ride, but the attraction here is the shops and foods representing various countries of the world, all housed in grand pavilions. Also, this place is flooded with locals, and that made it a pleasant experience. Where else can you say, 'Let's go to Kuwait after Korea'?
Legoland -- I was planning to skip this, but for logistical reasons we ended up pairing it with the next park (you can get one ticket for the both). Weak by Legoland standards, but the Dragon coasters are always cute at these parks.
Bollywood -- Earlier in the week and on this evening, Bombay Express tested over and over, and we talked to several park employees who'd ridden it, but it never opened for us. I particularly like the look of the first drop for a GCI. So yet another spite on the trip. Still, we had a great time at this park. The food was good, and if you know any cheesy Bollywood movies, you'll be blown away by some of these rides! Also, I think we caught six dancing shows over the evening. This was our last park, and it was a memorable way to close out the park aspect of the trip.
In the end there were several spites, leaving my count at 697 and so just shorting me of a milestone. But honestly we had an absolute blast, alternating park days and city exploration days. The U.A.E. is a country unlike any other, to be sure.
Covid: Thanks again to those who gave me pre-trip advice. I got a PCR test just before leaving the States. This test and the vax card were checked at several points: in the airport, in hotels, and in most parks. Our hotel for the last night was at the Abu Dhabi airport, and it was easy and inexpensive to get a final PCR done there the day before our flight (the U.S. requires a PCR within 24 hours of departure).
Shoulder season/Ramadan: The timing of the trip (mid-April) was fortuitous in that all the parks were uncrowded, and nearly everything we did was a walk-on. Ramadan limitations were stricter in Abu Dhabi than in Dubai, but it was almost always easy to eat and drink whenever we wanted. The April weather was fairly hot the first couple of days, but then it remained largely pleasantly balmy.
Ferrari World: The big bummer of the trip was that Formula Rossa was down for maintenance the whole week. Obviously, this was a major damper. I said in advance that if this coaster is closed, the trip couldn't be considered a full success. If I had known, I would have re-scheduled the trip. That said, somehow we honestly didn't let it get us down at all, in part because we found the trip so easy and not that expensive, so we just told ourselves that we'd come back here soon enough, when all the new parks/coasters are open. Also, it was easy to half-forget about it because Flying Aces was SO MUCH BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. Holy moly, this coaster is world class! I'd heard it called a sister coaster to Skyrush but didn't believe it. Now I do, especially as I rode Skyrush just a week before. We marathoned this ride, and the op crew were a fun bunch with us, right up until closing time.
FunWorks -- We got a weird spinning coaster credit at an FEC in the same mall as Ferrari.
Warner Bros. -- Here also three of the four coasters were down, all of them smaller jobbies, some not really qualifying as coasters. But the star of this park is the theming. The Fast and Furry-ous coaster has great rockwork, and a Scooby Doo dark ride and Flintstones water ride were real highlights. It was also odd to be sitting in an indoor plaza themed to America under an artificial sky and hear the call to prayer over the loudspeakers. These are the constant incongruities of the U.A.E.
Motiongate -- Mostly outdoors, but it contains a large indoor area as well. The indoor theming for the How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek area was perhaps the best I've seen at any indoor park. Here there were several surprisingly good coasters, albeit certainly not world class. The Capitol Bullet Train is a wild ride that made us laugh, as was the indoor Madagascar Mad Pursuit. The new High Roller coaster was the wildest spinning coaster I've ever been on (aside from Time Traveler) in that it has serious speed and drops while spinning. In fact, afterward I felt queasy for a while and had to rest -- a rarity for me. The new John Wick coaster is just another 4D Freespin, but the queue and station are in a building that makes it all feel different.
VR Park -- Located inside the Dubai Mall. We were here anyway for the mall itself, for the Burj Khalifa next door, and for the fountain show, which we watched from an outdoor Turkish restaurant attached to the mall. So while we were there, we checked out the VR coaster at VR Park. For the first ride, my left lens was a tad blurry. For my second ride, both lenses were very blurry. Not worth one's time unless you want the credit.
IMG Worlds of Adventure -- Our third and final giant indoor park with ambitious theming. Here the surprise highlight for me was Velociraptor, which I thought was fantastic, certainly worthy of the marathon we gave it. This was the second best coaster of the trip, and I'd say it's really something special.
Storm Coaster at the Dubai Hills Mall -- There were about fifteen employees involved in maintaining this coaster, and NO ONE was there except us to ride it. It was expensive to do so, but we gave it four rides. This was the third best coaster of the trip, and the highlight here was the total uniqueness of this ride. It does very weird things, with sudden drops, g-forces, wild hangtime, and a launch directly up the vertical lift resulting in ejector air over the top hat, especially in the front row. I've been on coasters that power up lifts (Wicked, Lightning Rod, Skyrush, even i305 and El Toro), but nothing like this. This coaster is worth trying just for the unusual experiences it gives you.
Global Village -- The two coasters here aren't worth mentioning, but this place is quite an experience at night. There is a fun haunted dark ride, but the attraction here is the shops and foods representing various countries of the world, all housed in grand pavilions. Also, this place is flooded with locals, and that made it a pleasant experience. Where else can you say, 'Let's go to Kuwait after Korea'?
Legoland -- I was planning to skip this, but for logistical reasons we ended up pairing it with the next park (you can get one ticket for the both). Weak by Legoland standards, but the Dragon coasters are always cute at these parks.
Bollywood -- Earlier in the week and on this evening, Bombay Express tested over and over, and we talked to several park employees who'd ridden it, but it never opened for us. I particularly like the look of the first drop for a GCI. So yet another spite on the trip. Still, we had a great time at this park. The food was good, and if you know any cheesy Bollywood movies, you'll be blown away by some of these rides! Also, I think we caught six dancing shows over the evening. This was our last park, and it was a memorable way to close out the park aspect of the trip.
In the end there were several spites, leaving my count at 697 and so just shorting me of a milestone. But honestly we had an absolute blast, alternating park days and city exploration days. The U.A.E. is a country unlike any other, to be sure.
Last edited:
