A senior figure at the firm building the world's largest indoor theme park in Dubai says the emirate may soon be as famous for such attractions as the theme park powerhouse of Florida.
Adam Page, vice president of group marketing at IMG Group - the firm behind the huge IMG Worlds of Adventure project in Dubailand's City of Arabia district - has said the city could soon draw thrillseekers from around the world to try its growing inventory of roller coasters and water parks.
Work is well advanced on the new indoor theme park adjacent to Mohammed bin Zayed Road in Dubai and when it opens next year it will be home to rides designed around themes including Marvel comic superheroes and kids cartoon favourite Ben10.
And Page says the huge new theme park - which IMG says could fit 24 huge A380 twin-deck aircraft within its 140,000sqm area - is just the start of a thrilling ride
for Dubai.
"I genuinely believe once we have this open and a couple of more entities as well, [Dubai] will be regarded as a theme park capital," he told 7DAYS at The Hotel Show. "At the moment you have Florida, and then Singapore has tried and not been so successful."
The new park will be split into four distinct zones including a Marvel zone, a zone based on characters from Cartoon Network and a 'Lost Valley- Dinosaur Adventure' zone.
The UAE already has a major indoor theme park in the shape of Abu Dhabi's Ferrari World but Page - who previously worked at Ferrari World - believes the new project is an altogether different proposition.
"We are very unique - what we have is awesome brands," he said. He added: "When you are talking Marvel and Cartoon Network you could open up an Iron Man theme park or a Ben10 theme park by themselves, let alone have all the mix of characters and rides that we have. Mixed with dinosaurs as well - how do we go wrong?"
The huge new park is set to open in 2014.
"We are looking at mid-next year for a soft opening and official opening towards the end of the year," Page said. The structural skeleton of the project (pictured) is visibly taking shape on site with Page noting "it will reduce some of my marketing spend on outdoor advertising when I have the park towering over the highway".
Several rides and attractions are being put together off site, to be shipped in when the huge structure that will hold them is complete - which could be as early as next month. Once complete, the park is designed to serve up to 20,000 people a day. Tourism bosses recently expressed optimism that the huge new attraction could play a key role in attracting more visitors to Dubai in the summer - its air-conditioned activities being impervious to the season's sweltering temperatures.
But as work continues on the park, Page isn't sweating the heat. However, there is something else IMG is taking into account for the park whose comic heroes mean it is sure to be popular with screaming tweens.
"The key for us is to make sure the acoustics are quietened down," he explained.
"Otherwise it might be quite a loud park..."
© 7Days 2013
