It has now been confirmed that SeaWorld Abu Dhabi will be a fully indoor park. I presume that there will be coasters loading inside with much of the layout outside as we have seen at Ferrari Land.

MakoMania wrote:

It has now been confirmed that SeaWorld Abu Dhabi will be a fully indoor park. I presume that there will be coasters loading inside with much of the layout outside as we have seen at Ferrari Land.

*Ferrari World 
I think this is a smart move, as it does get quite hot in the summer months, I assume that coasters will be present and I agree that it will most likely have indoor load stations. I'm just wondering how they may work around expansion plans, something IMG in Dubai didn't get good was its expansion, If they want a new big coaster they have to work it around the building and the outside, Im thinking Seaworld's Building may form the shape of an animal (a bit like how the original Dubai park would have gone on an island that looks like an Orca) and then the coasters would go outside in the gaps between fins or something.

theparklifekid wrote:

*Ferrari World 

Whoops, so used to typing it

Just a thought, As this park is fully indoors, I'm assuming it will take Ferrari World's record of 'World's Largest Indoor Park'?

Bert2theSpark wrote:

Just a thought, As this park is fully indoors, I'm assuming it will take Ferrari World's record of 'World's Largest Indoor Park'?

I'm fairly sure Ferrari World doesn't hold that record anyway. That would be IMG Worlds Of Adventure if I'm not mistaken?

That said, if the figures on the Wikipedia page and refer only to the indoor sections of the park, it seems likely that SeaWorld Abu Dhabi will indeed take the record.

Burniel wrote:

Bert2theSpark wrote:

Just a thought, As this park is fully indoors, I'm assuming it will take Ferrari World's record of 'World's Largest Indoor Park'?

I'm fairly sure Ferrari World doesn't hold that record anyway. That would be IMG Worlds Of Adventure if I'm not mistaken?

That said, if the figures on the Wikipedia page and refer only to the indoor sections of the park, it seems likely that SeaWorld Abu Dhabi will indeed take the record.

IMG Worlds is the world's largest indoor park, Ferrari World may look like it has a bigger building, but the park itself is only the bit in the middle, the 3 'claws' on the side of the building are the buildings supports and have nothing underneath them. IMGs building has the supports inside the park.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure that quite a bit of the land for Seaworld, won't be for the indoor park. They'll need a bit of land for car parking, room for outdoor coasters/rides (which im 90% sure will happen), expansion areas and various maintenance buildings. That being said, its quite possible Seaworlds building will be larger than both IMG and Ferrari World as the land for the park could fit a big building on it, however Yas Island uses Ferrari Worlds building as its icon, so its gonna be interesting to see if they would build a larger building and take away FWs building 'mascot' status.

theparklifekid wrote:

Burniel wrote:

Bert2theSpark wrote:

Just a thought, As this park is fully indoors, I'm assuming it will take Ferrari World's record of 'World's Largest Indoor Park'?

I'm fairly sure Ferrari World doesn't hold that record anyway. That would be IMG Worlds Of Adventure if I'm not mistaken?

That said, if the figures on the Wikipedia page and refer only to the indoor sections of the park, it seems likely that SeaWorld Abu Dhabi will indeed take the record.

IMG Worlds is the world's largest indoor park, Ferrari World may look like it has a bigger building, but the park itself is only the bit in the middle, the 3 'claws' on the side of the building are the buildings supports and have nothing underneath them. IMGs building has the supports inside the park.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure that quite a bit of the land for Seaworld, won't be for the indoor park. They'll need a bit of land for car parking, room for outdoor coasters/rides (which im 90% sure will happen), expansion areas and various maintenance buildings. That being said, its quite possible Seaworlds building will be larger than both IMG and Ferrari World as the land for the park could fit a big building on it, however Yas Island uses Ferrari Worlds building as its icon, so its gonna be interesting to see if they would build a larger building and take away FWs building 'mascot' status.

Yes, the maintenance and water quality areas associated with SeaWorld parks are massive.

I've got a pretty significant update on SeaWorld Abu Dhabi here

A friend of mine managed to find a concept image of SeaWorld Abu Dhabi. It is not of the best quality, and is also upside down, but I will run through what it may reveal to us below. Just remember, I have no information on the accuracy of this photo, but it's all we've got



The first thing to say is that there is no evidence of any outdoor rollercoasters at all on the picture. My guess is that Miral (who are funding the SeaWorld Abu Dhabi project) do not want SeaWorld to come into any sort of conflict with Ferrari World which offers large rollercoasters.

The second thing to notice is the blue area to the left hand side of the park. This looks almost certainly like some sort of Dolphin interaction area. There look to be 5 to 6 main pools to the complex, which would fit exactly in line with the new Discovery Point facility at SeaWorld San Antonio. If this photo is anything to go by, we can expect this area to have a very tropical feel to it.

Lastly, the main building does look more than large enough to contain dark rides and/or indoor rollercoasters. The large scale of the aquatic support areas shown also suggest that large animals will be housed in the facility.

That's my initial analysis of what I can see, I am somewhat surprised not to see outdoor coasters however this is understandable given Miral's involvement. I am also very pleased to see a Dolphin interaction area included.

Is it just me... I can't see the image. Interesting update though! And keep bringing them in, I would love to find out more about this development as it happens!

I will try to get it working

If it doesn't work, follow this link:

http://i64.tinypic.com/wvc2tk.jpg

Thanks. It's good to see lots more development on Yas Island.

Dammit Mako, you beat me to it again :

I've flipped the image around and zoomed it in:


I find it strange as it looks like a lot of it is outdoors, when they said it would be fully indoors. Also the lack of rollercoasters, which they do need to draw in visitors. Its very likely that these plans aren't final considering its not due to open until 2022, the expo that this layout is at is a prestigious development expo, so they probably needed something to show off, we'll probably see a more accurate layout late 2018/early 2019. Next time I see my Yas Island friend I'll ask about the coaster situation as there is a lot of expansion land which will likely hold a ride of some type.

I'm more excited there's an IKEA

I would very much like to see some coasters in the final park, but I don't think it necessarily needs them, especially given the number of rollercoaster parks opening in the UAE recently. Facilities like Georgia Aquarium attract around 3 million visitors a year without having a single ride.

Is there not already an aquarium in Abu Dhabi? The SeaWorld name will get them some visitors, but rides would get them even more. I thought they were good at this sort of thing! On another note, IKEA Sheffield is opening soon so IKEA Abu Dhabi is a bit off my radar!

EVERY SeaWorld needs a Mako.

Went to Abu Dhabi today, didn't visit any parks but I did drive past the site for Seaworld today and grabbed a pic.

I also met up with my friend who works for Yas Island (developers of the park), I asked them about the ride situation and luckily the park WILL have coasters, they are in the design process currently but will aim to have at least one family and one thrill coaster for opening day. Also the park will be indoors, however some attractions may venture outside.

Currently they are focusing everything on the upcoming Warner Bros park, but after that opens, all focus will be on Seaworld.

As the Warner Bros Park is finishing its construction, Seaworld Abu Dhabi is expected to break ground later in the year.

The Yas Island group is currently under restructure and my friend who was working on the parks design has unfortunately left the project, so no more inside info I'm afraid!

Never mind - will be interesting to see the progress anyway. Let us know if you hear anything else!

Early groundwork on the park has begun, with temporary site offices and a few construction equipment and markings having shown up.