WB Dubai

[AlexanderMBush]

I would like to say, that WB Dubai looks great; as I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Tobias]

There's some more pictures here, which include a couple shots inside the Scooby Doo: Museum of Mysteries dark ride.

Your first look inside Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi - in pictures - The National

The park does look nice, though I have my concerns with the Scooby Doo dark ride as those figures look awfully static. I really hope that's not the case as it's currently giving me flashbacks to the downright lifeless Hotel Transylvania dark ride in Motiongate. It also doesn't quell my worry that with all the dark rides in this park, the quality of them could severely vary due to budget/design.

Update - Alrighty, over on the official twitter of WBW AD, they posted a lil teaser of the Scooby Doo dark ride.



While some bits still look static, there's motion (be it limited) here and there from some of the figures, so I'll take what I can get.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Warner Bros Dubai has officially opened; as Robert Niles has seemingly given a rather glowing article of the park.

Warner Bros. World impresses in its Abu Dhabi debut

And it can also be finally said, that this project is worked on with the talented guys at Thinkwell.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Warner Bros Dubai has officially opened; as Robert Niles has seemingly given a rather glowing article of the park.

Warner Bros. World impresses in its Abu Dhabi debut

And it can also be finally said, that this project is worked on with the talented guys at Thinkwell.

I really like the Scooby Doo dark ride.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I really like the Scooby Doo dark ride.

I love Furry-ous. Legit, looks like one of the best themed coasters I have seen for a family market outside of Disney.

Scooby reminds me a lot actually of a classic dark ride with storical elements of the animated property. I do hope we get to see more of Test Flight and JL soon, as both sound outstanding too.

 

[Tobias]

With what's been posted so far, the Scooby Doo dark ride looks pretty nice and thankfully quelled my fears it might be on the static side. There's a nice bit of motion with the figures, and it's interesting that it looks like you'll experience a different scene in some rooms depending on what car you're in. (When Velma turns off/on the lights.)

The Fast and the Furry-ous looks like a really nice family coaster, and I see what they're doing with the little theming touches of Wile trying (and failing) to catch the road runner throughout the ride.

As for the Flinstones flume, it's a little more mixed. There's some nice theming abound (Moreso then what Motiongate debuted with), but some of the big scenes looked rather static and not as lively as the Scooby Doo ride.

I like what I see so far, so I'm eager to see what else get's posted in the future. Though it should be interesting to see how lines/capacity is for Batman: Knight Flight with Niles posting the tidbit that the vehicles are going to be separate and not a omnimover in order to go around Universal's patent.

 

[quinnmac000]

Scooby Doo ride looks great but at the same time, I don't want to see other riders....

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Scooby Doo ride looks great but at the same time, I don't want to see other riders....

Then by that logic, I take it you don't like Mystic Manor because you can clearly see other riders in the other car's? O:

As for the Flinstones flume, it's a little more mixed. There's some nice theming abound (Moreso then what Motiongate debuted with), but some of the big scenes looked rather static and not as lively as the Scooby Doo ride.

In the terms of Flinstones, seems like a missed opportunity for that ride to not have some form of a door effect to block out that transitional piece after the lift hill.

And yeah, it seems static compared to everything else; but I do hope that just more means that they'll fix it in the coming weeks.

A little note, WB Dhabi actually has two "Talking Head" characters; with Bug's and Daffy.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

 

[SOCAL110]

I've never been sold on the idea of an indoor theme park, until now. What a beautiful, well-themed park. It brought out so much nostalgia with seeing Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes, and the Flintstones. The entrance plaza looks great. Gotham looks great. I truly hope the park does well.

Considering Warner Bros. Studio is now expanding their offerings, such as getting in the Haunt business with Horror Made Here, I wonder if they would ever build an indoor theme park in California? I know there's a lot of competition, but I think it would be a hit.

 

[quinnmac000]

Then by that logic, I take it you don't like Mystic Manor because you can clearly see other riders in the other car's? O:

Its actually my biggest pet peeve with trackless rides in general. It breaks the immersion factor

 

[GadgetGuru]

This is such a big reminder how much the WB franchises are wasted right now.

The Scooby Doo ride looks so great. I was really impressed. Good effects, charming. I’d love for Cat in the Hat @ IoA to borrow a couple of tricks from the ride.

If I ever go to Dubai, this place is now the top of my list. I really hope somebody else can get the domestic WB rights and do something useful with them.

 

[Paulio]

It's a shame Warner Bros. doesn't start its own theme park earlier and compete with that to the level of Universal and Disney. They have plenty of colorful and well-known appealing IPs like Universal and Disney, but they don't have an interest in theme parks, which is to me actually shocking they didn't do it sooner. WB still lacks the experience though, which is why they probably never make an immersive theme park here in the U.S. anytime soon, since they already lend Harry Potter to Universal for example.

 

[SOCAL110]

It's a shame Warner Bros. doesn't start its own theme park earlier and compete with that to the level of Universal and Disney. They have plenty of colorful and well-known appealing IPs like Universal and Disney, but they don't have an interest in theme parks, which is to me actually shocking they didn't do it sooner. WB still lacks the experience though, which is why they probably never make an immersive theme park here in the U.S. anytime soon, since they already lend Harry Potter to Universal for example.

WB now has 3 major theme parks operating/licensing today: Australia, Spain, & now Abu Dhabi. It seems like WB is dipping their toe more & more in the theme park biz now with the Horror Made Here Haunt. If the park in AD goes well, I think it's a matter of time until they try their luck here in the States. Obviously, my wish is CA, but I could see them trying it in another state.

 

[Paulio]

WB now has 3 major theme parks operating/licensing today: Australia, Spain, & now Abu Dhabi. It seems like WB is dipping their toe more & more in the theme park biz now with the Horror Made Here Haunt. If the park in AD goes well, I think it's a matter of time until they try their luck here in the States. Obviously, my wish is CA, but I could see them trying it in another state.

Yeah, but the problem is that unlike Disney and Universal, WB parks are most somewhat similar to Six Flags parks: cheap to mid theming and easily removal and half have amusement park attractions. Plus, barely anyone here in America knows about the WB parks, let alone the people outside of three other countries. When you think of theme parks, you're thinking more of Disney and Universal. Anything's possible, but even so, WB is trying to cater to foreigners overseas, because they know they couldn't hit bigtime here in the U.S. to actually compete and they gave away its most valuable IPs to Universal.

 

[JungleSkip]

WB now has 3 major theme parks operating/licensing today: Australia, Spain, & now Abu Dhabi. It seems like WB is dipping their toe more & more in the theme park biz now with the Horror Made Here Haunt. If the park in AD goes well, I think it's a matter of time until they try their luck here in the States. Obviously, my wish is CA, but I could see them trying it in another state.

All these parks are *not owned or operated* by WB. This is a very, very important distinction when talking about these parks. What we see in AD is no different than what Universal does when they license the Potter property. I think it's more likely that Uni tries to get some of these properties in the future rather than WB opening their own parks

 

[GadgetGuru]

The US market is way too mature for WB (or its licensees) to try and establish a major theme park. The USA already has Disney + Universal at the high-end, SeaWorld/Legoland/some others in the mid-tier and a mess of regional parks on the middle/low-end of the spectrum.

WB has been looking at much less mature markets where they can be a bigger player by virtue of being one of the few parks.

Unless Six Flags goes all in on a Disney/Universal style theme park (probably in a more remote area so they don't have to directly compete with Disney/Universal), all of those IPs are going to continue to be wasted.

 

[Paulio]

The US market is way too mature for WB (or its licensees) to try and establish a major theme park. The USA already has Disney + Universal at the high-end, SeaWorld/Legoland/some others in the mid-tier and a mess of regional parks on the middle/low-end of the spectrum.

WB has been looking at much less mature markets where they can be a bigger player by virtue of being one of the few parks.

Unless Six Flags goes all in on a Disney/Universal style theme park (probably in a more remote area so they don't have to directly compete with Disney/Universal), all of those IPs are going to continue to be wasted.

But Seaworld, Legoland, and other amusement park operators aren't anything like Disney and Universal, both which has experience in theming attractions. Anything is still possible and it's welcoming to have a third theme park operator to compete with Disney and Universal. However, Warner Bros. currently don't have the experience they need to compete so they look into the lower-to-mid market overseas to make more money that way. That's why they lease the properties to Disney and Universal, past and present. Neither I think there's room for that especially in the California and Orlando area, and WB doesn't have any interest in establishing its own theme parks at the moment, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility though.

 

[Mad Dog]

But Seaworld, Legoland, and other amusement park operators aren't anything like Disney and Universal, both which has experience in theming attractions. Anything is still possible and it's welcoming to have a third theme park operator to compete with Disney and Universal. However, Warner Bros. currently don't have the experience they need to compete so they look into the lower-to-mid market overseas to make more money that way. That's why they lease the properties to Disney and Universal, past and present. Neither I think there's room for that especially in the California and Orlando area, and WB doesn't have any interest in establishing its own theme parks at the moment, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility though.

With the AT&T acquisition costs, I doubt there's going to be a lot of money sitting around in the AT&T coffers to speculate on risky theme park(s) venture.

 

[Clive]

Man, it hurts to see *how close* some of these rides are to being top class. The Flinstone flume (strange projection turntable notwithstanding) features great scenic but awfully static, boring visuals. Scooby Doo features some great tricks (especially projection-based) bogged down by department store-level presentation.

Furryous looks fantastic, as do the park's general environments. The Acme and Batman rides sound cool - hopefully someone can get some footage sooner or later.

Friend of mine should be visiting the park tomorrow - looking forward to his firsthand reactions.