Theme Park Discussion / Busch plans 4 Dubai theme parks

Busch Entertainment Corp. will partner with Dubai developer Nakheel to create the Worlds of Discovery — a complex that will include SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove. check out Yahoo News for the full article.

Datestamp: Feb 28, 2008

Needless to say, you're a bit late.

-ACE

Well Dubai is getting Ferrari World, which i might say, looks amazing

Blackstone probably killed this by now...
There were some really cool renderings though.

Well Dubai is getting Ferrari World, which i might say, looks amazing

Ferrari World is in Abu Dhabi.

Blackstone probably killed this by now...There were some really cool renderings though.

Dubai's shaky finances were more likely the cause of death. Blackstone's investment in the venture would have been next to nothing with the Dubai government funding the project. Problem is that the UAE (and, in particular, Dubai) tends to promise anything in order to further their dream of becoming some type of world gateway oasis nirvana, and it is coming back to haunt them. There have been proposals and plans for Dreanworks, Formula 1, Six Flags, Universal, Marvel, Legoland, and other parks that have no real hope of happening. Here's some info about the "Dubailand" collection of projects.

It seems like Disney is just about the only entertainment/theme park operator that hasn't been conned into leasing their brand to some ridiculous UAE company hoping to make a mega resort out of nothing but sand.

Thats what I meant, blackstone killed it because of Dubia's current economy.
Dubia has me split, part of me thinks there just whoring themselves of to the rest of the world and it will eventually go under pretty quickly and fall under extreme controversy, but then, it all looks impressive.
I guess really they already are going under pretty quickly (quite litterally as the islands this park was supposed to be built on is rumored to be sinking) See here
either way Ive followed Nakheel and emaar projects alot and what they are doing is pretty interesting.
Also Here is the official dubialand site, if you watch the background thing for a while a rendering for six flags pops up with Tatsu and riddlers revenge pictures haha.

I think you misunderstand what I meant. Blackstone didn't kill anything because they weren't the ones ponying up the money to build it. Their only interests in the project were management of the properties and licensing the Busch brands to the development company. It would have been a win-win for Blackstone: they would have received royalties from the licensing agreement in addition to a guaranteed management contract. And if the park and/or Dubai failed, they would only have lost the income from royalties/management.

Thanks for the link to the official Dubailand site. Interesting to see that the latest news is from three years ago. Not a very promising project at all anymore. Dubai's place in the world is likely going to be restricted to being the Gulf's Sin City. That is, until Emirates starts flying A380s to all corners of the globe. Then all bets are off.

Slightly off-topic, but for me, Dubai is one of the ugliest cities in the world, and good riddance if their economy takes a nosedive.

Thanks for the link to the official Dubailand site. Interesting to see that the latest news is from three years ago. Not a very promising project at all anymore. Dubai's place in the world is likely going to be restricted to being the Gulf's Sin City. That is, until Emirates starts flying A380s to all corners of the globe. Then all bets are off.

Don't think they'll be able to even pull that off. Dubai's been busily shoveling their oil wealth into development to make them touristy... which would be a good idea if they weren't situated on the Gulf. Additionally, all the development has been too hastily done and the city doesn't seem like a good place to actually live. (Vegas, once you get away from the Strip, is a fairly normal city.)

Burj Dubai will never fill to capacity, and the UAE's gonna run out of oil sometime in the relatively near future. It's going to be a very large urban ruin in a few decades. (SE Asia is chock full of places like this thanks to dumb land speculation, but nothing on the scale of Dubai.)

-ACE

It's so funny to see, that all Americans here are so negative about Dubai. Why can't you give them credit for trying ? I mean, you have the whole city of Orlando being built full with amusement parks, let the rest of the world have something like that as well.

I actually hope, that Dubai will pull this off, and that China will grow bigger as well. It makes the world more fair than it is now. Let there be 3 (or 4) big tourists attractions around the world

Oh, and I don't know who said something about building it all in the desert with sand, but Sin City, Fabulous Las Vegas, is built exactly the same.

^Why are you always so critical towards Americans? Give it a fucking break...

Orlando was one of Florida's larger cities long before the theme parks showed up. You (Cena) make it sound like Disney built a park and "poof" Orlando just magically appeared. Unlike Dubai, Orlando didn't go out of its way to become a giant tourist area. The parks and the tourists came to them.

Anyway if you want to see a video of the announcement to build the parks HERE you go. There are also pictures of the what the man made island area was to look like HERE and HERE it talks about other parks that were to go in the area also from Six Flags, Universal and even Lego Land.

Cena, Las Vegas actually has a point to it, though. It's there as a gambling haven and all that. Dubai was built just because it could be built. It was absolutely nothing 10 years ago, and it will be nothing again in 10 years. Sure, they found oil there, but that doesn't mean you have to build 2,600+ ft. tall skyscrapers there or artificial islands in the shape of the world. The whole thing is completely unnecessary.

China will grow bigger as well.

lol

Don't think they'll be able to even pull that off. Dubai's been busily shoveling their oil wealth into development to make them touristy... which would be a good idea if they weren't situated on the Gulf. Additionally, all the development has been too hastily done and the city doesn't seem like a good place to actually live. (Vegas, once you get away from the Strip, is a fairly normal city.)Burj Dubai will never fill to capacity, and the UAE's gonna run out of oil sometime in the relatively near future. It's going to be a very large urban ruin in a few decades. (SE Asia is chock full of places like this thanks to dumb land speculation, but nothing on the scale of Dubai.)-ACE

I think such gloom and doom is pretty exaggerated. Dubai built too much too quickly, but the global economic problems are helping to normalize and bring it back to reality. But as long as neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia impose strict social codes, their well-to-do populations with deep pockets will look to Dubai as an escape vacation. I guess that itself more than makes up for the UAE's lack of a domestic market. Combine that with Dubai's growing importance in business, finance and transportation, and there is a recipe for success. How successful? I guess we'll see in the coming years.

I wouldn't consider Las Vegas a normal city or a good place to life, much like I would never really think of living in Dubai. I'd actually probably consider living in Dubai long before I would even entertain the idea of Las Vegas, but to each his own.

It's so funny to see, that all Americans here are so negative about Dubai. Why can't you give them credit for trying ? I mean, you have the whole city of Orlando being built full with amusement parks, let the rest of the world have something like that as well. I actually hope, that Dubai will pull this off, and that China will grow bigger as well. It makes the world more fair than it is now. Let there be 3 (or 4) big tourists attractions around the world Oh, and I don't know who said something about building it all in the desert with sand, but Sin City, Fabulous Las Vegas, is built exactly the same.

I'm not sure how nationality is at all relevant to the discussion here. I do give Dubai credit for trying and at the same time I am very critical of what I see as wasteful, unsustainable development. Dubai's problem isn't necessarily its location or overreliance on one industry over others, it is a sad case of overinflated ego. The major difference between Dubai and other resort cities like Orlando or Las Vegas is that there is approximately zero home market in the UAE from which Dubai can draw. That fact has propelled Dubai onto the world stage in a major way as they fight other countries for business and tourist dollars. It's also why Dubai seems overly artificial and ridiculous.

Dubai's bubble has popped just as China's will eventually. China will obviously continue to grow, but that doesn't mean it will happen without a string of problems. Their current growth rate is almost dangerous and its own population will likely cause its undoing. The middle class is fast on the rise and will demand greater freedom as a result, shifting the focus away from manufacturing productivity toward political and individual rights. But China is a completely different animal from the UAE.

To be sure, I don't think Dubai will quite fail in the way that some people think, because it has done the right things to diversify its risks. At the same time, Dubai will always remain very dependent on the global economy and it will prosper or suffer accordingly because of that.

Cena, Las Vegas actually has a point to it, though. It's there as a gambling haven and all that. Dubai was built just because it could be built. It was absolutely nothing 10 years ago, and it will be nothing again in 10 years. Sure, they found oil there, but that doesn't mean you have to build 2,600+ ft. tall skyscrapers there or artificial islands in the shape of the world. The whole thing is completely unnecessary.

Uh, I think Dubai has much more of a point to it than Las Vegas does. Las Vegas was built to diversify mob operations in much the same way that Dubai is being developed to diversify the city's economy away from oil, which, for all intents and purposes, has long since dried up for Dubai. Dubai serves much the same function for the Gulf region as Las Vegas does for the United States, the only difference being that Dubai also serves as a substantial global finance, business and transportation hub. Comparatively, Las Vegas is literally nothing without the gambling and hospitality industry. If Dubai is, in fact, completely unnecessary, Las Vegas is even more unnecessary.

Anyone else think the tower in Dubai is exceedingly similar to the tower of babel?

I really hate how all the people who actually built Dubai came there because they were tricked and are pretty much stuck there and out of work, because nobody seems to care.

Most of the people who built Dubai (i.e. imported labor from India and other countries) are likely back in their home countries by now. I believe they are usually only awarded work visas and return home once the work is completed.

It's so funny to see, that all Americans here are so negative about Dubai.............I actually hope, that Dubai will pull this off, and that China will grow bigger as well. It makes the world more fair than it is now.

How fucking drunk/high are you when you decide to express your opinions here? I really, really hope plenty. Because sometimes my jaw literally drops when I read this shit. Either that, or with ignorance truly being bliss...you have to be the happiest motherfucker on Earth. It's a good thing that the rest of us don't judge all Dutch based off of your actions. Unfuckingbelievable.

I think such gloom and doom is pretty exaggerated. Dubai built too much too quickly, but the global economic problems are helping to normalize and bring it back to reality. But as long as neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia impose strict social codes, their well-to-do populations with deep pockets will look to Dubai as an escape vacation.

Valid point.

However, Dubai is investing too much on things that will not have a return on the investment. Infrastructure development? Useful. A massive office tower that'd be hard to fill even in Hong Kong? Resort islands that will likely require constant maintenance to keep above sea level? Not so much. Even if the business sectors of the city turn a profit, the city will still lose money trying to preserve these icons that will, by that point, be useless as anything but postcard bait.

(Useful note: skyscrapers are horribly inefficient at turning profit -- and the larger they are, the less efficient. There's a reason the Empire State Building is still the biggest in NYC, even though in theory you could easily build larger and fill the building.)

@Cena: Go look up statistical analysis, especially the part about sample sizes, before you open your mouth again. It'll save you some embarrassment.

-ACE