The world’s largest indoor theme park is opening in Dubai this August. Here’s what to expect…

Just in: IMG Worlds Of Adventure opening date has been pushed back from August 15, with the park now set to open its doors on Monday August 31 (tickets are already on sale here).

If you’ve already bought tickets for the dates of August 15 to August 30, you can contact guestrelations@imgworlds.com to have them changed.

The 1.5 million square feet of temperature-controlled indoor theme park is the size equivalent of around 28 football fields.

Open 365 days a year, the park will be made up of four main zones – the Marvel Area (with Thor, Iron Man and the like), the Cartoon Network zone (there will be a Powerpuff Girls ride, of course) and a Lost Valley dinosaur-themed section. There will also be an area called IMG Boulevard featuring characters, dining options and  shopping.

The park will be on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road – in between The Villa and Global Village – and is about a 20-minute drive from Downtown Dubai.

Tickets will be Dhs300 for an adult and Dhs250 for children (which is defined as anyone under 1.2 metres, because they can only ride about 40 per cent of the attractions).

The park was originally supposed to open in 2014, but, like with most of Dubai’s ambitious projects, has seen delays. The CEO of the park, Leonard Otto, said a lot of the delays can come down to the “complexities” of building the world’s largest indoor theme park. IMG officials said things like the large earthquake in Iran a few years ago, which changed foundation requirements in the UAE, also had an effect on the opening date.

The Velociraptor coaster actually comes out of the main building (and goes from 0 to 100 km in 2.5 seconds). 

The park will also have a NOVO cinemas in the complex which residents will be able to go to without paying the general entrance fee. IMG CEO Otto said it would be “a natural fit” to have premieres of Marvel movies at a cinema in a Marvel theme park and that they may “bring the actors over”. So yes, we might be able to see Chris Hemsworth or Robert Downey Jr in the flesh soon (fingers crossed).

Plus, another promise from Otto was that the food in the park will “kill the notion of bad food in theme parks”. There will be 28 F&B outlets in total – with everything from food trucks to fine dining covered, and 13 types of cuisine represented. A list of some of the F&B outlets to be expected can be found here.

In mega-cool news, the 10-storey Stark Tower (love you Tony) inside the Marvel zone will be home to a fine dining restaurant with, in their words, “Michelin-star-quality chefs”. Also, apparently Marvel (which is owned by Disney) were very involved in the planning of the park – both creatively and operationally, which is good news when you consider that everything they touch turns to gold.

Now, finally, before we get onto details of the rides, what about traffic? We all know the issues on SMBZ road when Global Village is open, but throwing a theme park into the mix? Well, there is currently one major entrance to the park (the same entrance as The Villa community), but the park can also be accessed from Al Barari and they are in the process of building two more entrances to the park. Plus you’ll also have access to the park from a whole new highway that’s being built from Dubai Silicon Oasis to Dubai Investment Park.

AND NOW DETAILS ON THE RIDES…

THE MARVEL ZONE

This area will look like the streets of New York (there’s even a New York-style Chinese restaurant called Golden Changs) and will feature five main rides…

– Avengers Battle of Ultron – This ‘dark’ ride will have you taking to the skies in a Quinjet to help the Avengers beat Ultron. It involves stereoscopic 3D and motion technology.

– Hulk Epsilon Base 3D: This 100-seater ride system is the first of its kind in the world in that it uses the combination of a 360 degree projection screen and motion to virtually propel people through a Hulk battle scene. “Everything moves,” said CEO Leonard Otto of the ride.

– Spider-Man Doc Ock’s Revenge: A 400-metre-long spinning coaster that will propel guests through the New York skyline.

– Thor Thunder Spin: This dizzying top-spin experience will pin guests to their seat as Thor, the Mighty Avenger, attempts to rescue them from the clutches of Loki, God of Mischief. It’ll be kind of like an old school Pirate Ship ride (but just way more extreme).

– Avengers Flight of the Quinjets: This family ride will have you driving your own two-seater pod and joining a challenging interactive flight race (you’ll be able to bump into other people on the ride too). 

LOST VALLEY – DINOSAUR ADVENTURE ZONE

This dinosaur-themed area will have five signature rides.

– The Velociraptor: This 1.1 km rollercoaster goes from 0 to 100 km in 2.5 seconds, launching you from the deep dark prehistoric jungles of the Lost Valley out into the Dubai desert and back.

– Forbidden Territory: This ‘safari’ ride will take you through the Forbidden Territory where you’ll see 70 prehistoric, life-sized animatronic dinosaurs (that were made in Japan).

– Predator: This one will be scary – a 400-metre-long ‘vertical rollecoaster’. Yes, as in one of those coasters that plummet. Heart in throat stuff.

– Dino Carousel: Slightly less scary, this is the world’s first ‘dinosaur-themed carousel’. Fast fact – the dinos are hand carved.

– Adventure Fortress: This adventure playground will be a great place for kids to let off steam – with obstacles and physical challenges with ladders, tunnels, slides, bridges, nets and climbing adventures.

THE CARTOON NETWORK ZONE

This TV channel goes out to 194 countries and stars characters known by many generations. This zone is definitely aimed at kids. Here’s what to expect…

– The Powerpuff Girls – Mojo Jojo’s Robot Rampage: Ride with The Powerpuff Girls to save the world before bedtime. They’re promising “the banks, loops and weightlessness of flight” on this ride.

– Ben 10 5D Hero Time: This is a 5D theatre experience (so yes, sights, sounds, smell, touch and movement) following the Ben 10 character during a battle.

– Adventure Time – The Ride of OOO with Finn & Jake:  An overhead scenic ride around the park that will actually take you through different areas (and can be seen from the ground of the zone).

– The Amazing Ride of Gumball: This interactive remote game will have you zapping objects that have come to life and are threatening to take over the town.

– LazyTown Playground and Live Stage Show: The “Disney-level” trained performers will be on stage here, and there will also be a challenging rope and ladder adventure in LazyTown.

IMG BOULEVARD ZONE

This retail and F&B area will be a good meeting point for families, and a good place for those who don’t like rides to just chill and wait for everyone to finish.

CEO of the park Leonard Otto said parents would also be “put a wristband on kids and monitor their location”, which is handy if the thought of spending a few hours surrounded by cartoon characters is too much for you to bear.

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