Which attraction at dubailand was launched in 2004

The project was announced in , and construction work did indeed begin a few years later. One of the first theme parks to begin construction was the wildly ambitious F1-X, which was to form part of the MotorCity section of Dubailand, which would also include the Dubai Autodrome Formula One race circuit which opened in Naturally, it would be themed around motor racing.

The park was the result of a deal between Union Properties and Formula One, which granted the company exclusive rights to build theme parks based on the sport. F1-X was to boast a Formula One Museum, various grand prix-themed rides and simulators, along with a hotel.

The entire park would be themed around a Formula One paddock, with several F1 teams involved in its design. Three bespoke roller coasters would recreate the experience of driving an F1 car. The park's downfall came in the face of the global debt crisis in , which brought the insane pace of development in Dubai to a grinding halt. In March , the banks that were funding F1-X suddenly pulled their support, and construction work came to a halt.

The F1-X park is not to be confused with the similarly-themed Ferrari World , which successfully opened in Dubai's neighboring emirate Abu Dhabi in October The Ferrari-themed park is the world's largest indoor theme park, and hosts the world's fastest rollercoaster, Formula Rossa.

In the heady days before the economic downturn in the massive DubaiLand project seemed perfectly achievable to its champions. But the scale of the infrastructural works was never properly appreciated.

You only have to trawl through the property investment blogs to appreciate the unrealistic expectations of investors and theme park aficionados. But it is ever the way; developers are always faced with the chicken-and-egg problem of how to get people to buy a house in a development with no shops on the one hand, or how to get retailers to open up shop in a development devoid of inhabitants on the other. DubaiLand has been sold on the promise of adjacent attractions and leisure facilities, and for those who invested in houses and apartments it has been a long wait for the promise to be realised.

And what about communications and transportation? How do you move 15 million expectant tourists around this virgin territory? Of course you need roads for the construction firms to reach their building sites, but trains or trams are what tourists need, and nobody is going to build train tracks for a non-existent population. The infrastructure was being built, but not at the impossibly fast pace that developers were led to expect.

Over the years that followed some of these elements were renamed, some scrapped, some built and some new elements added to the DubaiLand menu. These included The Restless Planet, a dinosaur theme park being developed in cooperation with the London Natural History Museum, Sports City , featuring large state-of-the-art stadiums two of which had already been announced in , Islamic Culture and Science World, Mall of Arabia, set to become one of the largest shopping centres in the world, and Tiger Woods Dubai, one of the centrepiece projects of DubaiLand with plans for 22 palaces, luxury villas, a 33, square metre hotel and 75 mansions.

So can the brains behind the monumental theme park really hope to welcome visitors by ? It is all with the aim to secure DubaiLand as the ultimate leisure and entertainment tourist destination in the world.

Originally scheduled to open by the end of , building work had not even started on most of the projects. Moreover it was looking increasingly unlikely that the new opening date of late would be met. When land was first sold, the infrastructure had not been properly considered.

By the end of only three elements of DubaiLand were officially operational: Global Village , a traditional fairground surrounded by 37 international pavilions; The Dubai Autodrome, the race track component of MotorCity ; and the first phase of Plantation Polo and Equestrian Club. Al-Kaheel, a one million square metre project comprising equine centres with indoor and outdoor arenas, a breeding centre, villas, a hotel and a theatre, ran into difficulties and was taken over by the developer, Tatweer.

And so it continued, Dubai had now attracted theme park commitments from three of the world's five largest theme park companies. But why, some wondered, nothing from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts? The target date for completion of all the projects is , by which time more than , staff will be working at the theme parks. A detailed plan has just been submitted and we are working on it. The management company committed to a new opening date of 10th December , when Universal Studios would make its blockbuster debut.

There were two types of DubaiLand projects: those being managed by government-backed Tatweer, and those by private investors. These latter projects would all be packed with houses, but DubaiLand preferred to pitch them as attractions. Thus, Al Barari was described as "botanical gardens with villas", and The Plantation as an "equestrian and Polo-inspired lifestyle statement".

As the summer of turned to autumn the economic outlook was looking less rosy. In December Tatweer announced that the entire DubaiLand development was under review because of the financial crisis. Tatweer itself was now to be merged into a joint venture with three other property developers. DubaiLand's master plan incorporated 45 theme-based projects of which more than twenty, including residential areas, had already been signed off for development as part of the first phase.

In June the New York-based amusement park chain Six Flags filed for bankruptcy protection but said that plans for its first park in the Middle East were "moving forward".

The following month the Tiger Woods development was said to have been delayed by at least six months although DubaiLand said that consistent progress was continuing at the course, emphasising that three of the 18 holes were completed, which confirmed its commitment to the project.

The opening dates of two big name attractions, Legoland and Universal Studios, were slipped by two years although developer Tatweer insisted there had been no change in the plans for DubaiLand and that Universal Studios remained an integral part of it. But while the attractions seemed to be getting nowhere, at least some of the residential projects were nearing completion with Dubai Properties announcing that Al Waha and The Villa at DubaiLand should be completed by the year end. The same developer showcased more than 15 developments at the property jamboree, Cityscape, including Tiger Woods Dubai.

Meanwhile while Arjan , Liwan and Majan , residential districts launched in , were all but stalled. At Dubai Golf City the developer was having a hard time selling properties around the unfinished Tiger Woods golf and becoming increasingly anxious that it would never be completed, while the Las Vegas inspired Al Bawadi strip of hotels and entertainment venues was also idling, waiting for the market to pick up.

Slivers, that is, of the biggest project on the planet, and for the rest of there was nothing more to report. Dubai Properties Group, the project backer, started talks with developers to review their contracts as part of plans to get the project back on track. Just one new project was launched, Falcon City of Wonders , another residential project.

Expected to be completed by the end of it was to have its own Eiffel Tower and a larger than life-size Taj Mahal surrounded by Mughal style gardens. Meanwhile on the other side of the development site work was restarting at Mudon , a 70 million sq ft development on hold since Come things went really quiet View all DubaiLand building developments. We do our best to keep the data accurate.

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Dubailand was announced by the Dubai Government in October as the key element in a plan to transform the emirate into an international tourist destination. The project was designed to cover 3 billion square feet of land, twice the area of Walt Disney World.

But a decade later just a handful of the planned 45 mega projects have been built. The bank said in January that construction would start in the same year and the theme park would be finished by It has not progressed further.

Ready to reach for the sky aboard Dubai Eye Ten years after the launch of Dubailand on the outskirts of the emirate, big-ticket tourists attractions are moving back to the city centre.

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