Hiya, folks! I just flew in from Abu Dhabi, and boy, are my arms tired! As if reviewing 40-plus shows at the recently concluded Orlando Fringe weren't masochistic enough, last week I accepted an invitation to leave town in the middle of the Festival and spend four days in the United Arab Emirates at the grand opening of SeaWorld Abu Dhabi.
The first marine life attraction in the Middle East is a collaboration between SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment — which provided their intellectual property and veterinary expertise in exchange for licensing fees — and owner/operator Miral, the development company behind Yas Island, a man-made mega-resort that's actively seeking to rival Central Florida as a global tourism destination.
While it shares the name and theming of Orlando's half-century-old park, this $1.2 billion state-of-the-art SeaWorld is a big departure from what you might expect.
For starters, the entire facility is located indoors under air conditioning (a must when it's 125 degrees Fahrenheit outside), and it's impeccably themed to Tokyo Disney-style standards, starting with the astounding 6.6 million-gallon, 60-foot-deep Endless Ocean aquarium, which makes EPCOT's Seabase Alpha look like Petco's fishtank aisle.
Even more importantly, there isn't a single orca to be seen (outside of some subtle stylized Shamu iconography in the spare-no-expense design), and although marine mammals like dolphins and walruses are in residence, they've been upgraded from dilapidated facilities around the globe into enormous naturalistic habitats, which could soon sadly be superior to the wild due to climate change.
Finally, for Orlando theme park fans, the biggest difference between SeaWorld Orlando and Abu Dhabi is the focus — or lack thereof — on thrills. Visitors to Yas Island can enjoy neighboring Ferrari World's 149 mph Formula Rossa, the world's fastest roller coaster, if you want to know how it feels to be air-fried; or find DC and Looney Tunes dark rides that rival Universal's at Warner Bros World down the block. Inside SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, there's a child-focused MicroOcean with carnival rides and a kiddie coaster, but if you're looking for Mako or Kraken, just keep swimming.
The only adult coaster you'll find here is Manta, whose bright blue Intamin tracks snake outside the building's entrance through a maze of artificial coral and sculpted rip-curls.
Riders board inside a richly decorated underwater cave and pass a massive tropical aquarium before the first of three launches blasts you into what feels like a slightly milder (and surprisingly long) cousin of IOA's VelociCoaster, filled with head-chopping close calls and copious out-of-your seat airtime. It's both exhilarating and incredibly re-rideable, aside from the blinding glare of the desert at midday; I had to wait until twilight to even be able to open my eyes during the ride.
Manta in Abu Dhabi may have made my eyes water, but that's nothing compared to what SeaWorld Orlando's newest coaster did to me. Pipeline, advertised as the world's first "surfing coaster," officially opened on May 27, but I got to experience it during a media preview several weeks earlier.
You can read more about my gnarly take on Pipeline here, but the bottom line is: If you really want to experience 2023's best new SeaWorld roller coaster, you're going to have to take a 15-hour flight to the UAE ... but at least you won't have to drive down I-Drive!
