Abu Dhabi
Day 5 - Warner Bros World
Last night we decided we were going to get up early-ish, walk to Starbucks, 1km down the road and get an Uber from there to WB World at Yas Island but this morning we decided lying in bed for an hour longer was more important.
The drive to the theme park took about 35mins and we got there just after opening time at 11am. We had downloaded the Yas Island app and registered for FacePass so after a quick bag check we just walked up to the gates, looked at the screen and we were in. It was so quick and we wouldn’t even have needed any proof of tickets.
13th May 2024
WB World is divided into 6 sections - Warner Bros Plaza, Bedrock, Dynamite Gulch, Gotham City, Cartoon Junction and Metropolis - all with their fair share of rides, shops and restaurants/stalls.
We started off in Cartoon Junction and headed straight to Scooby Doo! The Museum of Mysteries as our first ride. This one was a bit like Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in HS, although a lot darker and a bit slower. I felt there were some scenes where the carts could’ve been a bit quicker but it was a good ride nonetheless.
Next up was Tom and Jerry Swiss Cheese Spin… I had looked up the park online because I like to know what the ride is like before I go on it but the only videos I could find about this one were of the queue and not the ride itself but I now know that it’s because they take your bags and phones off you before you get on the ride - in other words you put them in a little bucket, get on the ride and it’s there waiting at the other side… I thought it might be similar to Runaway Railway too but “spinnier” but it turns out it’s spinny like Guardians Of The Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, but not half as smooth… in itself it’s a good ride but i couldn’t follow the story at all, even when I went on for the 2nd time…
Because we hadn’t had any breakfast we decided to go for an early lunch so we went to Hollywood Trattoria. Our ticket to the park included a 65AED (€16.40\£14.10) meal voucher but you only paid 50AED. When you register for FacePass, you get 25% on your first day at a park and then 10% after that need what I missed in the T&Cs was that you can’t mix the two… so we got the cashier completely confused that he had to ask his colleagues but we got it sorted eventually… we got a slice of chicken shawarma pizza and 3 arrancini balls which were both a tad dry but still tasted nice.
After lunch we went on ride nr 3 - Ani-Mayhem - an ACME take on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin at MK. This was a fun one, especially for me since I won 3 times *cue evil laugh*
Next up we headed to Gotham City which has the most thrill rides with 3 out of 5 being for people over 1.20m/47in. We stood and watched The Riddler Revolution and Scarecrow Scare Raid but there was no way we were even going near the entrance to either of them. I’ve added a short video of each below so you can get an idea of what they’re like… we also skipped Batman: Knight Flight because I’m pretty sure that includes a 360° turn which we don’t do and Green Lantern: Galactic Odyssey too because I thought it would be too thrilling too
Next up was The Joker Funhouse - a walkthrough carnival-type attraction. It was over 2 levels, the 2nd of which was only for over 1.20m/47in and was quite fun to start with but when we got to the top there was a slide to go down and it was called the dropzone - cue my brain freaking out… I don’t know if it was the 3 boys at the top who were playing up and annoying the member of staff, the fact that they called it the dropzone or the fact that the slide looked as if it went down at practically 90° from where we were standing but I started freaking out and asked if there was another way down. The guy showed me to the lift so I commented out and left Stefan to go down the slide himself. We did go back later on and both guys at the front and at the slides recognised me and encouraged me to go for it but the minute I sat on the slide and saw the drop I started panicking again and despite him trying too encourage me I took the easy way out again and this time he didn’t even show me to the lift. It wasn’t even that long a slide but I think it being enclosed didn’t help the situation… I kind of wish they got at the top had just given me a push but I’m also glad I didn’t push myself because I think that might’ve made it worse.
Anyway, onto Metropolis and Superman 360: Battle for Metropolis which is a 3D 360 attraction where you stand in rows and watch the film. That was an easy one! In between rides we also popped into several of the shops to see what they had on offer. We also got roped into the basketball arcade game which we failed miserably in (anyone would’ve thought I used to play basketball) but we’d recommend giving them a miss because they’re so expensive and we spent way too much on one game… it was probably a good job we lost though by the size of the prize - it would’ve taken up our whole suitcase - literally!
Once we finished with Metropolis we came back out into Warner Bros Plaza and were a bit confused as to where to find Bedrock but quickly realised that it was behind the main stage. Although when we got there we found that the only ride in that world, Bedrock River Adventure, was off and didn’t come back on all day so we continued on to Dynamite Gulch. This was home to The Jetsons Cosmic Orbiter (a bit like Dumbo and Astro Orbiter in Magic Kingdom) and Marvin the Martian Crater Crashers (bumper cars), both of which we were on so often that one of the ride operators walked past us on the way out and shouted bye to us… there was another ride in that area that I really wanted to do but I chickened out off (partly because Stefan wouldn’t come with me and because the ride disappeared behind a wall and not knowing what was there freaked me out… yes, I’m that freak if you hadn’t already noticed).
I can’t really remember the exact order we went on everything and it’s not really that important but we did all of the “easy” rides several times and despite not being able to go down a stupid probably 10m slide I went back on the Tom and Jerry spin ride again, this time without Stefan who had an icky tummy half the day. I was fine in the queue thinking “nope, don’t panic, you’ve done this once, you can do it again” to “oh no (although a bit stronger than that), what have I done!?) but I “only” shut my eyes twice this time and didn’t come off shaking so that was an improvement on the first ride!
For dinner we went to a dinner called Big Belly Burger and had a single patty “Big Burger”, battered shrimps and a Coke Zero between us. Considering how empty the place was it took a long time to do a burger and the food was ok but it wasn’t anything special… oh, we also stopped off at Beverly Hills Boulangerie at the plaza for a cinnamon donut and iced Spanish latte, which was veeeery sweet and I don’t mean caramel-latte-at-Starbucks-sweet which I actually love despite usually never putting sugar near my coffee...
It’s our eldest’s 5th birthday on Monday and my mum has been looking after him and his little brother since Thursday so we decided to bring them something from WB World but we couldn’t decide what so we were in and out the shops I don’t know how often trying to make our minds up. We eventually did and left the park about 10mins after closing. The rides and restaurants were all closed by that time but the shops were still open and didn’t seem to mind people still coming in for something even though it was after 7pm.
All the staff at the park were lovely and we had a brilliant day so we can definitely recommend going if you’re ever in Abu Dhabi! We even loved it so much I joked about getting an annual pass - although a Disney World one is still top of my wish list…
This is the first time we’ve been to a theme park without the boys and it made a huge difference just being able to walk on the rides without having to think about whether they could or would want to go on, and which parent would go first while the other one waited. I don’t know if it was because it was a Monday but every single ride was a walk on. So much so that the operator at the Jetsons ride asked us why we didn’t just come down the fast track lane instead of walking all the way around the normal one. I know there was at least one family with fast passes (because they tried to push past us saying they had them but they were in the wrong queue) but you definitely didn’t need them today!
After the park has closed we walked over to Yass Mall - about a 10min walk. It’s absolutely huge and confusing compared to some of the other malls we’ve been in here but more on that in a minute… Stefan collects The Little Prince books in different languages but didn’t have it in Arabic yet so that was a must buy so he was a happy bunny when he finally found it in Borders of all places… I found more Loungeflys in Fandom and Virgin Megastore but still couldn’t decide what one to get and I got some Skechers flip flops too… I also fulfilled a 10yr long dream and finally got some Garrett’s Chicago Mix popcorn in a sweetie shop. I’ve been in Chicago 3 times but never gotten any so today was the day - we got the smallest size bag because Stefan’s not a popcorn lover but it turns out he’s now addicted to Garrett’s!
We decided to get something to eat at the mall and settled on the Cheesecake Factory - can someone please tell me why I’ve been going to America for years and it’s taken me this long to go to CF and then I finally go in Abu Dhabi!?!? We got chicken tacitos, a French dip burger and mango key lime cheesecake to share and Arnold Palmers which they refilled for free and it was soooooo gooooood! I’m now dreading going to South Carolina in September because now I’ll have to squeeze in another to do restaurant to my list...
So I just mentioned that the mall is huge and confusing… despite looking at all the signs we couldn’t figure out where the taxi pick up was so we asked a security guard who directed us the right way but Stefan decided he needed the toilet first so we followed the signs for that until they disappeared. We finally spotted another sign in the distance and followed it but even that disappeared into thin air… when we finally found them we realised that if we’d turned left where we went straight on following the far away sign we would’ve been right there.
Now to find the taxi rank… the security guard had told us to go downstairs and turn left but there were no down escalators to be seen and the lift only went up so we decided to walk towards the cinema car park because that’s where the Uber app said one of the pick up zones was. But when we got to said car park it was only a covered one which didn’t look as if taxis would be allowed in so after trying upstairs which was the same we went back into the now technically closed mall (restaurants and some shops were still open though) and asked at one of the stalls. We were then told to take the 2nd right and go down the escalator there but when I tried to change the pick up point on the app it kept jumping back to the “main entrance pick up zone” which was nowhere to be found so after walking through the car park we went back inside and asked again and were finally directed to the right entrance… so the moral of the tale is if you ever want to get picked up by an Uber at the main entrance pick up zone of Yas Mall, it’s beside Pottery barn!
For some reason despite having an internet signal in CF we couldn’t say goodnight to the boys so ended up having to talk to Conor, our eldest, in the Uber because he wouldn’t go to sleep without speaking to us. I don’t know what the driver was thinking with the mix of two languages and a 4yr old blethering away in the background!
Anyway we made it to the hotel about 11 o’clock, I finally sat down to write this blog half an hour later and it’s now 1am yet again… I really need to cut down what I write but there’s so much to tell, and my brain likes to elaborate! That that’s not even an option so thank you if you’ve read this far! I really appreciate each and every like. Time for some shut eye before our final day tomorrow… night all.
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