THE dinosaurs are coming to Dubai and they’re being programmed to entertain visitors. City of Arabia, one of the region’s largest private projects, and a key development in Dubailand, has signed contracts with a number of international companies from the movie world to provide content for the Restless Planet — the dinosaur theme park —one of its kind in the region.

Telling the story of Earth’s birth and the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, the Restless Planet takes the visitors back in prehistoric times in a dramatic way raising the bar for quality entertainment to unprecedented heights. The new signings with ECA2, Super78, Blur Studio, Impossible Pictures, and Yessian and will ensure visitors entering the 80-metre high translucent dome would have a unique experience of earth in its young days with meteors raining down on the plains and lava spewing out.
“These recent signings are a reflection of the positioning that we expect for the Restless Planet. The people involved have worked on some of the world’s great movies and are protective of their reputations. When we briefed them on the Restless Planet they jumped on the opportunity to be the part of one of the most exciting theme park developments on present day,” says Mustafa Galadari, vice chairman, Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group, which is building the City of Arabia.
Restless Planet is a unique, world-class natural history phenomenon, designed to draw tourists and investment putting Dubai into the scienti?c spotlight on the international level. First of its kind in the world, Restless Planet will respond to breaking dinosaur discoveries through an ongoing programme of exhibits, announcements and events. “No visit to Dubai will be complete without the thrill of stepping into our primitive world. Its real natural history and entertainment and is an attraction for all ages,” he says. Mack Rides and Huss are the two world known experts in theme park rides and they will be creating the rides which are will unique only to Restless Planet.
“For obvious reasons, the precise content of the rides is known to only a few people, however, I can safely say that the theme park industry worldwide has not seen anything to compare with this,” says Ilyas Galadari, chairman of the I&M Galadari Group.
Tipped to be world’s largest leisure and shopping destination, Mall of Arabia is another attraction which will make a visit to City of Arabia worthwhile. With three hotels, over a thousand retail outlets and an wide tenant-mix, the mall is expected to draw millions of people annually. The mall with its ef?cient and convenient back-of-house servicing, provides more than 100 F&B waterfront restaurants that will overlook serene Wadi canals and the apex dome of the Restless Planet, dominating the skyline.

By Sarmad Khan