Handpicked experience · Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi, UAE
They issue protective goggles because at 240 km/h an insect in an unprotected eye would do real damage, and the roof is shaped from a Ferrari GT's side profile.
A launch system borrowed from aircraft carriers
Eye protection issued as equipment rather than souvenir
A roof drawn from a car and built at building scale
Engineering displays that reward a slow walk
A full day's worth of park under climate control
Entry to Ferrari World on Yas Island: an indoor theme park built around the marque, with the fastest roller coaster in the world, family rides, simulators and exhibits, on a ticket valid through published opening hours.
Formula Rossa reaches around 240 kilometres an hour, and it gets there in roughly five seconds. It is the fastest roller coaster on earth, and it is not accelerated by a chain or a motor in the usual sense.
It uses a hydraulic launch system derived from the catapults that throw aircraft off carrier decks — a winch that pulls the train forward hard enough to produce roughly the acceleration of a Formula One car leaving the line, sustained for long enough to cover the launch track.
Everyone riding is issued protective goggles, and they are not a novelty. At that speed, an insect striking an unprotected eye would do real damage, and the desert air over Yas Island has insects in it. The goggles are the tell that the number on the sign is not marketing.
Abu Dhabi's summer makes an outdoor theme park impossible for months at a time, so this one was built under a roof — and the roof became the largest space-frame structure ever put up.
Its shape is taken directly from the side profile of a Ferrari GT body, scaled to two hundred thousand square metres, and the logo laid onto it is the largest the company has ever produced. From the air it reads as a car; from the ground it reads as a horizon.
That is why the park works in July. Everything except a couple of outdoor sections is climate-controlled, which in this city is not a comfort feature but the difference between operating and closing.
A large part of the floor space is not rides. It is cars, engines, workshop recreations and archive material, and it is worth more of your time than the queue-jumping instinct suggests.
There are chassis cutaways showing how the cars are actually put together, engines displayed as objects rather than as parts of something, and a reconstruction of an Italian workshop. If you have any interest in how these machines are made rather than just how fast they go, this is the part of the park that repays a slow walk, and it is almost always emptier than the ride queues.
The ticket covers entry; transfers, food and drink are separate.
Formula Rossa has firm height and health restrictions and does not run in high wind or rain, both of which occur. Anyone with back, neck or heart conditions, and anyone pregnant, should skip it — the launch is genuinely violent, more so than the height of the ride suggests.
Five hours is enough to ride the headline attractions and see the exhibits without rushing, but not to do everything. Loose items are not permitted on the fast rides and lockers are available. The park is busiest at weekends and during school holidays.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Around 240 kilometres an hour, reached in roughly five seconds. It is the fastest roller coaster in the world.
A hydraulic launch system derived from the catapults that throw aircraft off carrier decks, rather than a chain or conventional motor.
They are handed out at the ride and collected afterwards, so nothing needs bringing.
Anyone with back, neck or heart conditions and anyone pregnant. The launch is more violent than the ride's height suggests.
Abu Dhabi summers make outdoor operation impossible for months, so almost everything is climate-controlled.
It is the largest space-frame structure ever built, shaped from the side profile of a Ferrari GT and carrying the largest logo the company has produced.
Yes. Chassis cutaways, engines shown as objects and a reconstructed Italian workshop, usually much quieter than the ride queues.
Enough for the headline rides and the exhibits without rushing, but not to do everything in the park.