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Park Profile
parkworld-online.com
IMG Worlds of Adventure Q Lines
One of the world's largest indoor theme parks, IMG Worlds of Adventure is a 1.5 million square feet facility spanning four adventure zones – Marvel, Cartoon Network, Lost Valley and IMG Boulevard. In an exclusive interview, Park World speaks to Cecil Magpuri and David Schaefer, chief creative officer and vice-president of Falcon's Creative, the Orlando-based design group that masterplanned the entire park for the family- owned Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari (IMG) Group
Four zones of fun at Dubai's big new undercover theme park
What was your role and when were you brought on board the project? Cecil Magpuri (CM) – We were brought on board by the IMG Group in the fourth quarter of 2012. Initially they wanted us to focus on the content development, the digital type equipment, but then we were invited to look at their design and masterplan and what attractions they were looking at. They had the four key zones pre-defined at that point, even if they weren't named exactly as they are today. We suggested some alternate approaches on how the masterplan could be laid out better, and then they elevated the scope of our work until we ended up taking over as creative guardian and and executive producer for the whole theme park.
What were your first impressions on meeting the Galadari brothers, Ilyas & Mustafa? CM – I was impressed with their knowledge of theme
Velociraptor, by Mack, is one of the park’s sigatuare attracions
parks, they did a lot of due diligence in flying to all the major parks around the world and got very into the different levels of trends. David Schaefer (DS) – I think what was very notable was that they both shared a creative vision for what they wanted this park to be. It is always inspiring when you have a client that really wants to push the envelope and do something special, and that was obvious from the first time we met.
How do the four different zones come together, and how much of a challenge was it working with a mix of recognised intellectual property and bespoke areas created from scratch? CM – You have four very different offerings, but all with strong identities. They (IMG) definitely chose their IPs carefully. Cartoon Network is the leading children's entertainment network in the region, and Marvel obviously does very well worldwide as well as in the Middle East. I think we helped them elevate Lost Valley to become a bespoke IP revolving around ancient archaeology and of course dinosaurs. And then we really wanted to create a strong identity for their entertainment area, IMG Boulevard.
How did you avoid the dinosaur cliches in Lost Valley? CM – We started by trying to stay away from the Jurassic Park type premise and chose to create this valley that had been discovered by man at the turn of the century, where all these creatures happen to live. It's not necessarily set in the UAE, but this fantastical world that could be anywhere.
What individual attractions are you most proud of? CM – One of the anchor attractions, as identified by general manager Lennard Otto, is the Haunted House,
38 SEPTEMBER 2016
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