Ride Profile
An iconic structure
Carnaval’s Neil Dwyer stops a little longer to tell us about the park’s newest ride, Wheel of the World, a 60m high wheel featuring a 50 metre LED screen which displays stunning live scenes, shows and views of Dubai
I
ntroduced this season, Wheel of the World takes guests on a journey 60 metres into the sky offering comprehensive views of Global Village
and beyond, towards the Dubai Skyline. Each gondola can comfortably sit a family of six and the overall experience lasts approximately 12 minutes offering two full rotations to take in the breath taking view. “Working with Dutch Wheels, we’ve invested a lot of time developing the attraction to ensure delivery of the best experience to our guests,” says Neil, adding: “Global Village is located on a flat 1.6 million square meters of space and most of its operation hours fall into night time, where the lights of the various structures on site bring the entire site to life and our Wheel of the World gives the opportunity for guests to enjoy a magical view from its height.”
Overcoming the challenges A project of this size was bound to face certain challenges and Neil is proud of the way in which the various teams involved overcame each of them: “The hot weather conditions during summer, the huge infrastructure requirements of the wheel and the seasonality nature of the business were among the challenges that were carefully addressed with Dutch Wheels and taken into consideration while setting the structure. “ An example of one such challenge, was what to do about the flat surface the wheel would sit on: “To improve the experience, a decision was taken along with Dutch Wheels to raise the wheel’s base by building the foundation five meters above ground level – that was a huge engineering challenge!”
32 The introduction of video screens was another
important requirement, says Neil: “Being located between two of the main highways in Dubai, having the wheel on display as another landmark for Global Village was a key requirement and again, Dutch Wheels were very forthcoming in developing this technology and establishing the partnerships to deliver the world’s first video screen on an observation wheel of this size.” Neil and all of his colleague at Carnaval and indeed Global Village, are pleased with the results. “Now that we are three months through our season, we can proudly tell that Wheel of the World has been a successful project looking at the increase in number of guests attending it daily, as well as successfully becoming a landmark in Dubai that is used as major communication channel for the various national and international celebrations having the largest screen of its kind.”
Now a major landmark Guests have been really impressed with the
experience too. Neil continues: “A number have commented they’ve wanted to see Global Village from the sky but have always been too afraid to ride the drop tower or our other thrill attractions of high structures.” What’s more, the Wheel of the World provides
something for even those who may rather keep their feet firmly on the ground with nightly shows displayed on it too. ‘We can notice the high popularity of the
Wheel through the high number of posts it is receiving through the various social media platforms. It is continuously growing in popularity to now being considered as a major landmark in Dubai and a beauty icon of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed road, being one of the most important highways in the Emirate.” To make the wheel even more
popular, Neil and the team have even introduced the opportunity for our guests to have their social media pictures featured on the screen throughout the day, “engaging more with the brand and spreading happiness amongst them,” he says.
Giant wheels continue to be a popular attraction, offering joy and excitement to its passengers while at the same time being a very good business opportunity for its owners – Dutch Wheels
FEBRUARY 2019
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
