Warner Bros. Just Opened A Billion-Dollar Theme Park! And It's Air-Conditioned! (But It's In Abu Dhabi)

By Mike Roe

Published Jul 25, 2018 9:00 AM

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We love our SoCal amusement parks, but the outdoor portions aren't looking super exciting during the excessive heat warning we're facing All. Week. Long. But there's a brand new billion-dollar theme park opening somewhere even hotter this week: Abu Dhabi. And they've got one up on us -- that park is indoors.

The new Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi offers six lands across 38 acres: Warner Bros. Plaza, Bedrock, Dynamite Gulch, Cartoon Junction, Gotham City, and Metropolis. It's got 29 different attractions, with characters from DC Comics, Looney Tunes, and Hanna-Barbera.

It's part of the United Arab Emirates' efforts to become a world tourist destination. Abu Dhabi's Yas Island (yaaaaas!) already features Ferrari World, which includes the world's fastest rollercoaster, and Waterworld. (No, not that Waterworld.) You also have Dubai as a major travel center, with other local parks including Legoland, IMG Worlds of Adventure, and Motiongate.

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Excited yet? Look, you can book a flight here! We've seen prices as low as $800 round-trip (though it'll be around $2,500 if you want to leave, like, NOW).

You enter the park through Warner Bros. Plaza, which features old-school Hollywood style in an art deco setting. Like Disney's Main Street U.S.A., it's the portal to the rest of what this park offers. Then you can venture into the bright superhero world of Superman's Metropolis or the darker realm of Batman's Gotham City, as well as checking out the other cartoon-themed realms.

And like we mentioned, it's indoors -- and fully air-conditioned. Sorry that the idea of a cooled indoor theme park is sending our hearts wandering, SoCal. You'll even get a bit of Los Angeles inside of their Green Lantern attraction: according to Theme Park Insider, it's a planetarium inside a reimagining of Griffith Park Observatory.

But you don't need to travel to Abu Dhabi to experience much of what you get there. Sure, there's a fresher coat of paint and some brand new attractions, and the whole indoors thing, but Six Flags Magic Mountain -- partially owned by Warner Bros. -- features some of the same rides, just north of L.A.

There are some subtle differences:

U.S.: Green Lantern: First Flight. Abu Dhabi: Green Lantern: Galactic Odyssey.
U.S.: The Riddler's Revenge. Abu Dhabi: The Riddler Revolution.
Both parks feature Battle for Metropolis, though while ours is "Justice League: Battle for Metropolis," theirs is "Superman 360: Battle for Metropolis."
U.S.: Batman: The Ride. Abu Dhabi: Batman: Knight Flight. (Disappointed it's not known as an earlier rumored name, Knife Fight.)

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But you're going to get at least a taste of that Abu Dhabi experience, right here.

We've also got one Warner Bros. property that Warner Bros. World doesn't: Harry Potter, at Universal Studios. Their exclusive rights mean you're not going to be seeing the Boy Who Lived show up anytime soon at Warner Bros. World.

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