Theme parks rise in Dubai amid shifting sands of tourism

Sweating and hopeful, the performers lined up once more and received instructions mirroring the aspirations of the soon-to-open massive amusement parks they hoped to join: dance three-eighths Bollywood with a stiff shot of hip hop and a touch of whimsy.
And one more thing: "Does anyone tumble?"
This cross-cultural collage will be Dubai Parks & Resorts, a USD 2.8-billion bet on tourism in this Mideast city-state featuring a Taj Mahal-inspired theater, the interlocking plastic bricks of Legoland and movie-themed attractions.
Despite all the glitz on display, the attraction is clouded by the earlier experience of an amusement park project that went bust and the fact that low oil prices that have cut into pockets across the Gulf. But backers remain optimistic, suggesting that lower fuel prices will eventually make flights less expensive, helping them to attract visitors from Europe and Asia once the park opens in October.

The park, planned to be over 25 square kilometers, sits southwest of downtown Dubai in the wind-swept deserts off the main highway linking it to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The area is close to where Dubai plans to host the 2020 World Expo, or world's fair, as well as Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, which officials hope someday will handle over 200 million passengers a year.

Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, recently announced the creation of a planned USD 8.1 billion project nearby called Dubai Wholesale City.
"We're no longer the Lone Ranger out in the desert," said Vinit Shah, Dubai Parks & Resorts' chief destination management officer.

A red dragon built out of 230,000 Lego bricks has already arrived for a Legoland roller-coaster. Motiongate, the project's movie-themed park, will feature a "Smurfs village" and a live-action, hip-hop show based on the "Step Up" film franchise. Bollywood Parks, a Lego-inspired waterpark, as well as shops, restaurants and a luxury hotel round out the project.
Some 15,000 laborers are employed on the site, Shah said. Some 5,000 palm trees and 1.2 million shrubs will be planted alongside air-conditioned queues to battle Dubai's summertime heat, when the temperature hovers above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) with high humidity. Many attractions also will be inside.

Investors hope to gain from the growing number of tourists visiting Dubai, home to the long-haul airline Emirates, the world's tallest building, luxury malls and other attractions.
The plunge in oil prices has affected high-end shopping in Dubai, said Philip Shepherd, an analyst for PricewaterhouseCoopers who has done feasibility studies on the park.
But Shepherd said airline ticket prices likely will drop, and that more family-focused tourists than ever want to come to Dubai from India, as well as the United Kingdom. They'll find the Dubai amusement park fits their budget and needs, he said.