Four major Batman rides announced for Yas Island theme park

When Warner Bros. World opens on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island this summer, it will be home to 29 rides, attractions and live entertainment and six distinct zones, called Gotham City, Metropolis, Cartoon Junction, Bedrock, Dynamite Gulch, and Warner Bros. Plaza.

We recently found out what kind of rides you'll find at the Metropolis and Cartoon Junction zones at Warner Bros. World, and details have just been released on the rides that will be on offer in the Batman-themed Gotham City portion of the indoor theme park. There will be four main rides in Gotham City, as well as an arcade-style games zone, restaurants and shops.

The dark and immersive ride called Batman: Knight Flight will have visitors climbing into a batwing vehicle - which is robotically controlled. The ride starts at Wayne Tech headquarters, and we can expect drops, spins, climbs and rolls in the high-tech flight simulator.

Another ride called Scarecrow Scare Raid is a flight experience that will feature, in Warner Bros. World's words, "dramatic aerobatics and whirlwind barrel rolls". The Riddler Revolution ride will be a rocking and spinning rollercoaster (that, we imagine, being named after The Riddler, will be rather twisted).

Finally, there's The Joker's Funhouse, which is being touted as "a villainous twist on the classic carnival walkthrough experience". It will feature a hall of mirrors, a shrinking corridor, a labyrinth, moving carpets and the rather frightening sounding "hallucination hallway".

Restaurants in the zone will include Gotham City's Finest (themed as the police department's hangout) and the Hall of Doom (which is designed to look like it's hidden in an "abandoned subway station").

The exact opening date of Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi hasn't yet been announced. The park is themed entirely around stories from the comic book and movie worlds of Warner Bros. and DC Comics, which includes characters such as Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, and, of course, Batman and Superman.

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[ First look at Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi theme park attractions – in pictures ]

Diriyah project at a glance

- Diriyah’s 1.9km King Salman Boulevard, a Parisian Champs-Elysees-inspired avenue, is scheduled for completion in 2028
- The Royal Diriyah Opera House is expected to be completed in four years
- Diriyah’s first of 42 hotels, the Bab Samhan hotel, will open in the first quarter of 2024
- On completion in 2030, the Diriyah project is forecast to accommodate more than 100,000 people
- The $63.2 billion Diriyah project will contribute $7.2 billion to the kingdom’s GDP
- It will create more than 178,000 jobs and aims to attract more than 50 million visits a year
- About 2,000 people work for the Diriyah Company, with more than 86 per cent being Saudi citizens