Wonderland theme park to get a Dh615 million Disney makeover

A development project that will transform Dubai's Wonderland theme and water park into a UAE version of Disneyland has been announced.

The scheme will involve the creation of rides, water attractions, hotels, restaurants, shops and spas along with covered areas and a canal.

Work on the project will start within the next few weeks and is due to be completed by the end of 2010. The total cost will be Dh615 million – Dh67m for preparatory works including foundations, Dh422m for construction and Dh126m for equipment.

An area of 81,000 sq m has been allocated for restaurants and cafés, 4200 sq m for hotels, 7,520 sq m for rides and other entertainment facilities, 5,420 sq m for spas and 20,000 sq m for the canal. The remaining 77,000 sq m will consist of green areas.

General Manager Dr Jumana El Khoury said the aim was to develop Wonderland, a joint UAE-Kuwaiti investment that opened in 1996, as a smaller scale version of America's Disneyland and Universal Studios theme parks.

She said Dubai Municipality had refused to allow the construction of large hotels at the site. Instead a number of small hotels where families could stay for a few days would be built inside the entertainment city. "The project will be carried out by Wend International, which specialises in the design and management of international properties and resorts," said El Khoury.

"Wend has wide experience and has built many projects in Dubai." Wend's studies suggest the revamped Wonderland will attract 1.5 million visitors in its first year of operation – and the total is likely to rise to 4.5 million by 2015.

The project is expected to generate revenues of up to Dh394m in the first year.

El Khouri said 30 per cent of visitors would be attracted mainly by the rides, 20 per cent by the retail outlets, 20 per cent by the water attractions, 15 per cent by the hotels and 15 per cent by the spas.