Inside world’s first floating theme park with THREE hotels, 11 restaurants and rollercoaster – on an old Saudi oil rig

9 months ago 5

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THE world’s first floating theme park with three luxury hotels, a whopping 11 restaurants and huge rollercoasters is being built in Saudi Arabia.

Designed to welcome millions through its doors each year The Rig is the latest absurd and over the top idea coming out of the country.

The Rig sits 40km from the nearest piece of land in the Arabian Gulf and is the latest bonkers project by Saudi Arabia[/caption]

The Rig has three luxury hotels, a whopping 11 restaurants, a huge rollercoaster and over 70 activities[/caption]

There are over 70 attractions on The Rig that has been designed for adrenaline junkies[/caption]

What makes the massive complex really stand out is that its sat 40km from the nearest piece of land.

Visitors will need to hop on a ferry, yacht, plane or helicopter just to step foot in the bonkers park that is practically throwing away unbeliveable amounts of cash all to attract tourists.

Described on their official website as: “The true scale of adventure.

“The world’s first tourism destination on an offshore platform inspired by the design of offshore oil platforms.”

The Rig is set to be built on a mega area larger than 300,000m square and the holiday hotspot comes with over 70 different attractions and thrilling activities.

This is no theme park – it’s an extreme destination, an entirely new playground for adventure tourism

Oil Park Development CompanyThe Rig developers

Including a water activities centre, an extreme sports and adventure park, amusements and even a diving complex.

One of the restaurants places its guests hundreds of feet in the air as they tuck into some tasty food as a whole host of other tasty spots are littered across the complex.

The five-star hotels have plenty of rooms overlooking the water as the ridiculous arena seats thousands high up into the sky as music shows and celebrity guests reverberate across the park.

The Rig owners have labelled it “an epic offshore destination” set to take adrenaline junkies to their limit.

Based on top of an oil rig in the heart of the Arabian Gulf, the ludicrous spot is being aimed at adventure tourists and giving them a fresh new playground for fun.

Before the developers continued: “This is no theme park – it’s an extreme destination, an entirely new playground for adventure tourism.”

Alongside all this is a more relaxing area full of cinemas, multi-purpose arenas, E-sport zones as well as a retail park and a kid’s centre.

There are also two onshore terminals connected to the big rig in Dammam City and Jubail Industrial City so visitors can reach the island by a whole host of unique travel methods.

Current projections have the theme park drawing in over 900,000 tourists by 2032 and an impressive 10,000 each day during peak times.

THE SAUDI ARABIA PROJECT

The Rig is being led by the Oil Park Development Company and it is in line with the Saudi Public Investment Fund Strategy to “solidify the Kingdom’s position as a leading tourist destination known for its unique landmarks”.

It is one of the many ambitious projects in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom is spending £1trillion as it seeks to ditch its reliance on oil.

Other pretentious plans to build the world’s largest theme park also come out of Saudi Arabia after they claimed to be building a park three times the size of the famous Walt Disney World resort in Florida.

Qiddiya is set to be a multibillion-dollar destination in Riyadh, which will include more than 300 facilities, including the world’s biggest rollercoaster.

Through massive investments as part of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030, the nation has been unveiling wildly ambitious projects funded by oil billions at an unprecedented rate.

In line with the megalomania vision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi is desperate to be the centre of the world.

The price of each project is not known – but Saudi is set to spend an outlandish $175billion every year on mega projects between 2025 and 2028.

But beneath the glitzy facade lies a story of threats, forced evictions and bloodshed.

Many projects have faced fierce criticism over human rights abuses – including the $500billion Neom project where tribes were shoved out of their homeland, imprisoned or executed.

At least 20,000 members of the Huwaitat tribe face eviction, with no information about where they will live in the future.

Authorities in the port city of Jeddah also demolished many houses to implement Saudi’s development plans – with thousands of locals evicted illegally.

One campaigner claimed “Neom is built on Saudi blood”.

Jeed Basyouni, Middle East director of the human rights organisation Reprieve, told DW: “We have seen, time and again, that anyone who disagrees with the crown prince, or gets in his way, risks being sentenced to jail or to death.”