Saudi Arabia plans to build world’s largest theme park three times the size of Disney World & with biggest rollercoaster

10 months ago 5

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SAUDI Arabia has revealed pretentious plans to build the world’s largest theme park, claiming it will be 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.

Qiddiya is the latest megalomaniac project launched by Saudi Arabia[/caption]

The multibillion-dollar theme park promises to be three times bigger than the iconic Walt Disney World resort in the United States[/caption]

The mega development will be home to its own Six Flags, water park and shopping outlets[/caption]

The project promises theme parks, water parks, a sports city, as well as nature and adventure experiences, events and cultural attractions.

Developers said Qiddiya will be home to shopping outlets, food and beverage strips, a performing arts theatre, a multiplex cinema, an aquatic centre, and a motorsports facility.

“This is a super exciting project,” Disney veteran and CEO of Qiddiya, Philippe Gas, told blooloop.

“It is the world’s biggest venture when it comes to entertainment, sport, arts, all together and integrated. This has never been done before. So the complexity of it is exciting,”

“It is almost three times the size of Walt Disney World. It is huge. This is a place that will, by its size, offer people days of entertainment.”

The Walt Disney World resort covers 27,520 acres of land in Orlando, Florida.

The iconic theme park complex has therefore approximately 43 square miles, or the size of San Francisco, in California.

Qiddiya will also be home to Saudi Arabia’s very own Six Flags, which will house the world’s fastest rollercoaster.

Falcon’s Flight is set to open this year and promises to reach a 156mph top speed and drop over a desert cliff.

Falcon’s Flight, nicknamed the world’s first “Exa Coaster”, is set to be the first to go over 500ft in height with a massive 640ft drop.

The current record holder for height at 456ft is Kingda Ka, located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey.

The Saudi attraction will also be taller than the iconic London Eye, which is 442ft in height.

The super rollercoaster also promises to be the longest ever, with a record 2.64 miles in length.

It will traverse more than 13,000 feet of track, or almost a mile longer than the current world record holder, Steel Dragon 2000 at Japan’s Nagashima Spa Land.

Soaring over a Formula 1 race track, Falcon’s Flight will also beat the current record holder for speed.

Formula Rossa at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi reaches a speed of 149 mph and requires riders to wear safety goggles.

The train on Falcon’s Flight will seat 14 people, two in the front car and four each in the remaining three cars, with each row sporting its own windshield, removing the need to wear goggles.

Six Flags will also have the world’s largest free-standing shooting tower attraction, Sirocco Tower, and the world’s tallest pendulum swing, Gyrospin.

Spitfire will be the tallest inverted top hat coaster in the world, while Iron Rattler will be the tallest tilt coaster.

Qiddiya 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.

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.”