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Ferrari World Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

“Thrill capital of the United Arab Emirates”

If I had to express my love for fast cars in numbers, I’d give it a 1 out of 10. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a race car enthusiast to appreciate Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. For one thing, it is the Emirates’ premier thrill destination. You’ll find several spectacular roller coasters here, including one that became the world’s fastest thrill ride when it opened back in 2010: Formula Rossa. Since then, Ferrari World and its record-breaking coaster have convinced thousands of theme park fans to travel to Abu Dhabi from far and wide. Things are about to change, though. Formula Rossa will soon lose its speed record to Falcons Flight at Six Flags Qiddiya. Furthermore, Yas Island is now home to two new parks that are putting considerably more effort into theming and family experiences. So you might ask yourself whether Ferrari World is still worth a visit in 2025. And I’m happy to find out for you.

ROLLER COASTERS

If you talk about Ferrari World, every theme park fan automatically thinks of Formula Rossa. I was able to experience the world’s fastest roller coaster several times in 2015 and 2019, but it’s a pleasure to ride it again today. We put on some safety glasses and pull down the restraints. The train then rolls into its starting position, where its latched onto the launching mechanism. Just moments later, we reach the ride’s top speed of 240 km/h or 149 mph. The acceleration is intense and the wind blows in our faces at hurricane force. Unfortunately, the fun is immediately scaled back after this launch. The first hill is full of brakes and they considerably reduce the speed. Actually, Formula Rossa’s top speed is only sustained for a fraction of a second and that’s a shame. The rest of the layout isn’t that convincing either. Formula Rossa consists of a series of curves that are so wide that you hardly notice the high velocity. So despite its insane launch, Formula Rossa feels a tad controlled and even predictable.

Ferrari World is The Coaster Capital of the Emirates, but not every ride manages to attract as much attention as Formula Rossa. The least captivating coaster in the current lineup is Turbo Track, a launched shuttle coaster built by Intamin. At first sight, it’s a unique attraction: there are both forward and backward facing seats and a part of the track is integrated into the ‘eye’ of Ferrari World’s striking roof. Unfortunately, the acceleration isn’t that intense and I haven’t even mentioned the short ride duration. Turbo Track feels like a six-course dinner that suddenly ends after your first bite. And that one bite wasn’t even that delicious.

Things get a whole lot more interesting at Flying Aces. The ride opened in 2016 and has received rave reviews ever since. It’s not difficult to understand why: Flying Aces has a total track length of 1.5 kilometres (5.000 ft) and it’s 63 metres (207 ft) tall. The ride itself is as smooth and awesome as you’d expect from a modern-day Intamin. After rapidly climbing the lift hill, we plunge down the first drop and then reach our top speed of 120 km/h (75 mph). Flying Aces then treats us to an impressive combination of fast curves and powerful airtime hills. The first curve and the non-inverting loop are actually so intense that I experience a greyout for a few seconds. The second half of the ride is a bit weaker, but this doesn’t change the fact that Flying Aces is one of the UAE’s best roller coasters.

I wouldn’t recommend visiting Ferrari World with younger children. Still, some of the attractions clearly cater towards families. One of these rides is Formula Rossa Junior, a standard Junior Coaster manufactured by Zamperla. Despite its limited theming, there is cool interaction with two nearby flatrides. Ferrari World’s second family rollercoaster is known as Fiorano GT Challenge. This is a duelling coaster with as many as four launches per track. Combined with a series of non-banked turns, these accelerations create a rather unique racetrack feel. It certainly isn’t a thrill, but I still find this a particularly entertaining attraction.

The park’s latest addition in the coaster department is Mission Ferrari, the only operating SFX Coaster in the world. And if I had to describe this attraction type in one word, I’d choose unconventional. The seats are arranged in a special way and the layout consists of some unusual elements. During our ride, we experience rocking pieces of track, a backwards inversion and even an innovative slide drop. It’s all combined with an amount of storytelling and theming you won’t find at any other coaster in Ferrari World. Indeed, all of the special elements help to tell the ride’s story about spies and bad guys. I love original and immersive attractions, so I can really only define Mission Ferrari as a brilliant experience. Yet I should immediately add that one ride is enough for us. That’s because we both experiences that backward vertical loop as very intense and disorienting.

DARK RIDES

Ferrari World is especially known because of its solid roller coaster collection, but it also offers three dark rides. The first one is Speed of Magic and it’s clearly based on Spider-Man and Transformers at the Universal theme parks. The vehicles are similar, but the theming is weaker, the story line is childish and the main character is downright horrible. Then I definitely prefer Made in Maranello, some kind of guided tour behind the scenes of the Ferrari factory. Although it feels like one big commercial full of self-glorification, it’s a pretty fun attraction. It’s also an ideal ride to find some peace and quiet amidst all these roller coasters and screen-based attractions.

Trackless dark rides are obviously trendy in the Middle East. Warner Bros World has a beautiful Scooby-Doo attraction and Motiongate offers no fewer than three trackless dark rides. Ferrari World couldn’t stay behind and opened Benno’s Great Race in 2016. The decor is super adorable, the story line is easy to follow and the interactive games are fun. Unlike many other interactive dark rides, you don’t have to shoot aliens or kill zombies here. Benno’s Great Race encourages us to cut spider webs, catch bees in a jar or light fireworks in the final scene. It’s refreshing and it’s immensely cute. Benno’s Great Race is indeed great.

OTHER EXPERIENCES

Ferrari World may be located in the Middle East, but there is a distinctly Italian DNA. The park is filled with Mediterranean facades and the park’s largest restaurant mainly serves Italian specialties. Besides, the attraction lineup includes Bell’Italia (a beautifully-themed car ride past miniatures of Italian landmarks) and Viaggio in Italia. On Ferrari World’s website, this attraction is described as an excellent flying theatre and one of the best attractions at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. The opposite is true, though. This is by far the worst flying theatre I’ve ever experienced. The benches move terribly slowly, the music is barely audible and the footage looks like it was made with a camera from the 1990s. If Ferrari World dares to describe this attraction as an excellent flying theatre, I wonder what superlatives they’d invent for Soarin’ or Voletarium.

WORTH A VISIT?

I’m not interested in fast cars, Italy isn’t my first choice as a vacation destination and I can’t say that red is my favourite colour. You might therefore suspect that I should hate Ferrari World, but that’s not the case. The park remains home to the country’s most spectacular roller coasters. Ferrari World has always been worth a visit thanks to Formula Rossa and Flying Aces, but the recently added Mission Ferrari has made the park even more complete. The other rides generally turn out to be less special, though. The dark rides are not all equally strong and the flying theatre deserves a one-way ticket to the scrap yard. When it comes to theming, Ferrari World also performs noticeably weaker than the other Yas Island Theme Parks.

Have you had the chance to visit Ferrari World Abu Dhabi yet? Do you prefer Flying Aces, Formula Rossa or Mission Ferrari? And do you share my opinion on the flying theatre? Share your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

This article reflects my personal experience at Ferrari World during a visit in February 2025.