Ferrari World and now Yas Waterworld

A few days ago a good friend and I went to the Yas Waterworld in Abu Dhabi. He had obtained free entrance vouchers (courtesy Emirates Airlines) for a pre-opening day. The Park is to open officially on the 24th of Jan.

 

Ferrari World

 

Now both of us are the sort who love to throw ourselves around in these amusement parks, and we had had a similar foray last summer to Ferrari World. That was my first time there, despite the fact that Ferrari World had been open a while. We had received conflicting reports about this Park and hence had not been absolutely keen. Also the main ride there called Formula Rossa (which is reputedly the fastest ride in the World) is reported to be extremely temperamental and is not guaranteed to be working. Considering that that is the only really adrenaline inducing ride there, the trip (and our money) would be wasted if it was closed.

 

That day we were the first two into the Park, and since we were informed that Formula Rossa was working, we ran straight towards that. Both of us are seriously "directionally challenged", and so despite the fact that we were the first into the park by a mile, in our enthusiasm and haste we entered the attraction through the wrong door. This meant that by the time we were redirected to the correct entrance there was already a queue. This also meant that we did not get the prime seats right in the front and had to settle for seats quite a ways back. Even before the ride took off, we had decided that we would try again and go for the first row seats. Having been on many such rides all over the world, I was quite sanguine. They gave us goggles to wear, and I kept thinking that that is all part of building the suspense. Hence when the ride took off I was completely unprepared. Actually to say that we took off is a huge understatement - exploded out is more like it. On one particular twist and loop, I actually blacked out!

 

By the time the ride ended my body was groaning in protest, having never been subject to such 'G' forces. But being men, and having committed to going again to experience the ride from the front row, neither of us were going to admit that we were having doubts. So off we went again, this time in a separate queue for the front seats. We had a small altercation with a queue breaker, but all was forgotten as we sat down in the very front. Our legs were dangling in the air, with nothing in the front. Knowing what was to come from the previous experience, I braced myself. But the sheer power, speed and twists were just too much. Of course I blacked out the second time as well, but that is all part of the experiences that we pay and crave for.

 

By the time I got off the ride the second time, my body felt as if it had run a marathon, and a low grade headache was already peeping in over the horizon. The rest of the day we just went through the motions, our bodies feeling every G of the forces that we had been subjected to. Age was definitely having a field day at my expense.

 

Yas Waterworld

 

Coming back to the Water Park - this was pre-opening and by invitation, so the crowd was thinner. Obviously we wanted to finish off the thrillers first, and hence went straight for those. There were some astounding rides, with the Liwa Loop (an individual free fall in an enclosed tube), and the Dawamma (six people on a raft being seriously thrown around) being of note.

 

We probably went there on the coldest day of the year, and so felt semi-frozen almost all of the time. Even with the Rashies on, I could not control the involuntary shudders and shivers that racked my body all through the day. I am sure that I burned a ton of calories that day, just standing in the chill wind that seemed to be following me around like a faithful dog.  

 

We went through most of the Adrenaline Rush rides in a couple of hours, the weather making us move a bit faster than we would have liked. Each ride went by in a blur, and many times as I approached the entrance to a new ride, I honestly could not tell what alarmed me more – the ride itself or the fact that I had to get into chilled water again, (that too just as my body was warming up and some feeling was returning to my extremities).  

 

By this time all I wanted, was to get into some warm clothes, and have some hot tea. As I saw other people rushing about, I wondered whether I was making excuses for my ageing body. I could see that most people were hugging their chests to keep warm, but that was not stopping them from rushing to the next ride. They still had smiles on their faces, whereas my facial muscles had given up a while ago. It had hardly been a few hours, and the Park closing time was still hours away, and here I was craving to just stop. My mind was telling me to go for it, to be a man, to dive into another ride, but my body did not seem to share that enthusiasm.

 

And as I stood there in the cold, torn between the desire to plunge in again and the lure of the warm(er) changing rooms, all I could think was – Oh to be young again!!