JoJo Crichton and his friend Jake are very excited for their visit to the new SeaWorld theme park in Abu Dhabi. On the drive there, JoJo says, “We’re going to the newest theme park, maybe in the world, definitely in Abu Dhabi.”
Along the way, they stop at a rest area called The Last Exit that has a weird Mad Max theme with vehicles decorated like assault vehicles. JoJo describes it as “the coolest pit stop I’ve ever seen in my life.”
At SeaWorld, they enter the park’s hub, called One Ocean. JoJo notes that it’s the central hub from which you can access all the different ocean areas in the park. The hub has a 360 degree media experience, which they watch for a while.
After the experience, they explore the park’s different themed lands, starting with Abu Dhabi Ocean. There they start with a sea lion show in the Rocky Point theater, and then look at the sea lions from an underwater observation area. “Oh, I love these guys,” JoJo laughingly says.
After that, JoJo and Jake return to the hub and JoJo has an epiphany about the location: “So we’ve taken a moment and we’ve realized that this is the Abu Dhabi ocean and every zone themed land here is based off an ocean around the world. That’s why when you’re walking in it’s like one ocean, one world, and right off the bat, I love that theming. Like you know, we’re all people sharing one planet Earth. That’s awesome.”
JoJo pets a starfish in the touch pool in the Abu Dhabi Ocean, and then they go to the restaurant Matbakh Ummi (Mother’s Kitchen) for lunch. They get falafel, dolmades, and sambousek. JoJo calls the meal a good pick-me-up.
Next stop is Tropical Ocean. JoJo says about the theming, “I’m feeling Hawaii.” They watch a dolphin show in the amphitheater, then in the rainforest area, JoJo gets up close to colorful birds. About a Victoria crowned pigeon, JoJo says, “I’ve never been close to such a big bird.” Jake describes it as “half chicken, half peacock”.
Next is Endless Ocean, where they watch sharks and scuba divers in a huge aquarium. It’s so impressive, Jake says, “I don’t even know how this was built. It’s like a futuristic movie.” With the aquarium viewing areas all around him, JoJo wonders, “Like in a weird way, we might be the aquarium and fish are looking in on us.” The whole experience leaves Jake speechless and JoJo comments, “Shout out to the construction workers, the engineers.”
They head to the Polar Ocean area, where JoJo exclaims, “It’s getting cold!” They watch the penguins for a while in the Antarctica zone, and JoJo remarks, “I’ve never seen so many penguins just like moving and grooving.”
Back in the One Ocean hub, they watch the One Epic Ocean show, which amazes JoJo and Jake with its technology and use of drones. Jake is completely enthralled by the show, saying, “That was the best, quite literally the best. You could fly here just to watch that.”
They go see a story telling presentation of “Fisherman and the Mermaid”, which features story tellers and an underwater mermaid. After the show, JoJo and Jake do a meet and greet with the story tellers and JoJo gushes, “This is the coolest meet and greet. You take a picture of them, but also the mermaid.”
The last show for them is Lazlo and Oskar, jugglers, then it’s on to the Hypersphere 360° ride. JoJo comments after it’s over, “Technically. there’s only really two rides, and [Hypersphere] was barely a ride. That was more of like a 360 show. It was cool though.”
They follow it with dinner at The Catch cafe. “After a long day of fun and sea animals, it’s time to eat sea animals,” JoJo declares. Jake proves that true by getting a fish sandwich, which is interestingly served in a hot dog bun.
Finally, they do the second ride, the Manta Coaster. Jake’s review is that it’s “a pretty solid coaster,” and JoJo says, “What a fun ride,” noting it’s length and smoothness. Jake compares it to Velocicoaster at Universal Orlando, for the similar smoothness.
Reflecting on the day, Jake declares SeaWorld Abu Dhabi “the best theme park in the entire world.” JoJo adds, “I didn’t realize that there was barely no rides, like especially for adults, but that didn’t matter, because this theme park just had so much fun entertainment, and I mean the aquarium, the largest in the world. Like that was just truly a spectacle to behold. My camera did not do it justice.”
Both JoJo and Jake recommend visiting, with JoJo saying, “If you do come to Abu Dhabi, I definitely recommend you take some time to come here,” and Jake suggesting that it would be worth traveling to Abu Dhabi just to go to SeaWorld.
[4/5] This vlog provides a good feel for the SeaWorld Abu Dhabi experience, with emphasis on the shows and the displays. There is brief coverage of the kid’s portion of the park, which understandably Jake and JoJo looked at but didn’t participate in.
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