Mission Ferrari and the Death of Dynamic Attractions | Ferrari World’s Ambitious Prototype

This ride is so complicated it quite literally drove its manufacturer to bankruptcy! After a whopping 8 years of construction, Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi finally opened their incredibly problematic SFX coaster in January 2023. Mission Ferrari is the only one of its kind- and we can see why. The ride had a seemingly never ending stream of issues that would drive up the cost to numbers that they could barely support. Let's dive into the ride experience to better understand why this happened, and see what makes Mission Ferrari so cool!
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[@lightyear999]

The ride was designed for 800 riders an hour? That’s insane for a major ride. Those are Disney Peter Pan numbers. Then they’re operating at 200 an hour? Ridiculous. Your final thought is spot on: this ride will be gone very soon. No theme park would put ANY real effort to keep a high maintenance ride operating that had such low throughput numbers.

[@PaulFisher]

The fact that a marquee attraction like this was *designed* for such low throughput feels like an effect of the looney tunes economics of basically any major project in the Gulf petrostates.

[@kentmac8925]

These parks never get busy

[@carsofdubai]

I rode this 8 times last week, loved the ride, but hated the shortness there was only about 3 shocks and that was it. Waited from 2019-2022 and still didn’t open. Glad I finally moved back to Abu Dhabi and got the chance to ride it. The ride was also rough and many aspects were useless with only the backwards drop realllyyy scaring me 😂

[@erikm8372]

Is it so short because of the small cars only fitting eight people? Trying to cram more riders in? But then again, all these videos I see of Dubai theme parks have hardly anyone in them at the time of filming. I’ve never seen a long line or a crowded park. So maybe that’s not the issue…

[@carsofdubai]

@@erikm8372the ride went for like 5 minutes, but it felt like hardly anything happened. All the other rides had about a 5 minute wait whilst mission ferrari had a 2 hour wait, even the fast track took me 30 mins. I felt like there was no point in waiting that long for how exciting the ride was

[@chumpX2929]

This is one of my top 5 coasters ever it’s so enviable , long , and extremely fun

[@AceAviations2]

There seems to be some hope for the second SFX coaster, considering that it has a proper name on RCDB of Andromeda Base when it was previously listed as one of the many 'Unknown' coasters on the site with just a placeholder name. So getting a proper name does show that it has at the very least a very slim chance of actually opening.

[@yumahummus5033]

Sorry to correct you but Andromeda Base is name of the land the SFX Coaster is located in within the park, not the name of the coaster itself. Although it's original name during its development was Alien vs Predator: Descent Into Darkness before the IP/branding was removed

[@AceAviations2]

@@yumahummus5033 so RCDB has that wrong then, good to know.

[@billkeithchannel]

Okay, this was so good I finally made a Coaster Docs playlist. So now I can separate my Coaster POV's from well made "review and backstory" videos like this one.

[@broformers6433]

I think multi-dimensional Story Coasters are some of the best rides on the planet, mixing the attributes of a darkride and putting a coaster in it is such a (expensive) amazing ride type. Props to them for even attempting one.

[@Hahahahahahah-b7d]

8 years! Crazy

[@bigboybanshee4627]

I agree with him and I can’t believe he mentioned Primordial at lagoon and how he had multiple clips. And on Primordial you can go down the forwards and backwards and also has a drop with a total of 6 endings.

[@fergonfiction6889]

Went to Ferrari World a few weeks ago, great going to the UAE this time of year. No lines at parks 😂, Mission Ferrari is great sad the Formula Rossa is still closed though.

[@waltandme]

The main reason why Primordial's slide track is more fluid is due to the slight difference in design. Mission Ferrari's Slide Track just looks like a sharp profiled dip you'd see in Space mountain or a Wild Mouse. Primordials is less of a dip, and more of a 45° ramp, as there is no continuous piece of track beyond the top of the element. And lastly, Primordial likely has a larger slide track, because it starts from the same height as the drop track, (31 feet), so it has more distance to slide, so the ending is less abrupt.

[@alexivanov1211]

I remember being 10 or 11 and going to this theme park and seeing the piece of track that was that corkscrew outside the building. Anyways I'm now 18 and starting college in a week, crazy to think it really took that long to build it.

[@ninjapwnsatlyfe]

Maxx Force ride ops must be taking tips from this dispatch time lol.

[@planetcoasterboycj7274]

I think some SFX Coaster model like this would be perfect if Universal Studios wanted to build an attraction themed to the new Twisters movie.

[@UndeadMunchies]

Funny how Dynamic talks about it like it has never been done before, but Verbolten in Busche Gardens Virginia has had a drop track since 2012.

[@frankalphonso268]

All problems are negligible as long as the ride is awesome

[@nbin123]

Unrelated to the video, but have you heard about the Valleyfair Flooding? I wonder what this would mean for Renegade, but more importantly Excalibur. (New Video Idea?)

[@cycloid2326]

1:21 Carlos Sainz jumpscare

[@RyanDallo]

Hi coaster studios. I’m 2 hours away from magic mountain. Usually I am not scared of roller coaster but I have a question. Should i ride X2??

[@seanmiller8151]

Sounds like we need a Problematic Coasters video on this one

[@ronnardkoay570]

They have this exact ride in Genting Highlands, Malaysia but like this one in Ferrari World, it’s plagued with delays.. would love it if you could find out what’s up with that ride.. the tracks are SBNO..

[@CoasterStudios]

As I mentioned towards the end of this video, that ride will more than likely never open. The show building for it is mostly empty. The track outside is done yes, but there’s like nothing on the inside. It’s deceiving.

[@ronnardkoay570]

@@CoasterStudios that’s so sad :( that park is cursed lol..

[@james_2701]

​@@CoasterStudiosactually half track and supports being built, they stop the construction since covid19 until now never construction activity there.

[@DancerDude]

@@ronnardkoay570If you speak to people who worked on the park (who were later let go after a major restructuring in upper management), you’ll find out that the Genting Group brought this upon themselves due to poor legacy decisions by the directors. They appointed a great team and continue to have great staff, but good riddance to people right at the top who continue to destroy what could’ve been a great park.

[@JustinGone]

They should have used this ride system for Mario Kart.

[@Dumplys]

I don’t get the complaining it looks sick and I’m sad that this spoiled it for me I woudve rode it and had a lot of fun

[@Jeroen_a]

If the intention was to dispatch every 40 seconds.... going in dome scene already takes 35 seconds... and then the scene still has to play..... and it also has to have time to reset for the next vehicle... you are never going to make that time, because you will be stacking the cars behind it...

[@CoasterStudios]

correct. In the scenario where they assumed they would dispatch that fast, I also don't think they anticipated it taking 35 seconds to park in the dome

[@ryan7032]

No way they made a Spy Kids ride and never personally told me...

[@dliessmgg]

That's a lotta stops in this ride.

[@laurentderrien]

lmao, top tier ride, but 1999 CGI on the screens amazing

[@pladampa]

😂😂😂 the vipers. What's that? The name of their girl scout troup.

[@timlucas565]

This is what mario kart should have been

[@trackmaster152002]

Is it just me or do those financial figures not really sound very high? How is it that Disney always manages to spend like $200M+ on all of their rides.

[@stewydoo]

The story for this coaster baffles me, why would you be delivering a spycar to a car manufacturing company? Wouldn't it make a little more sense if Ferrari was delivering a modified Ferrari spycar to the spy agency?

[@earnestknightvincentr.tund6252]

Yasss 💅 Island 🎉💅🎉

[@lennartl6662]

All that effort and money for a dull coaster. Most of all, i highly dislike the graphics of the animated videos during the ride. They look so old that if if you told me it was made in 1995 i believed it.

[@elephqnt]

crazy

[@MrFlutsh]

200 per hour...😂 average roller coaster are more about 1500 per hour!

[@lucifersapphire8412]

The Harry Potter ride is so terrible, I never get sick on rides, but the HP ride 🤢🤮

[@Casual_W]

hello

[@eemgee9185]

Jizanthapus

[@arthanza112]

Sell to intamin.

[@quickwimnl]

So you can't use any part of this video without your agreement (even with credit), but apparently you can use photo's without agreement. Shouldn't you at least come to an agreement yourself?

[@CoasterStudios]

???

[@Westkid3057]

Way too ambitious

[@RyanSteigerwald]

Did you hear about the Banshee at Kings Island accident? It’s crazy how stupid some people are. like so Taylor and Sarah can see this 👇

[@christianortiz-v1l]

I did, I send prayers to hope that the man survives. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@Chris-xo2rq]

Production value is high? The video on those screens looks like dogshit...

[@coastercarnival120]

This seems like Taylor's take on ElToroRyan's problematic coasters.

[@bocahdongo7769]

Just missing the Block zone section

[@hazza5999]

What's a block zone? I'm unfamiliar with that. 😂​@bocahdongo7769

[@Hydra_X9K_Music]

​​@@hazza5999"For those of you who are unfamiliar, a block zone is a section of a ride that only one train may occupy. At the end of a block zone is a method to stop the train if the block zone ahead is still occupied. This is the safety system that prevents roller coaster trains from colliding with one another." Quote by ElToroRyan

[@christianortiz-v1l]

@@hazza5999 well, a block zone is a section of ride that only one train may occupy, at the end of a block zone is a method to stop a train in case the block zone ahead is still occupied, this is the safety system that prevents roller coaster trains from colliding with one another.

[@ducksfan_1149]

not as good tho

[@themikeygshow1271]

SpongeBob boating school would go so hard not gonna lie

[@christianortiz-v1l]

"Floor it!" "No! Don't floor it!"

[@joyoustye2326]

I might build that ride on Roblox

[@bradye21playsIndieHorror]

Backing up! Backing up!

[@AverageJoe483]

“ I’m a cheater , cheater pumpkin eater “

[@christianortiz-v1l]

The fact that this took 8 years tells you how technological this ride is! Basically, the Rise of the resistance of roller coasters!

[@jonny-b4954]

Or incompetence... lack of forethought into budget and scope etc.

[@christianortiz-v1l]

I would also say Cosmic Rewind is the most technological.

[@schagerbaantje]

​@ryan-uk6jfnahh, Hagrid isn't such technological advanced, the only more advanced/new part i think it feature is the high speed switchtrack at the spike. But the rest wasn't really world shocking.

[@bocahdongo7769]

@@schagerbaantje Hagrid has fully automatic train that will automatically and prioritize dispatch over loading procedure. This feature both streamlining the block system AND being a headache because there's practically zero tolerance with operation.

[@coastercarnival120]

Hagrid's sometimes cascades

[@Thrill_Report]

We have problematic roller coasters at home Problematic Roller Coasters at home:

[@Hydra_X9K_Music]

I call it "Troubled Attractions"

[@Deadsphere]

this is more entertaining than ryan though

[@AG7-MTM]

I wish the company had taken a MACK rides approach, build their own parks in Vancouver and Toronto (perhaps called Dynamic Park) to show off theor rides and adress any technical issues - a flawless strategy by MACK so far...

[@bocahdongo7769]

I mean Even Mack Rides don't have enough balls to build Hypercoaster at that time either. Sometimes something is just not ready yet for them.

[@JackDaniel432]

That's right. A good example is Arthur in Minimoy kingdom in Europa-Park. A suspended powered coaster with a huge dark ride part. This ride has also issues with the ride system in the beginning, but due to the fact, that the factory and the park are only 30 min by car, they worked constantly to fix the issues in a short time.

[@tomstorm255]

And a Toronto park would be close enough I could've ridden it haha

[@AG7-MTM]

Established Canadian companies seem to be losing their ways. Just look at Bombardier, sold their commercial jets to Mitsubishi and DHC, and their urban transportation division bought out by Alstom. Something isn't right...

[@garygarside9782]

liberal cash cows

[@pd4954]

​@@garygarside9782Cash cows? Well that would be Boeing, they are supported by US government by endless arms contracts to prop up operations revenue and even financing of aircraft provided by gov.. Then US government went on to block sales of Bombardier aircraft to US Airlines, complain about gov subsidies of Bombardier. They tried this with Airbus, they fought back. And here in Canada we have politicians that after this, buy US military aircraft built by Boeing after they do this to us. So Airbus bought the series of aircraft, that is now hugely successful for Airbus. This is what having weak useless politicians looks like. Even now wanting to buy over priced junk like the F-35

[@erikm8372]

Who’s a liberal cash cow? I’ll tell ya, certainly not all Canadians! 🫤

[@LegoKoopa100]

1:04 I’m like, “is that Carlos Sainz?!?”

[@joshuaheiny7764]

what in the expedition theme park is this😭😭you guys just get better and better more of these type of videos please

[@Seabass764]

The technology that this ride uses is insane. It’s a shame dynamic attractions went into bankruptcy because I think the idea and ride experience is really cool!

[@bocahdongo7769]

I mean, even as simple as custom Vekoma spinning coaster cost them $500M No seesaw, no tilting track, no droptrack either, no nothing beyond controlled spinning car and backward launch, that aren't new either.

[@Haazza]

@@bocahdongo7769pretty sure cosmic rewind would be no where near that price if the coaster was just plopped on a flat bit of land and they called it a day lol

[@jonny-b4954]

​@Haazza those prices often include advertising even. But yeah, the building and theming cost more than the coaster. No doubt.

[@bocahdongo7769]

@@Haazza My point is just this coaster would be incredibly insanely expensive to meet Disney standard. Crazy effect, no downtime, and 1600 pph at very least. Even 12 train run Hagrid is complete no go nowadays due to how sensitive it's to get infinite loop of block signal jam once it occurs

[@schagerbaantje]

​@@bocahdongo7769dont forget that vekoma didn't offer that right type before, it is custom developed for Disney and if something costs alot of money its developing a coaster type. For Cosmic rewind they build a special tempory test track at the factory in the Netherlands to test the trains before shipping them.

[@legend8429]

This dark ride/coaster is insane, but 8 years is crazy!!

[@DJWezzyK]

Gringots is a combination of Intamin, Premier and Vekoma. They all contributed to that ride. Vekoma for their tilt track knowledge, Premier for unknown reasons and Intamin for track and vehicle construction. Source is a technical engineer from Universal Resorts.

[@madmarchy5176]

This is what everyone expected the Fast and the Furious ride to look like

[@joeschmo5171]

It’s crazy to me that the profit margins are so slim for a major player in the theme park ride industry, that they can be sunk by a $20 million loss. That’s so much like the VFX industry which is what I work in. I’ve worked at studios that were operating on such a thin margin, you could thread a needle with them.

[@brockshearin1257]

I was lucky enough to ride this, but I had no idea what to expect. I was in Dubai with a friend and convinced him to take a taxi to Abu Dhabi because I wanted to ride Formula Rossa. I had no idea this one was even open since it had just started operating a few weeks prior. He's really scared of rollercoasters, but I convinced him to ride this one for our first ride of the day. I told him it would be super chill because I genuinely thought it was. Man I was wrong. One of the craziest rides of my life. I couldn't enjoy it very much though because I was talking him through it the whole time, and I felt incredibly bad about convincing him to get on it. One of my most memorable theme park experiences still.

[@derekp308]

This seems like a coaster that was a little too good. Overly ambitious, couldn’t decide if it wants to be a thrill ride or a family dark ride.

[@SanderCorneliusMoy]

Sometimes the simplest things are the best....

[@FWDijk]

I rode this last year. The backwards section was a pleasant surprise. Top 3 at the park for me. 1. Flying Aces, 2. Formula Rossa, 3. Mission Ferrari.

[@AdamSternberg]

When you realize that Disney just spent $140 million to REMODEL an existing Splash Mountain attraction, the price for this ride seems like a super bargain!

[@gridiron_coasters]

Excellent video Taylor!

[@richardelliott8352]

Location, location, location. I'll leave the middle eastern fun to someone else. going there for work was one thing, for pleasure, no way that journey would ever appeal to me. Plus I don't dig the way they treat their labor, making a travel decision an easy moral decision.

[@OQIF87NREU]

That last part is representative of what should be the elephant in the room, but apparently isn't for coaster audiences on youtube, which I find kind of disheartening.

[@JeffreyMichaud]

I wish I could ride it but sadly I’m not welcome in Dubai.

[@davidnevolo4402]

Yea i def think the intamin multi/swing launch coasyers, with drop tracks, do enough complex stuff and could probably achieve the same design intent without the headaches. If a mack transfer track or intamin drop track section could have a motion base instead inside a domed screen, some variation of sequences, it could do so much more efficiently. Rip dynamic... i had no clue. Dosnsy ought build another soarin somewhere and clone radiator springs to get some cash flowing

[@mattdaaamon]

Ferrari world looks half great half terrible.

[@wf6190]

I was waiting on you to touch on Genting Highland’s version. Yeah they’re cheated this Malaysian theme park of a dynamic attraction, pun intended

[@hacwoolls5467]

8 years?! thats almost disney level construction timeframes....😂

[@Mike__B]

Not sure I'd blame COVID on this ride taking so long, it was supposed to open in 2015, they were already 4 years behind schedule before COVID hit, that's 100% on them, the pandemic just made their ineptitude to get it done on time take even longer.

[@joeylantis22]

So sad Dynamic Attractions folded. Seems like they fought years, and years to get this concept up and running, and it would be super awesome to see a lot of these dark rides across the world if they'd been able to work out all the bugs.

[@suryadnb]

As a purist, I have little interest in this type of coaster. I much prefer the simplicity of smooth twists and turns combined with airtime. I don't need all those other fancy tricks.

[@joeylantis22]

Awesome review! I feel like this is what the Gringot's ride at Universal was supposed to be like.

[@TheKurtsPlaceChannel]

Great video. Thanks for posting this. Have a nice day.

[@MiguelTorres77]

What an objective and detailed review. Thank you for the time and effort that this took. Great job!

[@jaredtaylor8116]

I thought this was a red circle clickbait thumbnail at first lol

[@assemblyrequired7342]

From a technological and engineering standpoint, Mission Ferrari is amazing. But anybody who is familiar with engineering knows that what SHOULD work on paper (or in a CAD program) will NOT necessarily work that way in real life. And they spent an extra 10.1 million trying to resolve all of those teething issues, and they weren't even close to being able to resolve them! It is a shame that the design team was not familiar with Scotty's sage advice: "The more that they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain"! Or as the former hosts of Top Gear: May, Hammond, and Clarkson would say: "ambitious, but rubbish". It's a shame that Aliens vs. Predator likely won't even open up, and that Dynamic Attractions has paid the price, which, while still being around, is no more than a shell of its former self, and will no longer be building new rides. From what has been completed, Aliens vs. Predator looks like it had the potential to be an amazing coaster, combining the chilling parts of dark rides with the thrilling aspects of coasters. It's about time that the the Aliens universe gets a proper coaster to go with it!

[@AirDOGGe]

Adding video screen scenes to rides has never impressed me. I prefer animated 3D pobots over digital projection.

[@dr.winstonsmith]

This was an insightful and comprehensive review, thank you!

[@supernova4760]

Aha! That explains why Space Mountain was smoother the last time i went! I knew they re-tracked the darn thing!

[@PolyRocketMatt]

Personally I think that Intamin is the most likely to create similar (granted, as you mentioned, they already have a "similar" sort of ride in Uncharted) experience. I dare to say they are the most daring to innovate in the industry. What I am most curious about is the following; Universal did work with Intamin for Velocicoaster and Escape from Gringotts, so relations there must be pretty good (better than with Cedar Fair, or Six Flags, whatever it is now). Perhaps there really is a chance that they will work together in the future to create an SFX style ride.

[@schagerbaantje]

Definitly. Looking at uncharted, that already shows its capability of dark ride sections and coaster sections. I've had the chance to ride it and really surprised my forse wise. It also features a really cleverly done side way drop by combining the Spinning of the trains and a turn table, making them turn simultaneously. First time I rode it this really surprised me.

[@ACloserLookAtLife]

The graphics look like they just kept what they had in 2013

[@VersaFlip69]

The "ferrari car" headlights should have been functional while inside the dark sections of the ride.

[@gdy2shus]

So if the story is we have a ride that is way ahead of its time and coat a ton of money and ultimately put the developer out of business ala Arrow's X2, I hope to try it before it's gone.

[@Happymali10]

I think someone is going to buy up patents and engineering data, but...yeah support for the coaster will be short-lived.

[@27ozyboy]

Was done nearly all day when I was there. Lined up for it twice waited 1 hour then it went down....was annoying. Gave up

[@NirielWinx]

Ferrari should have built it in Italy, not in some fascist dictatorship country. Oh wait…

[@Meatball2022]

Great example of amazing tech paired with terribly lame visuals and a dumb story…. What a waste

[@sky0kast0]

If only there was a project or Thursday copy of this ride where you are the enemy or as in their car is blue and the enemy car is red so it's a dueling race

[@thecactusman17]

"This ride is unreliable, to say the least." An unreliable Ferrari? Unpossible!

[@Coastertraphy]

That's pretty crazy that it took a long time just to build a roller coaster like that.

[@benhobson3084]

Geez, yet another cool canadian company bought up the chinese.

[@benjamindenton]

If Universal had done Test Track.

[@d.h.7559]

Next time ASK vekoma, intamin or MACK 😉

[@The-Curiosity-Corners]

I was on this ride, then it broke. im not lying

[@prentisroberson2305]

Mission Ferrari is a cursed ride compared to the reliable Primordial. We all know that, right? I want Intamin to build a Multi-Dimension Coaster at a regional theme park in the US. Maybe Carowinds will need one, an indoor roller coaster themed to a haunted house.

[@Southeastern_Thrills]

Honestly, the SFX coaster would've made a fantastic Fast and Furious or Mario Kart attraction. Edit: this was posted before I finished watching the video.

[@C3T1C]

Unpopular opinion: gerstlauer should try this slide and drop tracks with their eurofighters

[@plighting_engineerd]

This is fascinating, and really sad too. It looks like an amazing coaster that won't last long and won't be copied because of poor luck and even more poor decisions.

[@Iknowtoomuchable]

Those helicopter pilots SUCK

[@legendelliot94]

I went on this last month and it is very good, crazy engineering went into making it so unique!

[@sleepdeep305]

Damn that sucks. Alien Vs. Predator's exterior layout looks amazing