Amazing New Water Park - Yas Waterworld

I've been checking out construction photos of this place for a while, and now that it is officially open I figured it was worth sharing with everyone.  Located just across Ferrari World on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld has opened and looks like one heck of a water park.

The highly themed property centers around the "Legend of the Lost Pearl," and is far more than just a collection of traditional water slides.

The park boasts 43 different rides and attractions, making it one of the largest parks of its kind anywhere.  The above photos are from WhiteWater, which is proud to have supplied 12 of the park's 14 water slide complexes that make up Yas Waterworld.  The slides include several world's firsts, including a family Rattler slide, and a huge flow barrel surfing wave.

The park has also opened a version of WhiteWater's SplashQuest interactive video game, named Pearl Masters at Yas Waterworld.  Guests who play "search for lost treasures, interact with magical creatures, fire water cannons and solve ancient puzzles and tap into the hero within you," according to the park.

The layout of the water park is rather large, and includes several shopping and food areas as well, located indoors to avoid the heat.  There's of course a gigantic wave pool and lazy river among the more traditional water park attractions.  Kids will enjoy a water playhouse structure as well as a covered area with mini versions of many of the big slides.

One definitively not traditional attraction featured at Yas Waterworld is the Bandit Bomber, an inverted roller coaster where riders can blast those on the ground with water bombs.  Likewise, there's plenty of water cannons along the ride's path that people on the ground can blast up at passing trains.  The coaster is the first of Vekoma's "Splash Party" line of water coasters - perhaps if it is a success we will see more of them in the future.

While WhiteWater has made most of the slides at the park, Proslide did make two rather significant contributions.  Both are family style water coasters, but one of them ends in a giant Tornado funnel, the first of its kind (that I've seen, at least).

For more photos of the park that really give good perspective check out several updates from the Theme Park Guy.  There's some aerial shots that really show off just how many attractions are piled into this one park.