The World's Tallest Swing Ride Makes Its Debut in Dubai

Travel + Leisure logo

Theme park thrill seekers can now soar to new heights on the world’s tallest swing ride, which debuted at Bollywood Parks Dubai last month. The Bollywood SkyFlyer opened on Jan. 21, rising 460 feet in the air and knocking the previous record holder, the 450-foot-tall Orlando Starflyer, out of the top position, CNN reported.

The thrilling ride incorporates both the experiences of hang-gliding and swinging, along with the sensations of lifting, dropping, and rotating at different paces, the amusement park’s site describes. The ride has 12 sets of double seats that move around a mammoth tower, so that guests are treated to sprawling park views while in motion. “It is a unique attraction that appeals to both young and old, the adventurous and not so adventurous,” the ride description reads.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKg1vZbjpeH/

View this post on Instagram

Gallery: Javan jaunt: a journey to Java (StarsInsider)

The record-setting ride took 600 days to build and another 120 days to install using 421 tons of steel, the park’s general manager Milton D’Souza told CNN.

Loading...

Load Error

Along with the swing ride, Bollywood Parks Dubai — one of three parks that are part of Dubai Parks and Resorts — also debuted another eight new rides during its reopening, including a free-fall drop tower for kids, Rocket; an interactive water splash ride, Monsoon Masti; a Mumbai-themed roller coaster, Taxi No. 1; a circular-motion chariot ride, Tanga No. 13; and the 180-foot-tall Wheel of Stars Ferris wheel.

The COVID-19 pandemic had shut down operations for months, but the park decided to use that downtime to “revamp” and add new attractions. “We used the time to create and build a brand-new area in the park that we call the Mela Zone, which is home to the majority of the nine new rides at Bollywood Parks Dubai,” D’Souza told CNN.

Bollywood Parks Dubai isn’t done for the year — they’ll also open the area’s first and only wooden roller coaster in 2021, CNN reports.

Dubai, however, has been blamed for the recent spread of COVID-19, as it welcomed tourists who carried the new variants home with them, according to USA Today. But new sanctions to rein in the tourism industry are being put into place this week, CNN reported. As a whole, there have been 316,875 cases and 888 deaths in the United Arab Emirates to date, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Source: Read Full Article