Qetaifan Projects, a leading leisure company owned by Katara Hospitality, has awarded the design and build contract for a ground-breaking immersive educational water ride on Qetaifan Island North, Qatar, to the British company Sarner International, an award-winning design and production practice.
The new edutainment ride tells the story of the remarkable transformation of Doha over the last 100 years, but to truly understand Qatar’s recent history visitors must travel far further across time and space, from the Jurassic Era millions of years ago to the future, from deep under the oceans to high up in the air.
The discovery of oil in Qatar in the 1930s kicks off the visitor’s journey, along which they learn about how oil is formed, located, drilled, extracted, transported, and used in today’s world. The story is enhanced through special effects that include
3D mapping, animatronics, projection, theatrical lighting, heat, vibration, drilling machines and fog screens, giving visitors an exciting and thrilling immersive journey from start to finish. The ride is being designed in cooperation with experts and curators from the world’s leading museums to ensure the authenticity of both the science and the history.
The ride starts and ends inside a fully themed building that houses a series of immersive theatrical environments. The ride vehicles at points take visitors outside the building and also into a cutting-edge tall ride tower. The ride buildings are being designed in coordination with the well-established design, engineering and project management consultancy Atkins.
Ross Magri, managing director of Sarner International, added: “Sarner has over 50 years of experience in both the theme park and museum markets so we are perfectly suited for this innovative project that combines the two, creating an immersive water ride that is not only fun but also educational. We are delighted to have been awarded this contract, working with some of the best teams in the world to deliver what will be a cutting-edge attraction that will stand the test of time.”