Action Impact Delivers ‘Amazing’ for Dubai Parks and Resorts

by EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | March 7, 2017 | News

Dubai Parks and Resort's (DPR) venture is as unique as it is spectacular: three separate theme parks in one experience. Legoland, Motiongate and the very first Bollywood Park offering visitors a seemingly endless experience encompassing a host of world renowned characters.

Raed Kajoor Al Nuaimi, DPR’s CEO, made it plain from the start that he wanted a world-class show to open the parks, and he stressed that it should be created and produced by a locally-based company. “That’s where we came in,” said Mike Wain, Co-founder and Executive Director, Action Impact, “We were determined to repay the trust DPR placed in us by delivering a show that would create a lasting memory”.

The Action Impact team got to work and proposed that the event should take place in Riverland, the themed dinning and retail destination that links the theme parks. “We built a 1,500 seat auditorium – part of which had to float on water – and built a customized bridge that linked it to an impressive stage on the riverbank opposite,” explained Simon Tapping, Executive Creative Director, Action Impact.

“We created a story that was both simple and ingenious, and gave DPR’s characters, Luna and Nova, the leading roles in it,” said Tapping. “Up to the show, they’d just been animations used in promotional videos. We brought them to life in a surprising way.”

Instead of putting actors into costumes, the team decided to match the ambition of the parks by creating 6-metre tall animatronic puppets that could magically fly across the entire performance arena, expressively controlled by a team of ten specialist technicians and performers. “They were manipulated with such skill that they became a seamless part of the on-stage adventure,” said Tapping.

His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's arrival began with a specially arranged preview of Bollywood Park and a huge mesmerizing 3D video mapping performance at Motiongate conveying stunning snapshots of the theme parks’ ambitious content.

After His Highness took his seat in the main auditorium, the main show opened with a film showing the project rising from the sand through its construction phase to what is seen today, followed by a performance of the specially commissioned theme song “All The Wonders of The Universe” by multi-Oscar-winning composer, Alan Menken, who was flown in from Hollywood with his daughter, Anna Rose, to perform the song live.

“We wanted to take the show to another level – into the skies above the audience,” said Tapping, “So, we commissioned a large fleet of specially retrofitted drones, each fitted with an ultra-bright full-colour LED cluster, to perform an intricately choreographed display synchronised with Alan’s music.

The ‘drone ballet’ was a major technology challenge and climaxed with a giant image of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed’s three-fingered salute in the colours of the UAE flag. “It was a jaw-dropping moment for all the guests and especially the VIP party,” said Wain.

His Highness then triggered the start of the high-energy 25-minute show sending multiple laser beams across the water and bringing the spectacular stage set to life. Luna and Nova then flew into view and, to the surprise of the audience, began to tell the story of a family setting out to hunt for a missing ‘Amazium’ crystal.

Along the way, the family encountered over 170 performers including lookalike film stars from Bollywood, puppets from Legoland, and a host of Dreamworks and Columbia Pictures characters, including Ghostbusters and Shrek and a show-stopping performance from the dancers of the in-park resident show “Step-up Dubai”.

“It was a spectacle of music, light and dance,” said Simon, “And at the height of the action we triggered the illumination of specially designed LED pendants worn by each member of the audience. They lit up to reveal that – all along – the audience had the missing Amazium!” “It was a moment that was shared and enjoyed by everyone, especially the children,” said Wain.

Luna and Nova were then able to officially introduce each of the three parks, and the grand finale of the show saw all 170 performers on stage, the second appearance of the drones, high above the auditorium, and a spectacular fireworks display filled the sky over all the parks. “It was a memorable extravaganza of colour, movement and music, that brought the scale and ambition of the whole DPR project to life in one, incredible moment,” said Wain.

Action Impact’s ambition had matched that of DPR’s brief. The show was watched by millions of people live on TV while being streamed simultaneously online across multiple platforms: “For those who couldn’t be there, we put together a film that captures “Experience Amazing” which, after all, was made by the agency that always invites you to “Experience Difference!” Wain said.