Last Christmas, my family decided they wanted to check out Abu Dhabi. As I’ve been there previously, I was the designated tour guide – tasked with making sure our itinerary included the MUST-SEE sights, as well as squeeze in the sights I didn’t get to check out last time 😉

As everyone knows (or as you’ll realize when you do a quick Google), Abu Dhabi is well-known for only 3 things – Sheikh Zayed Mosque (the most beautiful mosque I’ve ever seen, and trust me, I’ve seen A LOT), Emirates Palace (really gaudy hotel), and Ferrari World. Out of the three, I’ve been to both Sheikh Zayed Mosque and Emirates Palace before – but didn’t manage to squeeze in Ferrari World into my trip previously (primarily because I was using public transport the last time I was here, and Ferrari World is ridiculously hard to get to from Dubai via bus only!! Plus, I only allotted ~6 hours for Abu Dhabi)

What’s so special about Ferrari World? It’s the world’s first Ferrari-branded theme park, where the unique entertainment experience is heavily inspired by the legendary Ferrari beginnings and history (you’ll see what I mean later when I walk you through the rides). Equally important, the theme park provides a nice mix of attractions suitable for all ages: with really thrilling rides and experiences for adrenaline junkies like me, but also chill family rides that even kids can enjoy. Also – it’s INDOORS. This is super important because Abu Dhabi can get ridiculously hot in the summer, so sign me up if it’ll allow me to hide from the heat!

Having said that, there are downsides to it being an indoor park. Compared to other full-fledged amusement parks, Ferrari World doesn’t have a lot of rides per se. In fact, by 4PM, we had already finished the rides we wanted to try (and did try multiple times) – and were raring to leave. Of course, we were lucky because it wasn’t peak season when we went (and we entered the park as soon as it opened) so there wasn’t a long queue. Still, don’t expect a hundred rides ala Disney Land, Universal Studios and Six Flags. Having said that, a lot of the Ferrari World rides are quite unique in that it really incorporates the Ferrari proposition – which is SPEED and of course, its colorful history. Because of this, I find that a lot of their rides are really unique and well worth checking out

Table of blog contents

How to get to Ferrari World
What to bring and wear
Where to buy tickets
Best rides at Ferrari World
Where to go after Ferrari World

How to get to Ferrari World from Dubai?

I explored three different options – keeping in mind that I was traveling with my parents so the experience needed to be comfortable.

Option 1:

Private car (10 hours duration) that will pick us up from Dubai Hotel and bring us back at the end

This option is the most expensive at AED 900, but all-inclusive. While this does sound pretty pricey, I kept it in the list of options because I knew we’d have to keep using taxis while at Abu Dhabi (they don’t have a metro system, and their bus system doesn’t have a lot of routes aka not tourist friendly). However, given we were only going to 3 locations in Abu Dhabi, I did a quick calculation (using the Careem app to estimate the average fare cost) and realized that it still wasn’t worth it

Option 2:

Silver taxi (ask your hotel concierge to call for you) which can pick you up from the hotel to Ferrari World.

For this, they were charging us a fixed rate of AED 200. I prefer fixed rates over haggling because 1) I suck at haggling since I feel bad for the vendor, BUT I also hate feeling cheated afterwards when I realized I paid too much, and 2) I’m always slightly iffy because I have this fear that the driver can kidnap me and no one will ever know since there were no official transaction records! I know, I’m paranoid like that – that’s what happens when you travel as a solo female cross-country, you hear waay too many horror stories…

Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good option. For the ride home, we could either get another taxi from the Abu Dhabi bus station, or just take the public bus since we wouldn’t be in a hurry anymore (note: the public bus costs AED 25 per person, so that would be equivalent to AED 125)

Option 3:

Take public bus from Al Ghubaiba Station to Shahama Village (this is the nearest bus stop to Ferrari World), then a taxi from there to Ferrari World.

Bus 100 from Al Ghubaiba to Shahama Village: AED 25 per person (88mins travel time)
Taxi from Shahama Village to Ferrari World: AED 30 (normal 5-seater car) / AED 35 (van) (20mins travel time)

Note: There are limited van-type taxis at Shahama Village, so if you’re a big group, I wouldn’t risk it! In the end though, my cheapskate side won out (as always)

Couple of tips to keep in mind in case you choose Option 3:

The buses arrive every 20 minutes at Al Ghubaiba Station. I highly suggest you arrive AT LEAST 20 minutes before your desired departure time to make sure you can get seats. If you go on weekends, there can be a pretty long queue, since this is how the locals travel between cities
If you’re taking Bus 100 to Shahama Village, keep in mind that Shahama Village is NOT the last stop so you have to be alert. The bus driver doesn’t announce the bus stops and the Shahama Village stop isn’t even an official stop – it’s literally a parking lot along the highway… In our case, I had my Google Maps open to keep track of where we were at, so that I’d know when it was time to go down

What to bring to Ferrari World and what to wear?

Attire

Wear shoes that won’t fall off, else you’d have to leave them behind when you get on the ride. Shoes that would fit this description: Rubber shoes, sandals with straps on the back
You can wear glasses on the rides – BUT you’d have to wear Ferrari World googles on top (for Formula Rossa), which is meant to protect your eyes from the wind given the fast speed you’ll be going at. It can be a bit uncomfortable, so you may want to wear contact lens instead
Wear comfortable and breezy clothing. Even if it’s an indoor amusement park, it can still be a bit warm. Having said that, highly suggest you don’t wear skirts!

Things to bring

Money / Credit cards. Credit cards are accepted everywhere, but it’s always good to bring cash just in case. What will you need money for? To buy food for lunch / snack, Ferrari World souvenirs, and to pay for the Ferrari World attractions that require additional payments (e.g., The Driving Experience, and the F1 Simulator Advanced Version)
- For reference: Combo meals (3 burger/chicken wings + 3 sides + 3 drinks) = AED 165; whereas 1 combo meal on its own would cost AED 60
Water bottles. There are water refill stations at the bathroom, which will save you money instead of needing to purchase water bottles throughout the day
Hairbrush and makeup kits (for girls). Prepare to have your hair and makeup be ruined during the adrenaline-filled rides (E.g., Ferrari Rossa). It’s well-worth the price, trust me! Having said that, you may want to brush up afterwards
Small bags to place all your stuff. There are free lockers situated by the rides (where you can’t bring your belongings with you), so you can place your stuff there. The key will remain with you, so it’s pretty safe. Having said that, best to keep your stuff at a minimum as there are limited locker space

Where to buy Ferrari World tickets

You can buy tickets at the counter directly, or you can purchase them online. I always try to purchase everything online (my personal favorite is Klook) – because this allows me to skip the queues AND even gives me points, which I can convert to discounts the next time I use Klook again! (Note: This is not a paid ad, I just really like using Klook)

Anyway, it’s really convenient because as soon as you purchase from Klook (pay via credit card), then you’ll get an email confirmation with your tickets. You can either print them out or just save it on your mobile, as they’ll be scanning it at the Ferrari World gate

Best rides at Ferrari World

Before I go through my list of favorite rides, let me start off by sharing my #1 tip – make sure to be at Ferrari World as soon as the door opens (it was open at 10AM during the time we went, but normally it opens at 11AM). By being early, you can essentially skip the long queues – for the first 2 hours while we were there, there was literally ZERO queues. It was AMAZING. In fact, I sometimes had to wait in the queue a bit longer just so there would be someone else riding the ride with me… It was pretty wild (never happened to me before!)

First stop: Formula Rossa

Formula Rossa is the world’s FASTEST roller coaster and reaches a speed of 240 km/hour at its fastest. It is SHOCKING. I can still remember the sudden drop in my stomach as the ride suddenly accelerated from 0 to 240km/hr in 4.9 seconds. Phew, I felt mildly queasy after, but it did get better (by my third try LOL)!

If you’re an adrenaline seeker like me, try sitting in front (there’s a special queue for this). If you do so, make sure to tighten the protective eye cover as it can whip off due to the strong winds. Also, be prepared for the strong wind to buffet your face like crazy! It’s a once in a lifetime experience for sure – but we got to ride it 4x because we were the first ones there!

Second stop: Scuderia Challenge

Scuderia Challenge is really cool – it’s an F1 and GT racing simulator that uses the same technology to train their F1 drivers. Essentially, imagine the car racing arcade game we’ve all tried when we were kids, but on steroids this time!

There are three types of simulators you can avail of, but only one is free! Regardless of which one you want to try out, you need to claim a time slot at the booking booth. Once the time indicated is near, you then go back to the Scuderia Challenge and hand over your time slot slip so they can admit you

I highly suggest you do at least 2 rounds of the Scuderia Challenge (Free version!). The first round is just for you to get a feel for the simulator – it’s CRAZY fast. If you feel a bump of sorts, that’s just you going up gears. If you see a brake sign, pay attention to it and start braking, as you do need to brake in order to make the turns. The simulator doesn’t allow for drifting unfortunately

By the end of the first round, you’d have gotten the hang of it, so you can then go for a second time. THIS is when the real competition begins. Make sure to do the same rounds with your friends (max 8 players) in order to see who can come out on top in an F1 circuit type race. I’m proud to say I was the champion both times my family played. Looks like I have a future in racing!

Third stop: Turbo Track

This ride allows you to experience a race to the sky – as the vertical climb shoots you through the iconic Ferrari logo roof (said to be the largest Ferrari logo ever created measuring at 65m x 48.5m) and into the sky, followed by an epic zero gravity fall as the ride quickly reverses!

While it was pretty cool to reach the top of the Yas Island in seconds, I didn’t find it particularly impressive. Interesting experience though – so would suggest you check it out

Fourth stop: Flying Aces

This is undisputedly my favorite attraction at Ferrari World. The ride is meant to mimic the flying patterns of pilots during World War 1, in honor of Count Baracca (a legendary ‘ace of aces’ aviator, a World War 1 hero, and the inspiration for the famous Ferrari prancing horse logo)

The twist, turns, and loops are just crazy! Flying Aces is said to have the world’s highest rollercoaster loop (you scale up at 63 meters at a SPECTACULAR 51-degree incline!), and hit speeds up to 120km/hr. Wow, if this is what fighter pilots do on a daily basis – hats off to them!

The ride mimics a military bi-plane. My favorite position is the side (both the left and the ride works), as it’s a lot more thrilling since the banks and turns are waaay sharper versus if you were simply seated in the middle. I loved this ride so much – I ended up taking it 3x. For folks who don’t feel up to it, there’s also an observation deck where you can take photos and wave at your friends and family (not that they can see you)

Pro tip: Don’t forget to stuff your bags into the locker before entering the queue for the Flying Aces ride. We didn’t notice it when we entered, so we had to go out and leave our bags again once they told us – right before we were set to board the ride! Darn.

Fifth stop: GT Challenge

Through GT Challenge, you get to race “against” your friends on twisting parallel tracks based on real GT courses, with crazy turns and speeds up to 95km/hr. The ride isn’t WOW, but there is a nifty part where you suddenly accelerate to “overtake” the competitor that’s pretty fun

You can choose between the yellow or red car, but I thought the red car track was so much better (also because it’s the winning car haha!)

Sixth stop: Made in Maranello Tour

I pushed super hard to do this ride because my family wasn’t crazy about it. But when I read the description of the ride – I just KNEW I had to see it for myself. See below for the word-by-word description from the Ferrari World website

“Go on an in-depth tour of the Ferrari factory and discover how a Ferrari GT is made. Previously a privilege reserved only Ferrari owners, you’ll gain an exclusive insight into the entire manufacturing process – from the early design stages, to the machining of engine parts and painting, right to the final hand assembly and testing on Ferrari’s Fiorano Circuit!”

Doesn’t it sound so cool? Anyway, it sounded way cooler in concept. In reality, we sat in these little white cabs and took a virtual tour of the historic Ferrari factory. It was nice, but definitely dumbed down and super conceptual. Meh, should’ve managed my own expectations…

Seventh stop: Tyre Change Experience

This experience is best done in groups of 4, as you need 2 people per team (and maximum of two teams to compete against each other). The concept is simple: compete with your friends to see who can change the tyre of an F1TM car fast, and prove that you can be a member of the Ferrari pit crew

Note that an F1 pit stop only lasts for 10 seconds, so you NEED to be able to change the tires within 10 seconds, but preferably below 5 seconds. My team (consisting of me and my brother) had the best time at 10.1 seconds – beating out my sister and dad by 2 seconds, woohoo!

Don’t worry, a guy will teach you the basics then you get 3 rounds to do it right. We only managed to do it right in the final round LOL

Eight stop: Galleria Ferrari

For Ferrari enthusiasts, this gallery will make you DROOL. You’ll get to see these beautifully crafted cars up close (supposedly iconic Ferrari models), and enjoy them along with Ferrari facts, stats and interesting stories. For non-enthusiasts like me, I thought everything looked very sleek and cool but quickly got bored after <5 minutes!

And that’s it! There are other rides in Ferrari World, but they were more predisposed for kids so I didn’t bother checking them out. If you’re interested, you can definitely do some research beforehand as Ferrari World has a nice website indicating all their rides, as well as whether certain rides will be closed on a certain day (click on the Rides and Attraction update).

In total, we were at Ferrari World from 10AM to 4PM (includes the 45mins lunch break – where we bought food from the Officers Food Quarters). Keep in mind that we rode several rides several times, but we were also pretty lucky because it was a weekday so there weren’t a lot of people (plus we started pretty early). Supposedly, the queues are crazy during holidays, weekends and the afternoons (when the tour groups start arriving)

Where to go after Ferrari World

First off, keep in mind that Ferrari World is OUTSIDE the Abu Dhabi city center and there doesn’t seem to be decent public transport to the city from here. If you want to book a Careem, best to book it AT LEAST 1hr 15mins beforehand as they aren’t available on demand. Otherwise, there are taxis outside, just make sure they use the meter. In fact, the silver taxis on meter are cheaper than a Careem! In our case, I had thankfully kept the number of our taxi driver from earlier in the day, and so I contacted him and he agreed to pick us up and drop us off at Sheikh Zayed Mosque for AED 55

I’ve been to Sheikh Zayed Mosque before, so I knew the drill. Essentially, I wanted to make sure my family caught the 5PM free tour (the last one of the day). It’s a really nice tour and I highly recommend it because they really walk you through the history of the mosque and the deeper meaning behind the architecture and designs. You can read more about what to expect here. Otherwise, here are a couple of beautiful photos I snapped to entice you (the mosque is sooo beautiful!)

From here, you can either opt to head back to Dubai or do one last stop to Emirates Palace and Etihad Tower (they’re right in front of each other). Again, there’s nothing special about them, but they are pretty famous… Plus, they’re beautiful when lit up at night! Here’s a couple of photos for you!

From here, we went back to Dubai via public bus. Just head to the Abu Dhabi Central Station to grab a public bus back to Al Ghubaiba Station. Make sure to be at the station at least 15 minutes before your desired departure time

For other Dubai related posts

For other Abu Dhabi related posts

For first time travelers to Dubai, you may have questions regarding visas, how to get around the country, where to stay, and so on. If so, you might be interested in:

Goldie Goes Global

Ferrari World Review: Unique rides and attractions for all ages