Kuwait Entertainment City (Arabic: مدينة الكويت الترفيهية) was an

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

located in the western outskirts of

Kuwait City Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...

, the capital of Kuwait. It first opened on and was run by the Kuwait-based Touristic Enterprises Company. Some of the park's attractions, such as its large

Bolliger & Mabillard Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabil ...

inverted roller coaster An inverted roller coaster is a roller coaster in which the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage. This latter attribute is what sets it apart from the older suspended coaster, which runs under the tr ...

and its

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railway, are common features in large-scale amusement parks in the United States, but were very rare in amusement parks in the Middle East. On 6 June 2016, the park closed with the aim of being renovated. In October 2019, it was announced that the Kuwait Entertainment City property will be taken over by Amiri Diwan and transformed into New Entertainment City Kuwait featuring 13 sections, including an indoor theme park envisioned by

Ubisoft Entertainment Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Assassin's Creed'', '' Far Cry'', '' ...

and an indoor snowpark. By October 2020, the old park was fully demolished. The Amiri Diwan has plans to replace it with the New Entertainment City, currently under construction. The New Entertainment City will include Outdoor Theme Parks, Indoor Theme Parks, Indoor Snow Parks, Water Parks, Aquarium, Dolphinarium, Museum and Planetarium, High Street Rail, a retail mall, Luxury District, Icon Hotel, and Sports and international festival areas. The New Entertainment City is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment venues in Kuwait when the project is complete.

Sections

*The Arab World *International World *The Future World *Provincial Garden

Roller coasters

Railway

Kuwait Entertainment City's

railway and original train were built by the US-based company

Crown Metal Products Crown Metal Products was a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock based in Wyano, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Ken Williams in 1946 and initially sold pot cleaners and then electric fence wires and other products. In 1959, the compan ...

in the 1980s with a track gauge of . The railway continues to operate, but now uses a train built by the UK-based company

Severn Lamb Severn Lamb, sometimes known as Severn-Lamb, are manufacturers of various forms of transport systems and equipment, principally aimed at the leisure market. They are based at Alcester in the England, English county of Warwickshire, but sell thei ...

. The locomotive is one of their

4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...

''Lincoln'' models custom-built to fit on gauge track (the ''Lincoln'' model is normally built for gauge track).

Iraqi military occupation

Kuwait Entertainment City was open every year since its inaugural season, except for the period during and after Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait beginning in 1990. From 1990 to 1991, Iraqi Forces took many of the park's rides and shipped them back to Iraq, while also pillaging and vandalizing the park's property. Many of the stolen rides, including the park's

locomotive and train cars, ended up in

Al Zawra’a Dream Park AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

, located in Downtown Baghdad. After Iraqi forces were driven out of Kuwait and decisively defeated during

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

in 1991, the park began the process of recovery. It reopened to the public in 1994 until it closed for renovations on 6 June 2016.

Legacy and new park

While originally closed temporarily for renovations in 2016, the park was completely demolished in 2020, paving the way for a completely new park to be rebuilt on the same property, called "The New Entertainment City". The Amiri Diwan's New Entertainment City is currently under construction in Kuwait.

References

{{reflist

External links

Kuwait Entertainment City - official website
1984 establishments in Kuwait 3 ft gauge railways in Kuwait Amusement parks closed in 2016 Defunct amusement parks Buildings and structures demolished in 2020 Demolished buildings and structures in Kuwait Tourism in Kuwait