Sand Diving: Ferrari World Site Visit

Finally I was able to go see Mike at work!! They do not allow children anywhere near his worksite but when my parents visited last week I finally arranged enough time without the kids to go see him!!

Many friends that I have not spoken to in sometime ask me what brought us to Abu Dhabi...well this is it! Sometime ago Mike got into the theme and water park business (the business I was raised in). About a year ago he was approached by a consulting company based out of Tustin, CA that he had gotten to know over the years. This company, ProFun has the pre-opening operations contract for Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. The first ever Ferrari theme park that is being built on an island called Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. There is also a Formula 1 racetrack being built on this island, shopping, housing, hotels, etc. Mike is on this pre-opening operations team, consulting on the contruction of the park from an operations prospective. He will also oversee the water park and potentially the Warner Bros park that will be built on the island as well.

Below is the model of Yas Island. The circle in the middle is a large mall, the red structure is Ferrari World, over to the left is where Warner Bros and the World's largest waterpark will be.

Mike..showing us the overhead photo of the island...This island is located about 20 minutes from the city center of Abu Dhabi.

There are about 40,000 laborers involved in these projects..they all live in these work camps..or trailers. Most are Indian, that have come out here to work, leaving their families behind and sending them their earnings. See the rows of stacked trailers...