Report: Doha bidding to host world’s largest Angry Birds theme park

Doha is among the frontrunners bidding to host the region’s first Angry Birds theme park, billed as the world’s biggest, according The National. 

Nigel Cann, director of operations and development at Gebal Group, told the newspaper that although Abu Dhabi and Al Ain are also in talks with his group, Qatar is at “more advanced stages” of negotiations.

The cost of the park is likely to be around $16.5 million (QR60 million) and will take around 18 months to build, once a site has been chosen. It’s possible that it may be an indoor attraction, Cann said.

There are already Angry Birds theme parks in Singapore, the UK and Finland.

Cann says that the parks are “the interactive world meeting the physical world,” and that they aim to “get children off sofas and outside to get some physical exercise,” which jives with Qatar’s aim to reduce its obesity statistics. A recent study showed that 40 percent of schoolchildren in Qatar are obese.

Angry Birds is the world’s most downloaded game – boasting 12 million downloads from iTunes alone. Its success has made it a well known face around the world, and the brand is a familiar sight in Qatar, emblazoned on balloons, clothing and toys galore. 

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo by RFC 1036