Unspecified/General

On the lower ground floor of the Wafi City Mall in the Umm Hurair neighbourhood of central Dubai, AYA Universe is one of the largest immersive multimedia entertainment venues in the broader United Arab Emirates and the flagship Middle East venue of the international AYA immersive entertainment brand. The 40,000-square-foot complex opened on 9 February 2023, occupying a substantial former retail space at the popular Wafi City Mall and providing a 90-to-120-minute walk-through immersive multimedia experience built around twelve individually themed immersive rooms. The AYA Universe concept was developed by the Australian immersive entertainment studio Lockerbie Productions, which had previously developed similar immersive multimedia attractions in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland before partnering with the Dubai-based Wafi Mall ownership group to bring the concept to the United Arab Emirates. The Dubai venue is substantially larger than any of the original Australian or New Zealand venues and includes several themed rooms unique to the Dubai location. The visitor experience unfolds as a continuous journey through twelve individually themed immersive rooms, each separated from the others by short transitional spaces. The opening Lobby Room introduces the broader AYA narrative through a brief multimedia presentation. The visitor then progresses through subsequent rooms each themed to a different natural environment or visual concept. The standout single room is the Galaxia, an enormous mirror-walled enclosed space studded with more than 4,000 individual fibre-optic lights suspended from the ceiling at varying heights, with the resulting visual impression suggesting an apparently infinite three-dimensional star field extending in every direction. The room's combination of complete mirror reflection on all six surfaces and the dramatic suspended light field produces one of the most powerful immersive visual experiences available in any public installation worldwide. Other major themed rooms include the Bio (an immersive recreation of a deep-sea bioluminescent environment), the Flora (an immersive forest and garden environment featuring continuously moving projected botanical imagery), the Particle (an immersive presentation of subatomic particles and quantum-scale phenomena), the Mirror (a dramatic infinite-mirror room with progressively complex reflective patterns) and the Aerial (a low-ceilinged room with continuously suspended floating sculptural elements). Tickets are sold by timed entry with discounted online pricing.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Wafi City Mall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Telephone: 04-247-1647

Website: ayauniverse.com

Opening Date: 09/02/2023