Dream Island Park opens to public

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin opened the Dream Island, Russia's first and Europe's largest roofed themed park. The first visitors were pupils of children's social institutions and children from low-income families.

'It took three years to build a giant themed park, the largest roofed park in Europe. The city administration have assisted them in developing transport infrastructure and landscaping. To provide transport links, we have opened Tekhnopark metro station of the MCC within a 10 minutes’ walk, made a crossing with moving walkways through Andropova Prospekt — the only one in Moscow with such a large capacity. Also, there is a bridge now over Kozhukhovsky Zaton to reach the two neighbouring districts. Besides, specialists are constructing the embankment stretching towards the Kremlin,' Moscow Mayor said.

The Dream Island was constructed in Nagatinskaya Poima, an area of about 100 ha in the south of Moscow, between the historical riverbed and the modern navigable part of the Moskva River. Andropova Prospekt is the western boundary of the Park. For many years, it has been a poorly landscaped and undeveloped territory. The Park's design was approved by Muscovites during public hearings and the Active Citizen voting. The concept was supported by 92 per cent of voters.

Along with the creation of Zaryadye Park, the improvement of Luzhniki Stadium, the renovation of the former ZIL industrial zone and Tushinsky Airfield, the Dream Island’s construction has become one of the largest projects for the development of the Moskva River environs.

'This project is part of a huge renovation project of the former ZIL industrial zone covering some 600 ha. It is divided into four areas. The first area, where we opened the World Hockey Championship, is sports grounds. The second one is a residential development complex, currently under construction on the Marc Chagall Embankment. The third area is the Streltsova Stadium, currently at the initial construction stage, with its design being completed,' Sergei Sobyanin added.

The fourth area is the Dream Island themed park, a jewel of this location, according to Moscow Mayor.

The renovation project of the former ZIL industrial zone covers some 6.5 million sq m of residential and commercial real estate. As reported by Sergei Sobyanin, a film industry art cluster is to appear soon on the embankment: Film Academy and other creative innovations. 'Besides, one more metro station is to be built. Biryulyovskaya line is under design now, with its station to be located about 2 km from here. So, this area will have well-developed transport infrastructure,' Sergei Sobyanin added.

The Park's construction is funded by a private investor — the Dream Island Holding Company, with Amiran Mutsoyev as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Moscow Government undertook the development of transport infrastructure and partly neighbourhood landscaping.

The Dream Island's construction has two stages. The first construction phase included the roofed part of the Park covering about 300,000 sq m, which is equivalent to 42 football fields. This is a real entertainment city, where you can spend the whole day with your friends or family — enjoy amusement rides, watch theatre performances, have a snack in the food court or dine at a themed restaurant, go shopping, take photos, buy gifts, souvenirs, and much more. The roofed part of the Park is divided into zones.

Themed Amusement Park

The project's most attractive part is the themed Amusement Park. You will find here 35 entertainments, including 27 rides, with some of them for true thrill-seekers. There is On the Wings of the Wind, the largest spherical cinema in Russia, where you can float in the air and dive into the world of dinosaurs. The most daring visitors are welcome to The Abyss of the First Crang, the first power tower in Russia and Europe combining a classic amusement ride with media elements. There will also be The Race of the Future ride — Russia's first VR roller coaster.

Amiran Mutsoyev told the Park is mostly about Russian characters, with scripts made by best animators, screenwriters and artists. They created new stories based on old fairy tales. In addition to rides, the Park will offer a puppet theatre, hi-tech hologram shows, and much more.

Guests will see nine fairy-tale worlds: Snow Queen's Castle, Mowgli in the Land of Dinosaurs, Fairy Village, Abandoned House, Dream Race, Smurfs' Village, Hello, Kitty and others. Visitors can also watch five spectacular shows and nine Meet&Greet sessions. There are souvenir shops, themed cafés and restaurants, as well as food trucks offering ice cream, cotton candy, hot dogs and other snacks.

Russian and European certification authorities have double tested the rides.

Promenade and cinema

The Dream Island will have four spacious pedestrian galleries — replicas of the streets of Barcelona, Beverly Hills, London and Rome, and three atrium squares made in architectural styles of different countries. The promenade will be centred around the Moscow square with fountains, benches, lawns and cafés. It has an 8,600 sq m glass dome, the largest in Europe. The unique design will make you feel like taking a walk on a summer day.

A multiplex cinema with 17 halls will open to the public. Currently, there are finishing works underway at the cinema. The opening is scheduled for the second half of 2020. At the same time, the Dream Hall concert hall is expected to be completed, a multi-purpose transforming site for 4,500 seats to host entertainment and business events. The hall will hold concerts of world-famous stars, performances of popular artists, music shows and festivals.

Landscaping of the grounds

Landscape Park is being arranged on the area adjacent to the Dream Island, with playgrounds and sites to do sports and yoga. There will be a dance floor, an open-air cinema, recreation areas, a venue to hold corporate events, an artificial pond, a maze made of plants, and food trucks.

The area of 45,000 sq m was paved with granite, with asphalt and concrete pavement laid on the roadway and sidewalks (54,900 sq m), outdoor lighting poles installed (62 pieces), gutters (1,180 linear metres) and utility network laid (438 linear metres).

As part of the improvement work, more than 200 large-sized trees have been transplanted, with more than 500 new trees planted, including a plenty of shrubs.

There are surface and underground parking lots for 3,674 cars.

The second construction phase of the Dream Island includes a 4* hotel (over 900 rooms), Children's Yacht School, Banquet and Concert Hall, and landscaping of a 2 km long embankment section.

Opening hours

The entrance to the City Promenade will be free. To visit the themed Park, you will need to purchase a ticket providing an unlimited access to all amusement rides and entertaining shows throughout the day. The cost of tickets depends on the time of day, day of the week and age of children. Soon, there will be special rates offered for different categories of visitors, including multi-child families, veterans, pensioners and disabled people.

Rides will be open Monday till Thursday, 12:00 pm till 10:00 pm, 12:00 pm till 12:00 am on Friday, and 10:00 am till 12:00 am on weekend.

The themed Park expects about 7.5 million visitors a year. The Landscape Park and the City Promenade are to become popular everyday recreation places for local residents, Muscovites and tourists.

Moreover, Dream Island Park will offer some 7,500 jobs.

Transport infrastructure

To improve the transport accessibility of the Dream Island Park, the former ZIL and surrounding areas, the Moscow Government has implemented a number of major road infrastructure development projects.

In 2015, Tekhnopark metro station of Zamoskvoretskaya line was commissioned. In July 2019, an elevated pedestrian crossing with moving walkways across Andropova Prospekt opened. It takes about 10 minutes to get from the metro station to the Amusement Park's entrance.

In 2016, the MCC ZIL station was opened. On 28 February, free shuttle buses will launch along the route MCC ZIL station — Dream Island — Kozhukhovskaya metro station. 13 high-capacity vehicles will be running along the route with 5 minutes' headways. If necessary, it can be reduced to 2 minutes by engaging additional buses, there are some 30 of them. The route (full circle) will be 14.8 km long.

Park Chudes metro station is expected to be built on the new Biryulyovskaya metro line, with an interchange to Tekhnopark station.

Also, the development of a road network on the grounds of the former ZIL is underway. By the beginning of 2020, 7.8 km of roads has been finished here: Likhachyova Prospekt from the Third Transport Ring to Mustaya Karima Street with an overpass through the MCC, Bratyev Ryabushinskikh Street, Tyufeleva Roshcha Street, Mustaya Karima Street, a section of the Marc Chagall Embankment.

In December 2019, the section of Simonovskaya Embankment from the Southern River Station to the 2nd Yuzhnoportovy Proyezd with a new bridge over the Kozhukhovsky Zaton opened. The road bridge linked Nagatinskaya Poima with Pechatniki and Kozhukhovskaya metro station, so it will take only about 10 min to get to the Dream Island.

Moscow Mayor added that the river station will be restored, with river routes to the Moscow centre arranged.

It is scheduled to build and reconstruct about 22 km of roads for the area of Nagatinskaya Poima and the former ZIL industrial zone, including comprehensive reconstruction of Krutitskaya and Simonovskaya embankments, the completion of Marc Chagall Embankment and the bridge over the Novinki Zaton.

These projects will complete the formation of a single embankment on the left bank of the Moskva River stretching from the Kremlin to Pechatniki, offer proper transport accessibility to the Dream Island and reduce the traffic load on Andropova Prospekt.