Dubai Parks and Resorts last month joined hands with leading international firms to spearhead the development of two of the three theme parks in Dubai, UAE, at what is destined to be the Middle East’s largest multi-themed leisure and entertainment destination.

A subsidiary of top real estate investment company Meraas Holding, the company signed up the UK-based Merlin Entertainments, the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator, to develop Legoland Water Park, which will be part of the wider Legoland Dubai theme park.

Aimed at children ages two to 12, the new facility will feature some of Legoland’s most popular water attractions including a half-million-gallon wave pool; the Build-a-Raft River where guests can design and build their own customised raft; along with the interactive Imagination Station, which lets children construct bridges, dams and cities and test their designs against the flow of water.

Legoland Dubai, the first Legoland Park in the Middle East, will cover a total of 3 million sq ft and comprise more than 60 million Lego bricks. This includes over 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions set in six themed lands – Lego City, Adventure, Kingdom, Create, Factory and Miniland which is unique to every individual location and showcases some of the most iconic buildings and landmarks from Dubai and the Middle East – replicated to scale in Lego bricks.

Dubai Parks and Resorts has also partnered with Lionsgate to bring a Lionsgate zone to motiongate Dubai, the Hollywood-themed park.

The Lionsgate zone will feature state-of-the-art theme park attractions and a retail facility inspired by Lionsgate’s global blockbuster ‘The Hunger Games’ franchise. It will also incorporate a live stage show based on ‘Step Up: All In’ and ‘Step Up: Revolution’, the two most recent films in the company’s worldwide ‘Step Up’ franchise.

The 4-million-sq-ft motiongate Dubai is anticipated to attract over three million visits a year and will take visitors on an immersive cinematic journey through their favorite films via 27 different latest-in-technology rides and attractions.

Alongside motiongate Dubai and Legoland Dubai, Dubai Parks and Resorts will also enfold Bollywood Parks Dubai, a first-of-its-kind entertainment destination that will showcase the authentic Bollywood movie experience.

The development will also feature Lapita, a Polynesian-themed resort catering to families; Hotel Lapita, a four-star themed hotel which will be managed by the Marriott Group; and Riverland, a 220,000-sq-ft complementary and centrally located retail, dining and entertainment district connecting the three theme parks and hotel.

Set to open in October 2016, the large-scale Dh10.5-billion ($2.85 billion) project is spread across 25 million sq ft of land strategically located on Sheikh Zayed Road close to the Palm Jebel Ali between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.