Beast Land, the eponymous “theme park” of famous YouTuber Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, opened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 13, and even though videos showcasing the park have appeared online, it remains pretty unclear exactly what this thing is.
The temporary installation features two zones: “Beast Land” and “Beast Arena.” Beast Land is like an elevated town carnival with a bungee trampoline, several tall spinning/flipping rides, three roller coasters, and more. Beast Arena tasks attendees with competing in challenges not unlike the ones Donaldson features on his 451-million-subscriber YouTube channel, and just like those challenges, there’s money to be won at the end—1 million Saudi Riyal, which is around $266,000 USD.
Those challenges include “Air Mail,” in which players are strapped to ziplines stretching between platforms and have to drop a ball onto a giant bullseye below as they zip across, and “Revolution,” where players must collect coins and dodge traps in giant, rotating cylinders with LED displays.
Beast Land is located in Riyadh’s Boulevard City, a high-end retail and entertainment center that opened in 2019 (aerial footage makes the theme park look as if it’s set up in a giant empty lot, which feels very carnival-esque). MrBeast’s logo, a giant blue tiger head with pink lightning bolts around its eyes, serves as the park’s entrance. There’s a photo op spot where you can take a face-in-hole picture that makes it look like you and Donaldson are holding up giant bars of MrBeast Feastables chocolate bars. There are three giant safes (gold, bronze, and silver) in the center of the park, the contents of which will go to the top three scorers after Beast Land’s 45-day run.
A video from opening day shows Donaldson making an appearance before being seemingly overwhelmed by the crowd, then appearing again later in the day in front of the safes to announce the prize money. One TikToker says, “I’m never washing this hand” after Donaldson walks by and high-fives him. “Welcome to Beast Land!” Donaldson says at the end of the TikTok, as flames and streamers erupted behind him.
A British TikToker who now lives in Saudi Arabia showed off her experience as well, saying, “It looks absolutely incredible.” Her video shows off familiar carnival games and rides as well as the Beast Arena games, which are inspired by Donaldson’s reality competition show. She also reassures us that there were “so many merch shops around with all of the Feastables and limited-edition merch, which was actually very affordable.”
Beast Land looks more like a video game convention than a theme park, with MrBeast branding on every possible tall structure or billboard and virtually no other decor. TikTok commenters have said it “looks like a Roblox tycoon” game and that it’s “sad and depressing.”
YouTuber Jenny Nicholson, famous for her long-form video reviews of theme parks, said on Twitter that Beast Land is “not really interesting enough to talk about because it’s not a real theme park. It’s being called that for marketing, but it’s just not. It’s like calling a county fair or one of these situations a theme park.” Attached was a picture of a row of dinosaur-themed inflatable slides inside a room.
Almost all of the videos across TikTok and YouTube about attending Beast Land feature glowing reviews of the experience, with the comments ranging from disbelief to disdain to denunciation of Saudi Arabia.
Donaldson recently replied to a question about why he decided to host his theme park in Saudi Arabia with “middle of the world because a majority of my audience is outside America and we have a big Middle Eastern fan base. Wanted to give them a chance to participate!” But his reply was Community Noted (a Twitter feature that adds necessary context to potentially misleading posts) with a link to a press release for MrBeast’s official partnership with Riyadh Season to help support Vision 2030, which is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s push to increase the country’s economic, social, and cultural diversity. You know, that same Crown Prince who the CIA concluded had ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia subjects migrant workers to forced labor and “arbitrarily detain[s] individuals without giving them any opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.” Freedom House, a non-partisan human rights advocacy organization, gives it a 9 out of 100 score on its freedom scale.
Kotaku has reached out to Donaldson for comment.
Actor and former professional football player Terry Crews just shared his trip to Beast Land on TikTok. “MrBeast went ALL OUT with #BeastLand!” he wrote. “AMAZING!! Where should T Crews Land go?!?”
Beast Land will remain open until December 27.
