HOUSTON — The ice rink at the Galleria Mall is a big attraction, but is it the only one? A video now circulating across social media with millions of views claims there's another big attraction inside the mall.
The claim
A recent Instagram video claims there's a roller coaster inside the Galleria.
The KHOU 11 VERIFY team learned this video first appeared on TikTok last year with more than 2.1 million views. Some people went to the mall just to see if the roller coaster existed.
Our sources
So is the video claiming a roller coaster inside the Galleria mall real? We went to our sources, including Google Lens and the Galleria. Right away, we're hitting the brakes and debunking this video's claim.
No, there is no roller coaster currently inside the Galleria mall. If you've been to the Galleria, you know the main attraction, besides the stores and restaurants, is the ice rink.
If you look a little closer at the video, there are some other red flags. Stores not currently at the Galleria are seen in the video and as the fake roller coaster winds through the mall, the floor and glass ceiling aren't the same as the Galleria.
The KHOU 11 VERIFY team combed through social media and analyzed the video to see if it was AI-generated. Eventually, we traced the original video to an Instagram post from a mall in the United Arab Emirates. We contacted Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi and they told us the video was posted for fun and confirmed there is no roller coaster inside the mall.
With that, no. The video showing a roller coaster in the Galleria mall is not real. The only twists and turns you will experience are getting off the 610 Loop to get there.
Do you have a claim you'd like the KHOU 11 VERIFY team to look into? Let us know below or email us at VERIFY@khou.com.