Tag: waterpark

Dreamland – 04 June 2010

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Last weekend Myles and I went to Dreamland Aqua Park which is a waterpark in Umm Al Quwain – another emirate within the UAE. The trip from Dubai is around an hour, but the time went pretty quick as we saw lots of interesting or new things.

In fact Myles counted the interesting things on the way to the water park:

  1. Flamingos in Ras Al Khor sanctuary
  2. Very different traffic lights in Ajman – they had little clocks counted how many seconds the lights were remaining on Red or Green (they were also laid out horizontally instead of vertically)
  3. Six “tornadoes” (whirly winds)
  4. No pictures of HH Sheikh Mohammed (outside of Dubai it makes sense)
  5. A picture of a man that looked like Fazza (Dubai’s Royal Prince) but wasn’t (he was a different Ajman’s Royal Prince)
  6. Sharks in the water (sticks in the water)
  7. A big old abandoned plane used as an advertisement

Emirates employees get a generous discount at the park, but there was an even more generous coupon in the entertainer book which encouraged us to visit this particular water park over the other three.  We’ve been to Wild Wadi a couple times, and Elle and the boys had been to the a bit run down Wonderland.  The only one we now haven’t visited is Aquaventure which is in Atlantis – The Palm, so possibly the most well-known.

In a word, Dreamland was awesome. Myles had to be convinced that it was different to Dreamworld back on the Gold Coast in Australia. There are things to appeal to all ages. There is a good maze to have a relaxing float with babies, but we didn’t take Lewis on this occasion.  There are plenty of other rides for larger kids, and the obligatory number of scarier rides still for the adult-aged kids. There was also a bar or two if you wish for a break to whet your whistle.

I had to give Myles an impromptu Arabic lesson, more of a reminder, when I had to clarify that “yulla” is Arabic for hurry, or let’s go. Myles originally thought all the guys were unhappy because they wanted to go on the yellow slide, not because they were extremely impatient.

The only downside of the day, was the heat. We made the mistake of going barefoot from the change rooms and lockers. So throughout the day we had to run between the slides, and deviate our course to take in a bit of grass now and again til our scorched feet had reduced to a normal temperature.  Well, my feet at least. I put Myles on my shoulders most of the times.

One of the other downsides was the amount of body hair on display. I’m on the paranoid side of having body hair, and in the past have generally shaved down for triathlon events. But it was nothing, compared to the spectacle you’ll see at any water park in this region. It was interesting that you’d see what you thought was the hairiest guy at the park. But the guy would always be outdone by the new hairiest guy. You never really find the winner, you just get sick of noticing. Or you’ll spot the hairiest guy in the world, and there’s instantly no where else to go.

Myles enjoyed all of the rides he was allowed on.  There was still a few things he was not tall enough for. But we’ll certainly be back.

The trip also had second hidden agenda for the way home. Next to Dreamland is a place well-known to all expats, particularly from the West. It’s called Barracuda Beach Resort, but it’s really only famous for one thing, cheap alcohol.  But just as impressive, is the huge variety of stock they carry.  The first time I visited, I was like a kid in a candy store.  They have a fantastic Australian wine collection, with possibly more wines than a standard Australian bottle shop. And they have all the most popular Australian beers at fantastic prices. The XXXX cartons were AED 90, which equates to less than AUD $30 – must cheaper than in Australia! I’m sure anyone outside of Queensland would want to insert joke here about cat urine, but I’ll move on.

The trip home takes you through the emirate of Sharjah – which is a strictly dry emirate. So there’s always a bit of uncertainty whether we’re breaking the law or not. But the consensus is providing its within personal consumption levels, and you are licensed to drink within your own emirate, it should be fine.

We spent around 5-6 hours at Dreamland, but you could easily spend even more time.  Myles was so active the complete time we were there he was asleep within minutes of leaving Barracuda.  It was a fantastic day, and we’ll certainly be back again. Although Wild Wadi is less than 10 minutes from our house and Dreamland is at least an hour away, it has a larger layout, caters for adults a little better and is quite a bit cheaper.

Wild Wadi Water Park – 15 May 2009

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Last weekend a friend’s niece wanted to go to Wild Wadi Water Park for her birthday, which sounded like more than a good enough reason to go.  In fact, the reason was overkill. I wanted to go anyway.  In the day or two leading up to it, I felt as excited as a 12 year old.

We arrived close to the opening time, which is definitely a good idea. It is far quieter before lunch than after. In fact, Saturdays I hear they open from 8am for families which would be even better, to avoid the hottest part of the day.

Myles, Lewis & I with the stunning Burj Al Arab backdrop
Myles, Lewis & I with the stunning Burj Al Arab backdrop

The place is very easy to find, just find the Burj Al Arab and more or less drive to the bottom of it.  Or, follow the signs.

Parking was simple as well.  Things were going too well.  We were brought back to Dubai reality at the ticket counter.  We received the tickets to get in only after more than 30 minutes of painful dialogue and tinkering with the register, and a receipt which was almost a metre in length.

If we were a bit cheesed off then, we would even more cheesed off a few seconds later as we hit a security check-point. They were going through all bags to remove any food or drinks. And to our surprise, this included water. We managed to accidentally smuggle in a large bottle of water under the pram, which always helps.

All was forgotten once we could smell the water and hear the screams of people enjoying themselves. I’d say the park’s arrangement is probably a little obscure if not eccentric. We managed to find a row of banana lounges right next to the kids park which we made our base. Then everyone went in their own direction.  I spent the majority of my time in the kids park with Myles. But I didn’t mind this at all.  It was loads of fun. I did get questioned a couple of times though to make sure I did have a kid with me. They either didn’t spot Myles going down the rides like a bullet in front.  Or perhaps I looked like I was having a little too much fun.

After a little while, the grown-up guys suggested we act like grown-up guys and made a move toward the obligatory huge steep slide that water parks the world over have.  But finding the actual line for it turned out to be harder than you’d expect. In fact it was too hard for me, I gave up. When we were still looking for it we even found a ride which seemed to take us in the right direction until we were on it, and we found ourselves back to where we started. The ride was interesting to say the least.  We were given huge inflated donuts to sit on, and the slide was actually sloped upwards at a 30 degree angle. We travelled up the hill powered by huge squirts of water.  The power from the jets of water was so strong the sensation was (what I’d imagine to be) like that of a bidet jet.  I did the ride once on a shared donut with our friend’s 9 year old.  The second time on an individual donut where it wasn’t as embarassing to be the loudest screamer.

The place had racks of life jackets everywhere for people to freely use. I guess it’s a sign that a lot of the visitors can’t swim. Although I wasn’t used to seeing it, it was nice they were giving it a go. I never thought about it, but I guess if you can’t swim in Australia you simply wouldn’t go to these kinds of places.

The time at the park flew so quickly. We originally had planned to leave just after lunch which meant staying at the park for 3 hours or so. In the end it was a struggle to leave after 5.  If we didn’t have dinner plans that night, we certainly would have stayed much longer.  But we know where it is, and what tickets to now ask for, and what not to take in, and where all the rides start and end, so we can always go back.  Although, we’ve received advice that there are even greater water parks in other emirates of the UAE which we maybe should experience before returning to Wild Wadi.

I’d certainly recommend going to Wild Wadi at least once though. It may be more popular (busy) than the others, but the variety of rides and the views of the Burj Al Arab and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel are spectacular and I believe cannot be beaten.