Trip to Dubai

“ Trip report - Dubai Sep 2010 ”

Loved the trip and helped me understand Dubai better. Tips, - buy the entertainer really saved us so much and preferably see if you can ship it online itself directly to hotel. Visit older and newer parts of Dubai. Kids still keep talking about the whole trip…

Took emirates, nice flight with dinner and checkout at airport was smooth. Took a taxi to Rydges Plaza at Satwa roundabout. Hotel was good, no frills hotel with nice pool and decent continental breakfast. It’s in a central location, taxis were always available and closer to Bur Dubai and hotel has a free shuttle to Jumeriah beach. (to be booked 3 hr prior)

Day1:- Took the shuttle to Jumeriah beach and from there took a taxi to Atlantis. On the way stopped at Spinneys for getting the entertainer book. The taxi ride to the Palm shaped island showed loads of apartments still to be occupied. Atlantis hotel looked great and we just took some snaps, had ice cream at Cold stone creamery (used entertainer coupon). We had already decided to visit Wild Wadi waterpark rather than Atlantis Aquaventure, so we just hanged out and took a ride to Mall of Emirates. Had lunch at food court (Shamiana and Burger King for kids) and spent quite a bit of time at Ski Park. (used entertainer coupon). My kids had a great time there. One issue was they should really include gloves with it. We ended up buying separately for that because I forgot to take them in spite of TA members advice. Took kids to Magic Planet and after all the rides, I had to visit a very close friend of mine and had dinner with them at their home. Kids slept off at their place and we spent some time with them and came back late to hotel.

Day 2:- After breakfast, checked out the pool and off to Dubai Mall. Tip here. If you use the Visa MasterCard an ultimate package for 4 costs only 330 AED instead of regular 430 AED. Ultimate package includes Dubai Aquarium, Underwater Zoo and Glass bottom boat ride, feeding the fish and a souvenir. Kids loved everything about the zoo. After lunch, elder kid went off with Dad to Sega world. Me and twins went to Kidzania and loved every minute there. It’s a lovely little place, where kids get to earn and spend Kidzania dollars and they get to be in fire dept, or in construction zone, drive a car, be in bottling plant, learn to do milk packets, make a pizza or be a reported or radio jockey or a journalist etc. there a art school to be an artist, put on make up, be a model, paramedic or dentist. It was something totally new for the kids and they refused to budge from there. Had to literally cajole them out and after some coffee at Costa with ice cream treat for kids around 6PM, went outside to take some snaps with Burj Khalifa in background. Fountain show started and watched it twice. Checked the Souk al bahar after which had dinner outside at California Pizza kitchen (again entertainer book) that had partial fountain view and back to hotel

Day 3:- Wild wadi water park. (used 2 entertainer coupons). Needless to say that the kids had a blast here. It’s cool that we have a strap that is loaded with cash. Younger ones had 4 kids rides (height limit) and loved it. Younger ones spent time at wave pool, lazy river, flood river and Sinbad’s area. Hubby took the elder one for other rides and once was not enough. We spent the entire day till 6PM there. I was worried that my younger ones (4 yrs old) will be tired but they jut refused to come down from the smaller slides. Back to hotel, had dinner at Ravi’s at Satwa close to our hotel. Good food but not great and ambience was poor but we were not surprised since reviews at TA said so.

Day 4:- Off to Creek park, enjoyed the dolphin show. Used the entertainer coupons again. Buy 1 get 1 free. Show was good, very less crowd , Wed 11PM show. My elder son got a walrus soft toy as prize for throwing the ball to dolphins and a nice photo with him touching the dolphins. Went to Children’s city. Unfortunately I did not withdraw enough cash thinking there will be an ATM in the park and Children’s city accepts only Cash. Went to Diera City center mall for lunch did some Carrefour shopping, went to ATM there and got some cash after which we wanted to go to Gold souk. Since we still had some 2 hrs time, we kept our things with stroller at Diera and went to Children’s city now that we had some cash. It’s really worth a visit if you have kids between 4-8 yrs old. (40 AED for family and 10AED for another kid) We spent time till 7 and saw the Planetarium show at 7PM, Kids loved it and we were the only ones for the show. We then took a taxi to Gold souk and got gold earrings for me and my daughter. Had dinner back at Diera, collected our things and back to hotel.

Day 5:- Started the day early and took taxi to textile souk area. Went to Abra station there and did some shopping along the shops that lined the street, took Abra ride and crossed over to other side. Took a taxi from there to Dubai festival city and visited Toys R us and other stores. Ice cream treats for kids (entertainer at Haagen Daaz) and enjoyed the Mall. Apparently there used to be boat ride but they have stopped it now until further notice. After lunch, went back to hotel and took some rest. We had booked with Arabian nights tours prior to coming to Dubai via email and we requested for Desert safari with no dune bashing. The safari was superb. In the last minute we called them up and asked them if my hubby and elder kid can do the dune bashing and they agreed at no extra charge. Driver was prompt at hotel and we went to a spot where they did a photo stop. On the way they stopped at a market where we purchased some souvenirs for me and friends. After the photos, the twins and myself were taken by separate van to the camp directly. It was a longer route. On the way there were 10-12 camels crossing the road and my kids were thrilled. We even saw a couple of palaces (not allowed to stop though) and saw an Arabian horse as well. It was all so magical. The camp itself was good. We can wear traditional dresses for photos, henna, belly dance was good followed by photo shoot with falcon and then barbeque dinner was served. Dinner was simple but good. We also did camel ride (very short one) and tried sand boarding. It was the highlight of the trip and I strongly recommend it even without dune bashing. My hubby and son did not have any motion sickness and my son though tired said he loved it and was superb. They dropped us back to hotel around 9:30PM and off to sleep

Day 6:- Last day here. We informed the hotel that we will check out by 11 but since our flight is only at 9PM, we wanted to leave the luggage at luggage counter. They had no issues. Decided to visit IBN Battuta mall. Enjoyed the architecture and did some shopping at The toy store and Max fashions. Had dinner at Soy (Thai/Chinese – great food and used entertainer again) and another ice cream treat, did some electronics purchase at Sharaf DG and back to hotel. The hotel arranged a van around 7PM to take us to airport since our luggage increased as expected! Already did online check in from hotel, so check in was a breeze.