Desert Fun

Location: Dubai, UAE

Introduction:

We enjoyed our first visit to Dubai in 2022 so much that we decided to return for a longer stay over the Christmas holidays. There are so many family-friendly attractions that we just couldn’t resist. English is the predominant language eliminating the usual communication barrier when traveling internationally. The weather was pleasant this time of year with warm temperatures, a nice breeze and moderate humidity. The time zone was 9 hours ahead. So, we stayed up late and slept in every day. This worked out fine as Dubai is super safe and most things are open late. It’s hard to believe but over 1.5 million tourists visit Dubai during the last 2 weeks of December. Yet, its popularity didn’t get in the way of enjoying the activities we wanted to do.

Sights Visited:

There’s no place like the Global Village. It’s colorful and exotic with entertainment, amusements, shopping, dining and more. We love the place and made two visits so that we could cover more ground.

A full day at KidZania left our daughter wanting more. “Can we come back here tomorrow” she asked as we left. She spent much of the day with a new friend she made from Pakistan. We were pleasantly surprised that our tickets were discounted since we flew in on Emirates, who is a sponsor.

The Dubai Mall Aquarium was a disappointment as you can see all of the sea creatures from outside the aquarium better than inside the tunnel that requires an admission. However, the Underwater Zoo more than made up for it. There were lots of interesting exhibits, animals, sea creatures and reptiles with the highlight being a trio of Axolotls.

We arranged a Desert Fun Safari through Get Your Guide and it was an entertaining adventure. It included a camel ride, self-drive ATVs, exhilarating 4WD off-roading, sand boarding, dinner and a show by some very skillful performers. Our guide picked us up at our place in his 4WD and off we went.

The Expo City Dubai Winterfest provided some engaging activities for our daughter to have some fun.

Our daughter exuberantly applauded the nighttime Burj Khalifa Fountains show.

Adelaide participated in The Green Planet’s zookeeper-for-a-day program and loved it with one exception. She was bitten by a porcupine and needed medical attention before continuing her activities.

We joined a walking tour of Old Town Dubai. Our tour guide, Hamza, enlightened us about the U.A.E. and Arab customs. The tour included a boat ride across Dubai Creek and shopping in the Souks for clothing, spices and jewelry. We spent a full afternoon walking several miles along the way.

The Dubai Miracle Garden is beautiful and unique for its grand scale.

The Dubai Butterfly Garden is just a short walk from the Miracle Garden. We spent more time here as they allowed us to gently hold the butterflies, which we all enjoyed.

Play:

There were a couple of decent play areas on property where we stayed. Adelaide made some friends and one of the local boys, Zayed, introduced her to his electric scooter and taught her how to ride it. Their friendship continued during our trip.

Trampo Extreme in the Dubai Mall was a great place to burn off some of that excess energy that kids naturally have. Adelaide had even more fun at Bounce in the Festival City Mall with its obstacle courses and zip line.

We got some practice in ice skating at a rink in Florida before our trip, so when Adelaide hit the Ice Rink in the Dubai Mall, she was a much more confident skater.

It was a great time to visit OliOli Experiential Children’s Play Museum as their annual year-end MessFest was happening. Everything is hands on and our daughter thoroughly enjoyed every activity offered.

Accommodation:

We used Airbnb to book a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo in a high-rise residential building (Emaar Downtown Views II Tower 3) just across from the Dubai Mall, which was an ideal location. It was clean and comfortable but could have had better towels and kitchen supplies. The washing machine and drying rack came in handy during our eleven-day stay.

Food And Drink:

The desalinated tap water is safe to drink but bottled water is more popular for drinking. When it comes to food, you name it and you can find it here. We took advantage of Chinese, Italian, Turkish, Lebanese, Thai and French. Most coffees offered are espresso based but there are a number of Starbucks around. Our condo included a Nescafe Dolce Gusto pod machine. The supermarkets carried many familiar brands making grocery shopping easy. Dubai chocolate has been all the rage lately. So, we had to try several varieties including camel’s milk, white and dark. Our favorite was the dark Dubai kunafa pistachio chocolate.

Transportation System:

We flew Emirates non-stop from Orlando to Dubai and back. The flights are about 15 hours each way. They do a nice job of pampering kids with amenities and the food served is above average for an airline. We rented a Chevy Groove SUV from Avis to get around. It was nothing special but got the job done. Navigating can be a challenge even when using Google maps as the roads frequently divide and recovering is time consuming when making the wrong choice. The cost of gasoline was $2.50 per gallon.

Shout Outs:

We owe a debt of gratitude to Abdul who is the father of Adelaide’s playground friends Zayed and Haissa. He is a local veterinarian, originally from Syria, who among other things owns a horse stable. He invited us to join his family for an afternoon out at the stable and then treated us to dinner at an authentic Arab restaurant. The stable is home to lots of other animals and Adelaide had a blast. It was a very special chance encounter.

Our desert safari tour driver Amin was a wealth of knowledge and he had a knack for working the system to avoid any need for us to wait in line for activities.

For Your Amusement:

Our bad luck with door locks in Dubai continued as the entry-door key to our condo broke in the lock when we returned at midnight on our very first night.

You know you’ve got too much money when you spray paint your Lamborghini to celebrate the recent rise in the price of Bitcoin.

We like this spin on the customer service desk at the Lulu supermarket.

Highlights:

Nothing compares to the unique experience of spending time with people from other cultures in their homeland. This is something we’ll never forget. For pure entertainment, the Global Village is the winner.