During our recent trip to Dubai, we took a day trip to explore the Aquaventure Water Park at the Atlantis hotel. If you are staying at the Atlantis hotel, access to the park is included as part of your hotel price, which is a major benefit to staying there. If you are staying at an alternative hotel, you will have to book either a day pass or multi-day pass to visit. I’d just like to say a huge thank you to Andrea at The One and Only Group who helped us arrange these tickets, and I would strongly recommend you include Aquaventure within your trip to Dubai!
Getting To Atlantis Aquaventure
Atlantis Aquaventure is just a fifteen minute taxi ride from the Rixos hotel, and it is easy to order a taxi through the staff at the front door. If you are staying at the Rixos, the hotel has its own private Lexus, which can be hired for 40 Dirhams (around £9). Alternatively, a taxi ride to the Atlantis hotel is very easy to book and will only set you back around 16 Dirhams (approximately £3.50).
Exploring The Aquaventure Water Park
Let me start by saying that the Atlantis Aquaventure water park was simply amazing and we had a fantastic time there. We arrived at the park for 10am to ensure that we were there for when it opened – partly to ensure we didn’t lose out on any time, and partly to try and beat any potential queues. We chose to hire one towel and a locker between two of us, which cost 75 Dirhams, or approximately £16. We also purchased a waterproof phone pouch at the Atlantis shop, which ensured that we could keep our phone with us at all times. Whilst we could have left the phone in a locker, there is a certain peace of mind that comes with keeping it on you, and it also meant we had the phone handy to take pictures. This turned out to be a lot of fun and the pictures were an absolute must to bring home. If you’re someone who enjoys your holiday photos, definitely consider purchasing a phone pouch for your trip!
The slides are fantastic fun and there is a really good selection. There are over thirty slides of all different sizes and types, including vertical drops, dual water slides for racing on, and even a tube-slide that passes through a perspex viewing section within a shark tank. They are all tremendously different, but are all great fun in their own unique way. Each slide has been given a rating, which indicates exactly which type of slide you are looking at. This ensures that you are never queuing for a slide which may be too extreme for you, or which might be too intense for your children. It is also worth noting that there is a minimum height limitation of 1.2 metres for the most extreme slides, which is also useful for gauging which slides are a little more adrenaline fuelled! For more information on all the slides, there are a range of facts and images available on the Atlantis Aquaventure water slides page.
As a few quick words of advice, I would strongly advise arriving for the park’s opening at 10am. Having made this early start during our trip, we found that there were no queues first thing in the morning, which was fantastic for zipping around and trying out each ride before the queues emerged. I would also strongly advise visiting the lazy river and rapids. These were fantastic fun and you could keep going for hours with slides within the lazy river.
One thing to be aware of, however, is that the floor is very hot. Be sure to wear your flip-flops – or better yet, wear pool shoes if you have them – so that you don’t have to run across the hot floor after each slide or ride has finished. Lastly, if you have younger children, it is worth checking out the Splashers Childrens Play Area. This is a fantastic water park area for kids, filled with slides and water features, which is much safer and more age appropriate for smaller children.
Restaurants and Dining
There are sixteen different food and drink outlets dotted around the park, so you are very much spoilt for choice. These outlets range from fully fledged restaurants to simple outdoor food kiosks, so whether you prefer a sit down lunch, or if you just want a quick snack before heading back into the water, both options are covered. If you are looking for a restaurant, you can choose from pizza, chicken, burgers, noodles, salads, sandwiches, hot dogs, traditional Arabian dishes and more. Alternatively, if you are looking for more of a quick bite, there are cafes, smoothie bars, ice cream parlours and snack kiosks, so you can easily grab a snack and get back to your day.
Please do be aware that food and drink is very expensive, and you won’t be allowed to take any in with you. Consequently, be prepared to fork out some high prices for your meals and snacks. Drinks set me back around £5 per can, whilst a restaurant meal cost me between £10 to £20 for each order of a burger and chips. With this in mind, you might want to make sure you have a large breakfast before visiting, though you will have to commit to purchasing food and drinks at some point during the day!
Other Attractions At Atlantis Aquaventure
There are also numerous other attractions available at Atlantis Aquaventure, though do be aware that some will cost an additional fee if you wish to partake. You could go on an underwater shark safari, chill out at the beach and relaxation area, ride the Middle-East’s longest zip line, or even hand-feed their cownose stingrays.
Personally, we chose to visit the Lost Chambers Aquarium, which is the largest aquarium in the UAE and is included as part of your entry fee. We also thoroughly enjoyed this and would definitely recommend that it is worth visiting whilst you are at the Atlantis. The aquarium itself doesn’t take long to walk around, but you can spend as little or as much time as you like inside. It has twenty one exhibits, which are inhabited by over sixty five thousand marine animals, including black tip reef sharks, rays from the Arabian Sea, and a fantastical selection of fish and jellyfish. It also features guided tours, daily feeding shows, and a number of fantastical exhibits on the mythical city of Atlantis, as well as its inhabitants and technology!
For people who fancy doing something a little different, you can also arrange aqua-trekking, snorkelling and diving experiences within some of the exhibits. This allows you to join the incredible marine animals within the Ambassador Lagoon exhibit, giving you a far more close encounter with some of the more incredible marine animals. You can find out a little more about these experiences via the Atlantis diving experiences page.
Aquaventure Water Park Summary
All in all, we had the most amazing time here and it is comfortably one of the best water parks we have ever been to. Please do remember that the ticket fee includes the aquarium entry, as it really is a fantastic experience and can be useful for escaping from the sun for a bit. You can guarantee that children of all ages will simply love it – provided, of course, that they love water. If I’m being totally honest, I think the adults may even love it even more than the children!
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