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Wild Wadi Water Park (Dubai, UAE)
by dkm1981 Wild Wadi is a themed water park on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. We had a day there on our recent trip and enjoyed it more than we thought we would and I'd recommend a visit if you are in the area. It is competing against the more famous Atlantis Water Park on The Palm, but when you compare prices and value for money, Wild Wadi is probably ... better. My hard to please niece and nephew have been to both and said that Wild Wadi is far superior - so there you go! ===Location and Getting There=== Getting there is fairly easy. It is located right next to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel (sometimes called The Wave) and if you are staying at this hotel, you can get direct access from the grounds (and it is free to enter!). Otherwise get the sky train to Mall of the Emirates and then either walk or get a taxi along the mile or so straight road from there to the park's entrance. We walked and it took us about 25 minutes, walking at a pretty leisurely pace. ===Getting In=== It isn't cheap to enter - but nothing is in Dubai, so comparably the price is about normal. Even so, you can expect to part with about £40 per person for a day pass. If you want to go in the afternoon, you can save about £5 on that price if go in two hours before closing. We found the way they did the entry fee to be really odd. From what we could see on the sign outside, it was going to be £40 each for entry and then a further £10 for a locker. What actually happened was that we paid £40 and then got £10 credit per person to use on lockers or food. If you don't use the credit, you get back at the end of the day. I couldn't for the life of me understand why they didn't advertise this because it is quite a good thing. We got a locker (despite me balking at the £10 cost!) and then got the other £10 back. You get a wristband as your entry ticket and the credit that you have is stored on this wristband, which is very handy since they are waterproof. if you do buy anything, you just swipe it as you would a touch less credit card. You also have the option of adding extra credit onto it when you go into the park if you think you might need it for souvenirs and food. You also swipe it again on the way back to get your credit back. ===The Rides=== There are lots of rides in the park requiring different levels of competency. But the main selling factor is the series of slides that take you around the park without having to walk a step called the Master Blasters. They are pretty funky because they take you up hill and down. Beware though, you might have to hang on to your swimming costume when you are going uphill because it doesn't half send you off with a blast! You go around the travel slides in a rubber ring either for one person or two and then at each junction, you have the option of hopping off down the ride or continuing to the next one. It is a really fun way of getting around and beats climbing up and down stairs. The rides that come off this system are the more tame ones, so you don't have to worry about ending up on a death defying ride by accident! The thrill seekers rides are separate to this system and include some real white knuckle ones. Tantrum Alley is a ride for up to four people. You sit on an inflatable and then are push down a pretty hefty dip into a sort of big barrel that you fly up and down the sides of. The thrill of the ride depends on whether you are going backwards or forwards when you go into the barrel. To be honest I can't decide whether it's better to see what is coming or not! Burj Surj is downhill ride for up to five people that goes pretty fast and empties you out into a bowl which you spin round in before dropping into the pool below. It's a bit tamer than the first one but good fun all the same. Jumeirah Sceirah is an almost vertical drop slide that is ridiculously fast. They also have a lazy river which is where you end up if you go around the Master Blaster system I mentioned before. There is a wave pool that wasn't actually open when we visited because they were repairing it, which is a shame because it would have been nice to have somewhere to relax a bit between rides as there is nowhere else aside from this - there are no general pool areas. Near to this is a children's area with water buckets and small slides, but this was also closed. If you are visiting with younger children, I'd recommend asking what is closed before you enter because if either of these is closed, there's not much else for smaller children. Having said that, they are good at telling you what is closed on a particular day - we were told twice before we paid for our ticket, by two different people that the areas were closed. Aside from all of this there is a couple of surfing type rides that they are very proud of. We didn't actually go on them because, as far as I am aware, you have to pay extra for them. They did look quite good though. ===Other Stuff=== There are lots of places you can spend your money throughout the park as you would imagine. There are restaurants where you can get a meal, like burgers, fries, pizzas and so on. There are also lots of places in between where you can get a snack to tide you over! They have ice creams, sweets, bagels, donuts and sweet corn stalls. The food isn't particularly cheap, but you would get a meal for your £10 with a drink and snack included. There is a gift shop on the way out. It has all the usual overpriced tat that you can take home as a souvenir of your stay. It also has all your essentials that you may have forgotten - towels, swim wear and lotions for example. I'd recommend remembering everything though because it'll cost you a fortune here! There are sun beds scattered around the park and plenty of them, so you can have a nice sit down. i noticed that a lot of people tended to use them as stop off points and left their stuff there whilst they were on rides. I wouldn't recommend leaving things unattended, but the whole park seemed very safe and there were lots of staff everywhere. The park is open different hours throughout the year, depending on the season. Generally it is open from around the 10am mark until six or seven in the evening. You can get up to date details on the website - https://www.jumeirah.com/en/hotels-resorts/dubai/wild-wadi/. You can also book tickets online here if you want. ===Worth A Trip?=== I would say yes. As you might have gathered, I don't think it is particularly cheap. But like I said nothing in these parts is and it is quite a fun day out, especially if the weather is nice. Read the complete review |
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Disneyland Resort Paris - Attraction Stitch Live!
by xmum2threex What is it? While at Disneyland we had very poor weather indeed. Although there was no rain, we did find that it was ice cold which meant we spent a lot of time in the studios. In the studios you will find Animagic, stitch live, Playhouse Disney live and a number of other show based attractions rather than rides. One of the ... first we visited was stitch live. Stitch is a character from the Disney movie 'Lilo and Stitch' and although my children were not overly familiar with the film they did know who Stitch was. As mentioned before it is an interactive show rather than a ride, and as the waiting area and attraction are all based indoors. This is an animated show with a difference. Using technology Stitch puts on a show that interacts with the audience in real time, and this makes it feel like he is right there with you. Queuing Upon reaching the attraction there is a display board that lists the times the show will be played. On the right hand side was the French time and on the left the English time. From what I can gather there is a viewing of each show every half an hour so if you miss one you can take a wonder and return for the next showing. I have to say the queuing system is a shambles. We were greeted by a French cast member who directed us to the left turnstile to enter the attraction. Leaving our pushchairs outside we entered into a small courtyard type area for the next show. While we were standing there we were rather confused as both the French and English seemed to be queuing together. We asked (and so did a number of French people from what we could gather) if we were in the correct queue because of this. We were nodded at and then the cast members disappeared altogether. After about five minutes in the cold we were shown in to the next room and everyone became excited thinking this was it. What it actually was is another waiting area. It is a cold room which did not help considering it was minus figures outside, with concrete floors so it is impossible to sit down and no benches at all. We were one of the first in which we thought was great. Until a message popped up on an LCD screen in front of us telling us there was 11 minutes to the next show. This countdown continued every minute which became tiresome and we were close to walking out. What stopped us from leaving? The sheer amount of people squished into this small room like sardines. Disneyland can get very busy as you would expect, and while there were not 300 people standing in this room (full capacity) there were at least a hundred maybe more. This helped heat the room up quickly but I was panicked that if my children were to move they would become lost in the crowd. Also as we had to leave our pushchairs outside we had all the merchandise and personal belongings on us leaving even less room. I have never felt so claustrophobic in my life and I believe this could be done a lot better. Finally we were ushered into the next room. We held back while the stampede of people rushed through the door obviously thinking they would get the best seats. Wrong. We were shown to yet another room where we thought we were going to have a countdown again. There were benches at the back of the room but nowhere enough for the amount of people entering. This room did have carpets and we decided to take a seat on the floor with our children thinking this was the full attraction. Wrong again! The show itself. (Spoilers, so if you are taking a visit soon I would advise not continuing as it may spoil the show) Finally in this second waiting room a message was displayed on the screen from an alien from a distant planet. We are given the history of how Stitch came to be on earth, but then he drops a big dilemma. Stitch has gone missing and stolen a spaceship! Not even Lilo knows where stitch is, and we need to find him before he is captured by the space authorities. Then comes another stampeded as we are told to enter either door (left and right of the room) to watch the main show and help find stitch! Again everyone was a little confused which side was French and which English so it was pot luck. As the shows are played every half an hour in different languages we should have guessed that both would lead to an English show, but it would have been nice to have cast members around to clarify and maybe reassure people there was no need for pushing or shoving. Also the poor French seemed very confused as to why they were being sent into an English viewing. Then we were in the main part of the show. As we entered there is a huge projector screen on the front wall of the room, and enough benches for everyone to sit down. While you are walking in a cast member at the front introduces himself, and advises us what is going to happen. Children were asked to sit down on the blue mats at the front right in front of the screen. To be honest being an over protective mother (maybe a little too much) I was worried about this. If the pushing and shoving from the previous two rooms was anything to go by I was sure they would be crushed at the end. My children on the other hand were very excited to have their own area to sit in, and persuaded me to take them down. The cast member started hurrying me along making the audience laugh and I went bright red! We are then introduced to the cast member running the show, and he tells us he is going to try and contact stitch. Low and behold the blue alien pops up on screen with the spaceship as the background. Then the magic begins and Stitch begins interacting with the audience. Stitch first says he wants to speak to one of the children from the audience. He asks their name and then starts a conversation about their favourite things. Next he picks an adult from the audience. I do not want to go into too much detail as it would spoil the show completely, but he goes on to humiliate this person. (In a fun way of course ;) ) He asks them to make silly noises, calls them crazy and sticks their picture on the screen imitating a jail. It was all good fun and there were a lot of giggles from the audience. There is a short cameo from Lilo who rings to make sure Stitch is ok, but then the space authorities locate Stitch and we have to help him escape. By shouting the colours of the doors he should exit from of the screen, we help Stitch to get away. To be honest the audience were terrible at this. Everyone was shouting the wrong colours and poor stitch and the cast member looked rather confused. The children were much better and thankfully they manage to help stitch get away. Then it ends as quickly as it began, and it was time to collect the children from the front and leave. Final opinion The show is an interactive treat. Using a cast member in the room with a microphone, and an actor controlling Stitch in real time it means Stitch is brought to life on the big screen. He interacts with the audience and his replies are aimed at what is happening in the room there and then. It is done really well to make it enjoyable and my children enjoyed it. My children were amazed that stitch was able to have a conversation with the audience, and in fact knew everything that was going on in the room. It is a fantastic attraction for both adults and children. Stitch is highly entertaining and the visual effect on the screen is great. They are able to take pictures of the audience and project them on the screen which was fantastic, and my children are still puzzled as to how it worked. My children did enjoy it, but at the end of the show my son asked id that it? I have to admit I was thinking the same. We had stood in that horrible room then moved on to the preshow and in all queued for around 20 minutes. The show said estimated running time 15 minutes but to be honest I think it was closer to ten if that. While this is a fair amount of time because of the queuing system we just felt a little disappointed. I liked that they included humour for both the adults and the children to make it a real family show. The whole thing is very well put together, and it is entertaining. I do think half of our problem was that we had the same idea as everyone else. Let's go and hide in the studios away from the weather. Saying that, the show was nowhere near capacity so I would hate to see how it would be when it is full, as we found it bad enough around half full. It is an interesting show and not one to miss but just be prepared for long queues and people acting like it is the end of the world if they are not first in! We were near the back and still had a fantastic view, so my advice would be to hang back a little to avoid the rush. Read the complete review |
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Acqua Palace (Tunisia)
by MollyWH Myself and my boyfriend visited Tunisia and while we were there we decided to take a walk into the main town, where we found Acqua Palace. About Acqua Palace Acqua Palace as you would imagine, is a water park and it's the only water park in Port El Kantaoui. It was closed for a while in 2007 while renovation works were ... carried out and it opened its doors again for the summer season of 2008, boasting bigger, better and faster slides. Location Acqua Palace is located about a 5 minute walk from the main town of Port l Kantaoui. It is not very well signposted but we still found it very easy to find. Prices Admission was 15 dinars for adults which works out at £7.50. Prices for children were 7.50 dinars which is about £3.00. I thought the prices were very reasonable and although the park is not massive, I still felt the prices offered us good value for money. Inside Acqua Palace The first thing I noticed about Acqua Palace was how new and modern it looked which would make sense considering it has just been refurbished. The grounds were extremely clean and well laid out. Inside, there are various waterslides, a lazy river, a children's area and two restaurants. Towards the back end of the park there was a large, clean swimming pool which at various times throughout the day turns into a wave pool. There are also plenty of areas for sunbathing or just to chill out and the sun beds are available free of charge. As you arrive at the park, you need to pay your entrance fees at a little booth which is just to the left of the main entrance. After you have paid, you will be given your entrance tickets which you then hand to somebody who is stood just inside the main entrance. From here, you are then directed to the changing rooms. There are male and female changing rooms but unfortunately there are no family changing rooms although we did notice a large family going in and the attendant told them they could all go in one of the changing rooms of they wished to do so. The changing rooms were large and consisted of individual cubicles with lockable doors. I couldn't believe just how clean the changing rooms were, I was really impressed. Also inside the changing rooms were several toilets and lockers. Lockers are available for anyone to use and you need to pay 75p for the use of one. If you want to lock the locker, then you need to pay £2.50 for a padlock and once you return the padlock, you get the £2.50 back. I thought the prices charged for the lockers were really reasonable and it was nice to lock away are valuables while we enjoyed the park. The Lazy River The Lazy River runs around the entire park and as I already mentioned, the park isn't overly large but taking a rip around the lazy river is still pleasant enough. The one downside to the lazy river was that there were no entrance points or steps to climb down and into the river so you literally had to just climb into the water from the side which wasn't a problem for us but might have been for some people, especially small children. The lazy river has a current running all around it which pushes you around the course. There are rubber rings available although they just seemed to be floating around the river and you just grabbed one to sit on. I couldn't actually see an area where you collect the rings from so I assume that you have to just choose from the ones that are already in there. There were only about 15 rings floating round on the day we went which wasn't really a problem as the park wasn't too busy but I can imagine later on in the summer season, when it gets busier, they will need to provide more rings. As you float around the course of the Lazy River, you pass the various features of the park such as the wave pool, the children's area and the slides. There are also various jets as you float around which you end up floating underneath and you get a blast of cold water which is actually quite refreshing in the Tunisian heat. Slides In total there are 4 types of slides. Three of these are half tubes slides so they are not totally enclosed and you can see the park as you travel down them. There is a white tube slide which has just a couple of bumps and hills on it, and there is also a yellow slides which lasts a bit longer as you go round corners and down hills and over bumps. I assume that the white slide if probably aimed more at children as it is calmer then the yellow slide. There two slides are situated next to each other with a set of steps to the left of them which you need to walk up to reach to entrance to the slides. Next to the two tube slides there is a row of four flat slides. These were great fun and you travel down them so fast. Only people over 12 years old are allowed to use these slides and I assume this is because you end up being spin run and flipping over due to the force at which you travel down the slide. You also land in the pool at the bottom with some force and are thrown under the water. The last slide is situated across the other side of the park and again this is a tube slide. The slide is white and has various bumps and corners as you travel down in. This slide is actually higher than all the others, so of course you travel down it much quicker. Main Pool / Wave Pool The main pool is located in the lower section of the park and was actually pretty empty when we visited. Three times a day the main pool turns into a wave pool where fairly large waves take over the pool. The times for the wave pool are advertised throughout the park and the lifeguards comes and let you know when they are about to start the waves which I thought was fairly useful. The pool is really large and looked exceptionally clean, all around the outside of the pool there were sun beds and tables where you could chill out and enjoy your surroundings. Children's Area The children's areas consisted of a small, shallow swimming pool which had a large play area in the middle of it. The play areas consisted of ladders and slides and several jets which sprayed water down the slides and out into the pool. At one side of the little swimming pool there were three children's slides which were similar in appearance to the adult slides although obviously less severe. Restaurant There were two restaurant to choose between although they did serve the same food. One restaurant was more formal than the other, with one having properly laid out tables and the other having patio table and chairs. They served hot and cold drinks as well as snack items such as sandwiches and burgers. They also served larger meals which as omelette and chips. The prices were reasonable and you would look to pay about £3 for a burger and chips. Summary In summary, I would highly recommend a trip to Acqua Palace. I thought that this attraction offered excellent value for money and although its not very big, you could certainly enjoy a whole day here because you can chill on the sun beds in between riding the slides and taking a dip in the pool. There were three life guards on duty at all times, one situated at the bottom of the slides, one near the children's pool and one near the main pool which I felt was reassuring that our safety was being looked out for. The park itself is well laid out and extremely clean, with excellent changing room facilities. All in all, Acqua Palace makes a great day out. Read the complete review |
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