Day 3 (2014) Dubai: Atlantis, Aquaventure, Burj Khalifa & Dubai Mall

23.10.14

DAY 3: Dubai

Visited Highlights: Atlantis the Palm, Aquaventure Waterpark, Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall

We pack our suitcases directly after waking up. It's sad, one night goes by way too fast....

On the way to breakfast, we visit the reception and inquire about how long we can use our water park ticket today and if we can leave our luggage somewhere. Result: our water park ticket is valid all day until sunset! Wonderful, that was worth it! So with 1 night at Atlantis, we get a water park ticket for 2 full days (which without a hotel stay with the aquarium would have cost almost 500 €!!!).

For us, this is the perfect solution!

We can deposit our luggage with the security in a room.

After breakfast (again an absolutely fantastic buffet!!!), we head to the water park in our swimsuits - by golf buggy, of course. If you're going to do something, do it properly!

We stay in the water park until around 4 pm, then pick up our luggage and go to our apartment for tonight. 2 days at Atlantis would have exceeded our budget....

In the Al Barsha district, in the immediate vicinity of the Mall of Emirates & Ski, we check into our apartment. Booked through Expedia (3 rooms, kitchen, bathroom) for an incredible 120€! That's a deal. Sure, it's not Atlantis, but as an overnight stop it's ideal, clean and tidy, free WiFi & parking - we are satisfied.

A glance at the clock tells us: HURRY UP!!!

We have tickets for the Burj Khalifa for tonight (8 pm), which I bought online weeks ago. The distance from the apartment to the Khalifa doesn't look too far on the map, but we grossly underestimated Dubai's road network....

The navigation system is only partially useful - it leads us on detours and constantly gives us streets that turn out to be one-way or simply impassable...

How the situation is: 'Next possibility turn right...'

Problem: 6 lanes turn right....which one do we take???

Well, long story short: the woman can't read maps, the navigation system has played nasty tricks on us, and the man is on the verge of a nervous breakdown (not to mention the kids in the back seat who have only nibbled on a few cookies since breakfast and are now loudly demanding food....)

We reach the parking garage of the Dubai Mall around 6:30 pm! Such luck. We have been 'surrounding' the Burj Khalifa several times at this point, but we just couldn't get close.... it's like a curse! Every street turns in another direction just before....

The theory now is: quickly go through the mall to the other side, have dinner in the restaurant at the foot of the Khalifa, then leisurely walk to the Khalifa and go up to the top at 8 pm...

That's the theory..... the reality is unfortunately very different....

First of all: 'quickly' walking through the mall is almost impossible. The mall is the size of about 5 football fields... We rush through countless shops, passages, past the ice rink (!), the waterfalls (yep, in the mall!), an aquarium the size of a Sea Life...

WOW, I don't know where to look. We are all completely overwhelmed by the abundance here!

At some point, we reach the exit of the mall on the other side, grab the first pizzeria we find (no, where we find an empty seat!) and order PIZZA! Our luck: the pizzeria is located at the foot of the Khalifa and right by the 'lake' with the water shows. And they start right after we place our order. Very cool!!! We remember Las Vegas, where we were able to watch the water shows at the Bellagio. The water shows here are much shorter, but there is a completely different production every 30 minutes. So we can enjoy the water shows comfortably from our table - perfect!

After watching the second water show, we make our way to the Khalifa. Now we're going 'From the earth to the Sky'

From 0 to floor 124 in 30 seconds!!!!

And now we're up here, it's 8 pm.

Did I mention that I have extreme fear of heights????

Closing my eyes and going for it! Just look into the distance!!! (Easier said than done...)

But I overcome my fear of heights and dare to go to the window. Madness!!!!!!

The last water shows of the evening have just started down there in the depth, and to the sound of Tina Turner's 'Ain't no mountain high enough', we admire the view.

The 'green' building on the left is by the way the 'small' Dubai Mall....

We spend almost an hour up here. It's just gigantic!!! And again, we have chosen the perfect time (for us). Today it was very hazy over Dubai during the day, from Atlantis we could hardly see the Burj al Arab due to dust/sand or smog!? Originally, we wanted to go up the Khalifa in the afternoon, but so we had a whole day at the water park and let's be honest: Dubai at night is much cooler than during the day!!!

Going down takes a bit longer - in 60 seconds we have 'ground under our feet' again.

Actually, we're dog tired, but we won't see the Dubai Mall again on this vacation, so we take a look around - and of course we get caught up in front of the aquarium.

I am fascinated by how clean everything is here too. Not a speck of dust on the mall floor, not the smallest algae in the aquarium - everything looks immaculate!

We won't go into the aquarium tonight - it's already past 10pm! But even from the outside, it's an impressive sight. Unfortunately, all the lights and shops reflect so much that I can't take a really nice photo.

It's now 11:30 pm and we make our way to the parking garage. Fortunately, I took a photo of the floor with my phone, as we get hopelessly lost in the search for the car... everything is just sooooooo big here!

It's almost midnight, we have found our car, and the drive back to the apartment goes smoothly now (we now know which roads to stay on). Only when we exit to the 'Al Barsha1' district, we get lost again. We miss the right exit and simply drive through the parking garage of the 'Mall of Emirates' to our apartment.

I don't know what time it is anymore, but we fall into bed and quickly fall asleep. Unfortunately, the alarm will go off early tomorrow, because we plan to visit the Spice Souk and Gold Souk in Deira around 9 am (before the heat gets too intense). So, the relatives from Abu Dhabi are supposed to be at our door at 9 am (great, we have a tour guide for tomorrow *g*) - well then, 'Good night' and off to bed!!!