Dubai with Kids - Has anyone been?

[Beth_Disney]

Originally Posted by PixieFairies

I'm liking the look of Grand Hyatt. Has anyone stayed here?

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We've just come back from 7-nights at Grand Hyatt. We stayed in a club room which included buffet breakfast and dinner and 2 hours of drinks with dinner. We didn't eat there every night but having half board and drinks included helped with costs - Dubai can be expensive if you like a beer! It was around 40 degrees during Whitsun week, and humid too. I'm not sure how I'd cope with trying to go out and about if it was any hotter, sunbathing would be fine as I'd be in and out of the pool and sea.

It was about 10 minutes from the airport, we used the Metro to Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall and then taxis to Aquaventure, Festival City, the Marina and Aura Skypool. Aquaventure was the furthest journey at about 25 minutes away and cost about £18.

Grand Hyatt is a good location if you're having a city break. They do run a courtesy shuttle to the mall and the beach but I'd stay closer to the Marina if I was in Dubai for a relaxing beach holiday. Our room was on the 12th floor and we had a lovely view of the Burj. Staff were very friendly and we really liked the hotel.

[megaflyer]

February is a great time - been for my birthday then well over 20 times over the years and bar one day of rain once it has been beach weather and no humidity

[PixieFairies]

Originally Posted by aqualiv

Been looking at Dubai for a family this morning and the Anatara comes in at a good price atm
They have family rooms with lagoon access which look amazing

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What dates have you been looking at? And how long?

[aqualiv]

Originally Posted by PixieFairies

What dates have you been looking at? And how long?

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They are going October half term for 8 nights and also have the new premium economy cabin with emirates which has not long been released 🤩

[PixieFairies]

Originally Posted by aqualiv

They are going October half term for 8 nights and also have the new premium economy cabin with emirates which has not long been released 🤩

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i looked there on there website and for accomodation it was showing over 40,000 euro for 8 nights lol

[aqualiv]

Wowzers! Definitely wasn’t that!
The website usually shows in AED
I book it on our system not theirs

[PixieFairies]

Originally Posted by Beth_Disney

We've just come back from 7-nights at Grand Hyatt. We stayed in a club room which included buffet breakfast and dinner and 2 hours of drinks with dinner. We didn't eat there every night but having half board and drinks included helped with costs - Dubai can be expensive if you like a beer! It was around 40 degrees during Whitsun week, and humid too. I'm not sure how I'd cope with trying to go out and about if it was any hotter, sunbathing would be fine as I'd be in and out of the pool and sea.

It was about 10 minutes from the airport, we used the Metro to Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall and then taxis to Aquaventure, Festival City, the Marina and Aura Skypool. Aquaventure was the furthest journey at about 25 minutes away and cost about £18.

Grand Hyatt is a good location if you're having a city break. They do run a courtesy shuttle to the mall and the beach but I'd stay closer to the Marina if I was in Dubai for a relaxing beach holiday. Our room was on the 12th floor and we had a lovely view of the Burj. Staff were very friendly and we really liked the hotel.

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How do you use the metro, is it far from the hotel? Never heard of Aquaventure or Festival City, what taxis did you use while there? And returning are they easy to get for bringing you back to the hotel?

[Beth_Disney]

Originally Posted by PixieFairies

How do you use the metro, is it far from the hotel? Never heard of Aquaventure or Festival City, what taxis did you use while there? And returning are they easy to get for bringing you back to the hotel?

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The Metro station is about a 10 minute walk from the hotel and really simple to use. We bought a NOL card from the station and it cost about 60p per journey. Clear signage makes it really easy to use.

Aquaventure is the huge water park at Atlantis and Festival City is an area of the city not far from Grand Hyatt with shops, restaurants and hotels. We went there for Saturday brunch at Holiday Inn.

Dubai taxis can be flagged down in the street but we found that going to the taxi rank in a hotel or shopping mall was an easy way to get a taxi. They're everywhere! We had a short wait for a taxi after Aquaventure but that's because Atlantis is so busy.

[PixieFairies]

Originally Posted by Beth_Disney

The Metro station is about a 10 minute walk from the hotel and really simple to use. We bought a NOL card from the station and it cost about 60p per journey. Clear signage makes it really easy to use.

Aquaventure is the huge water park at Atlantis and Festival City is an area of the city not far from Grand Hyatt with shops, restaurants and hotels. We went there for Saturday brunch at Holiday Inn.

Dubai taxis can be flagged down in the street but we found that going to the taxi rank in a hotel or shopping mall was an easy way to get a taxi. They're everywhere! We had a short wait for a taxi after Aquaventure but that's because Atlantis is so busy.

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Did ye go to Legoland, or the themepark next to it? Did you go to any beach or any fountains in the evening?
Did you find Grand Hyatt good for a central base? I dont mind heading out in the day and then coming back relaxing at the pool etc, im thinking this hotel is a good option esp with food and drink included at certain times etc.
How long would you need in Dubai?

[derenstar]

Originally Posted by PixieFairies

Did ye go to Legoland, or the themepark next to it? Did you go to any beach or any fountains in the evening?
Did you find Grand Hyatt good for a central base? I dont mind heading out in the day and then coming back relaxing at the pool etc, im thinking this hotel is a good option esp with food and drink included at certain times etc.
How long would you need in Dubai?

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We didn't go to Legoland as its aimed at younger kids but we did go to Motiongate which is next door, and we really enjoyed. Lots of great rides, including Madagascar Mad Pursuit - absolutely awesome indoor coaster. We also liked the How to Train your Dragon ride, very similar to Harry Potter and Forbidden Journey at Universal. Most of the rides are indoors apart from some of the bigger coasters - most of which were down for maintenance anyway. What the park lacked was atmosphere, there was hardly anyone there. We got 2for1 on the tickets using the Entertainer tourist app as I'm not sure it would have been worth it otherwise as the gate price is quite expensive.

We did both set of Fountains - the one at the Burj Khalifa is directly outside Dubai Mall and they put on a show every hour I think from 6pm -11pm. it tended to get very busy around the 8/9/10pm showings which led to very long queues for taxis out afterwards.

We also did the Fountain show at the Pointe on the Palm, much preferred this but the run time seemed to be a bit random - one evening there was a show every 15 mins or so and another night it was on the hour in the evening. There are shops and restaurants at the Pointe but it was very quiet when we were there. There are two sides you can watch the show from - East or West - both give great views with the Atlantis as the backdrop.

One thing we found was that the taxis were very cheap and very plentiful, we had no issues whatsoever finding one - we stuck to the cream taxis with the coloured roofs as they were metered and I believe state owned.

We took the metro once from Downtown Dubai to Dubai Mall and it was easy enough to navigate, very similar to the Paris metro or DLR here but it was a lot of walking which we couldn't be bothered with considering how easy it was to get a cheap aircon'd taxi!