World Expo Dubai

**Myakka17** · 12 Nov 21, 11:34 PM

We are booked for end of Jan.

Has anyone been? Any hints/ tips?

We are staying at a hotel that has a metro stop so it shoukd be easy re transport.

Complete novice re Dubai had this trip booked 2 years never thought it would happen. Just daughter and myself going “ The boys” ( Dh and Ds weren’t interested)

Thanksv

Katnic1 · 16 Nov 21, 09:05 PM

We were there Last month. If you are flying Emirates you get free expo tickets. Metro is really easy, it’s just a direct train on the red line all the way to the expo. As regards to the expo we did things totally wrong. We didn’t really do our homework and went during the day when it was 38 degrees. Its really big and we didn’t have a plan of where we wanted to visit, so spend a whole day there but hardly visited anything. When you go in January, it will be much cooler but if we went back, we would go on an evening when it’s cooler and things are lit up. If I’m totally honest by teenagers were bored but that’s mainly down to the heat and our lack of planning. For example we lined up for Korea for an hour because I’d heard it was good, but in all honestly there was not a lot to see. If you’re only going for the day, it would be better to see the outside of most of the buildings rather than just seeing a few inside and out. I also found the lack of organisation astonishing considering how much the place cost to build. What I mean by that is that they provide no maps, so you have no idea where things are, there are no drinks stands to buy a drink only machines selling can of water but we found them to be empty most of the time and then finding food was hard. No signposts etc. I found myself in tripadvisor while at the expo looking at trip reports for where to go to find food! What I would say is I’d have a look online at the areas you want to visit so you have a plan in advance and possibly go in the evening as I’m sure it would be spectacular when lit up at night.

**donna252** · 17 Nov 21, 12:10 AM

We visited October half term. Felt the same as above about lack of maps and understanding where to go. Half way through the visit realised you could download app which was very useful so maybes try do this in advance if you can. On app there’s an map so can type in pavilions and it give best route and time it will take to get there. Def some interesting quirky things to see we barely touched the service but enjoyed water fountains, sky garden, the northern lights in finland, China drone show, came out of Saudi Arabia wanting to book a holiday to Saudi 🤷 And kids loved the talking bins and robots that were roaming the area 🤣
There’s also a couple Facebook pages that I joined the night before we went that would have been useful for a bit homework before we went expo 2020 Dubai and expo eats

**donna252** · 17 Nov 21, 12:12 AM

Also on the app you can book ten quick ques so you can access pavilion without queing. And lastly def avoid Fridays and Saturdays if you can as gets crazy busy.

macdonald · 17 Nov 21, 01:00 AM

My sister has just returned,she had a great time and loved it!

**Myakka17** · 18 Nov 21, 05:49 PM

This was bought as a 21st Birthday present for my daughter who is a Trainee Architect, she is 22 now !
Can anyone name the App or is it simply World Expo. What a shame they organise so well but not the map drinks etc...
I drink gallons winter Uk so am quite worried about that.
We plan at least 2 days ( going there specifically for that) but good idea about an evening trip Thank you

**donna252** · 19 Nov 21, 08:32 AM

It’s just the expo 2020 Dubai app. We didn’t find getting water an issue we saw people with carts selling water outside dotted about all over.

Katnic1 · 19 Nov 21, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by donna252

It’s just the expo 2020 Dubai app. We didn’t find getting water an issue we saw people with carts selling water outside dotted about all over.

We didn’t see one person selling water. Saw plenty of machines but often empty. We commented at the time they were missing a trick. We did go 19th October though, so had not long opened.

**donna252** · 20 Nov 21, 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by Katnic1

We didn’t see one person selling water. Saw plenty of machines but often empty. We commented at the time they were missing a trick. We did go 19th October though, so had not long opened.

we were over a week later so maybes teething issues, its crazy not having water somewhere that hot!

BelleWannabe · 29 Nov 21, 12:46 PM

We were there for 3 days the week it opened. As others said it was really hot then and not much shade.
We did get paper maps for free - if you went to the info desks (there was at least one in each zone plus at the entrances) they were giving them out. We took an empty water bottle and there were a lot of bottle refill stations about (all the main walkways had them every few metres). Also took anti bac wipes to clean the spout just in case. There was also a small spar type shop next to each info centre that sold drinks/sweets etc and the food court in each section also sold bottles of water if you needed them. We did buy a bottle from one of the country pavilions and it tasted horrible.
We enjoyed each of the signature pavilions, along with Thailand, France, Saudi Arabia, UAE and the emirates airline one the best. Didn’t get round them all in 3 days even without a single queue. Thought the UK was disappointing as it didn’t even work with my phone as I had updated to the latest iOS.