witsandnuts

This post won’t tackle the weather in UAE, but of a theme park.

Summer in Abu Dhabi is a theme park that opens only from July 1 to August 15 every year. It’s dubbed like that considering that July and August are summer months in this part of the world.

(The ticket booth has separate lines for ladies, families and credit card purchases. I haven’t checked where to queue for the “all else” category since my tickets were gifted by a friend and her husband.)

The attractions are grouped into a per island concept to cover the following: culture and heritage, adventure, science and technology, entertainment and sports. As you reach the atrium, you’d be instantly entertained by the trapeze set:

It has a garden-like environment showing a tree house which offers freefall skydive simulations (which didn’t appeal much to me, hence, I didn’t try. Parang tatalon ka lang, that’s all. The indoor skydiving is far much better.), oversized flowers and walking trees like them:

On the other hand, I was hugely regaled by this group which I named “Bumblebee Band”. They were singing English songs and their costumes are colorful and one of a kind.

Culture and Heritage Island

There are scheduled performances from Native Americans, Australian aborigines, Native Mongolians and South African Zulus. The visitors may also interact with them. In that particular hour, we got to watch the Australian aborigines’ dance.

You would thought this was a result of photo-taking a postcard or paintaing. But this was a snap of people who are alive and kicking.

They were the ones singing tribal notes.

There were also sections of Arabian camps and display of traditional products and symbols. But I didn’t take photos as respect for the Emiratis who were situated there. You’ll notice that the colors resemble those in the Desert Safari camp.

Science and Technology Island

It’s like trekking to an experimental section. The young adults are queued to try the scheduled robot programming. Laptops are provided to the participants and they get to experience how to assemble and make a robot walk. I wanted to enroll but of course I’m over the stage of being a young adult.

There are also showcases of mind tricks and this one is my favorite:

Adventure Island

They offer a number of exciting activities like rock climbing, ziplines, abseiling and rope course.

And just when I thought my fears totally diminished, I still felt a little fear to try zipline and abseiling (i.e. coming down from a mini-building through a rope), but still I tried. Again, it’s intimidating at first but it’s fun when you’re already there. Confession: I closed my eyes during the first few seconds of ziplining. Napatingin kase ako sa baba, nalula ako. Ayoko naman magback out. Heehee.

We wanted to try the obstacle course (17 different challenges on the rope course), but we ran out of time. Let’s see if we’d be able to return before August 15. If not, we’ll try next year.

Try to drop by in the jungle corner to see replicas of wild animals. It’s a little different from the artificial jungle parks that I’ve seen. You have to push the corresponding button to make the animals scream/talk. The snake’s hissing almost made me jump. Nakakagulat. Heehee.

Of course, we had our photo here. I think the holes are a little small. Our face didn’t fit in so well. And I don’t think Filipinos’ facial anatomy is that huge. There are also runaway trains, shooting ranges and river boat rides.

Entertainment Island

This section is comprised of carnival rides and game stalls. If you think you are too old for the classic thriller train, bump cars, etc., you’d probably enjoy the funky cinema and puppet theater.

You get to watch English movies in this 4D mini-cinema.

I thoroughly enjoyed the puppet show which leveraged its effectiveness through the use of neon colors including the pillow-chairs inside the mini-theater. The 30-minute script is refreshing and entertaining. I especially liked the evolution of dances part that included Bee Gees’ Staying Alive and Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean. The puppet show airs every hour.

Sports Island

This section offers mini-golf and football areas, splatting (you stick yourself to the wall), Euro bungee jump (which is just for kids, they jump over the heels), etc.

(The white fence reminded me of Farm Town. Do you agree Farm Towners?)

It must be thrilling to try this gladiator game. I hope there’s an arena for adults.

Just as I was hesitant to try archery, I never thought I have a thing for this.

It was not bull’s eye, but here’s a glimpse to my first try. I’d like to do it again. Correction: I think I’d like to major in archery. Haha.

We wanted to try indoor wakeboarding. But after a moment of observation, you’d really wet yourself. We never had extra clothes.

And here’s the winner activity for me (along with zipline, abseiling and archery):

This zorbowling is huge fun. There’s also something like this in Ski Dubai. It’s called Snow Ball there (the ball rolls on a snowy slope there though). While here, the ball rolls flatly and you control the motion. Some visitors fall while inside the ball.  The trick is to maintain your confidence and assume that you’re walking on ordinary ground so you wouldn’t stumble. If case you do, just stand and keep walking like a hamster inside the ball. I liked this one a lot and it did beat threadmilling in the gym. You would sweat a lot.

(That’s me feeling like a playful hamster inside)

Summer in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC)
Landline: + 971 2 444 0444
Email: info@adta.ae, Website: http://www.summerinabudhabi.com/en/

// http://static.addtoany.com/menu/page.js