Theme Parks and the Snow

Every family trip to Dubai has one day the children plan, and if it is not the water it is this. The city has built big for families: the largest indoor theme park in Dubai, a cluster of outdoor parks off Sheikh Zayed Road, and a ski slope inside a shopping mall. You will not do all three. One of them, done properly, is a very good day.

IMG Worlds of Adventure is the indoor one, and that is its great advantage: the heat outside makes no difference. It is open every day of the year and divided into worlds, with Marvel heroes in one, Cartoon Network characters in another, a Lost Valley, a haunted town and a zone for small children. The rides run from gentle to properly loud. Ride queues close half an hour before the park does, so save that last half hour for food and the shop. Pushchairs and lockers can be hired there, which helps with a long day.

Dubai Parks and Resorts is the outdoor version, and it is big: three theme parks, a water park and an indoor play world, with more than a hundred rides between them. Motiongate is four Hollywood film studios turned into rides and shows. Real Madrid World is the first football theme park in the world, and some families will need no other argument. Legoland Dubai sits alongside, with its own water park built for children aged two to twelve. Pick one park per day. They are too big to do two well.

Then the snow. Ski Dubai is a real slope inside Mall of the Emirates, kept below freezing all year, and for a child from Nairobi the first handful of snow is the whole point. The Snow Park is kept at minus four and needs no skill: sledging, tubing, a bobsled run and a chairlift ride, with jackets, trousers, boots and gloves included in the snow-park pass. The King and Gentoo penguins come out for a walk through the Snow Park at set times in the afternoon and evening, and that is the moment the phones come out. Skiing on the main slope needs a certain level first, so beginners book a lesson.

IMG Worlds sits right next to Global Village, so in season a family can spend the afternoon on indoor rides and cross over for the evening at Global Village and the Miracle Garden. After a park day, put something slow the next day. Everyone will need it.

Good to know

• One park is a full day. Two in one day is a race nobody wins.
• Ride heights are measured at the queue, not taken on trust. Check before you promise anything.
• Ski Dubai does not admit children under two, and under-thirteens wear helmets on the snow.
• Bring a warm hat. The snow-park pass covers jackets, trousers, boots, socks and gloves, but ears get cold at minus four.
• Which parks are open, and their hours, change with the season. We confirm what is open on your dates in writing.
• For the lessons and the penguin encounter, arrive well before your slot. Ski Dubai asks for forty minutes.