Hidden Talents . . . Day 9
I would not say that waterparks are generally my cup of tea, but at the advice of my friend I decided we should check out the Atlantis Waterpark. Likewise, most of the teammates were interested as well . . .so we packed up our things and headed for the Palm. For those of you who are not familiar with Dubai . . . it’s time for a geography lesson by yours truly. . .
As oil supplies dwindle, Dubai turns towards global business and tourism for continued rapid growth of the UAE Emirate. Dubai is located on only 37 miles of coastline and knew that in order to increase tourism to the desert state they would need to continue coastal expansion. So what do you do when you run out of room? Well, you simply build more. . .and that’s what Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the Nakheel Properties did.
Building three separate, artificial islands in the shape of a palm tree and topped with a crescent. The islands boast both residential and leisure activities, including the Atlantis Waterpark which is located on the farthest tip of the Palm Jumeirah, the smallest of the three islands. In total, they add 520 km to the Dubai coastland. The Palm Jebel Ali is the middle-sized Dubai island. This is the island of entertainment which offers a wide variety of tourism, including a water theme park, water homes and six marinas and a Sea Village. The Palm Deira (recently renamed Deira Island) is set to be the largest and anticipated to be done in 2014. These are the only manmade structures you can from space.
Due to engineering challenges, this effort was highly criticized and believe to be impossible, but I have come to learn. . . in Dubai. . . anything is possible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNnSKfLRFiA
So the RISE team arrives at the Aquaventure Waterpark. . . and everyone decided to not waste any time. . . first stop: The Tower of Neptune. If you have ever seen their commercials, you are probably familiar with this image.
Great! We conquered the park and it was only around 11am. We spent the rest of the morning on the same side of the park and then headed for lunch. Venturing into the other side of the park, we realized that the morning had only served as training wheels. While we were standing in-line for a particular slide we saw this
What could they possibly be sending through here, certainly it was too steep for human bodies to gracefully slide down.
Poseidon’s Revenge. Of course they are, only you don’t sit down and build up courage until you push yourself along. They’ve taken away the option of changing your mind. . . first you load into this spaceship contraption
“3. . . 2. . . 1” echoes from inside your pod, and. . .
The floor drops out below you, as you can see, the normal reactions . . . fear, anxiety, death screams, I am pretty sure I blacked out.
Then there’s our wild card . . . Travis
Note, exactly the same facial expression and he is smiling . . . I have discovered his hidden talent
This picture undoubtedly makes me cry from laughter, every time I look at it
On the way out we decided to stop in the Aquarium, nobody was particularly interested as we have all been to plenty of aquariums but figured since it was included in the price we might as well check it out. This is no regular aquarium.
The Lost Chambers Aquarium is designed as the underground tunnels of a lost civilization and includes sharks, eels, seahorses, piranhas, and this guy. . .
The waterpark was definitely the right call.
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