'round the world

Best. Waterpark. Ever.

Yesterday Kacey and I had the fortunate opportunity to enjoy the best waterslides the human mind has ever conjured. Beneath the shadow of the wonderful hotel Burj al Arab, Wild Wadi Waterpark spread its 12 acres across the desert. The thing with the waterpark is, you don't really need to walk much. Most waterparks have stairs leading up to their slides, but not in Dubai.

I saw a TV program before we left about the waterpark's "upward jet" slides where you sit in a tube and get lifted onto the slide. I figured this was just a single ride, fortunately I was wrong. Even better, the jets move you uphill faster than you can go downhill. I wasn't at first expecting such acceleration and nearly flipped off the tube. Every waterslide uses a series of these lifts up to pool areas where lifeguards guide your tube to the slide you wish to take. Usually, there is a choice of routes, between 2 and 4 different slides, you can take. Sometimes you go down the slide on your tube, other times the water jets can take you further - on to more choices. One slide inparticular could possibly be the best slide ever: you enter the slide on your tube and enter complete darkness (so dark that closing your eyes can't make it any darker), it twists and turns, begins to twist one way and switches directions, drops unexpectedly and echoes the terrifying screams of Kacey speeding off into the unknown quite loudly. Unlike most "dark" slides where you can make out the turns in advance through imperfections in the slide, this slide was completely built into a building to keep the light out.

When you get to the bottom of the slides they all merge into a river of sorts that circles the park very leisurely until you get to another set of upwards jets, or a ladder if you wish to exit. Our first ride lasted about 40 minutes before we had to touch firm ground. When we did, we could head to any number of food stands and use our magnetic wristbands to pay for things. We could get back onto the slides. Or, we could head to a ride that made a huge oval where one end would produce a big wave every minutes or so to push you around, under falling water and through the Arabian Nights-themed park. That loop would take about 3 or 4 minutes and is as relaxing as anything I know. Or, as we did a few times, we could actually use our legs to climb a huge tower to the "Jumeriah Sceirah", a free-fall slide where the attendants say you can reach speeds upwards of 80 km/h. I felt I only made it up to 74 km/h, so I think I'll have to go back to try again. There was also a huge wavepool in the middle of the park and lounge chairs scattered throughout the park. We stayed for about 5 hours and likely only walked for about about 30 minutes. Next week we plan to go again.