Recently, on 20 April, two adults and one child visited this water park. We liked everything in general, even very much, except for a few things that are common to many water parks, but more about that later. This was my second visit to this water park. The first time was in April 2012, and the second time was in April 2014, exactly two years later. Both times, my impressions were generally good. Not much has changed during this time, except that the prices have gone up and the plastic wristbands have been replaced with paper ones (maybe something else has changed, but I didn’t notice). There are still a lot of people, from babies to the elderly.
Aquaventure is very popular among tourists. The water park is located on the famous artificial island of Palma, in the Atlantis hotel. The entrance is through the hotel. It is very easy to find.
When we approached the ticket office, we almost decided not to visit the water park because of the huge queues, even though we had specifically chosen a weekday so that there would be fewer people (Sunday is a working day in the UAE).
There are information stands and monitors around the perimeter of the ticket office. The information is also available in.
The ticket offices are located on both sides. On one side, where we were standing, there are general ticket offices, and on the other side, where it is less crowded, there are special ticket offices where, as I understood, you can buy tickets for swimming with dolphins and other entertainment not included in the main programme.
I didn’t check how much it costs to swim with dolphins. Guests of the Atlantis hotel can visit the water park for free without restrictions. For everyone else, admission to the water park is not cheap. For adults and children over 120 cm tall, you have to pay 285 dirhams (about 2,800 roubles) for the whole day, and 220 dirhams (about 2,150 roubles) for children under 120 cm tall. Children under 2 years old are free. For residents of the country with a residence visa, upon presentation of an ID card, adults pay 165 dirhams and children 140 dirhams, which is a significant difference.
You can also purchase combo tickets, which include admission to the water park and aquarium (I’m not sure about the aquarium), adults – 335 dirhams, and children under 120 cm tall pay 275 dinars. By the way, my daughter is a little taller than 120 cm, but no one measured her height, so we paid for a child’s ticket. I didn’t like the fact that additional services, such as towels and lockers, had to be paid for separately, and they weren’t cheap. For example, towel rental costs 5$, and a locker costs 8$.
The information board also mentioned meals, which cost 10$, but I didn’t check what was included. However, compared to buying food yourself at the water park, it’s not expensive. You can put money on your wristband at the ticket office and pay with it (the remaining funds can be returned), or pay in cash or by bank card, whichever is more convenient.
I think the water park opens at 9 or 10 in the morning, and when the sun goes down, all the slides close and everyone is asked to leave the premises, or at least they don’t let you ride the slides or go up to them. So plan your time accordingly. It’s better to come right when it opens to enjoy your time there longer. We arrived around one or two o’clock in the afternoon, which wasn’t quite enough time. So definitely come at opening time!
The water park is beautiful and large, and you can have a good time, so I recommend it. But everything is quite expensive and there are long queues for the slides. Come right when it opens, otherwise you may not have enough time.
