Over the countless times we’ve passed the Dubai Aquarium, we’ve never had the inclination to go inside. We honestly thought it was literally just walking through that tunnel that you can vaguely see from the outside. I’m sure the same thought has crossed your mind before – Why pay more when you can already see everything?
Well, did you know that there is so much more to it than the aquarium itself?
Read on – a little review of our ‘Ultimate Experience’ at the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo.
So, where do you go?
After getting your tickets, you start off walking pass the aquarium on Ground Floor. There is no rush, you can take as many photos as you want.
As you turn the corner, there’s the standard professional photo op – the one where they pop you in front of a green screen and photoshop the aquarium behind.
You then walk through that glass tunnel – which is really quite beautiful, seeing all the marine creatures from inside. The kids were running up and down the tunnel for quite a bit (when everyone else had left….) – I mean c’mon, it’s not everyday they get to run inside an aquarium right? 😉
What’s next? An underwater zoo, you say? Where?
After you’ve done taking all the selfies and family photos and you exit the aquarium – you go up to Level 02. From there you enter the “Underwater Zoo” section and boy did the kids loved this little place.
What sort of animals did they have?
They had lots in their underwater section – from swimming otters (these creatures were so cute), giant water rats, tree frogs, the ridiculously funny-looking creature called the mata-mata (for a minute I honestly thought it was not a real thing) and of course lots of fishes and mini lobsters.
They had an area for nocturnal animals – the adorable water sliders (similar to the ones in Green Planet), bats eating watermelons, even owls!
Penguins, too?
Yes, they have a penguin cove, where you could also pay extra to have a penguin encounter experience (which we did not do this time round).
Could you feed the fish?
As part of the experience, you get the opportunity to feed the fish from top of the aquarium.
It was pretty cool descending down onto the platform, and being literally at the ‘top’ of the aquarium. The guide then showed the kids where the food were and they had a lot of fun hurling fish food into the aquarium.
What else is included in the experience?
As part of the Ultimate Experience, you get a guided behind the scenes however the team was busy on the day so we did not get the chance to have someone take us around. Oh, and something a lot of people would love doing – a Glass Boat Tour – which we again missed as we ran out of time, and the kids were too tired.
How long did we spend there?
Almost 3 hours, and this was excluding the glass boat tour.
Overall thoughts?
It’s one of those Dubai Bucket List things to do.
Great for kids as they could get up really up-close with the animals, they especially loved watching the otters scampering around, swimming in the water. The fact that it was in Dubai Mall makes it a good option to get an annual pass so that if you want to take a break from all that shopping you could pop in with the kids to see the animals.
The ‘Ultimate Experience’ is priced competitively at 299 AED per person (ages 2 and above), however as it is in the Entertainer that works out to be 150 AED per person. Pick it if you want that extra experience – the fish feeding, the glass boat tour, the guided behind the scenes. If you don’t need that, just go for their standard admission 😉
Book tickets to Dubai Aquarium here.
- Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo
- The Dubai Mall
- Deals :
- 1. 241 in the Entertainer for the Ultimate Experience
- 2. Discounted tickets for Standard Admission from Ticket Magic ( We bought Standard tickets in Nov 2021, paid around 50 AED per person)
Disclaimer : We were guests of The Dubai Aquarium to review the Ultimate Experience.
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