The entrance of Emirates Palace.
The adult's room - calm and peaceful.
The kid's room. Neither calm nor peaceful.
On one side if the hotel were the family pools. Daisy got nailed on the orange slide in the background.
Daisy and Andy have a competition to see who has the longest legs. I wisely kept out of it.
Bastie loves his Barbie armbands.
I marched them up to the top of the hill!
The hotel from the beach. It's huge.
Andy powers to shore.
Daisy was thrilled she was over 5 and allowed on the kayaks.
The girls heading out for a paddle.
The boys make the most of not being allowed to go for a paddle.
Daisy and Zach ready to go up...
...up...
...up and away.
From camel to golf cart, how very UAE.
Bastie gets his first marshmallow.
Stoked!
Not Zach's first marshmallow but he's still stoked.
The bread basket was a hit too.
The breakfast terrace.
Inside, and here starts the King Midas photos...
The central atrium. Gold.
A vending machine selling...
...gold.
A lift. Gold.
The corridor outside our room. Gold.
Water hammocks in one of the relaxation pools. Not gold and not relaxing once we arrived.
Some more of the relaxation pools.
Pool rugby.
Bastie risks a red card for hitting another player with a cone.
Almost time for home, a great night away.
A week in to July we decided to take advantage of one of the great cheap summer deals around and headed off to Abu Dhabi for a night at Emirates Palace. We drove there through all the new developments on Yas Island which was quite interesting.
Emirates Palace was jaw droppingly, mind boggingly, ginormous. A huge marble and gold creation on the beach right by town. It's facade raised even a smile from Daisy who is infuriatingly blase about luxury hotels.
After arriving, we spent the afternoon in the family pool, Daisy bravely went on the hydroslide and managed not to cry after coming off it upside down and back to front with a mouthful of water. Zach wouldn't go near it. There was a lazy river which is always a hit. We also had a lovely walk over grassy hills, a great time taking out some kayaks, Daisy and Zach really enjoyed a camel ride down the beach and all the kids enjoyed riding on the golf carts.
We had a lazy start to the following day - I think cartoons in bed are the kid's favourite part of staying in hotels - then spent some time in the relaxation (ha!) pool area before heading back home.
All in all a fab night away. I liked Emirates Palace although Andy found it too big and museum like. It was definately over the top (think gold fittings in the bathrooms etc) but actually managed to pull it off without veering in to tacky. I'm partial to a bit of bling though.
Bx
