Hiya! My name is Azmu. While mummy is busy doing boring grown up chores, I have decided to take over her blog. I am going to tell you all about how we celebrated papa’s birthday last week at Dubai Parks and Resorts. It was a fun-filled adventure and I have pictures to prove it! There were times when I had to give the camera to mummy to take pictures, but most of them have been taken by me. Yes, that’s why everything looks gigantic, just like it does to me.

The plan was that we were going to follow papa who had the whole day scheduled for his troops. We were going to march  walk across River Land  with its French village charm and abundant restaurants, start with Legoland Dubai , then Bollywood Parks Dubai and lastly finish at Motiongate Dubai. It sounded like a long day with a lot of walking, but I didn’t mind because unlike the grownups, I had a stroller to relax in and take my afternoon beauty sleep (or as mummy calls it, ‘nap’).  I was going to pose for the pictures, taste some grown up food and even dance to Bollywood music. I had it all planned out!

So, along with my parents, my cousin Z, his parents and my grandma, we reached Legoland Dubai by around 10 am. Now, unlike mummy and papa, I don’t have a full-time job that pays me good money, but at Dubai Parks and Resorts, I was in luck. I didn’t have to worry about the tickets as I was less than 80 cm tall, and so got in for free! Ker-ching!

I was super excited about visiting Legoland, out of all three theme parks. Cousin Z and I had been singing ‘Everything is awesome’ everday since we found out about this trip. And right from the moment we entered Legoland, the awesomeness had begun! Brightly coloured Lego blocks and Lego mini figures everywhere. The Lego mini figures were almost as tall as me!

We first headed to ‘Miniland’, a place with buildings, transportation of all kinds and mini figures made out of Lego blocks. There were a few buildings that I recognised, like the infamous Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Mall of Emirates, Dubai Airport, but seeing that I hadn’t travelled much around the world, there were so many places that I hadn’t recognised. I remember papa naming a few to me, like the Pyramids of Egypt, the Hanging gardens of Babylonia, Kuwait and Jordan’s Petra. Mummy, on the other hand, was getting all lovey-dovey next to the Taj Mahal model, because it reminded her of her visit to the real Taj Mahal in India with papa. I had to get away from all this mushiness, so decided to check out what the green buttons around the models were for. They were the perfect height for me to press and resulted in the Lego mini figures and vehicles to move around. I would have loved to spend the entire day there, watching the Metro glide along Sheikh Zayed Road and the subdued Dubai Mall fountain show next to Burj Khalifa, but according to Papa, we were on a tight schedule and so had to move on.

We moved on to ‘Lego Adventure’ where there were many rides and attractions for the grown ups. I enjoyed playing in the soft ball pit with cousin Z, where papa and uncle helped collect all the soft balls and place it in a vaccum pipe, where the balls could be shot out at the press of a button. There was also the Submarine Adventure ride where I got to visit the lost city of Atlantis and see all the underwater friends of Nemo and Dory, with some harmless baby sharks too. Along with them, I also spotted a few mini Lego Scuba divers and Lego mermaids.

Papa really wanted to visit ‘Lego Kingdoms’ to sit on The Dragon rollercoaster. The moment we entered this place, it looked like we had walked back to the Medieval time period. I could see castles, dragons, jesters, wizards and a few princesses, like me! Mummy and papa went for The Dragon rollercoaster while I took a short snack break with my aunt and cousin Z. When they returned back, the grown ups couldn’t stop talking about how exhilarating the ride was. I even caught Mummy on Snapchat saying that the ride was ‘Epic’.

We moved on to ‘Lego City’, a mini city with Lego Police Headquarter, Airport, Sea port, Fire Rescue Academy and all the other different places you would find in a city. The Sea Port was a water ride where we could go boating with the adults. I bumped into a few mini Lego Paparazzi who found out about my arrival and wanted to snap a few pics of me. I gave them my best pose. We would have stayed there for longer, but as it was mainly outdoors and it was almost mid-day, we were feeling the heat and it was getting rather hot, even in my pink sunny hat.

Mummy and Aunt took us to the last stop before we would leave Lego Land, the Duplo Valley in ‘Lego Imagination’. This place was perfect for me and I wish mummy and papa would have left me here for the entire day. Small slides and chunky Lego blocks to play with other small human beings like myself! It was my ideal play ground.

However, the grown ups were feeling ravenous and mummy was almost eyeing up my Heinz baby biscuits, so we decided to bid goodbye to Legoland Dubai and head for lunch.

We were spoilt for choice when it came to deciding where to dine for lunch, as there were restaurants catering to every cuisine and every budget at River Land. To get into the spirit of Bolllywood Parks Dubai, our next theme park location, the grownups decided to dine at ‘Bol Gappa’. This place is the place to dine, if you like Bollywood and are filmy like my family. One side of the restaurant is plastered with Indian film posters, old and new. The opposite side is covered with famous film dialogues from well known Bollywood movies. Even their menu had references to film dialogues and kept distracting my parents from placing their lunch order. I could see they were loving the atmosphere, and I was getting more and more embarrassed by mummy’s behaviour. She spotted the famous dialogue ‘Mugambo Khush Hua’ and wanted to take pics with it, simply because there was ‘Khush’ written there; AKA her nick name. Thank goodness the food arrived and my family stopped all their melodrama. I tried some of mummy’s Paneer Tikka wrap, but preferred the fries that came with it. I also liked papa’s Malai Kofta which was creamy and tangy and my uncle’s Biryani rice. Cousin Z was enjoying the fresh Tandoor Roti and shared some with me too.

We were done with lunch, I was stuffed and the grow ups looked satisfied too. We made our way to Bollywood Parks Dubai and with the Indian music playing in the background, were instantly transported to India. Even though Legoland Dubai was covered in bright colours, Bollywood Parks Dubai had exotic shades of peacock green, vibrant blues, earthy oranges and gold. We made our way to the central Lotus pool and could see a Bollywood dance class taking place on the Crossroad stage, situated to our left. The trained dancers were teaching the visitors steps to Chamak Chalo, but I didn’t join in, as I didn’t want people to know how amazing of a dancer I am. In front of us we could see the Rajmahal Theatre, cream and gold, and a perfect backdrop to family photos. On the right hand side, lay Bollywood Film Studios and on the left Mumbai Chowk. Throughout the park, there were snack stalls selling barbequed corn on the cob, coconut water, vada pau, masala chai (tea) and Indian street food such as Bhel puri, Sev puri  and Pani puri. As if that wasn’t enough, there were many food and beverage places , such as Jumbo Café, Spicy Dhaba and Studio Canteen, each with its own quirky décor and charm. Mummy and I also had a peak in Mughal-E-Azam: Shahi Dining , a dining hall fit for Mughal kings and queens decorated with mirrors and painted glass, and serving authentic royal Mughlai delicacies.

Papa, as per our schedule, took us straight to Rustic Ravine, to catch Dabangg: Stunt Spectacular Show where we watched Bollywood style stunts with action, romance, comedy, dance and a lot of drama. Even though it was loud for me, I couldn’t help but clap along to the music every time it came on. This was followed with the grownups visiting the attraction rides Sholay: The Hunt for Gabar Singh and Lagaan: Champaner Cricketing Carnival. Even though mummy’s not a huge fan of cricket, she was telling papa how much she enjoyed the ride. A quick tea break at Victoria Station Café, where Cousin Z and I shared yummy Chana Bhatura, inside an Indian train carriage, while uncle and aunty went for some shopping at Mumbai Bazaar.  Next, we headed to Bollywood Film Studios for the Krrish: Hero’s Flight and Ra-One attraction rides. Mummy and Aunt kept telling how much they enjoyed the Krishh ride and something about how the 4D experience felt so real. I sure hope, I grow tall quickly, as I too would like to experience flying with Krishh, India’s Super Hero.

The highlight for me at Bollywood Parks Dubai had to be me staring in my own Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara movie trailer at Cinemagic. Mummy already calls me a drama queen, so maybe I was meant to be in front of the cameras. So, with the help of experts, and green screen technology, mummy and I were part of the balcony scene from the movie where I was given a shaker and we cheered on participants in the Bull race, supposedly happening in front of us. Not just that, I also helped with the sound editing with the aid of empty coconut shells. I havn’t yet watched the movie, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara myself, but now I might just have to.

We were supposed to ‘B_Spellbound’ at Bollywood Parks Dubai and that was certainly happening as colourful dim lights were lighting up the place, as evening was approaching and magically transforming the place. The weather was starting to get slightly chilly and mummy put on my woolly hat and jumper. This was cue for us to exit Bollywood Parks Dubai, and head for our next destination. Motiongate Dubai, here we come.

It was quite a walk from Bollywood Parks Dubai to Motiongate Dubai and I could feel the grownups were dragging their legs behind them. On the way, they decided to have a quick dinner break at Galito’s , serving Peri-peri chicken. I am glad they decided to refuel because some of the grownups were getting rather grumpy. Dinner was served promptly with side dishes that I could tuck into as well, such as sweet potato fries, grilled vegetables and sweet corn on the cob. I asked mummy to feed me some of her Lemon and Herb flavoured chicken, and it was simply lip-smacking.  I did make a lot of mess underneath my highchair and papa had to apologise the staff for it. Oops, sorry!

With the energy boost, we entered Motiongate Dubai, through the huge entrance shaped like a movie reel. I had never seen a place like this before. It looked like a scene from a Hollywood movie with old-style street lights on either side of the tiled pavement, narrow two and three storey apartments with cute shops on ground floor and soft jazz playing in the background. There was a bakery, a florist, a traditional toy shop, a tailor and even a shop selling Oscar replicas!  We made our way to the Hollywood Theatre to watch an exciting ‘Step Up Dubai’ dance musical. Watching the hip-hop dancers bust those high-energy moves on irresistible beats and do some jaw-dropping stunts was definitely entertaining for me.

Next, we headed to DreamWorks and were instantly greeted with the Fountain of Dreams, a fountain featuring some of my favourite characters, such as Kungfu Panda, Shrek, King Julien and many more. Further inside, the Shrek area looked very much like an ogre’s swamp with a lot of green foliage and I also spotted Princess Fiona’s castle and the onion carriage. It looked magical and we certainly took a few pictures there. As soon as we stepped into the Madagascar area, it felt like we were inside a circus tent! Lots of colours, lots of lights and lots of circus style posters. We also took a few pics with the Madagascar zoosters, specially the Penguins.

I finally fell asleep in my little stroller, while mummy, papa and aunty went to a few more rides at Columbia Pictures. I remember them telling me later how they enjoyed the Ghostbusters: Battle for New York, Underworld 4D and Hotel Transylvania attraction rides. There was also the Smurfs Village  for young guests which I would have liked to visit, but a busy girl like me needed her beauty sleep.

Mummy and papa have watched all these movies and animations so they were shrieking with excitement at all these places, however I’m going to have to go home and have a movie marathon  to familiarise myself with all these movie characters and plots. Motiongate Dubai closes at 10pm and I think it must have been 9:55pm when we all finally left! I wish we didn’t have to leave, but next time I come back, I’m going to make sure that I am tall enough for most of the rides, do a complete background research on all these movies and am going to eat all the scrumptious food the grown ups eat.

If you enjoyed reading about my adventures to Dubai Parks and Resorts, don’t forget to share it and leave a comment. You can also get further information by visiting their website https://www.dubaiparksandresorts.com/en

Disclaimer: Our visit to Dubai Parks and Resort was not sponsored. We purchased the tickets at AED 295 allowing a single visit to all three theme parks. Parking charges are AED 50 for the entire day. Shuttle Bus service available throughout the day.