With nothing scheduled for the morning we slept in a little later but still got up in time for breakfast. The plan for the day was to spend the morning back in JBR Beach before heading to the Dubai Mall for lunch and our early evening tickets to go up the Burj Kalifa.
Morning in JBR
We took a quick taxi back over to JBR beach. Unlike the previous morning, the day was clear and there was no haze. It was warmer than other days but still not hot. The kids had on their mind that they really wanted to do one of the inflatable “rides” at the park we had been to on the first day.
They made a straight line for that part of the beach and we paid for them to do the ride they wanted. As before we were the only people in that area other than the two workers. The kids sprinted to the machine while the worker turned it on. He gave them about twice the amount of time we paid for which was nice. They worked up quite a sweat in just a few minutes jumping up and down on that thing.
After that we went back to the other playground to cool off and relax for a few minutes. The kids tried the zip line again but things were more busy than our previous visit and they quickly lost interest.
We soon decided to get a taxi back to the hotel to drop off the towels we had checked out on our way to the beach and the other extra stuff before heading off to the Dubai Mall for the rest of the day.
Dubai Mall
With so many over-the-top malls it can be confusing but the Dubai Mall is not the one with the ski slope in it. That is the Mall of the Emirates which is a few miles away. The Dubai Mall was about 35 minutes away from the hotel and is part of the Burj Kalifa complex. The taxi dropped us off next to one of the entrances and we walked into a giant atrium with a 4 story waterfall sculpture.
You could tell immediately the mall was massive, but it took awhile to realize just how massive it is. Our first priority was to get some lunch and on the directory we found there was a food court not far from where we were so we headed up the escalators to the second (top) level which was actually the 4th floor (Below Ground, Ground, First, and Second was how they were labeled). We followed signs, passing the indoor ice rink and found the food court. We did a loop to see what the options are which include many US chains as well as more local choices. There were even some chains such as Texas Chicken, which I had never heard of but sounded American. Looking it up online I’m not exactly sure it exists outside of the UAE.
We all found something to try and filled up. What was interesting compared to US food courts is that there were people to clear and clean the tables when you were done. You weren’t expected to throw your own trash away. When we tried doing just that we got some funny looks from the workers!
After lunch we walked around a little and found the aquarium which had above the entrance the “worlds highest resolution video board”. It was a series of hundreds of video screens forming one big picture along the length of a wall. We weren’t in a aquarium mood so we didn’t actually go in. We continued walking on the top floor to try to find the amusement park, because of course there’s an amusement park…
We ended up going in a big circle following the signs but did eventually find it. The prices were pretty steep for the things the kids were interested in so we decided to skip it and browse a nearby toy store for a few minutes. We had a couple hours to occupy before our tickets to go up the Burj Kalifa would be active.
We browsed through several stores and found new avenues to walk down. There were parts of that floor we never got to, much less what was on the other floors. Any designer or store you can think of had at least one shop. I noticed some had multiple stores in different parts of the same floor because the mall was so massive. There weren’t a lot of people there either, though it was so big that it would take a massive amount of people to fill it up in any real way. It was also a Monday afternoon, so not a prime mall time anyways.
Burj Kalifa
As the time for our tickets approached we started searching for where we needed to go. We had to ask security people a few different times for directions but we eventually got to the right place. It happened to be right outside a different food court than the one we had eaten in for lunch. I guess it was so big it needed two!
At the Top was the name of the company running the observation deck. There were lines for people holding tickets and a separate one for those who had purchased them online like us. The line was long but it moved quickly and within 10 minutes we had our tickets in hand. We then moved on to another line which was waiting to get through security. There was a basic metal detector and separate lines for men and women. We were through those lines in another 10 minutes and were on our way to the next line which was for the elevator to the top.
It was a solid 5-10 minute walk to get to this line and another 10 minutes before we were ready to board the elevator to the 124th floor. The elevator only took 60 seconds to get there and was super smooth. You could barely tell you were moving!
Once there you could go to an enclosed outdoor area where you could take pictures of the skyline and continue moving around the interior of the building to take more pictures in different directions. There was still a lot of building above us so we weren’t really “at the top” of the building but we were higher than any other building in the city and higher than nearly all other buildings in the world! The Empire State Building is “only” 102 floors and the Sears Tower is 110 floors.
We had hoped to time our ascent with the sunset, but the sun was still a solid hour from setting by the time we were up top. It was cloudy on the horizon so it wasn’t going to be much of a sunset anyways so we decided to head down.
Just as we were thinking of boarding we realized it was 6:00 and the fountain show in the pond at the base of the tower would be starting so we quickly looked out the window as it was beginning. The music into the observation deck matched what was playing in the pond and we got a top view of the show which lasted only a few minutes. It was pretty impressive and we could see it better than we expected we could from nearly directly above.
The show was very similar in concept to the fountain show at the Bellagio if you have ever seen that.
We quickly descended and exited the tower into the courtyard where the fountain show had just taken place. It was a really nice area surrounded by restaurants (which were located as part of the mall). It was quite busy as well as the fountain show is a real draw. It was definitely a “happening” place and a natural gathering place for dinner and hanging out.
We were looking to get something to eat and started checking out some restaurants. While we were doing that some music began and there was a light show on the Burj Kalifa. The whole building lit up with animated lights going up and down the building in unison with the music. The show lasted about 5 minutes and the kids really enjoyed it. Tomatico was quite proud he got most of the show on the phone!
After dinner we decided it was time to go home. A new fountain show had just started up and there was a mass of people with their phones trying to capture the excitement. We didn’t feel like fighting for a view or waiting for the next show so we headed towards the taxi stand. We figured we could check it out on YouTube as we’re sure it’s posted there. We already saw it from the top of the tower!
Going Home and Calling it a Night
At the taxi stand there was someone directing people to cars. For some reason he directed us to one of the luxury Lexus rides we had used a couple nights before getting home from the Global Village. The driver estimated how much the cost was going to be and before we could get started I confirmed that he would take a credit card. He said no, cash only. I then stated that wasn’t going to work and we got out of the car.
The driver then started trying to pressure me by saying we could stop at an ATM and that US dollars would also be acceptable. I had the cash, I just didn’t want to use it to pay for a taxi when I could use a credit card. I knew using a regular taxi would cost less anyways. We didn’t need a luxury ride for the 30 minute ride home. We quickly found a regular Dubai taxi that would accept a credit card as payment and we were off to home. This was the only time during our whole trip where there was really any sort of friction with anyone and it was extremely minor and ended without incident.
Once we got home I found I was exhausted and went to sleep immediately. My wife and the kids apparently stayed up a little later watching TV in the living room “wing” but I was unaware and unbothered. It was great having so much space!
Tomatico Travels 
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