Atlantis The Palm

Kaitlynn's birthday fell during the month of Ramadan this year, and we debated for weeks on how we should properly celebrate. After much consideration and a little prompting, she decided that she wanted to spend her birthday weekend at one of the most famous attractions in Dubai - Atlantis The Palm. We decided to stay for one night in the hotel, which allowed us to spend time at the hotel facilities, the Atlantis aquarium, and the Aquaventure water park. For the price of one night's stay, we were able to spend two full days at the resort.

It was a humid weekend so my iPhone camera didn't fare too well with resort photos. Suffice it to say that the Atlantis resort is huge and super fancy by Courtright standards. Here's a stock photo showing the resort in all its glory.

This may have been our first time staying at a 5-star resort. The kids always LOVE staying at hotels and this one certainly didn't disappoint. The grand lobby is beautiful and connects to the two separate wings of hotel rooms. Along the way are many acclaimed restaurants and shops, all of which are quite expensive I might add.

We checked into our room and took in the amenities and view. With the humidity and poor air quality that weekend, the view wasn't quite as advertised but it was still really neat.

We went to enjoy some pizza for dinner at one of the Atlantis restaurants. Afterwards, we walked the resort grounds and took it all in.

At one section of the resort, there is a HUGE glass wall displaying the aquarium creatures inside. It was mesmerizing. The sea life at the aquarium was amazing to behold. Jeff said he could've stood there all night. We later toured the aquarium and it was really neat, likely one of the best we've visited.




The kids were probably most excited about visiting the Aquaventure water park which is on the resort grounds. We rode most of the water rides and enjoyed them all. The biggest rides were fun but we were surprised that the water was really warm on the family tunnel slide. We also struggled walking throughout the park because the concrete was SO hot that it was scalding our feet! Probably our favorite part of the entire waterpark was the kids play area because the water was SO cool and refreshing.

Not pictured but likely one of the things the kids will remember the most about our Atlantis stay is the "breakfast" we had during our visit. The resort restaurants offer an incredible breakfast buffet for guests, but our kids just don't eat enough to justify the expense. Instead, we drove to a local Spinney's supermarket and raided their bakery. Back at our hotel room, we ate donuts, cookies, muffins, and bananas for our breakfast of champions. The kids couldn't believe they were allowed so much sugar and they still talk about how much they enjoyed that breakfast!

Our weekend at Atlantis was the perfect adventure in Dubai to celebrate Kaitlynn's upcoming birthday. And she still had another week to enjoy several more birthday surprises.