Photo TR: Robb & Elissa go to Dubai!

Crazy spinning coaster + Popeye's Chicken + Seafood = The Most Awesome Theme Park Ever!!!

Fixed.

In the UAE, shorts were fine, and sandles are the norm. Hell, I was in shorts rocking a Metallica shirt in Saudi and a local in a thobe voiced his approval. Others, I'm sure, wished my infidel ass would be sacrificed to Allah.

As for the water sprays, using one of those on your bum would simply spray the crap all over the place. If they were with the hole-in-the-floor toilets, they may use them for washing up, but the ones in western stalls are mainly used for feet washing in Saudi. Our villa had a toilet, a bidet, and the spray nozzle. And you'd need a damn big ass to block the entire spray coming out of that thing.

-RO

As for the water sprays, using one of those on your bum would simply spray the crap all over the place. If they were with the hole-in-the-floor toilets, they may use them for washing up, but the ones in western stalls are mainly used for feet washing in Saudi. Our villa had a toilet, a bidet, and the spray nozzle. And you'd need a damn big A$$ to block the entire spray coming out of that thing.

They're catering to ACErs.

In the UAE, shorts were fine, and sandles are the norm.

The only people we saw in shorts were Americans, tourists who didn't research the culture ahead of time, and a few kids. We saw almost no shorts anywhere. Yes, the locals wore sandles, but I said that "shorts and sandles" would not be ok. It's disrespectful. I wore pants the entire time, just like the locals, out of respect for their culture.

--Robb

^Yeah, any of the people I saw wearing shorts and t-shirts were looked at odd and I even saw some rolling eyes and shameful stares.

It was pretty obvious that they were tourists and not showing any respect towards the locals. Screened t-shirts were also few and far between and again, only worn by Australia or American tourists. Didn't the Mall of the Emerites even have a dress code? I know some of the malls in Sharjah did.

It's one thing to wear sandals with a Dishdash, but with shorts and a metallica t-shirt, no way I'm walking next to you!

Most of the travel sites will tell you the following about dress code in the UAE:

Abu Dhabi is generally conservative but tolerant when it comes to dress code. The attitude to dress is relaxed, but visitors (both men and women) are advised not to wear excessively revealing clothing in public places, as a sign of respect for local culture and customs. This also applies to public beaches, where swimmers should avoid excessively revealing swimming suits. Most nightclubs require their guests not to wear shorts, caps or sport shoes on their premises. Unless otherwise indicated, official events usually require non-locals to wear formal dress; a suit and tie for men and an evening dress for women.

There is an unwritten dress code for both men and womenin the UAE and care should be taken not to give offense by wearing clothing which is revealing. Women should avoid wearing skirts which are shorter than knee length and otherwise tight-fitting, revealing or transparent garments in professional settings. Men should always wear a shirt in public and a tie when attending important meetings or social functions. At the pool or on the beaches, trunks, shorts and swimsuits are acceptable. Casual clothing is common in most clubs and private parties.

What to wear and what not to wear in public in Dubai

Men wearing normal shorts might get an odd look in some places but are unlikely to get into trouble. Ideally, shorts should be down to the knee to be sure of causing no offence. Very short shorts (stubbies?), cycling shorts that reveal certain contours, boxer shorts, etc are possibly going to result in a warning from the authorities. Cycling while wearing cycling shorts should be fine. As a rule of thumb, avoid wearing shorts in open, public areas.

Men should wear long pants when in Abu Dhabi or Dubai downtown areas but may dress casually in the western expat areas Men may dress casually in the western expat areas, but should wear long pants when in Abu Dhabi or the downtown area of Dubai. The dress code for children is less formal, although it is recommended to girls in their teenage to dress moderately so as to avoid the needless attention. Both local women and men are easily illustrious by their traditional dress, which is a very usual sight in the United Arab Emirates. Women wear the black Abaya while men wear the long white Dishdasha.

My and my coworkers just got sick of the "respect for culture", especially in Saudi where it is absolutely not a two-way street. I don't respect culture here much either. I loved all the nasty looks I got when my wife and I went to see Phantom of the Opera in Toronto. We had seats right under the chandalier, and I was in shorts and a tee, while tons of folks were in suits and gowns. Most of the ills of society are from judging people by the way they look, be that the color of their skin, or what they wear. I don't give two shits what other people look like, or how they dress. Remember the whole Spider-man shirt at IAAPA fiasco years ago? So, I want to be clear it's got nothing to do with Muslim culture that I don't repect.

I didin't notice the dress in the mall to be much different than a very upscale mall in the US, aside from the stray Arab couple that stood out. Good Lord, some of the outfits at Wild Wadi would have got you kicked out of US waterparks.

If you don't want to look like a tourist, you shouldn't be at Ferrari World, big malls, Ski Dubai, or the Burj Khalafi. I doubt I saw too many "locals" where I went.

It didn't matter what I wore, I looked like an aging Jesus, or Chuck Norris according to one local girl, and was definitely NOT going to fit in. So, I might as well be comfortable. I wasn't worried about my safety in the UAE. All the foreigners I see in the US not respecting our laws and culture make it pretty easy for me to not give a damn about theirs. Especially Muslims, who want to change our laws to match their customs, but that's getting too political.

I saw very few women in Abayas, or men in thobes in the UAE. Definitely less than 10%. Perhaps at the FECs, which are going to skew more local, but not at the tallest building in the world, or Wild Wadi. I still have nightmares about the thongs and beer guts.

Frankly, after spending time in Saudi, I wouldn't use the word "conservative" to describe Dubai dress in any way, shape, or form.

-RO

^ Weird. What you are describing is the exact opposite of what we experienced in Dubai. We actually saw very few tourists at the malls, Ferrari World, Ski Dubai, etc, and you can tell when you DID see tourists, because they absoultely stood out. There were a lot more locals in traditional Arabic dress when we were there. I don't have many pictures of people to show, because another part of the culture says that it's disrespectful to take pictures of people, unless you are taking a picture of you, but you can see in many of these shots that we are in places like malls, theme parks, etc, and everyone around us appears to be locals:

Rastus, no one is saying you were wrong for wearing shorts, but it's not something you (or at least neither one of us) saw very frequently during our visit, and most of the travel sites suggest not to wear them...and it was VERY hot outside!

--Robb

As I said, the local FECs were probably much different, I even noticed they had "families" and "men" sections in one picture. I noticed nothing like that anywhere I went in the UAE.

Hell, as soon as you went through customs in the Saudi airport, waiting to get on a plane to leave that hellhole, all the abayas and thobes dissapeared. Apparently the religious police don't have boarding passes, so they can't get through security.

Much of the conservative Muslim culture is hypocrisy, as far as I could tell, the radicals trying to control everyone. Or more likely, the result of brainwashing that is slowly disappearing, as more Saudis get satellite TV and VPN internet accounts. Bahrain is a place where everyone goes on the weekends to do things that would get them executed for just an hour away. And the place has an hours long line on the way in every Wednesday night.

-RO

UAE or USA?

Sign about swimwear

What people wore.

^At the waterparks I saw tons of bikinis and shorts, not arguing there. But I do wonder if we just hit up stuff at a different time because when we went to the malls, even the big ones, most people were in traditional garb or tourists in pants and shirts.

A few malls we went to in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah really creeped me out as I was the only woman anywhere!

I think I will err on the conservative side when TPR take a trip there

^Thank you, that's all we would ask of people! Not going to make you wear bed sheets and stuff!

Yeah, I've seen a few too many episodes of Locked Up Abroad. Oh sure, the stories mostly involved drug smuggling, but either way, I'll just "conform" for a little while, thanks. Returning safely to my home, family, and friends is slightly better than chancing a foreign prison....or grave.....especially over something as silly as disrespect for one's culture. That's just me, though.

Oh, and Miami Dolphins coaster FTW.

^At the waterparks I saw tons of bikinis and shorts, not arguing there. But I do wonder if we just hit up stuff at a different time because when we went to the malls, even the big ones, most people were in traditional garb or tourists in pants and shirts.

Yeah, and even all those travel sites that I posted said that swim wear was "ok" at the beaches (and assuming water parks also) - I will say though that I saw more women "covered up" at a water park than I saw in the USA. Again, no one is saying that it is right or wrong to wear shorts in the UAE. We are just suggesting that people stay as conservative and respectful of the culture as possible.

In this photo I see 21 people where you can see their legs, only two of which are wearing shorts. I'm assuming those two are DEFINITELY tourists!

^ I was just about to say that there were only two people in shorts! Not a good photo to argue his point of view.

Regarding dressing appropriately abroad: There are some hilarious videos of pissed off tourists getting turned away by security at the Vatican for wearing shorts. They don't allow them.

My point of view was that people were dressed the same as in the US. If you go to an upscale mall in the US, one where the low end store is Gucci, you will see few people in shorts. There is no one in the picture in Arab garb.

My guess is a lot of it is the lack of access to shorts also. I didn't look, but I'd bet very few stores there sell cargo shorts, or jean shorts. Heck, in the picture you see guys with jackets and long sleeves, and it was probably 90 that day. However, to someone who lives in the ME, 90 is a bit on the cool side, let alone inside the mall where it is in teh 70s.

I was the only guy I saw in the Saudi airport in shorts, on arrival, out of hundreds. I was nowhere even close to the only guy in UAE with shorts. I'm sure I got nasty looks, and one little girl burst into tears when she saw me at the grocery store. However, I didn't care, and I guarantee you that you won't be thrown in jail in the UAE for wearing shorts.

-RO

^^ I got shushed at the Vatican for being too loud, when I was a young teen. Don't remember if I was wearing shorts or not.

So, both the Muslims and Catholics get mad at me.

-RO

^At least you were able to keep it balanced between both sides.

I vow to wear shirts with sleeves when visiting UAE with TPR in the future.

^

After our trip our to Sharjah, it was time for some more serious credit whoring around Dubai. From a theme park and roller coaster enthusiast perspective, there isn't *that* much the UAE has to offer, but at least each of these little places were quite "interesting" in it's own right. Most of them kiddie or smaller sized coasters, but all of them unique and weird. This next trio of parks is no exception, including what could be one of the most bizarre and borderline "scary" park visits I have ever had! Read on...

We arrived at Wonderland to a very odd sight....

We were the ONLY car in the parking. NOT JOKING! Have a look...

There is one half of the parking lot...with our car...

And then the other half of the parking lot...no cars! We figured the place must be closed...but we did all our research and the website said it was open!

And as it turns out...the park was OPEN! They sold us a points card (with NO REFUNDS posted on the front ticket booths) and told us several rides were open, for sure one roller coaster, but the other roller coaster was being "painted." We figured "What the hell?"

If you remember our infamous trip report from Nara Dreamland in Japan, and you thought that place was deserted, run down and scary...this place was just as bad if not worse!

"We are seriously the ONLY people in the park...not just saying that like because it feels that way...no, we are literally the ONLY people in the park!"

The shops and front area didn't look like quite as run down as Nara...but they were equally as creepy and empty.

Most of them locked up and closed, looked like they hadn't been opened in years.

These fountains hadn't seen water in a while either.

As we ventured further into the park, we realize that not only are there no visitors, there are also no employees anywhere, which means there aren't any rides open.

In fact, we really weren't seeing many rides, just empty areas where it looked like a ride once stood.

We found this "safari" ride, but looks like all the cars were not even on the track.

There were game stalls ready to play, but not an employee anywhere to be found.

The further we went, the crappier the park started to look.

Here was the roller coaster that was supposed to be open...

There was a sign, a station, and a train...but no ride ops!

It didn't appear that this coaster had run in a while...

We did manage to find someone and they told us the brakes were being replaced and the coaster could not operate. Shocking!

Normally I'd be all over anything "adult", but not in this place!

The Tagada was...guess what...CLOSED!

No way in f**king hell I'd go in there...if it was even open!

Towards the front of the park was the other coaster and the old Hammerhead ride that used to be at Knott's Berry Farm.

This one was supposed to be "closed" so we'll go check it out just in case.

There appears to be a ride op in the station...

They proceeded to tell us that the ride was not open, and they were "painting" it.

Oddly enough, though, there wasn't any "painting" going on, the lift motor was running, and the guys in the station were sitting there as though they were waiting for riders.

Dave went to go ask if there was any way we could ride, and we got the feeling that they would have let us on if we would have "bribed" them, but Elissa and I were just "can we please just get the f**k out of this creepy place???"

It was kind of sad to see the old Knott's Hammerhead just sitting there...

Apparently, the ride has never run since it was at this park.

Doesn't surprise me as it hardly ran when it was at Knott's.

Oddly enough it actually looked like one of the rides that was in decent shape here!

They kept all the old theming from Knott's.

"Please! Someone get me down from here!"

The ride looked to be in ok shape, but the control booth had certainly seen better days!

I was actually surprised to see a control panel inside the booth!

Poor Hammerhead...not that I really liked it all that much when it was at Knott's, but I can't really think of a more horrible place to have to go and die.

This apparently is an actual onride photo taken in 1974...the last time any of the rides operated at this park!

The next park we went to, Al-Nasr Leisureland, was almost as un-inviting looking.

"Sorry folks! The park is closed. The wooden penguins at the front should have told ya...."

Well, let's hope that "Luna Park & Fruit Garden" = Coaster that is actually operating!

Hooray! The coaster is running!!!! Oh wait...

Once again...we are the ONLY people at this park!

I'm guessing this is the "Fruit Garden" part of the park!

I love how all these parks have embraced the "western version" of their culture!

F**K YEAH!!!!

It has 1970s looking letters, lasers, and space theme with a name that screams "FREEZING COLD!" Makes no sense. This is going to be AWESOME!

Oh, no! This is NOT a sign of quality!

"We would have been better off if this one was CLOSED!"

The Lift Hill...

The Control Panel...

They VERY nervous riders!

I mean, look at it...how bad could it be?

The first drop!

Here's one for the lift hill enthusiasts!

Would you believe that this ride is only 6 years old???

HOLY CRAP! This ride was terrible!!!! And then they made you go around AGAIN!!!! OUCH!

It should say "Anyone that is breathing should not ride!"

"So THAT's where they keep all the girl scout cookies!"

The train ride into the evil building of doom was actually open...but we were way too scared to ride!

HOLY CRAP!!! Where did those people come from??? And why are they in a boat on train tracks??? WTF!!!!

Apparently, we just got teleported to the Arabic Hersheypark.

Can you guys please use some of your money to fix these parks???

Next stop.... Stargate!!! If I see Richard Dean Anderson, I'm kicking him in the balls!

According to the sign outside, they have this awesome Intamin rocket coaster!

But no...in reality they just have this insane, evil, spinning death monster.

Welcome to Walt Disney's Arabic Knock-Off Space Mountain!

Honestly, though, the insides of this place looked pretty cool and OMFG THERE IS A MAN IN SHORTS!!! HOLY F**K!!! SHOOT HIM NOW AND MAKE HIM EAT HIS OWN PENIS!!!!

This was easily the nicest park we went to today...but then again...we could have been at Williams Grove and it still would have been the nicest park we would have been at today!

The spinning coaster of hot maniacal death was down here somewhere...

Hooray! Credit!!!

Ha! Woman! You're smiling now...wait until you ride this death trap!

The lift was beyond frightening...watch and LISTEN to the video!

I've honestly never see anything quite like this ride.

And the lift hill...OMFG the lift hill!

Why do you guys look so worried?!?!?

Little did we know you ACTUALLY go into space!

The first drop was almost as screwed up as the lift hill!

And not joking...the ride felt like it went about 50 mile per hour! It was insane.

The park really did look very cool.

And yes! In Dubai their 4D theater has an extra D in it! Hooray!

We see you giant ass building! We will get to you next!

The adventure will continue.....

And some videos from this update....

That terrible Top Fun death machine at Al-Nasr Leisureland:

And the spinning death monster with the lift hill into space at Stargate:

Pretty sure in this years Mitch Hawker Steel Poll the Top Fun death machine at Al-Nasr Leisureland will takeover the bottom spot.

Ugh, that ride hurt so bad, and I'm pretty sure I started to cry a little when he sent us around again.

^ Agreed. Taer it down!!!!@

For what it's worth, both credits were operating at Wonderland the day I was there. You didn't miss much though