Family Day Out at IMG Worlds of Adventure…

With my brother over for his summer holidays, last weekend we decided to go to the IMG Worlds of Adventure for a day of Family Fun at the World’s Largest Indoor Theme Park. Read on to find out which rides we enjoyed the most and don’t forget to watch the vlog at the end of this post.

We reached our destination on Saturday morning by 11 am, and could thankfully walk straight in since we had already prebooked our tickets. The que for those waiting to buy tickets was enormous, so I would advise you do the same! Being indoors, this theme park is very much popular during the summer season.

IMG Worlds of Adventure is made up of 4 different zones: IMG Boulevard, Cartoon Network, Lost Valley – Dinosaur Adventure and Marvel Zone. All zones have rides & attractions, as well as shopping stores and restaurants or stalls.

Our first stop was the Cartoon Network Zone, since we had two little ones with us, one being Master Z, aged 3, and the second being my niece, aged almost 2 years old. The Zone includes 5 rides and a short 20 minute CN Live Show that takes place during set times during the day, so ensure to check out the timings so you can plan accordingly. The Zone also has a handful of single rides that are free to use, dotted around and outside the bigger ride entrances. These are great for entertaining the little ones in between rides.

Not all the rides within the Cartoon Network zone are applicable for small children, and majority of all rides have a 1.5 metres height restriction. My sister and brother both braved The Power Puff Girls – Mojo Robot Rampage, and survived to tell the tale. One ride for the whole family that I highly recommend is The Ride of Ooo with Finn and Jake. You simply sit in your carriage and have it take you around a tour of the Cartoon Network Zone from above, whilst passing through action scenes.

We then headed to the Marvel Zone, where we first enjoyed a delicious Chinese lunch at Chang’s Golden Dragon. The majority of restaurants within IMG Worlds of Adventure that we browsed offer set meals and prices of dishes are usually above AED 40-50. There is a huge variety in terms of cuisines and the stalls offer a cheaper alternative.

Be warned, the Spider Man Doc Ock’s Revenge roller coaster is more intense than it looks. You may be able to hear the screams as the roller coaster whizzes by, but that is the least scary part of the ride. As much as we had all tried to egg each other on for trying out the deadly Thor Thunder Spin, none of us ended up going on it. It was just a tad too crazy, especially with the endless screams you could hear every time people were riding it. We also caught Spider Man walking around and had a lovely photo opportunity with him just as we had entered the Marvel Zone.

As the day went on, the rides began to get quite busy and waiting times did increases depending on the popularity of the ride. The longest line by far was at The Haunted Hotel in the IMG Boulevard Zone. We waited for about an hour, whilst the little ones enjoyed the toddler play area in Lazy Town. The Haunted Hotel is a must try, and there was plenty of screaming from all of us. I won’t say too much about it, but it was highly entertaining, in it’s own petrifying way.

For the last part of the day, we headed in to the Lost Valley – Dinosaur Adventure, a darker zone with waterfalls and dinosaurs creeping out of shrubs. This zone has five attractions, of which the kids were able to enjoy the Dino Carousel and Master Z also explored the slides in the Adventure Fortress. We enjoyed hot dogs for dinner from a stall near by, and my sister and brother ended the day by riding The Velociraptor – the insane looking roller coaster that starts off indoors but takes you for a ride outside of the building itself. I think they were both glad to have left this ride to the end, because it surely takes all your energy from you.

Overall Experience

There’s plenty of souvenir shopping opportunities within all zones, and over all we all really enjoyed ourselves. I do think the theme park is mainly for teenagers and adults (who can handle a good amount of adrenaline) and would highly recommend it as a great family day out, especially to escape the summer heat. I would not recommend it if you are a family with babies and toddlers, as there isn’t much to do for them, especially if they are shorter than a meter high, and therefore you won’t get as much for your money.

Also, a quick note to say that food from outside is not at all allowed inside the theme park (unless it is baby food), and my hand held tripod was also taken away from me at the start, only to be returned as I left the premises. I saw a couple of selfie sticks confiscated too, so best to leave those behind.

As a family, it was great fun and a highly memorable trip, filled with screams and laughter. Do check out the Vlog below to catch our reactions and for a sneak peek into our day at IMG Worlds of Adventure.