I only went to six of the eleven attractions at Wild Wadi Waterpark, but I had fun nonetheless. My first ride was Burj Surj, which I did with Ethan. It was no lines, no waiting, which was pretty awesome as it was already 11:00, one hour after opening time.

In Burj Surj, we got flushed down to “toilets” in a round inner tube with a plastic bottom that hit the first bump hard. Then we decided to go on Tantrum Alley, where we only had to wait about five minutes. Tantrum Alley was by far the better water slide with three different tornadoes, where you go up and down the rounded walls, getting splashed and soaked on the way. Next we went hunting for Mom. We finally found her getting on White Water Wadi, and we called her name, but she didn’t hear us. So Ethan went knee-boarding on the Wipeout Flowrider while I went looking for the exit of White Water Wadi. It was actually the entrance, but I didn’t have to figure that out—I eventually found the other 75% of my family.

Ethan and I then took Mom on Tantrum Alley, convincing her by saying things like, “Yeah, this is the better one. This is a good one for you. Burj Surj is bad. No, this just has the tornadoes, not the toilet bowls.” I thought she was going to cry by the look on her face as we flew down the slide, but she didn’t. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the first drop leads to a tornado. I knew that, but I didn’t realize there was a two-foot high wall. I didn’t realize it was that short.

After Tantrum Alley, we went back up to Burj Surj, then I went twice on White Water Wadi. We found Ethan again at the Riptide Flowrider, which is where you get lessons. When he was done, Mom, Ethan, and I went on the Flood River Flyer, which ends up in the same places as White Water Wadi. Our meal there of pizza, ice cream, and hot chocolate was good. Ethan went on the super-fast Jumeirah Sceirah. I declined the invitation.

We then re-rode several rides, floated on the Lazy River, swam in Breaker’s Bay, and finally piled into a taxi to go back to the Hilton. After freshening up, we went across the street to a Lebanese restaurant for a light supper.

Ciao!