Atlantis-Dubai

For anyone that is feeling the least bit sorry for us over here in Abu Dhabi, you can stop that right now. Here's why: We just went to Atlantis-Dubai. It. Was. Amazing. I got John a book for his birthday a week before mine and he got me (us) a weekend at Atlantis. I think I'd go for Atlantis over a book any day. If I had time to figure out links, I would post photos of the place. Once we get our internet set up at home, I'll post our own photos.
Atlantis is located at the top of one of the Palm Tree peninsulas that juts into the gulf off of Dubai. The trunk is full of nice apartment buildings, the fronds are full of big villas, and a tunnel at the top takes you to the crescent/breakwater for the palm tree. The big opening in the Atlantis hotel building is centered on the drive up the trunk. Their water park and other resorts under construction are along either side of Atlantis.
The resort's secret weapon is the check-in receptionist who easily sweet-talked us into an upgrade, which in the end we don't regret. In fact we had relatively reasonable rates since it is still off season and Ramadan specials are also in effect. We had a corner room with a terrace and a view of the nice pool, the beach, the palm, the Burj Al-Arab (the fancy hotel that looks like a sailboat) and, in the distance, the Dubai skyline with the Burj Khalifa, currently the tallest building in the world. It's 828 m (2,717 ft) tall. In comparison, the Willis tower (aka the Sears Tower) is 527 m (1,729 ft). That's a lot of building.
The resort has lots to offer. The pool below was refreshing and incredibly relaxing, even in the heat. The breakfast buffet included in our package was the nicest looking, biggest, and most diverse I have ever seen in my life. I am not exaggerating. Even the water park was wonderful, which I really wasn't expecting since I've done more than my share of water parks in the Chicago area and the Wisconsin Dells and thought I was done with them for good. None of those can compare to this one. A 2 kilometer long lazy river. A 60 degree drop slide off a ziggurat that ends up in a tube chuting through a tank of sharks. Plenty of other fun water rides for all ages. We spent half the day there and never got too hot. In the afternoon we wandered through the Lost Chambers, an aquarium with lots of enormous beautiful tanks full of 65,000 fish. That's a lot of fish.
Friday night we headed into downtown Dubai. We started by wandering through the Dubai Mall, one of many enormous high end malls in town. Next door to the mall is the Burj Khalifa. Separating the two is a small lake. Every 20 minutes throughout the day and evening a sounds, water, and (in the evenings) light show takes place there. We had dinner at one of the many restaurants along the lake and enjoyed three completely different shows. Think Bellagio, Las Vegas, except (I just double checked the facts here), the Dubai Fountain is 25% bigger, shoots 500 feet into the air, and can be seen from 20 miles away. Seeing that fountain with the Burj Khalifa rising even higher into the sky beyond it is completely jaw-dropping.
After another very pleasant morning at the Atlantis pool, we returned home, 90 minutes away, to our furniture free apartment. The ship with our 40 foot container is allegedly docking in Abu Dhabi today, so there is a slight chance that we'll get our furniture this weekend, just in time for Eid.