Saturday, March 23, 2013

Dubai Marina Mall's popular 'Street Festival' to feature

Dubai Marina Mall, the popular lifestyle shopping destination for residents and visitors to the Dubai Marina community, is hosting the third edition of its immensely popular Dubai Marina Street Festival from March 21 to 30, 2013. The festival will feature more than 300 performances by international artists, offering a true carnival-like experience and fun for families and little ones.

Now recognised as part of the international street festival calendar, Dubai Marina Mall's 'Street Festival' has enhanced its offerings this year, with 30 percent more shows than last year.  Attracting top international artists, the event is tailored for the whole family and will present breathtaking acrobatics, funky saxophone performances, hip and bouncy beatboxing, comedy shows, juggling, ball spinning, unicycling, magic tricks, fortune telling, flamenco dancing, Cyr Wheel, Russian Bar, puppets shows and even drums performances using frying pans, pots and paint buckets, amongst others.
Nasser Rafi, Chief Executive Officer, Emaar Malls Group, said: 'The Dubai Marina Street Festival is now on the international street festival calendar and this year's edition is envisaged to the largest and most colourful so far. The event underlines the rising popularity of Dubai Marina Mall as a fun destination for families, and our commitment to offer refreshing lifestyle experiences for our visitors.'
To be held on The Promenade at Dubai Marina, the Street Festival is free and open the public. The performances will begin daily at 4pm. For more detailed information on the event or show timings, visit: www.dubaistreetfestival.com.
Dubai Marina Mall currently has over 140 retail outlets and provides an exciting mix of tenants including a supermarket, fashion wear, accessories, jewellers, boutiques, book & toy shops and children's entertainment, in addition to a food court, the 6-screen premium Reel Cinemas, SEGA Republic Game Zone and ‘Skate Zone’, Dubai's first outdoor skating rink.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The Dubai Fountain Lake Ride, a memorable abra tour

The Dubai Fountain Lake Ride is the latest addition to an array of memorable leisure experiences within Downtown Dubai, the flagship mega-development of Emaar Properties. For the first time, visitors have the opportunity to navigate the 30-acre Burj Lake, which is home to one of Dubai's must-visit tourist attractions, The Dubai Fountain, the world's tallest performing fountain.

Burj Lake is lined by several global icons including Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building; The Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping and entertainment destination; Souk Al Bahar, an Arabesque retail and dining out destination; and The Palace Downtown Dubai, a five star premium hotel. It is also a venue of the New Year's Eve Gala, which this year featured the captivating 'Water, Fire & Light' show.
With the introduction of The Dubai Fountain Lake Ride, visitors to Downtown Dubai can discover its varied attractions from a different visual perspective – from the abras. The traditional boats, used for ferrying passengers across the historic Dubai Creek, will be operated by the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) with abras plying the Burj Lake every half hour, with the provision to introduce more abras in due course.
Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Managing Director, Emaar Properties, said: 'As the world's most visited lifestyle destination, Downtown Dubai is continuously enhancing its offerings to provide visitors refreshing choices. The Dubai Fountain Lake Ride is extremely special as we are offering the experience of a traditional abra ride in a modern luxury setting in Downtown Dubai. The abras are environment-friendly and offer visitors the unparalleled experience of viewing the various iconic developments of Downtown Dubai, described as 'The Centre of Now,' from a different setting. We are thankful to RTA for their support to this new initiative.'
The Dubai Fountain Lake Ride will be held from Saturday to Thursday from 5:45pm to 11:15pm. In the evenings, the rides will be held in between subsequent performances of the fountain to ensure the safety of the visitors. Each abra can accommodate 6 people per trip. With experts at the helm, the abras will also navigate a defined path that does not interfere with the intricate nozzles and jets of the fountain's grid. The ticket counter and the abra bay are located at the Waterfront Promenade of The Dubai Mall and at At the Top, Burj Khalifa and can be conveniently accessed by visitors.
At over 900 ft (275 metres) in length – equivalent to that of over two football fields – The Dubai Fountain is designed by California-based WET, also the creators of the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas. It has powerful water nozzles that shoot water sprays to heights of over 450 ft – equivalent to that of a 45-storey building.
Among other tourist attractions in Downtown Dubai is At the Top, Burj Khalifa, the world's highest observatory deck located on Level 124 of Burj Khalifa, which can be accessed through The Dubai Mall. The mall has several leisure choices including Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, featuring thousands of aquatic animals; SEGA Republic, the region's first of its kind indoor theme parks; KidZania®, a dedicated children's edutainment centre; the Olympic-sized Dubai Ice Rink; and the 22-screen Reel Cinemas.
The US$ 20 billion Downtown Dubai also has world-class residences and hotels; commercial offices and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard, a 3.5 km boulevard lined with retail and F&B attractions. Visitors can conveniently access Downtown Dubai from the Dubai Metro station using the newly opened travellator.