After hitting the slopes of Ski Dubai for a couple of hours, I took a taxi right across the highway to the Wild Wadi Water Park. Wild Wadi is unique in that it was designed with elaborate theming and an extensive backstory based on the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, a well-known figure in Arabian folklore.
Most other water parks in the world, such as Raging Waters and Wild Rivers in Southern California, are fairly devoid of theming and focus more on the rides. An exception to this is Walt Disney World, which features two themed water parks—Typhoon Lagoon (with a tropical paradise theme) and Blizzard Beach (with a unique ‘melted ski resort’ theme).
Apart from the usual slides, wave pools and inner tubes, Wild Wadi has incorporated the water conduit system throughout the park directly into the architecture—all tied into the general Arabian Fantasy theme.
According the backstory, Juha and his friend Sinbad are shipwrecked after a storm. Bored at the lagoon where they are stranded, Sinbad directed his crew to create waterslides out of the natural rock formations. The cast of characters (drawn in Disney-like fashion) from this story are the mascots of the park, and are seen on everything from retail displays to safety signage.
The theming is a mix of Tropical Paradise and Arabian Fantasy. All of the water slide support structures look like they could have been built from materials found on a deserted island, and the water conduits resemble an ancient aqueduct.
The overall design of Wild Wadi is first-rate for a water park (which due to the nature of their attractions, are more difficult to theme than traditional amusement venues), but second-rate in comparison to the likes of Disney. Amusement Whitewater, the firm that did most of the design and fabrication work, probably had a much smaller budget to work with.
That I could start the morning skiing and then take a cab to ride water slides in the scorching sun, however, could only happen in Dubai.