From the moment you walk into Atlantis, you get the feeling that you have entered one of the massive themed hotels of Vegas. You walk past a variety of high End shops to the entrance of Aquaadventure. We had pre purchased tickets (as it is cheaper than buying on the day) but so had a lot of other guests and queued for a good half an hour to forty five minutes to get in. So make sure you get there early - they open at 10am. You can hire towels, lockers, cameras and even pre pay for meals. If you go for the family sized locker, be aware that there aren't family changing rooms - this caused quite a bit of confusion when we got our clothes mixed up in the bags!  It is worth noting that at 1.2 m you have to purchase an adult ticket as this is the height you need to be to ride the bigger waterflumes.

I have to say it was really confusing entering the park. You are expected to know how it all works and we hadn't got a clue. We weren't given a map and I believe that you can only get one at reception. There is a large child's water park similar to drench towers at Legoland. We headed here first. There were no free sunbeds so we stood at the side and watched the children.

Big man and his Dad went and rode one of the larger flumes and we finally worked out that we could take the younger children on the numerous Rapids rides if we each got a double dingy with a child seat. This was easier said than done! Unfortunately people grab hold of them like sunbeds and keep them for themselves. We finally managed to find 2 so could enjoy the rides. The Rapids went on for a good hour but there were numerous places you could stop in between, if you wanted to get out/needed to.

There was also a shorter wave pool that we enjoyed.

I rode the shark attack with big man which is a flume in the dark that then takes you slowly through a pool of Sharks and rays. I have to admit to being really frightened as I was worried he had got us on the wrong ride, which is a shear drop into the tanks. I should have trusted him more!

Big man went with Daddy to ride some other flumes whilst I relaxed on the beach with the younger two. We had a nice view of Burj Al Arab and due to its location on the Palm the sea was calm with no waves due to the location. It is a lovely place to go to get away from the hustle and bustle of the waterpark.

At around 5 we got changed and headed to the lost chambers before leaving at around 6. Here we found out the main problem with visiting Aquaadventure. There were no taxis and a HUGE queue. Talking to people it was about a 2 1/2hr wait. We chose to ride the monorail back to the Gateway in a hope of getting a taxi there. Whilst there were fewer people there were still no taxis. If we went again and the children were older, I would recommend staying later in Atlantis and eating there. Finally we did get a taxi but the traffic was mayhem accounting for the no taxi situation.

We had a lovely time in the park even with the niggles I had. Hopefully if you have read this and go you will be more clued up and find it easier. When it is warm there is nothing better than splashing around in the water or laying in the shade of a palm tree. There are many other things you can do there such as swim with dolphins, feed rays and use high wires all at an extra cost. We had a great day and I would recommend it to anyone with children over the age of 3 who are confident in the water.