With thrills and chills, families can make the best of their visit to Global Village
This is the best time of the year in Dubai. The weather is pleasant, schools are closed and you have time to unwind. A good place to spend your day with the family is the Global Village that offers new and exciting entertainment while continuing to offer favourite attractions year after year.
This season UK fairground specialist operator Mellors Entertainment LLC brings an innovative ‘Fantasy Island’ funfair concept that features more than 50 rides and skill games with instant rewards. The funfair area has classic wooden flooring in a “Coney Island” style fairground environment.
The ambience sets your heart racing with different types of rides — Log Flume, Pirate Ride, roller-coasters, traditional dodgem cars, a ghost train, trampolines, bungees and much more — that offer different experiences.
Enjoy Your Ride
If it is thrill you seek, ride the roller-coasters, be terrified by a ghost ride, and then cool off on the log ride. The more thrill-based adult rides include the Sky Swing, Capriolo, Waltzer and others called Top Buzz, Speedway and Freak Out.
Paul Grinnall, manager of Mellors Entertainment LLC says: “We’ve worked with the Mayor of London on rides supporting the 2012 London Olympics, the Royal wedding celebrations in Hyde Park for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the famous South Bank Centre on the River Thames in London and many more. We provide innovative and memorable funfair experiences tailored to each location where we operate. Global Village is a fantastic concept with a 17-year legacy of success and we are looking forward to enhance this legacy and ensure we create a truly memorable visitor experience for the region through our funfair.”
Grinnall adds: “Prices for the fairground are competitive with a number of rides starting from Dh10 and the average price of all rides about Dh20 or so with just a few of the more complex and challenging rides charging a higher price that can go up to Dh65.”
Just Kid-ding
Children have a number of themed attractions that are included in the entertainment programme such as Moshi Monster and Fairy Tales on Ice featuring Aladdin, Snow White and Pinocchio among other popular characters. “There are also special conceptualised children’s shows programmed by a London-based entertainment company – that features two shows a day, six days a week through the season,” says Ahmad Hussain bin Issa, executive director of operations at Global Village.
Art And Culture Of 65 nations
The country pavilions showcase the world to visitors. “Within our 30 pavilions you can find 65 countries represented from all over the world and these are what helps to make a visit to Global Village different,” Issa notes.
Some of the popular pavilions are India, Egypt, Africa, Yemen, China and Turkey. Thailand for example is always a firm favourite. “Every year we are offering something new and this year we have new European countries like Spain and Italy. We also have a new look and feel to the pavilions – making them bigger and more spacious to give investors the chance to bring more products and shops into each one. There are also a number of new look facades as well to better reflect the art and culture of that country,” he adds.
Fresh Talent, Best Shows
Speaking about the challenges Issa says: “The main challenge of organising an event of this nature is offering a wide variety of shows which satisfies the tastes of all visitors and each family member. We offer international shows every month throughout the season; yet we try to provide our visitors with the best international shows during major holidays.”
This season Global Village has more than 10,000 experienced individuals from different nationalities working at the venue. Additionally, Global Village has invested in new Emirati talent to bring fresh thinking, ideas and innovation to its management team by recruiting new Emirati executives. “I was appointed as the executive director of operations, while Fahad Al Khaja became the director government relations and administration departments and Ahmed AbdulRahim Al Marri took on the role of commercial director.
“We were recruited based on our expertise, talents, and performance in our previous roles and we are committed to delivering the very best in leisure and entertainment. I am really pleased to be part of the new Global Village management, along with my new colleagues and we are grateful to the Government for the efforts done to give chances to more Emiratis to build their career in an organisation such as the Global Village,” notes Issa.
The Global Village 2012-13 edition registered nearly 5 million visitors during its 168 days of operation, in addition to a record number of retail transactions totalling close to Dh1 billion during that same period. More than 12,000 cultural performances from around the world were showcased.
