Heads up theme park followers! I’ve discovered the most effective place to remain at Dubai Parks and Resorts if you happen to’re not into LEGO however nonetheless desire a lodge with character. Lapita Lodge is a 5 star Polynesian-themed resort that’s a part of Marriott’s Autograph Assortment. So, in addition to being super-family-friendly, you understand you’re in for an expensive keep.
Having stated that, after we arrived – simply after the lodge’s common verify in time – there was a queue of automobiles main as much as the foyer entrance. It didn’t bode properly. We have been staying over the most important vacation within the GCC – Eid Al Adha – and it appeared everybody had had the identical concept. Was our timing an enormous mistake?
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Our keep at Lapita Lodge Dubai
Truthful play to the Lapita staff – they magically remoulded our hectic first impression in minutes. The site visitors jam moved quick and inside we bought to the entrance of the reception line in fairly good time. In the meantime a Smurf was wandering round saying whats up to children, ice lollies have been handed out to travel-weary visitors and a Polynesian dance present lulled us into vacation mode.

The lodge’s Pacific theme continues all through the resort with carved darkish wooden furnishings, rattan equipment and islander prints transporting you hundreds of miles away.
We booked Lapita for 2 nights as a part of a 4 evening keep in Dubai.
Our household room at Lapita Dubai

The lodge’s important amenities are within the foyer constructing. The lodging blocks are unfold out across the central pool space with loads of palms, succulents and lawns, once more transporting you hundreds of miles from the sun-scorched plains of the outskirts of Dubai.
You possibly can select between pool-facing rooms and river-facing rooms that overlook the outlets, eating places and small points of interest of Riverland Dubai.

We booked a pool view household room with balcony. The excellent news about household rooms at Lapita is that they’ve correct beds for everybody, which isn’t at all times the case within the Center East.
Much less nice was that we have been supplied a floor flooring pool-facing household room after we checked in. This appeared like a good suggestion on the time – much less lifts to deal with at breakfast time. However it meant our terrace confronted on to bushes relatively than the pool views that we anticipated.
In addition to having greater than anticipate foliage in our line of sight, we additionally had the corporate of quiet a number of mosquitos. I might suggest requesting a better room if you happen to get the selection.
The room itself was very comfy – not that we have been going to be in it a lot. We had two compact double beds, a big lavatory and loads of Polynesian decor.


One of many sudden extras whereas staying over Eid was that we might see the nightly Riverland firework show from our room.

What’s included in a Lapita keep?
We booked direct and took benefit of a room fee that included breakfast and theme park entry – we might go to one park for every evening we stayed. This labored out cheaper than the park tickets on their very own!
Verify costs for every of the theme parks: Motiongate | LEGOLAND Dubai | LEGOLAND Waterpark | Actual Madrid World
One thing to remember is that the theme parks aren’t open all yr spherical, so relying on while you plan to go totally different presents can be found.
Half board and full board choices can be found providing you with complementary entry to the Kalea buffet for all of your inclusive meals and credit score in the direction of eating on the Hikina, ARI and Kahuna premium eating places.
Examine costs and offers for reserving direct with Marriott and on reserving.com.

You even have quick access to Riverland Dubai, which has its personal small points of interest, outlets and eating places. We ate on the Pirates Tavern one night, which was completely corny however a superb snicker with choreographed fights and first rate meals.


Dubai Parks and Resorts theme park entry
One other bonus of staying at a Dubai Parks & Resorts lodge is that they’re all very near the theme parks. You possibly can even see Motiongate’s John Wick rollercoaster and the indoor Dreamworks attraction from Lapita.

There’s a non-public entrance into Riverland from the place you will get to every theme park in 10 minutes, or much less if you happen to can seize a free golf cart journey.


Right here’s the stroll occasions to every of the parks from the resort’s non-public gate:
Lapita to LEGOLAND Dubai – 6 minutes
Lapita to LEGOLAND Water Park – 6 minutes
Lapita to Actual Madrid World Dubai – 7 minutes
Lapita to Motiongate Dubai – 10 minutes.


Our important purpose was to revisit the film theme park Motiongate. It was a particular request from our 10-year-old who liked the rollercoasters final time have been right here.
We might have visited one other throughout our keep however we determined to maintain issues easy as we had already completed the LEGOLAND Dubai and the LEGOLAND Waterpark, and we weren’t so within the Actual Madrid World park.
It additionally made for a extra chilled keep and allowed us to loosen up by the lodge pool.
Necessary word: the deal we bought didn’t permit us to go to the identical park twice throughout our keep. If it had, we’d have completed a fast spin round a few of our favorite Motiongate rides earlier than shifting on to our subsequent Dubai lodge.
Q Quick Mini

Because it was Eid – and since we’d seen firsthand the variety of folks staying at Lapita – we determined to look right into a getting Fast Passes for Motiongate. It seems you’ll be able to’t purchase these independently in case your theme park entry is a part of a lodge keep.
Nonetheless Lapita’s devoted theme park concierge was capable of supply us a Q Quick Mini fast cross, which gave us 5 tear-off fast passes to make use of on rides of our selection. So, after we might see there’s a lengthy wait time we whipped out our passes, tore off a ticket and jumped the queue.
4 units of 5 passes labored out at 250 AED (about £50).
Lodge amenities

I can extremely suggest permitting yourselves a while to benefit from the lodge resort in addition to the points of interest of Riverland Dubai and the theme parks.
Swimming swimming pools

Lapita has two swimming pools and a lazy river. We had no hassle discovering solar beds across the lazy river however it was tougher to safe them round the principle pool until you bought there early or late.
Within the afternoon, the employees got here spherical with free ice lollies. If you’d like casual food and drinks there’s a pool bar.
Youngsters membership and household actions

If, like us, you’re solely staying a few nights for the theme parks, you’re going to overlook out on a whole lot of the household actions out there right here.
There’s a children membership for 4 to 11-year-olds. Tiki Home is open for 4 one-hour timed classes after lunch and also you get a complementary hour every day. If you need extra this prices 50 AED per hour, per youngster.
Different actions with the leisure staff embrace household video games, crafts, face portray and a film each evening. If you wish to make your personal enjoyable you’ll be able to borrow sports activities gear and play on the big grassed areas between the lodging blocks or hang around on the play space.
There are additionally character meets and Fijian dance performances across the resort within the afternoons and evenings.
Eating
Lapita has a buffet in addition to 4 pay as you dine eating places, a ice cream parlour and a foyer cafe. We had the buffet breakfast and ate on the ARI pool restaurant on the second night of our keep.


This has a world menu and my ladies have been pleased to select from the pizza and pasta dishes whereas I opted for a contemporary salad after a day of theme park meals.
The Kalea buffet was being refurbished throughout our keep, so we had breakfast in two of the resort’s perform rooms which have been tailored for the aim. There was loads of selections from worldwide delicacies to western staples and every part was very properly introduced.
Closing ideas on Lapita Lodge

This is a superb lodge and one I might return to if we have been going to remain at Dubai Parks and Resorts once more.
The meals, rooms and repair have been all precisely what I might anticipate of a Marriott. Despite the fact that we visited on a busy vacation weekend and the principle buffet was closed, it actually didn’t influence our keep.
I might simply be certain that we bought a better room to keep away from these mozzies.
I’d positively suggest Lapita for households with children who usually are not into LEGO. If you’re, you’ll need to learn my evaluate of LEGOLAND Dubai Lodge, which we visited the yr earlier than.
You possibly can take a look at extra Lapita opinions on TripAdvisor.
FAQs about Lapita Lodge Dubai
Lapita Lodge is a part of the Dubai Parks and Resorts advanced to the South East finish of Dubai. Right here’s the situation on Google Maps.
It’s 50km from Downtown, which is a 40 minute drive if the site visitors is mild.
The lodge is a 50 minute drive from Dubai Worldwide Airport (DXB), which is about 65km away. Planning to fly to Dubai? Examine flight costs.
Should you ebook a keep together with theme park entry you’ll be able to select between Motiongate, Actual Madrid World Dubai, LEGOLAND Dubai and LEGOLAND Waterpark.
There’s a very informal strategy to what you put on in most Dubai motels and Lapita is not any exception. You’ll see every part from bikinis to burkinis on the pool and shorts to dishdasha in public locations. The Hikina, Kahuna and Each day Scoop eating places have a sensible informal costume coverage, the place lengthy trousers and tailor-made shirts are anticipated.