Children's City introduces online booking facility

The soon-to-be-opened Children's City has introduced an online booking facility for people to reserve seats for the various infotainment activities.

Ahmed Abdul Karim, Director of the Horticulture and Public Parks Department at Dubai Municipality, said a web site would be established to enable children to interact and get involved in activities affecting children internationally.

"The city will be administered by women from the municipality. All the activities are run by international institutions which specialise in children's entertainment. We will also run a course which will be focused on getting children more involved in their studies."

The Dh77 million Children's City, a unique infotainment facility, is undergoing finishing touches at its Creek Park site and is expected to open in the first week of the Dubai Shopping Festival 2002.

A first such project in the Middle East, the Children's City is expected to attract two million visitors in the first year.

"Visitors will be required to use more than one sense to discover the exhibits at the interactive city," said Abdul Karim.

"The city will help in developing the imagination of children, promoting discovery through playing, and encourage discovery of the principles of nature, science and technology by using the five senses."

The three-storey, futuristic-looking building consists of three geometric blocks on a 9,000 sq metre area. Targeted visitors will be children in the five to 15 age group, including children with special needs.

The Resource Centre on the ground floor will provide the children with knowledge about the human body, the five senses, and physiology.

In the Toddlers Area, children up to five years will be able to play with sand and water in addition to a climbing frame, ball pit and playhouse.

The ground floor also houses the welcome hall with information on countries, a meeting point and general amenities. Its other attractions are a 100-seat planetarium, a discovery space gallery and a cafeteria. The discovery space gallery will be for children of five to 15. This area will help them explore elementary science.

The science block's first floor has a play area and a computer and communications gallery. Children can play games, paint, and learn how to send faxes, talk on a cordless phone with friends, and also learn about old and new methods of communication.

The culture block has a 'Nature Centre' gallery, 'The Way We Live' gallery and an 'International Culture' gallery.

It offers an opportunity to visiting children to compare their culture with other cultures, and observe the differences and similarities.

The Children's City will be open throughout the week, except on Friday mornings. The times on Friday will be from 4 to 10 in the evening. All other days, it will be from 9 am to 10 pm.

The City can receive 2,500 visitors an hour. The fee for children under 15 is Dh10, for adults Dh15 and Dh5 for each member of a group.