Water wonder

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Aquaventure at Atlantis will set a new standard for the region's waterpark industry. Peter Doyle, the resort's senior vice president, marine and waterpark, gives Leisure Manager a sneak preview ahead of this month's launch.

The most talked-about resort in Dubai this year is without a doubt Sol Kerzner's Atlantis, The Palm. Aside from its unmissable location on the crescent of the Palm Jumeirah, its shellfish pink façade that people will love to hate and its reputation for pure indulgence, Atlantis is most intriguing for the mythical underwater world it is themed around.

Sealife and ocean inspirations infiltrate every aspect of the resort, with even the business cards of its senior team adorned with a fish and wave motif, and this theme is celebrated by several major new marine attractions: Aquaventure, The Lost Chambers and Ambassador's Lagoon aquariums and Dolphin Bay.

All scheduled to open alongside the hotel on September 24, these attractions are expected to set new standards for the waterpark and marine attractions industries - not just in the Middle East but further afield too.

Atlantis' Peter Doyle, senior vice president, marine and water park and a themed attractions veteran, is so genuinely blown away by the project - which he joined in July 2007 - that he took hours out of his busy schedule to show Leisure Manager around the Aquaventure waterscape prior to the launch.

Slide into the sea

Atlantis is the ninth themed project that Doyle has been involved in launching, following roles at Ocean Park in Hong Kong and Splash Island in the Philippines, but it is his first position in the Middle East. It's also the first project he has worked on that combines marine life with the rides and slides.

"The visionary behind Aquaventure and the whole concept of Ambassador's Lagoon, Lost Chambers and Dolphin Bay is Sol Kerzner and of course, not doing anything in typical fashion, he's the one that decided that the marine experience should be part of the guest experience everywhere - in the hotel, the rooms, the lobby and the restaurants - and he's the one who incorporated the idea of putting rides right through the shark lagoon," says Doyle.

"Bringing the marine animal component into the slides is fabulous. There really is nowhere else where you can go either fast or slow through a shark lagoon," he asserts.

The number one key attraction is therefore Leap of Faith, which starts at the top of Aquaventure's centrepiece, The Ziggurat, and "is the fastest speed slide in the Middle East that takes guests right through the middle of the shark lagoon," explains Doyle, adding that there are more than 100 sharks in the tank, some local and some from Australia.

There is also an option to take a more sedate ride through a completely clear acrylic tube "where you float at a shark viewing pace through the shark lagoon", says Doyle.

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