DUBAI — The much-awaited Dubai Summer Surprises, which opens in Dubai today, is surely set to enthral visitors, tourists, and residents with its 72 days of fun and entertainment activities offered at various shopping malls and other popular venues in the emirate.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, DSS organisers say the summer fiesta is poised to attract over 2.16 million visitors, an increase of 15 per cent from last year. Besides, an increase in visitor expenditure is predicted to cross the Dh3 billion mark, a 20 per cent increase on last year’s figure.

Running until August 31, the 10-week fiesta will have all the surprises of this year’s edition kick off simultaneously, and run for 72 days instead of dividing them over 10 weeks as was the case in the past editions, where one week was allocated to each surprise. Besides, the 10 surprises have been planned to cater to every age category, including children, teenagers, and adults.

A new addition has been made to the 10 Surprises this year, Comedy Surprises, which will showcase laughter in its best forms. The other surprises include Food, Heritage, Art, Flower, Knowledge, Cartoon, Nature, Adventure, and Global.

Preparations have been in full swing at shopping malls, Dubai airport and the Airport Expo for weeks, with placards and advertisements and the all-time favourite mascot, Modhesh, himself promoting the fiesta. Among the many venues, residents and visitors can catch the Best Of Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) action at the Modhesh Fun City at Airport Expo.

The Modhesh Fun City with its 30,000 sq mt area will offer the Best Of Entertainment, Fun And Learning Opportunities, returning to the sprawling Airport Expo Dubai with bigger attraction.

The largest indoor theme park of its kind in the region, the Modhesh Fun City opens its doors to the public today with a grand 10th year opening celebration of DSS 2007. Traditionally, the Fun City has been the venue for major DSS themed weeks’ openings, mega shows and national celebrations since its inception in the year 2000. Built annually during the summer, the large indoor facility offers fun, entertainment and learning opportunities to hundreds and thousands of guests, including children, teenagers and adults.

Bigger scale

Says Yousif Mubarak, DSS Events, Operations and Services Director: “Coinciding with the 10th anniversary celebrations of DSS, Modhesh Fun City this time around has been built on a much bigger scale. The total area of this unique recreational facility is 30,000 sq mt which will house several zones, including some new ones such as the Story Teller Zone, Library and Pet Zone. The zones have been so designed so as to cater to a wide spectrum of interests.

“While the Fun City mainly caters to children, it has dedicated leisure and relaxation areas for their parents in the form of a Family Food Court, kiosks and a coffee shop. The Fun City, with its larger premises, is equipped to handle large crowds especially on weekends and of course, there is ample free parking available for ease and convenience of the visitors. We invite everybody to come and have a first hand experience of the new-look Modhesh Fun City,” adds Mubarak.

Based on the theme of Fantasy of Modhesh, the all-time favourite DSS mascot, the Fun City is decorated predominantly in blue, green and yellow. Welcoming the guests at every step would be the main host Modhesh in various shapes and sizes. In fact, the guest welcome begins right from the bridge entrance on the main road towards Airport Expo where they will find Modhesh ushering motorists in with a Modhesh Fun City banner. The bridge leading towards the venue will also be decorated with colourful festoons, flags and Modhesh cutouts holding banners with Modhesh Fun City, Modhesh Saloon and Family Food Court, giving a fair idea to the visitors about what lies ahead.

New-look Modhesh Fun City

The Modhesh Fun City in its new look offers a lot more besides a refreshing and bright decor. The ceilings of the halls are in bright hues too, giving it a total funfair kind of look. The Central Hall is divided into various zones where children as well as their families can spend time playing, relaxing and having fun. There is the Library, Nursery, Lego Zone, Toddler Zone, Coffee Shop, Modhesh Store, E-zone, remote control cars, Mini Stage, Arts and Crafts, Hamtaro, Fulla inflatable play areas, Fencing, Story Teller Zone, Fun Fair, and Redemption Games. All throughout Modhesh will be present with banners and signs indicating the directions to the various zones and areas.

The exhibition hall square columns have branding banners with Modhesh exhibiting his various talents while the ceilings are adorned with colourful hangings complementing the theme of the Fun City.

The Library is well equipped with books for children of all ages. Younger ones will have colourful fancy furniture to sit and read some of their favourite stories. The Library leads to the Nursery Zone where children can spend time playing or just relaxing and reading under supervision of well trained staff. This is followed by the Toddler Zone and Lego Zone. The latter, with an area of 14m by 7m, has the entrance shaped as a big truck. Offering lego games and blocks appropriate for children of different age groups, this zone could be favourite for kids who want to exercise their architectural abilities. The Toddler Zone entrance with Modhesh sitting in a toy train and teddies flying with colourful balloons will surely attract the little ones. The toddlers can enjoy the toy cars, balls pool and the climbing wall in their own zone.

The Modhesh Store

Right next to it is the Coffee Shop where refreshments and snacks would be available with ample seating capacity. While the toddlers have a blast in the Toddler Zone, their parents can relax over a cup of tea or coffee. The Modhesh Store built in a circular shape will be stocked with Modhesh merchandise, including stationery items, games and toys, beach items and gifts and souvenirs among others.

The Tech Zone or Remote Control Car Zone will follow next. The area of this zone is 11m by 21m and will have computers for games and remote control cars in a designated area for children to play with.

Next in line is the Mini Stage to host some interesting programmes followed by the Arts and Crafts Zone. Modhesh will be holding a set of colours with smiling colour palettes, welcoming visitors to this zone. The zone hosts art and craft activities as well as training and entertainment under the supervision of one animator and five volunteers. Decorated in bright colours, the ‘animal chairs’ for children to sit down are particularly fascinating.

Riot of Colours

There is Hamtaro and Fulla – the inflatable play areas for kids and fencing areas by Dubai Fencing Federation. Then there is the Story Teller Zone where children can listen to their favourite stories. Redemption Zone and Balloon Zone are located next. Modhesh Studio, Modhesh Saloon and Modhesh Stores are situated in the East Exhibition Hall flaunting fun decor and a riot of colours.