What do you do in a region where the summer temperatures regularly reach the 120's and occasionally venture into the 130's, where wind and dust storms are frequent during those hot months, where people have large families, and where women and children request a certain level of privacy?
You build INDOOR AMUSEMENT PARKS. And I don't mean Chuck E. Cheese (which I have not seen here...PTL).
Apparently each western-style mall has one. The Villagio mall, which is about 5 minutes from our house, has a huge one: four-story-tall ceilings and the square footage of a Super Walmart. Complete with its own food court (despite the mall food court being literally right outside the entrance), 10-lane bowling alley, go-cart race track, bumper cars and other carnival rides, trampolines, gigantic tube/shoot/ball pit thing (like an indoor McDonald's play area), and full array of arcade games. Unbelievable.
Each park works a little differently, but for this one, entry is free and then you pay for each ride or activity. Cost-per-ride varies, from 5 Qatari Riyales (about $1.50 USD) per person for the Ferris wheel, kiddie train, and other "milder" rides, to 15 QR (about $4.12 USD) for the roller coaster. You get a swipe card, load it with whatever money amount you wish, then reload it when you run out. If you have money left on the card, then you just save it until next time. I put 150 QR on my card. That "150" sounds like a lot, but it's actually $40.12 USD, and when you think about entertaining 3 kids for any length of time, that's not a terrible amount of money.
Here are some pictures of the place and its rides. Sorry about the lesser quality--I took these with my cellphone camera, and I turned off the flash. Because of the sensitive nature of photographing women and children here, I had to be discrete. A reasonable number of people were there--no real waiting for rides, but enough people to not feel deserted. I think it got more crowded later in the day.
Looking inside the entrance to the arcade area. That's skee-ball on the left and air hockey tables on the right, with other games straight ahead.
Hannah atop a camel ride. It wasn't working, but my guess is that it "walks" in place. She was about 7 feet off the ground, so a frozen camel was fine with me...
On the kiddie train.
Yes, an indoor log ride, just like the one at Six Flags. The boat goes up a big incline (on an track of water about 18 inches deep), to about 3 stories off the ground. It then slides down a big hill/track and careens into a long flat water shoot, which makes a gigantic splash. The shoot has tall plexiglass sides on it to keep the water inside but allow you to see what's happening.
The full-sized Ferris wheel, which is almost four stories tall. All three kids and I fit in one of the cars. And yes, the height scared the crap out of me.
The roller coaster and crazy spinnacker ride.
The boys rode the roller coaster along with about a dozen precious Qatari girls in their abayas (traditional long black robes). I couldn't take a picture because of the girls, but they were so cute--ages 12 or 13 and having typical fun just like you would see anywhere in the US...whispering, giggling, comparing new purses, texting, screaming on the roller coaster. It was awesome. And it was really cute to see the two boys' little blondish heads amist all that. The coaster track doesn't loop but it does have a good-sized drop and lots of curves and bumps. It travels around about 1/2 the indoor area (generally overhead). For 15 QR each, the boys got two turns on the ride.
That big arm thing, covered in lights and pictured in the middle, starts off parallel to the floor. It looks like a windmill laid on its side, with three arms of seats. The kids get in the seats and are secured with those big over-the-shoulder padded restraints, the same ones they have on the biggest roller coasters at outdoor parks. The "windmill blades" (holding the seats with the passengers hanging down) then begin to spin...faster and faster...and then the arm holding all of it raises up 90 degrees, to be perpendicular to the ground...so the seats are now spinning sideways four stories in the air. It was terrifying just to watch. None of us chose to participate (and Hannah is still too small for the coaster or for this).
This is just about 1/2 of the main rides (not including the go-cart race track). Some other rides were very popular and to take pictures that were clear enough to use would have been difficult. But it was really fun to see the girls' abayas and the boys' thobes (traditional robes) flying around in the air, as these very "exotic" looking kids had a good old "Texas/American" good time. :)
They have indoor water parks and amusement parks in Alberta too, not because of the heat, but the cold. It is always good to have somewhere to play!
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