Review: Lapita Hotel Dubai Parks and Resorts – a five star theme park hotel
Heads up theme park fans! I’ve found the best place to stay at Dubai Parks and Resorts if you’re not into LEGO but still want a hotel with character. Lapita Hotel is a five star Polynesian-themed resort that’s part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. So, as well as being super-family-friendly, you know you’re in for a luxurious stay.
Having said that, when we arrived – just after the hotel’s regular check in time – there was a queue of cars leading up to the lobby entrance. It did not bode well. We were staying over the biggest holiday in the GCC – Eid Al Adha – and it appeared everyone had had the same idea. Was our timing a big mistake?
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Our stay at Lapita Hotel Dubai
Fair play to the Lapita team – they magically remoulded our hectic first impression in minutes. The traffic jam moved fast and inside we got to the front of the reception line in pretty good time. Meanwhile a Smurf was wandering around saying hello to kids, ice lollies were handed out to travel-weary guests and a Polynesian dance show lulled us into holiday mode.
The hotel’s Pacific theme continues throughout the resort with carved dark wood furniture, rattan accessories and islander prints transporting you thousands of miles away.
We booked Lapita for two nights as part of a four night stay in Dubai. Find out where we stayed next on Palm Jumeirah.
Our family room at Lapita Dubai
The hotel’s main facilities are in the lobby building. The accommodation blocks are spread out around the central pool area with plenty of palms, succulents and lawns, again transporting you thousands of miles from the sun-scorched plains of the outskirts of Dubai.
You can choose between pool-facing rooms and river-facing rooms that overlook the shops, restaurants and small attractions of Riverland Dubai.
We booked a pool view family room with balcony. The good news about family rooms at Lapita is that they have proper beds for everyone, which isn’t always the case in the Middle East.
Less great was that we were offered a ground floor pool-facing family room when we checked in. This seemed like a good idea at the time – less lifts to tackle at breakfast time. But it meant our terrace faced on to bushes rather than the pool views that we expected.
As well as having more than expect foliage in our line of sight, we also had the company of quiet a few mosquitos. I would recommend requesting a higher room if you get the choice.
The room itself was very comfortable – not that we were going to be in it much. We had two compact double beds, a large bathroom and plenty of Polynesian decor.
One of the unexpected extras while staying over Eid was that we could see the nightly Riverland firework display from our room.
What’s included in a Lapita stay?
We booked direct and took advantage of a room rate that included breakfast and theme park access – we could visit one park for each night we stayed. This worked out cheaper than the park tickets on their own!
Check prices for each of the theme parks: Motiongate | LEGOLAND Dubai | LEGOLAND Waterpark | Real Madrid World
Something to bear in mind is that the theme parks aren’t open all year round, so depending on when you plan to go different offers are available.
Half board and full board options are available giving you complementary access to the Kalea buffet for all your inclusive meals and credit towards dining at the Hikina, ARI and Kahuna premium restaurants.
Compare prices and deals for booking direct with Marriott and on booking.com.
You also have easy access to Riverland Dubai, which has its own small attractions, shops and restaurants. We ate at the Pirates Tavern one evening, which was totally corny but a good laugh with choreographed fights and decent meals.
Dubai Parks and Resorts theme park access
Another bonus of staying at a Dubai Parks & Resorts hotel is that they are all very close to the theme parks. You can even see Motiongate’s John Wick rollercoaster and the indoor Dreamworks attraction from Lapita.
There’s a private entrance into Riverland from where you can get to each theme park in 10 minutes, or less if you can grab a free golf cart ride.
Here’s the walk times to each of the parks from the resort’s private gate:
- Lapita to LEGOLAND Dubai – 6 minutes
- Lapita to LEGOLAND Water Park – 6 minutes
- Lapita to Real Madrid World Dubai – 7 minutes
- Lapita to Motiongate Dubai – 10 minutes.
Our main aim was to revisit the movie theme park Motiongate. It was a special request from our 10-year-old who loved the rollercoasters last time were here.
We could have visited another during our stay but we decided to keep things simple as we had already done the LEGOLAND Dubai and the LEGOLAND Waterpark, and we weren’t so interested in the Real Madrid World park.
It also made for a more chilled stay and allowed us to relax by the hotel pool.
Important note: the deal we got did not allow us to visit the same park twice during our stay. If it had, we might have done a quick spin around some of our favourite Motiongate rides before moving on to our next Dubai hotel.
Q Fast Mini
As it was Eid – and because we’d seen firsthand the number of people staying at Lapita – we decided to look into a getting Quick Passes for Motiongate. It turns out you can’t buy these independently if your theme park access is part of a hotel stay.
However Lapita’s dedicated theme park concierge was able to offer us a Q Fast Mini quick pass, which gave us five tear-off quick passes to use on rides of our choice. So, when we could see there is a long wait time we whipped out our passes, tore off a ticket and jumped the queue.
Four sets of five passes worked out at 250 AED (about £50).
Hotel facilities
I can highly recommend allowing yourselves some time to enjoy the hotel resort as well as the attractions of Riverland Dubai and the theme parks.
Swimming pools
Lapita has two pools and a lazy river. We had no trouble finding sun beds around the lazy river but it was harder to secure them around the main pool unless you got there early or late.
In the afternoon, the staff came round with free ice lollies. If you want informal food and drink there’s a pool bar.
Kids club and family activities
If, like us, you’re only staying a couple of nights for the theme parks, you’re going to miss out on a lot of the family activities available here.
There’s a kids club for four to 11-year-olds. Tiki House is open for four one-hour timed sessions after lunch and you get a complementary hour each day. If you would like more this costs 50 AED per hour, per child.
Other activities with the entertainment team include family games, crafts, face painting and a movie every night. If you want to make your own fun you can borrow sports equipment and play on the large grassed areas between the accommodation blocks or hang out at the play area.
There are also character meets and Fijian dance performances around the resort in the afternoons and evenings.
Dining
Lapita has a buffet as well as four pay as you dine restaurants, a ice cream parlour and a lobby cafe. We had the buffet breakfast and ate at the ARI pool restaurant on the second evening of our stay.
This has an international menu and my girls were happy to choose from the pizza and pasta dishes while I opted for a fresh salad after a day of theme park food.
The Kalea buffet was being refurbished during our stay, so we had breakfast in two of the resort’s function rooms which were adapted for the purpose. There was plenty of choices from international cuisine to western staples and everything was very well presented.
Final thoughts on Lapita Hotel
This is an excellent hotel and one I would return to if we were going to stay at Dubai Parks and Resorts again.
The food, rooms and service were all exactly what I would expect of a Marriott. Even though we visited on a busy holiday weekend and the main buffet was closed, it really didn’t impact our stay.
I would just make sure we got a higher room to avoid those mozzies.
I’d definitely recommend Lapita for families with kids who are not into LEGO. If you are, you’ll want to read my review of LEGOLAND Dubai Hotel, which we visited the year before.
You can check out more Lapita reviews on TripAdvisor.
FAQs about Lapita Hotel Dubai
Lapita Hotel is part of the Dubai Parks and Resorts complex to the South East end of Dubai. Here’s the location on Google Maps.
It’s 50km from Downtown, which is a 40 minute drive if the traffic is light.
The hotel is a 50 minute drive from Dubai International Airport (DXB), which is about 65km away. Planning to fly to Dubai? Compare flight prices.
If you book a stay including theme park entry you can choose between Motiongate, Real Madrid World Dubai, LEGOLAND Dubai and LEGOLAND Waterpark.
There is a very casual approach to what you wear in most Dubai hotels and Lapita is no exception. You’ll see everything from bikinis to burkinis at the pool and shorts to dishdasha in public places. The Hikina, Kahuna and Daily Scoop restaurants have a smart casual dress policy, where long trousers and tailored shirts are expected.
More tried and tested places to stay in Dubai
We drove up to Dubai a few times while living in Oman, so tried out a few places to stay. Read more of my reviews of hotels in Dubai:
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