I know many have been wanting to see Dubai from up above and after some unsuccessful attempts early last week to get into certain skyscrapers and rooftops (without having to pay a premium price), I just decided to get a ticket to the world's tallest building known as the Burj Khalifa.
The reason why I initially avoided this iconic landmark was because for one it's always over the top busy and two, I wanted a more unique, less photographed landmark.
It's a nice tower but be prepared to wait...a lot. I spent 30 minutes up top and over 2 hours just to get in and out of the tower. To get in, you have to enter through the main and largest Dubai Mall and it's a 15 minute speed walk just to get from the closest mall entrance to the tower ticket entrance. I will say that if you are into luxury, the Dubai mall is one location you must visit - literally everything in there is high end luxury goods. Even the cafes are extravagant and very spacious with expensive decor. Myself, I can't stand malls so I got in and out as quick as I could. :)
So once you reach the ticket gate, from there you have to go through a security gate, followed by a security check exactly like you see in any airport, then up a couple escalators, then another gate check, then through all these corridors, then another couple sets of gates. Every single point that you reach, there is a line up just to get through them. Then you will finally arrive in the elevator section which of course has another lineup. As soon as you reach the top, there is once again another lineup, once you are past that you can now see out.
Some really unique things in this tower and up top it's got a cafe, souvenir shops, photographer's everywhere ready to take your pictures (which you pay for and collect on the main floor as you exit), VR reality kiosks, and a super cool electronic platform that you can stand and walk on that shows below in real time (you will see in pics #9 and #10).
And then of course when you are all finished and would like leave, there is a lineup just to exit. Though I would prefer going at night, I went during the quiet time because ticket's are more expensive when you go in prime hours, and the lineups get much longer.
On a weekend, from what I was told, it can easily take about 4-5 hours just to get into the tower, let alone up it. No thank you, I will pass on that lol.
Great to see once though. :)
