Usually avoid these regular Dubai-bashing threads but can't sleep so will bite.
I lived there for a few years. Never aspired to or envied the insta-Dubai lifestyle. Deeply uncomfortable with the conditions of the service and labour workers. Didn't enjoy my time there overall as my work was awful, I struggled with the heat from May-October, especially the humidity, and I'm the least 'Dubai-like' westerner you can imagine. (Slightly chubby mum of 2 who's never even had her eyebrows or nails done let alone Botox) .
However, there is a middle ground type of expat that seems to fly under the radar in mumsnet's perception of Dubai. Normal families who move there to be able to save and provide for their family in a way that may not be possible in middle income jobs elsewhere.
Our Dubai life was living in a modest, quiet community with a diverse population, spending time in the playgrounds, our free community pool, every weekend on the beach with other families (and yes to answer a pp the kids had nets and buckets, crabs, starfish, cuttlefish and huge shoals of tiny fish to enjoy in the shallows plus clean warm, supervised bays to swim in). It's not hard to avoid the pretentious bits, loads of quiet public beaches and so many big parks. You just have to go very early or late as it gets closer to summer. In winter it's bliss.
You can do all the big theme/water parks and get deals out of season/for residents, but there's so much more as soon as you drive 1-2 hours away from Dubai. Fabulous mountains and quiet beaches on both the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. And of course the desert. Although I'm not sure why people think there aren't biting insects?! Mosquitos are really bad in the winter. So many of the communities are built around fake lakes it's a real issue. Ants and cockroach infestations common in homes and scorpions to watch out for if desert camping.
I was interested to hear what some posters said about feeling more comfortable holiday-ing somewhere they fit in rather than the intolerance of parts of Europe. Makes sense to me, even as a white British woman I liked that you could wear anything from a bikini to a burkini at the water park and fit in. Although I always erred on the side of respectful dressing, it's really not that well enforced in Dubai any more, other than in government buildings. Now that we are back in a small UK town, the lack of diversity is striking, so I am glad my kids have had the experience of living and going to school with kids of all different backgrounds and cultures. We have lived elsewhere overseas too.
The hotels and resorts up the coast in RAK are wonderful and I'm glad we had a chance to experience that luxury for relatively little cost as now that we are back home it's premier inn all the way.
Yes, it's a dictatorship and the disparity in wealth and living conditions is vast and terrible. No, I don't want to go back or even visit other than to see friends perhaps, but it's very easy to jump on the mumsnet bandwagon when you've only seen one side of it via Instagram or ranty posts on here.