Dubai Parks and Resorts, a collection of theme parks in Dubai, is an ideal family outing destination, with thrills and fun for all. But some of the rides are strictly for the daredevils.

As the taxi sped down the Sheikh Zayed Road towards its destination, my excitement was building up, with every kilometre that we put between ourselves and my hotel at Downtown Dubai. I kept looking out of the windows on either side, not knowing where or when it would emerge and on which side of the road.

About 50 km and 30 minutes later, I finally saw it. First on my left and then as we approached closer, on my right. Barely had the taxi come to a halt, that I rapidly paid and ran out. But the sight that greeted me left me bewildered. I had reached Dubai Parks and Resorts, a gigantesque collection of five theme parks, that has emerged as one of the favourite getaways for families, both residents and tourists.

With five massive parks staring at me, I began to look where my entrance ticket was waiting for me. And I slowed down only when I located the VIP Welcome Centre where my entrance ticket had been kept, as promised.

Now, to get to the beginning. I was in Dubai where I had been invited to attend the Arabian Travel Market and I had a day free before the show got under way. I decided to skip my favourite pastime, shopping, and look for excitement of the other kind, especially as I had received an invitation to visit the theme park operator that is billed to be the largest in the region.

With options like Motiongate Dubai, Legoland and Legoland Waterpark, one is spoilt for choice here. So I asked for the one which had the highest adrenaline-pumping experiences and immediately jumped at it when I was pointed towards Motiongate.

With 29 rides, including some world record setting ones, 40 indoor attractions and countless shows revolving around some of the biggest labels of Hollywood, Motiongate is a themepark for all, especially those who love their cinema and those who are always on the lookout for some daredevil adventure that only the strong of the heart can bear.

The imposing gates of Motiongate reflect the entrance to a large Hollywood studio, with a huge film reel arching over the gate. As you enter, you are transported into the world of cinema, with Studio Central that has real life movie sets of New York of the 1950s and gives a good overview of life behind the cameras in Hollywood, bringing forth the secrets of movie making, sights and sounds of a working executive offices of a film studio as well as theatrical opening shows.

Even though I still had almost the entire day with me, with so many rides and experiences to choose from, I began to filter out those that would appeal to children and instead went in for those that were the most thrilling ones. And I found that there was a multitude of even these.

So quickly passing through Studio Central, I came upon a round about with four different themes, Dream works, Smurf, Columbia Pictures and Lionsgate. Each of these is large enough to be decently-sized theme park on its own, with numerous rides and entertainment activities.

I decided to skip Smurfs, because it was obviously for children and focussed on maximising my time between Lionsgate and Columbia Pictures, with a couple of rides from Dreamworks thrown in. Lionsgate Dubai is reputed to be the only theme park in the world to have rides inspired by Hunger Games and it has also a dance spectacle Step Up Dubai, All In ! based on the Step Up franchise. But as I was looking for thrill, I went straight to the biggest and most thrilling rides in Lionsgate, the John Wick Open Contract, the Now You See Me High Roller and the Capitol Bullet Train.

All three had everything that I expected from them and then some more. As soon as you sit down and the ride begins, John Wick roller coaster races to a dizzying height of 10 storeys at a speed of over 60 kmph, and, that too backwards. At the top, it stops, letting you not so much enjoy the distant lands that you can see from that height, but create palpitations as you don’t know what to expect next.

Passing through twists and turns and with numerous inversions, I was left breathless as I had been screaming through out the ride, not so much from the fear, but the sheer thrills that accompanied me at all moments of the ride, which boasts of 2.8 G force exerted on the body, not too far from what the pilots of fighter jets face when they do their tricks up in the sky.

The Now You See Me High Roller is the world’s fastest spinning roller coaster that goes up to 70 kmph and features a vertiginous 7-storey fall in barely a couple of seconds, giving you the goosebumps for a life time. It has several non-inverted loops, turns that see a 180-degree turn, along with half-loops and half-twists to leave one completely disoriented at the end of the ride.

Another remarkable ride here is the Capitol Bullet Train, that is said to be amongst the fastest in the world. The ride starts gently enough as the coaster first moves sideways to come to the main track and advances straight, rather gently. And then the mayhem. It pulls backwards at a high speed taking you half the way up in a loop and then it stops again, propelling you forward at even faster speed and then taking the loop, leaving the passengers hanging upside down for a while, as the coaster continues on. Numerous twists and turns later, it dropped me back to the starting point.

Though there were many more rides at Lionsgate, I did not want to miss out on any of the most exciting ones and hence ran to Columbia Pictures next where I immediately queued up for the Green Hornet, based on the film. The only thing gentle about the ride is the starting phase when it climbs to its highest point and from then all mayhem breaks loose as the ride, resembling the car used in the film, goes through numerous twists, turns and hair pin bends, all at a very high speed.

Another exciting ride in Columbia Pictures that I loved was Ghostbutsers which is a trackless dark ride where riders are armed with pistols to shoot at the dozens of ghosts who popup all of a sudden and everywhere. The riders get points based on the number of ghosts that they can actually take down and the number of shots at target, which are both no mean feats while you are moving at a high speed in complete darkness. I must proudly share here that on my ride, which was full of riders, I scored the highest kills! And that thrilled me as much as the ride!

Another ride that I must highlight is the Madagascar Mad Pursuit, the only one I could do at Dreamworks. It is yet another high-speed chase and almost all of it in total darkness. Hurtling down even with your eyes open and in bright light can be pulsating enough, so imagine going on at a high speed without being able to see any thing or knowing what lies next.

Spoiler alert, keep a cheerful face even if you are scared to death as at numerous spots, cameras capture your facial expressions that you can see when you exit the ride! I loved the experience and especially the cold breeze that brushed me as we rode through the tunnels.

I was so thrilled with the experience that all the rides which I loved, I rush back to queue again and again to enjoy the thrills literally until it was almost closing time.

So many thrills had left me famished. So before I exited the park, I headed to a restaurant for a filling meal at surprisingly reasonable prices for a theme park.

Though the hearty meal had more than satiated my hunger for food, as I headed for the exit from Motiongate, my hunger for adventure and thrills was far from satiated. I knew that I would back here soon and then again and again!