Just completed a quick stay here over the weekend with the following feedback:

• Received a fabulous upgrade to the Family Lagoon Beach Suite at the end of the family lagoon; super spacious, subtle Mediterranean touches to update the hotel's design and a faultless location opening directly onto the lagoon.
• Breakfast at Brasserie at the Park excellent as always, as was dinner at the Thai Kitchen.
  • Curiously for dinner, my friend and I walked into the empty restaurant around 9:45 PM and asked for a table, and were instantly met with hesitation and pushback about "five big groups" due in any minute and to anticipate delays to anything more substantial that appetizers and drinks. We eventually sat down and ordered all the food we wanted [apps, mains, etc.], and we received everything without issue, and even though customers did indeed come in, the restaurant didn't get mobbed the way the staff made it seem like it would. Weird.
• The adults lagoon is still very much a caricature of what constitutes adulthood in the 21st century, with everything from people dancing inside and outside the pool on the mellow end of things, overly affectionate couples going at it like adolescents and groups of young adults buying bottle after bottle of champagne and screaming "CHEERS, MOTHER____ERS" as they spray each other.
• The family lagoon is easier on the senses with its house music and friendlier vibe, but as you'd expect with young children, it gets loud and splashy. There was also a bit of an accident where I was swimming and a lifeguard pointed out a rather large 'number two' on the pool floor right next to me... sigh.
• Service continues to be very good across the board; this place is well run and it shows.
• Regarding the renovations, I was told they hadn't started yet but the impetus is stronger now that the freak rain came through. Hopefully we'll see some progress soon.

The best part about this property is how un-Dubai it feels, and I will continue to seek it out when I'm back in the city.

khabah