Traffic could be a sticky issue for theatre-goers over the next year. Here’s why…

Dubai Opera have put out a public service announcement warning people who are coming to see West Side Story (which starts tonight!) that entering and exiting the parking at the venue could take longer than usual.

Why? Well because two of the access points for the Boulevard Parking are currently closed. The ones closed are the Boulevard Parking P2 Exit and the Boulevard Parking P3 Entrance.

How long will they be closed for? Well, approximately a year – so yes, this isn’t a flash-in-the-pan, temporary issue.

The car parking spaces are all open and functioning, but the fact that two of the ramps are closed off will definitely affect traffic (P3’s parking will be accessible via the P2 entrance).

West Side Story is likely to be popular so we imagine it will be jammed there this week. Plus, the Downtown Boulevard gets busy on weekends anyway – it took us an hour to leave the car park when we went to see Les Mis on a Thursday night (that certainly took the shine off of our post-musical-theatre joy).

Side note: West Side Story runs from tonight, Tuesday February 14, until Saturday February 18.

So what are your options?

– You could aim to get there extra early (when the parking will be quieter) and grab dinner at one of the nearby restaurants. We had a shawarma at Reem Al Bawadi last time we went to the Opera. Then, the second the show is finished we recommend you leg it out of the theatre to beat the rush (no selfies next to the building. You can do that on your way into the performance).

 – You can also valet park – as the entrances and exits to the valet parking won’t be affected. But valet parking will set you back Dhs100 remember. The taxi entrance won’t be affected either if you fancy catching a cab (or Uber or Careem).

– Or, of course, you could catch the Dubai Metro. Get off at the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall. The Dubai Mall Metro is only a one kilometre walk from the Opera:

dubai-opera-metro

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