Who has the ‘most instagrammable sunset in Dubai’? It’s the sunset located at Dubai Festival City Mall. The mall is one of the major shopping destinations in Dubai. With over 500 outlets, it is home to Dubai’s only IKEA, renowned fashion brands like Zara, H&M, TopShop, Coach, DKNY, Kate Spade and for the first time in the Middle East, luxury Singaporean department store, Robinsons.

Festival City’s newest addition is the global attraction IMAGINE.  IMAGINE is a spectacular water, laser, light show showing daily on the iconic, Festival Bay. It harnesses the power of light, water, and fire, combined with giant aqua screens, 30 lasers and fountains and surround sound to connect with audiences and produce a show like never seen before. IMAGINE holds the Guinness World Records for the largest water screen projection and the largest permanent projection mapping.

We spoke to Vanessa Hinton (formally an experienced Marketing professional in the Australian shopping centre industry) to discuss the latest major activation with Disney at Dubai Festival City Mall.

This Ramadan, Dubai Festival City Mall, together with Disney, are connecting shoppers with their friends and families across the world through an extraordinary “Magical Wishing Well”, which will come alive with shoppers’ personal greetings.

Dubai Festival City, ranked 4th best super regional mall in the Middle East by You Gov Brand Index 2017, wanted to engage a global audience and share the meaning of Ramadan.

To do this, Dubai Festival City in partnership with Disney created an experience that pushed the boundaries for shoppers, “Brands such as Disney elevate our positioning and give more meaning to the customer”, said Vanessa Hinton, Senior Marketing Manager. ‘We are proud to partner with Disney, a beloved and ever-green brand that has significant demographic stretch and synergy with retail”.

Shoppers are invited to visit one of the Disney pods to share their personal Ramadan greeting with their loved ones, which is shared on the beautiful Magical Wishing Well through a sensory experience of light, sound and water. The experience is then captured as a photo and sent to their loved ones via social channels.

The personalised messages are recorded at pods throughout the mall via QR coded greeting cards. The message is then transmitted to the wishing well in the malls main atrium and is activated when the shopper inserts their greeting, driving footfall across different areas of the mall.

As the holy month of Ramadan is a time for giving, for every greeting shared, Dubai Festival City Mall will donate one Emirati Dirham to the Basma Campaign at the Al Jalila Foundation. Al Jalila is a global philanthropic organisation dedicated to transforming lives through medical education and research, and was founded by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

“The Magical Wishing Well makes it possible to spread awareness of this great cause in the aim that builds a strong bond of charity during the Holy Month with our shoppers,” Vanessa Hinton concluded.

Additionally, Dubai Festival City also encompasses two five-star hotels – Intercontinental Dubai Festival City and Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City to fully complement the signature retail, leisure and entertainment proposition.