Global Village marks UAE Flag Day with 1,000 drones on 3 November

Global Village will mark UAE Flag Day on Tuesday 3 November with a show of 1,000 lit drones, the park has announced. At 8pm the drones will form shapes in red, green, white and black over the park, the colours of the national flag, in a display Global Village describes as a tribute to the country's unity and identity.

The rest of the park joins in. UAE flags will hang across Global Village, its best-known landmarks will be lit in the flag's colours, and every visitor will be handed a flag at the entrance. What's On reports that the Carnaval big wheel will be among the attractions lit up. The UAE Pavilion, where Emirati crafts, local products and traditional food are on sale, is the natural place to spend the rest of the evening.

UAE Flag Day falls each year on 3 November, the anniversary of the day in 2004 when Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed became President. Across the country, government buildings, schools and companies raise the flag at the same hour in the morning, and the day opens the month of national celebrations that leads to Eid Al Etihad on 2 December. This is a separate show from the drone display Global Village has planned for Diwali on 8 November.

The date matters for planning: Tuesday is the park's day reserved for families and women, so men visiting on their own or in groups of men will not be let in that evening, as on every Tuesday that is not a public holiday. Global Village is in its 31st season, which runs until May 2027, and opens from 4pm to midnight from Sunday to Wednesday.

If you are going, general admission starts at Dh25 and can be bought on the Global Village website, in its app or at the gates. Arrive well before 8pm: car parks fill early on show nights and the best view of the drones is from the open areas around the main stage. Children under three and adults over 65 have usually entered free; check the park's ticket page before you go, as conditions can change.