Read the reviews and don't know why anyone would say this is a family hotel. Its aimed at Business people or couples on a short trip. All they have is a little kids club but it would not suit a child over 5.
I have been to dubai 6 times and this is the unfriendliest hotel I've every experienced there. The blonde girl on reception never smiles and is unhelpful and in the Mistral restaurant where you eat for half board....you literally have to beg for a coffee at breakfast and they waiters are so unhelpful.

The concierge are friendly and helpful and the barman round the pool is lovely. The food is actually decent in Mistral.

I would definitely stick to going Sofitel on the Palm as the best hotel for kids.

You have access to use their sister hotel for the Riva beach club, you can get a free shuttle bus. I only wanted to do this because the pool at Movenpick sits in the shade most of the day. Well don't expect much different at Riva....the hotel stops any sun coming round the pool. We started going to Oceana Hotel to use their beach club for the day, it's a gorgeous pool and right on the beach where you can also watch the sun go down.

We booked the hotel through secret escapes and were upgraded as soon as we arrived the room was huge but very tired the carpet could do with a clean and the bathroom had seen better days , there were rawlplugs sticking out bu the shower and mould between the tiles , and no usb charging points in the room
However the staff made the hotel especially mostafa who gave us coffee and dates while at the chocolate hour. We had a great talk with him, as were all the staff including Derrick in the executive lounge who got us breakfast
In all not really a five star hotel