Saturday, April 03, 2010

Enchanted Kingdom - Worth the while but not magical

Being the Easter weekend here in the Philippines and having a super long break, my friends and I had no plans even on Wednesday though we had been planning for about two weeks earlier! We were to leave for Baguio, but then decided against that and went over to Puerto Gallera for a day. And as I refer to my earlier post on this place, I have to take back many of my words. The same room that I had rented in that place with my aunt earlier for 1000 pesos a night was not going at 5000. I could hardly recognize the beach anymore as in just about a few weeks, so many makeshift party places had emerged. Was so crowded and looked exactly like Boracay! Now, I wonder how Bora was for the Holy week? Anyone been there during this time?

Anyhow, after we got back (We couldn't take the heat! It was scorching on the beach, and I don't intend to get tanned), we decided to go over to Enchanted Kingdom which is generally referred to as the Disney Land of the Philippines. I love amusement parks and hence was pretty excited at the thought. We started of pretty late in the afternoon to avoid the heat. Here's how to get there for you folks looking to make a trip there:
  1. Get a cab/jeepney and get to the Buendia Bus terminal.
  2. Look for a bus going to Sta Rosa, Laguna
  3. Check with the bus driver/conductor if the bus would stop at Enchanted Kingdom
  4. The ticket costs around 70 pesos from Buendia
  5. Get down at the Walter Mart in Laguna
  6. Take a tricycle to Enchanted Kingdom (Would cost around 8 pesos per person)
The entrance ticket costs 500 pesos on weekends for a all-you-can-ride ticket. Take this one as it's well worth the 500 pesos. The Enchanted Kingdom website is pretty bad on providing information and even exciting prospective visitors! However, though some sources on the internet say that the park is open till midnight on weekends, the park closed at 9pm when we were there (We were there on a weekend)

Some of the rides worth the while were:
  1. The top of my list would be the roller-coaster (They call it some Space something). I went on this one 5 times and I feel I got my money's worth! 
  2. The water splash coaster! This was kinda ok too. Takes you upto a decent height and drops you into the water. Not as good as the one that's there in MGM Dizee World (The one in Chennai, India), but was fun never-the-less
  3. The Viking Ship. This one's always fun.
  4. The 4D movie show. This one was pretty good though you need to pay about 60 pesos extra for this. Well worth the extra money
I don't think there was anything else that really would make me go back to the park for more! However, the park did give me a nice break from the regular rigmarole. I doubt, I would travel all the way to Laguna for a second trip though. I would prefer to make a trip to Star City here in Roxas Boulevard which may not be as good but is more accessible and less tiring.

So overall, the trip was worth the while, but nowhere close to magical as they portray.