Wazzup Pilipinas!
The summer of 2013 was the first summer I spent at our new house. We moved last June 2012. Everything was new to me, since the surroundings are far different from where I lived 15 years ago.
My family and I have to adjust greatly, we have to work together to clean the house, wash the dishes, and do the laundry, since my parents decided not to have someone to help us around the house. We didn’t let all these things consume us, we still went out and bond as family.
One day, without even planning anything, we went to Enchanted Kingdom, or EK for short, which is located in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The 15-hectare Enchanted Kingdom, the country’s only theme park, which opened in late 1995 just two
years before the Asian financial crisis struck, has weathered growing
competition from other amusement parks and attractions, and continues to
post growth. Enchanted Kingdom breached the 2-million visitor mark in 2012.
Enchanted Kingdom was recently cited by the government of Laguna for generating the biggest tourist arrivals in 2008, amounting to more than 846,000 visitors out of the 1.974 million who visited the said province last year.
Enchanted Kingdom was recently cited by the government of Laguna for generating the biggest tourist arrivals in 2008, amounting to more than 846,000 visitors out of the 1.974 million who visited the said province last year.
There are various Park Zones or themed areas. Upon entrance to the park, Victoria Park will greet you with its Victorian era charm. Kids and adults alike are always delighted to ride in the elegant Grand Carousel, the main attraction in this area and the country's largest carousel. We never fail to ride on one of the horses in the Grand Carousel whenever we are in EK. Also, meet and greet here the park's mascot, Eldar the Wizard.
Boulderville, a dinosaur-themed zone especially designed for kids. The rides in this area are: Boulderville Express, Bumbling Boulders, Air Pterodactyl, and Stone Eggs. The Rock Quarry and Petreefied Treehouse serve as play facilities for children. Kids can also meet dinosaur mascots and take pictures with them.
Portabello is a Carribean-themed replica of the sights and sounds of the Carribean Sea atmosphere. Here you will find the Flying Fiesta (an enjoyable giant swing ride); Rio Grande, the park's largest attraction that features a white-water ride; and 4D film entertainment at the 4D Discovery Theater.
Brooklyn Place will remind you of 1940s New York with its replica of buildings reminiscent of that time. You will also enjoy watching a movie at Rialto, a motion simulator theater that combines sights, sound and movement. Rialto is one of my favorite attractions in EK because it's really fun watching a movie here. You will be strapped to your seat (with seatbelt) so you won't fall off during exciting/action-packed scenes. They periodically change the film being shown here.
The Spaceport zone's main attraction is the dreaded but exciting ride, the 11-storey high Space Shuttle. It is "the country's first and only triple loop coaster that turns riders upside down six times - 3 times forward and 3 times backwards.
Jungle Outpost features a jungle theme, specifically the Amazon. Its main attraction is the Jungle Log Jam, "where guests swish their way down two cascading waterfalls full of breathtaking twists and turns.
If you want a more relaxing ride, go to Swan Lake. You can ride on boats disguised as swans and savor the tranquility of the lake.
The Midway Boardwalk, reminiscent of Coney Island in 1930s America, is my favorite zone of all because my favorite rides are here. They are Dodgem (bump cars), Roller Skater (I know, I know, it's supposed to be the roller coaster for kids!), Up, Up and Away (air balloon ride), and the swinging ship, Anchor's Away.
The Wheel of Fate, a very big ferris wheel that brings guests up 130 feet in the air, is also located at Midway Boardwalk. Because it is very huge, this ferris wheel can be seen along the SLEX.
Enchanted Kingdom has recently launched the first and only world-class inflatable water park in the Philippines. In cooperation with BiKiWorld of South Korea, EK was able to set up six giant water inflatable pools with slides collectively known as the EK Biki Waterworld.
It took us a 2-hour drive for us to get there. I was really excited when we got there, because I wasn’t able to join the school field trip for two years. But on the down side, the amusement park was packed with people, and we are very irascible when it comes to long lines, and my parents were prudent enough to not let us suffer adversity from the long lines. Approximately, it will take you an hour before you get to ride anything. So, instead we played the probability games located beside the space shuttle.
Enchanted Kingdom was piquant enough to set-up these probability games. The average cost of each play, is 100 pesos, and you get 3 shots for each certain game. The stuffed toys will serve as your motivation to play again and again, and to pay again and again. We probably added a considerable amount of money to Enchanted Kingdom’s savings, just to get a Weiner dog stuffed toy.
I regarded those probability games as a gold mine. Nonetheless, you
can’t buy happiness, and we sure had a lot of fun within those very
limited time frame and among those group of people present in the park.
It’s definitely a spinning and rocking experience! That’s the Disk-O-Magic ride of Enchanted Kingdom (or EK), its newest attraction launched coinciding with its 17th anniversary celebration.
It’s a huge disk literally spinning while it rocked left going up, then down to the center, then to the right going up and back to the center again. Each time it moved higher and higher.
Enchanted Kingdom will double the current size of the entertainment complex over the next three to five years, expecting visitor arrivals to increase during the period. The plan, which may also include the construction of hotels, will help transform Enchanted Kingdom into an integrated theme park.
And so, we left the park not being able to experience any ride. And who knows when we’ll ever be in that place again. I hope soon enough.I just hope that we will be able to experience the rides when we get the opportunity to come back. By that time Enchanted Kingdom will probably be bigger and better and could accommodate more and won't let people suffer the long queues.
Contributed by Ma. Mikaela P. Jimenez
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
I like the way you described the place, I mean describing it in detail. I felt like I was actually in the place for a second, haha :) Anyway, grammatical errors are very minimal, yay! :)
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