Enchanted Kingdom is for Children

Posted by alvin on Tuesday, 07.21.2009 03:59 PM

Tags: travel, manila, enchanted kingdom

I celebrated the 4th anniversary of my 21st bday last June so me and lekimumu decided to celebrate "in style" and bring the whole crew to Enchanted Kingdom.

Seems like a good idea right? Enchanted Kingdom was awesome when I was a kid, and still kind of awesome when we went back during our college days. So I had no doubts in my mind that this trip was gonna be of epic proportions... Well, It was fun. But the fun ran out when we realized that we were too old for this.

This is why you don't start with a show stopper

Ok, let me set this up right. We arrived greeted by the Space Shuttle, the best ride on the park, was closed for repairs. Not really a deal breaker, but I for one was looking forward to a ride or 2 atleast. Eveything else was working fine and seems to be in relatively good shape. Flying Fiesta was our first ride and the first reminder that something was different. The beginning of the ride was fine but I immediately got a bad case of the dizzies the moment we landed. That certainly didn't happen before.

The worst ride ever

The same thing happened for most of the rides involving vehicles going around in circles. The worst being the Up, Up, and Away ride (Baloons going in circles) where I felt so bad that I wanted to puke. We decided to pace ourselves after that, promising ourselves ice cream treats everytime we survive a ride. BUT! I was not a fan of the ice cream attendant lady which was having problems doing math making me finish my treat even before I got my change back; something that a stranger waiting in line kindly reminded me and the cashier repeatedly. thanks.

I was probably dealing with the ice cream lady here :(

Rides going in circles and mathematics weren't the only things that disappointed us during the trip, the heat was unbearable!!! I was ok with it at first since I was secretly hoping that the universe would give us a break with regards to the weather considering it was raining the rest of the week but still... Staying under the sun for the whole day? not advisable. I was also looking forward to the DK ice cream stand at the EK foodcourt but sadly it's no longer there! In it's place was a Brothers Burger and a Karate Kid stall where we bought lunch from. My heart was set for an ice cold Blizzard instead of a burger though. Disappointing.

ALWAYS bring a jacket people

The bad decisions didn't stop there as we decided to "cool off" by riding a couple on EK's most popular attractions namely the Jungle Log Jam and Rio Grande. EK wasn't kidding when it said that people would get wet in these rides because we all did. Some worse than others. I personally got the worst of the Log Jam while the rest where punished for Rio Grande since they didn't know the technique. We attempted to fix the mistake with another mistake by riding Flying Fiesta again. Smart!

This was followed by a botched Carousel ride thanks to rowdy people riding alongside us. We made the most out of it by acting like jerks to the ride attendant who was probably pissed off at that point.

Aliens still the best movie IMHO

Nobody up for organized driving?

Don't get me wrong, the rest of the rides were alot of fun and pretty much what we remembered. Roller Skater was still short but sweet, we rode it about 4 times; Anchors Away was still pretty cool and the best seat is still at the end (also, gino is a girl); Ferris Wheel was still awesome, I think I am over my fear of heights; Bump Cars was still a blast, we were trying to organize a bump free run but it didn't work out; and Rialto was still great, but would have been better if they played something other than that horrible lego movie though. Seriously, what's the point of the ride if you're not gonna go first person all the way?

We also played some old arcade games and this crazy dance dance revo machine that needed hand motions as well. But I guess we had the most fun playing this 8 player game cycling game up in the old school arcade though. All we had to do was sit and shoot balls into strategically placed holes and your dude moves forward. Sounds like a winner to me! Somebody won a stuffed animal which we technically paid for anyway, but it's all good.

Me, lekimumu and aijay also went go karting. That was probably my favorite thing from the trip, but you can probably find go karts in Manila so that's not that special when you think about it.

Save your turtle shells and banana peels, this is real racing

To sum it up, Enchanted Kingdom is definitely for kids. The price of admission is still worth it if you're up to getting your money's worth. Also, most of the mainstays are as fun as I remembered and EK did a good job keeping the park in shape. However, this didn't stop us from getting too tired to do anything else, so we just headed straight to a restaurant for dinner and skipped the fireworks. If you think you have the energy AND can withstand the potential heatstroke, you will have lots of fun.

Take note though that vibe was kind of different. The parking lot was only 1/3rds full and the amount of people is significantly lower. This meant that we didn't have to stand in line for a long time to ride something but it also meant that the park didn't feel as "alive" as I remembered. Some rides were a little to troublesome for my taste. I guess when you get to a certain age, you seem to tolerate some rides instead of enjoying them.

When you're not a kid running around desperately trying to ride as much as you can you tend to focus more on the details of things around you. And even though they maintainted it the best they can, it's obvious that the park is not as bright as it used to be.

Paalam Enchanted Kingdom

Maybe it's the faded paint. Maybe it's the fact that it's not as crowded and people aren't as excited as they used to be. But maybe, just maybe, we're getting too old for this. We still look good though.

Tags: travel, manila, enchanted kingdom

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