The Enchanted Kingdom

Last weekend, Sunday, we decided to go out for the day. We headed south of Manila for about an hour's drive to a theme park.

We'd heard excellent things about the place from some friends of ours, Sarah & Dave who had been before, and they'd said how fab the place was, so we decided to give it a go!

And they were right! It was a great place. It's like a small disneyland with their own version on fairyland. They have their wizard mascot, and themed areas that included, Space Launch Pad, Jungle Adventure, Boulder Rock, (I'm hoping I've got the names right!). Anyway you get the idea. There was something for everyone to do and enjoy.

We first went on what we thought would be a tame mini rollercoaster, since Bradley was tall enough to go on by himself - they judged everything by height, not age, and they allowed Adam on with a "chaperone". We went on together, obviously. John and Adam sat in the front car, and Bradley and I were in the one behind. It was a pretty tame rollercoaster, but it was a rollercoaster none the less, especially when you are two, sat at the front. It had a couple of steep(ish) drops, and a few twists and turns, no loop the loop though, which was good. John and I quite enjoyed it, Bradley said he enjoyed it, but wasn't interested in a another go. Adam, when asked if he liked it, said "No!". We asked him if he wanted to go on again, and got another emphatic "No!" I must admit, he was a bit wobbly and green looking when we got off!! But if they allow such a little one on the ride, you would think it would be suitable, wouldn't you??!! Apparently not in Manila!!

We then stumbled into the dinosaur area, and this was the boys' favourite part. There was a train ride, a dinosaur egg ride, a baby T-Rex ride, a Flintstones type train that didn't do anything, or go anywhere, but provided lots of fascination for them, because they could just climb in and out of it!! An area of indoor play (well, undercover soft play), but Bradley was too tall to go in, and Adam soon got bored by himself. There was also an outdoor adventure play area, with stairs, slides (one a bit too steep, even for me!), and best of all, a structure that was meant to be a fallen hollow tree trunk (the play area was called the "Petreefied House"). This part proved to be the best to play in and chase each other around, and we kept coming back to it throughout the day.

There were a few model dinosaurs, which Adam was fascinated with. He would run up to them shouting - "Look, dinosaur! Raaaargghhhh!". We went on the dinosaur egg ride, then on the baby T-Rex ride, then we managed to drag them away with the promise of the Space Launch area!

There wasn't much for them in this area, though, since it was faster rides for older (taller) people. Having said that, Bradley was tall enough (he is almost the height of a full grown Filipino, I must admit!) to go on the big rollercoaster ride here, but I have to say, I can't blame him one little bit, and we wouldn't have let him anyway. I can't remember the name of the ride, but it looked as though it could launch you right up into space, it was that big!!! If you think the of the Pepsi Max/Big One ride at Blackpool, you get the picture. This thing was huge. Those of you who know John a little better, know that his head for heights isn't the best, so you could have knocked me down with a feather when he said he'd like to go on it. Of course, I made all the right noises about how, if we'd brought help and had someone watch the boys, how it would be fun for us to go on it together. But I was really thinking, not on your nelly!!! So the boys and I went up onto the viewing platform (yes! it had it's own viewing platform, it was that big!!) to watch Daddy. The ride takes you up a big incline, then drops you like a stone, with the momentum taking you through twists, turns, and a few too many loops for Johnny's liking, I think, before you finally feel the brakes working and you start up the second incline, probably thinking it's all over. Wrong! This time you do the whole thing again, but backwards!! Fortunately this was before lunch, so Johnny was fine!

After that, and once he'd found his legs again, John took Bradley round a Formula 1 track. I think they enjoyed it, but I'm not sure they'd have won many races! Still, it was worth is for the entertainment factor alone, seeing them both in their helmets - Little and Large!

Next, we ventured into the Jungle Adventure area, where the log flume was. I took Bradley on it. It had two drops, the second being higher than the first. Poor Bradley wanted to get off half way round, he really didn't like it at all!! We bought the photo that they take as you're coming down the final shoot, and he looks petrified in this photo, so yes, I felt like a bad, bad parent!!

We then got a text from our friends saying they were at Enchanted Kingdom also, and low and behold, who did we bump into in the restaurant for lunch?! After feeling so bad about the log flume ride, I bought Bradley a lemonade drink at lunch - a HUGE treat for him, and secretly hoping that he wasn't going to throw it all up! - He didn't, by the way.

After that, we went back to the relative calm of the Dinosaur area. More rides on the little train, Dinosaur egg, Petreefied House, Pterodactyl ride (that wasn't a pterodactyl at all, but a old-fashioned aeroplane!!?!) John took Bradley for a quick go on the Dodgems, then it was ice cream and home.

All in all, a very enjoyable day was had by all!! We were all exhausted from spending a day in the sunshine, as well as walking round in the heat for about 6 hours.

It was a perfect ending to the day, when we got home to a delicous home cooked Lasagne made by Lydia!!