Now, thinking of a place for a 7yr old and friends to enjoy, when I started thinking hard about it, is a challenge! haha.. but luckily, we were able to come up with options. For those in a similar dilemma, will share my full list since the option we decided to go with may not be your son/daughter's top choice.
The final list of possible birthday places to go to:
1. Kidzania (The Fort)
2. Dreamplay (City of Dreams)
3. Enchanted Kingdom (although logistics of this would make it a challenge)
4. Laser Tag (Greenhills)
5. Active Fun (The Fort)
6. Swimming Party at home (in our clubhouse, haha)
Now, I guess from the title of my blog you know which one we went to. Since I can't share a full experience on the other ones, will just focus on Dreamplay. Sanction ended up inviting a total of 11 kids. Some his classmates from school, cousins and siblings. There was a pinch in the wallet, but in the end, all the kids had a fantastic time so it was worth it. OK, Im getting ahead of myself.
First off, Dreamplay is located in City of Dreams which is near the area of SM MOA and SnR (haha). It's open everyday by 10am. I wanted to be first to avoid the rush of people so we were all at the venue by 10 and it was a good decisions since the place was nice and clean since it just opened and we had the whole place to ourselves with just a few other people for a good 2 hours maybe... considering this was a Saturday. The rates vary for weekdays and weekends/ holidays. Obviously it's more expensive on weekends/ holidays. We went on a weekend so we got the more expensive rate (weekend rates are cheaper, and for the more full list of fees, you can check their website (cityofdreams.com.ph/dreamplay) For Adults it's a rate of P400, Kids (17yrs old and below) P880 and Toddlers (below 100cm) P100. These rates are all for 4 hours of play, which for me is more than enough time to get around everything since the place is not that big. You can also get an unlimited day pass for more. I would also advise buying tickets online since it would save you the hassle of lining up at the venue to buy. The website has a built in ticket purchase that redirects you to SM tickets. NOTE that they only email you a voucher, so you still have to go to a SM ticket net outlet to redeem the tickets.
The great thing about Dreamplay is that it brings to life great characters created by Dreamworks, which are all familiar to the kids. You have the penguins of Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and Shrek.
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| Santino and Friends at the entrance to Dreamplay |
The place is very interactive. It has a lot of activities that kids, especially hyperactive boys can do. Run, run, run, slide, climb. There are a lot of long slides, places to climb, hands on activities to do. Each "area' inside is dedicated to a specific movie that is designed to take you into the actual movie set where the kids can pretend to be part of it.
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| Inside the airline of the Penguins of Madagascar |
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| Climbing up, up and up |
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| Slides that look like your moving inside a snake. |
With hyper 7yr olds, this was the ideal place. Not too big that I couldn't keep tabs on them, but packed enough with activities to keep them busy.
The only downside was the expensive food. Obviously, you are not allowed to bring any food or drinks, so you had to eat at their facility, how else will they make money? haha.
There are a lot of things to do for young kids, but there are also other activities that are preferable for bigger kids like 10/11yrs old and above like wall climbing or wearing a harness and climbing the steep poles like in Kung Fu Panda.
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| Not for the faint hearted! |
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| Instructional activities to teach kids |
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| Baking class |
My daughter particularly enjoyed the baking class since she got to make her own gingerbread man. NOTE: you have to sign up in advance for the classes since you have to reserve a slot.
All in all I would say that is was a success since my son said it was "The Best Birthday Ever!" haha (he says that every year by the way). For first timers, would definitely recommend coming for the 4 hour pass. Would I come back again? Hmm.. maybe not since when you've gone once, you've pretty much seen it all.. unless they would add on new activities, then that would be worth going back to. But do give it a try, I think it's worth the entrance fee to see your kids favourite movies come alive and they can interact with.
And the best thing about this, to my surprise, FREE PARKING!!! hahaha...
Oh and of course you HAVE to pass the gift shop on your way out.. so naturally... we ended up getting a toothless cap for the birthday boy. :-)
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| Happy Birthday, Santino! <3 |
