May 27, 2008 04:52 PM
70132 Views
(Updated May 27, 2008 05:07 PM)
Last week I had been to Bangalore and took my family to Wonder La( http://www.wonderla.com). I must admit that I am impressed with what I saw here.
Let me start with how do we get to this place from Bangalore. From Majestic there are buses which ply to the park. From Vijaynagar bus station also there are buses to Wonder La. If you can afford, I would recommend book your own cab/taxi to this location. At the time of writing this, the taxi would cost you anywhere between Rs. 1000 to Rs. 1400(Tata Indica A/c). Wonder La is about 30-32Km from Bangalore, on Mysore road. Exiting out of Bangalore will take some time due to heavy traffic on this road. So, please plan your travel accordingly as the park opens at 11am in the morning. We took a cab from Bangalore and it took us almost an hour to reach the park. There are road signs all along the road to direct you to the park.
The park has ample parking space and there are no extra charges for car parking.(That's a the first thing which surprises you). The park looks huge from outside. The first thing you notice as you enter the ticketing area is the cleanliness. There are instructions and information written on the wall indicating the pricing and park rules. At the time of writing this, the ticket prices were Rs. 450 for adult and Rs. 350 for child(any child above 120cm is required to purchase a ticket and they have a marking near the ticket counter to check this for issuing the tickets). Make sure you buy tickets for the child above 120cm otherwise inside the park they won't let the child go on the rides. FYI, there is a 5% tax on the ticket price. When you buy the tickets you feel that you are paying too much for this entertainment. At the end of the day, you probably won't regret this money spent on Wonder La. I heard that Wonder La offers student discounts, so carry your student id and check on this. I didn't check to see if they have any corporate discounts.
Once you enter the Park, it is a different world all together. It reminds you of an amusement park in US. The park has water rides and dry rides. On your right you will find changing rooms and locker facility. On the left the road will lead to dry rides. I would suggest that you first enjoy all the dry rides in the morning and then go for water rides(The water temperature is maintained at 28 degree celsius, so no need to worry). There are many kiddie rides specifically for children below 8 years of age. However, most of the rides in the park can be enjoyed by everyone. My kids had a blast with Termite Train and Termite coaster. They enjoyed going through the dungeons of Horror. They had lots of fun dashing the cars. The Drop Zone is enjoyable too. Except couple of rides, all the rides are very enjoyable. The ride speeds and motions have been calibrated keeping the whole family entertainment in mind, while they have reserved very select few for the daring ones. Don't miss the Water Splash ride.
Do visit the virtual reality theatre and the Musical fountain. Twister, though looks scary, is a very slow moving ride and can be enjoyed thoroughly. Kids will love the balloon area. We missed the Giant Wheel due to shortage of time, but would suggest everyone to take a ride on this in the evening.
We ate food at Greens Courtyard. The food is affordable( I would say it is cheaper than Bangalore restaurants) and surprisingly all the soft drinks, juices and water bottles are sold at MRP. This is something that I noticed in Bangalore. All packaged items were being sold at MRP. You get a choice of North Indian or South Indian Thali at this place.(By the way, there are many more restaurants in the park where you can enjoy good food).
Toilets and cold drinking water stations are at every corner and nearby every ride. Each facility is maintained very clean. You will be surprised to see that there are no flies either in toilets or in food courts. That speaks for itself about how much care they are taking to keep the facility clean.
We went to water rides in the afternoon. Most of the time the kids were hopping between lazy pool, wave pool, kiddie pool. There is a rain disco hall. If you are dance enthusiast, do visit this place. There are several other good rides which you can enjoy here.
The lockers are available at a very reasonable rates(Rs. 20 for small and Rs. 30 for big, with Rs. 100 deposit). Again, the locker area and the changing area are kept very very clean. There is a person(at least when we visited the park) cleaning the floor all the time in this area. Be careful of slipepry surface.
Since we went on a weekday, but on a summer vacation, there were quite a number of people. If you are with kids, it may not be possible to enjoy all the rides in one visit. As an adult group you may be able to visit all the rides and have great fun.
My son had a blast. My little daughter wants to visit this place again. I too along with my wife, think, we will go there next time to have more fun. The park is great place for entire family.
