Haiii, happy Sunday everybody!
Doing anything nice this Sunday? I too am having a nice, quiet Sunday at home with my two boys-i don't feel like going out today *don't faint people, that happens*... Sooo... tired... Been so busy with loads of events, celebrations, errands, etc back to back i didn't have time to catch my breath, so a little down time is more than welcomed!
I think it's really about time i do some catch up with my travel/lifestyle posts, been neglecting them for a while since i had more pressing (events, sponsored) posts that needed to be published sooner. Sometimes when i look at this blog i feel like i don't feature my Baby Boy as often as i should, but since this is not a parenting blog and focus more on beauty/fashion the most, it's kinda unavoidable. I couldn't help worry that people might think i'm not putting my son first and foremost coz i'm too busy with myself, which is completely untrue. I know i shouldn't have to feel like i have to defend myself, but you know... I can't help the way i feel (and maybe because i've been attacked and criticized so much about my very lax parenting style it just keeps me on defensive mode all the time).
Anyway! Like every mother out there (especially one that doesn't really work outside her house), i'm of course very involved with my son's life. So if you don't think i post enough pictures of him in IG or whatever, that's because he's not very fond of taking pictures in everyday life (sometimes he'd end up in tears whenever we force him to take pictures on family functions -___-), holidays are another matter altogether though coz he wouldn't stop asking for his pics taken (with the same exact poses, YEAP... He's my son alright!). Now getting on with the real content of the post, another flash back to our fun school holiday back in July when we took him to Kidzania in Pacific Mall, Jakarta.
I think most of you should've heard about Kidzania before? It's basically an edutainment centre (a HUGE one) that's shaped like a real, little city for the little people in our lives. It has a structure of a real city, from the streets, building, transportation, etc. Here kids can experience what it feels to be an adult, they can sample various kind of jobs/careers, make money, and spend them. Real life brands and companies sponsors Kidzania so most of the jobs there is related to brands/companies that really exists, totally adds to the realism of the place.
I've always found the concept of Kidzania to be very interesting, but it didn't sound too ideal for kids who are too young (and i was right, kids under 7's unable to join in most of the activities. I personally don't find it suitable for kids under 4 years old. There are some sections dedicated to toddlers, but they're very limited and judging from the entrance fee-it's just not worth it. Entrance tickets for under 3 year olds are cheap, but parents have to pay the adult tickets-which is pretty steep while mostly we can't even do anything there so... Still not worth it!) so i always hesitated and ended up not taking him there. Last July Baby Boy's approaching 7 years old and i thought it was the perfect time to introduce him to this place.
Since none of us are morning persons, we took the second shift (there are two shifts every day) that started at 3 (but we went there during fasting period so it started a bit later). I was really nervous if the place would be too crowded coz it' was on school holiday period (i heard horror stories about how crazy packed it could be from CL), fortunately because it was during fasting period, it was not too bad at all! Let's begin our adventure (as usual, warning first : very photo heavy!)
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| Madness at the entrance |
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| Wow got a check note :D! |
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| We were in awe as soon as we stepped our feet inside the area, really does look like a replica of a city-complete with the blue sky! |
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| Immediately caught a glimpse of the uber cute ambulance and vault car! |
I noticed right away that the atmosphere of the place is a bit dark so it was kinda hard to tell the time without looking at our watches (it forever feels like evening haha), apparently it was deliberately designed that way so kids would have the chance to "roam the city" in later time of the day-which is not really the norm in their real lives.
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| Uber cute Bogasari Center window, as you can see here they displayed a very real looking products! |
First thing that kids should do upon entrance is queuing up to the bank (BCA! LOL, naturally) to receive their start-up allowance. They even have their own currency : Kidzos. The whole thing is so darn cute i was seething in envy the whole time we were there because it didn't exist when we were kids *LOL*.
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| It looked super crowded upon entrance and bank opening, but once activities started and all the kids went into their preferred "offices", it was apparent that the place was considered very quiet |
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| I love how Kidzania teaches basic courtesies like queuing up to get where you want to be/do what you want to do, kids with manners would grow up to be adults with manners-we all know that we need more of them in Indonesia nowadays! We encountered super rude and uncontrollable kids (not many of them, thankfully) only once and it pissed us off so much, more about that later |
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| After waiting for quite a while the bank finally opened :D! In Kidzania, no parents are allowed into most of the places (to teach the kids to make their own decisions), they have this "parents free zones"! |
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| Can i have my money please, Maam? |
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| Moneeeyyy :p |
From the time of the entrance we had to wait for quite a long while (it's about 30 minutes i think, or it could be more) until all activities would begin. So we snapped some pictures first.
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| They even have their own theater house! |
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| and Acting Academy |
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| Baby Boy found a magic store and immediately got attracted to it |
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| The bustling street of Kidzania :D |
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| Hunny inspecting the souvenir cart (unhappily) LOL |
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| Royal Hotel |
Because, in case you didn't know, we come from a hotelier family. Hunny runs his own backpacker hotel, my parents owns a hotel in Banjarmasin and we'd love to expand so... Sooner or later Baby Boy should at least be familiar with how to run a hotel *LOL*.
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| The mini hotel looks uber convincing! It's one of the best replica in the entire city IMO |
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| Still waiting for the sign for the activities to start |
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| Look at the hotel's restaurant! So detailed! |
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| Since parents are not allowed inside most of the buildings, i apologize for the glares in most of the pictures! Had to do it outside the glass windows! |
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| Finally activities can start, signed with a music and the staffs starting to dance around |
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| With a parade too |
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| Immediately started his "training" LOL |
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| Parents can spy the activities in the CCTV hahaha so so cute. Look at the tiny hotel rooms and bathroom! |
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| Because of Baby Boy's young age (like i said, most activities can only be joined by kids above 7 years old), he's assigned to the lower rank job : housekeeping :p *yes, he protested, screamed to me "Mooommm, i'm a cleanerrrrr" LOL. You gotta start somewhere, kiddo!*. Kidzania allows kids until the age of 16 (i cannot imagine my 16 and 14 year old nieces and nephews still want to do this though (pretty sure they'd think it's not cool anymore) i saw quite a few of their peers playing happily. I saw some girls even wore makeup already *___* and a Caucasian girl who looked older than me *LOL* i should've just pretended i'm 16 and join in, i was mistaken for a 14 year old once (when i'm 30, so last year haha) anyway |
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| Awwww, isn't he the most adorable housekeeping staff ever??? *biased mother, please indulge* |
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| Briefing |
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| And let's start working! |
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| Learning how to do the bed |
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| Hunny said Baby Boy was very into character and wiped that little mirror seriously hahahaha |
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| He mouthed "save me..." to me LOLOLOL, silly boy |
While he's doing his shift, we roamed around a little bit to check out the place. Kidzania is a very safe environment and if you kid's 8 y/o or above, they can play by themselves inside Kidzania as long as you drop them off in the entrance and wait at the exit when the shift ended. I felt very safe leaving Baby Boy while doing his activities and wait somewhere he can find his own way to. This encourage kids' sense of independence and found a security in being with themselves.
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| We found this Prudential Vault with loads of gold inside, wanna rob it? LOL |
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| Adorable mini bus making its rounds, kids can ride them *for a cost of course. Pay with your Kidzos!* |
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| Next door to the Royal Hotel is Sari Roti Bread House, being a pair of ultra kiasu parents we immediately shooed Baby Boy in to work there as soon as his job in the hotel finished *LOL* (don't worry, he didn't mind, he really loved it there and very proud with every products he made, he immediately deposit his Kidzos to me like real life money whenever he's done a job hahaha) |
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| Little bakers :D |
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| There are photographers all around Kidzania taking pictures of your kids doing their activities and you can purchase it later, but since i'm not a huge fan of printed photos and brought our own nice cameras... :p... I didn't purchase any pictures. Here's Baby Boy posing with a bread, cute enough to be a commercial i'd say! |
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| Making cute shaped sandwiches |
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| Bored parent needed a coffee fix hahaha... I didn't feel bored a single second i was there, i'm a huge kid at heart so i was very much in my element there hahaha... I also enjoyed watching Baby Boy doing his activities very much, he looked so happy it made me even happier ^^. I guess dads get bored easier and i almost felt sorry for hunny because he looked so bored and miserable majority of the time zzzz |
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| Teeny tiny bread cart, i think sometimes kids can be a door to door bread seller too with this haha |
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| With his hand-made sandwich (which he proudly eat and feed me later, isn't he sweet ^___^) and salary :D |
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| Wanna buy bread from this cutie, anyone? |
Baby Boy wanted to be a fireman since the first time we showed him the video for Kidzania, and he kept on asking for it so that's the next destination!
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| There's a towel factory on top of the fire department *LOL* |
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| Firefighter is one of the most popular occupation in Kidzania, so even though it was considerably quiet that day he still had to wait for sometime for his turn. Immediately made friends with the two cute boys beside him ^^, the innocence and purity of kids make them so much easier to make new friends compared to us, skeptical adults! |
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| Still waiting... |
Since it was quite a long wait and Baby Boy had found some new friends, hunny and i roam around to check out the other places.
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| I saw a jail with a real person sleeping inside (the criminal haha), must be a great job if you get to lie around and sleep while your colleague's working their asses off haha |
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| Haha gas station |
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| Riding school and showroom. It was more complicated to be able to ride the car coz you need to have a driving license first (which means you need a general checkup! I think that's the right order anyway :p) and Baby Boy didn't get to make his that day, we're planning to come back for sure! |
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| TV Station! |
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| View from second floor |
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| Finally it was Baby Boy's group's turn to be briefed |
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| He looked so happy ^^ |
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| Say hi to pint sized fire fighters! |
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| So serious :D |
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| The building is on fire!! |
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| Baby Boy was so serious that at one point he didn't notice the cameraman trying to take his picture and actually drenched him! So sorry, mister! But you really shouldn't get in the way, those are little kids after all! |
Then we went to explore the second floor where the baby center (for toddlers actually) are, there are also a LOT of "factories" in the second floor as well as entertainment centers like a club where the kids (parents can get it and be an audience) can dance, party and sing :D.
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| Passed by a cute beauty salon |
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| And made Baby Boy queue up to work at Belfoods' nugget factory haha |
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| I love their attention to details, the nuggets are actually dry fried but they have this fake bubbling oil display for the entertainment value |
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| Got some yummy nuggets and more Kidzos! |
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| Next up is a chiropractic center that's sponsored by Salonpas |
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| I know he's my baby so i'll always find him to be uber cute (except when he's beign stubborn and annoying, that is), but lab coats really suit him *LOL* |
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| At this point Hunny starting protesting that Baby Boy's not learning to be a chiropractor but a medicine salesman instead LOLOLOLOL (it's kinda true, he went out spewing random facts about Salonpas products -___-) |
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| Hahahaha |
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| Does chiropractic really end with hot patches like this @___@? |
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| More Kidzos and free Salonpas, at this point i realized that you can get small products in most of the factories and i started to get kiasu again, pushing him to work on the other factories *ROFL* |
But the next factory is his choice okay, it was Indomie's Noodle Factory (and we all know how famous Indomie is even overseas!) and he insisted on queuing up even though it was very crowded since it was one of the most popular station somehow!
Here is where we encountered the rude kids pushing people around, cutting queue up and pushing other kids (who were there earlier) around. I got so mad at one point because the staff poked his head out and tried to make a line without asking what really happened and tried to push Baby Boy to the back of the line when in fact he was the first person on the new line! I made hunny confront the man and tell that he's been queuing up nicely until the two boys arrived and started to make a mess (it was completely peaceful and in order with the other kids before).
It's so maddening, i have a big criticism for Kidzania staffs regarding this. They need to pay better attention to this kind of problems, when dealing with kids it's so much more delicate because they're young and cannot defend themselves (actually Baby Boy did try to defend himself, he told the naughty kids off and when they ignored him he actually went and call the staff inside to tell him that the two kids didn't want to queue up, that's when the staff tried to push Baby Boy at the back. How effing stupid, i'd sock him in the face if it was me he was talking to GAH!), if they let other kids bully them and push them behind after they've been queuing up so long what does that teach them? That it's okay not to queue? That it's okay not to respect others? That you shouldn't try to be polite and do the right thing because that would only mean you'd be pushed back by some ignorant people?
Thank God we were around to correct that, imagine if Baby Boy was alone and he had to take all those craps coz nobody would stand up for him and he wasn't being heard when he protested? Don't tell me kids would be kids and we shouldn't interfere and let them deal with it themselves, the two kids were obviously mannerless and a total bully, i'd let them be if the staff was smart enough to asses the situation but since he was not, i will not stand behind and watch my son being treated like that just because "they're all kids". Kids doesn't really know whether what they do is wrong or right, it's up to us adults to make sure they do the right thing whenever we're around. I couldn't careless about other people's kids manners, but when their mannerless behaviour is affecting my son, then i totally care and i have every right to be.
I also noticed how some staffs seems to be very bored and disinterested, which is disturbing. I know it must be a very though job, doing the same thing over and over again every day, and how they have to deal with some thankless brats, but it's their job! I'm not talking about all of them, of course, some are really nice and enthusiastic, seemingly really kind and enjoying their jobs which is a total pleasure to watch, but the rest... I think it's important to make sure people who are working closely with children to really like kids and enjoy what they do, otherwise they really should look for another job.
Sorry for the rant, carrying on now...
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| He even managed to melt my heart wearing a worker's apron and hat hahaha |
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| Seriously watching the introductory video (i think they made them watch a video in almost every station) |
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| An Indomie in a cute bubble! We don't really allow him to eat instant noodles (except on emergencies, that applies to overseas travels hahaha) but he insisted on having one because he said "he made one" (actually it was pre-packed, but let's not shatter his imagination, shall we?) |
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| It's super secretive and the door will only open when they're letting people out or letting new recruits in |
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| Unfortunately unlike the other jobs, you CAN fail here and you won't be receiving any money if you failed. Baby Boy doesn't have the best hand and foot coordination yet, and the test involving passing a complicated (according to him hahaha) laser trap so he gave up and left the agency after second stage *LOL*. I do think it's more suitable for older kids (the two older girls who went in with him did much better than him hahaha) and teenagers (or maybe we're just bad at sports) |
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| Shoved Baby Boy to Caladine Medicated Powder factory because they give our cute little bottles of Caladine and i wanted one >.<! |
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| When i said there are some very patient and engaging staff s in Kidzania, the guy in Caladine "factory" is definitely one of them. Is it because his station is a bit deserted? LOL. But the chiropractor station was even more deserted and the guy wasn't as nice as this one, by a mile! |
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| He even made a little joke by putting powders on Baby Boy's nose which is very cute and shows that he actually cares enough to make a real effort to engage with the kids he's working with |
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| Ta dah... (yes, everything's just a dummy, the bottle is always inside and only rolls out when you've come to the end of the line *LOL*) |
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| Look at my little money maker! Hahaha |
Next is a station that i've wanted him to try ever since we saw the Kidzania promotional video (was it promotional or was it someone's review... i can't remember T.T), the dentist station:
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| I'm gonna be real annoying and start gushing about how cute he is again hahahaha |
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| There are two creepy mannequins with their mouths wide open as the patients |
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| Oh-soooo-serious :D |
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| Meanwhile Hunny got real hungry and insisted to buy a pizza (which is really nice too). Kids can bake their own little pizza as well here but instead of getting paid they'd have to pay some Kidzos for the free pizzas *LOL* |
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| Nom nom nom |
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| He was sitting directly in front of Pigeon's Nursery. It's so cute, wonder if i can make Baby Boy try working there next time we're there? Maybe that'll help prepare him if he ever got a younger sibling? Hahaha |
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| Gotta try to visit the hospital next time too |
It was nearing the end of the second shift and we were scrambling around trying to fit in one more activity before we had to leave, Baby Boy actually got quite upset when i told him the time had almost ended because he's enjoying himself too much! He wanted to ride on one of those window cleaning gondola and we totally thought it should be the construction worker, so i took him to this station that Hunny was pointing us to :
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| I was getting a little concerned when i saw the low age limit and the fact that his company were those tiny little girls |
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| I think i really should've realized that the sponsor is Dana paint... |
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| Which means the job is just this! LOL. Baby Boy actually screeched "Just that???" |
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| At least he obliged in posing for the camera one hahaha, sorry Baby, mummy didn't know! |
We were so busy trying out different activities that we kept on postponing making the ATM card (went there earlier and been told to come back later, and then we got carried away!), well the least we could do
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| Is to act like he already has one! |
And with that we came to the end of the shift! Baby Boy really loved his time there and told me he wanted to come back soon haha. I also enjoyed accompanying and watching him so much and we're definitely coming back to try out all of the other activities (there were TONS other). The place is so huge i'd say you need at least three visits (on quiet days because if it's super full then you'd be doing less activities since you'd have to queue longer) to cover them all! Personally, the 5 hours we spent there went like it was one because we were having too much fun *it probably felt like 10 for hunny :p*
I highly recommend Kidzania if you have young kids especially over the age of 6. Actually if you have younger kids and you're able to come on non peak seasons and even better during weekdays, i'd say go right ahead because if your kids' under 3 years old the entrance ticket's really cheap (only IDR 50.000, IDR 90.000 for adults) but if you only able to come during holidays i'd recommend you to wait for your kid to reach 7 years old first because peak season tickets are really expensive (IDR 100.000 for 3 year olds and below, IDR 200.000 for 4 years olds and above including adults). We paid IDR 600.000 for the three of us and parents basically can do nothing but watch their kids (or stay at the parents lounge lazing around and playing computer *LOL*).
I think this is a wonderful place and so much better than your regular amusement park/arcade since it teaches so many lessons, namely manner, discipline, independence, respecting and understanding value of money and self-confidence. I love this place and i'm glad Baby Boy love it even more!
Kidzania, we will be back!
Kidzania, we will be back!
#Pink, the happy momma.
- 12:34:00 AM
- 2 Comments
