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| Thomas Town, Johor - 31 May 2017 |
We went for a quick 5 days 4 nights Johor trip with just the 5 of us last week.
Our itinerary was simple. 1 day in Thomastown/Hello Kitty Land and 2 days in Legoland. Yes, this is a kiddy trip.
So this blog post is to jot down our experience and also act as a guide for other family with kids who are keen to bring their kids to Johor.
So off we flew to Johor on 30 May 2017.
WHERE WE STAYED
We stayed at Hotel Jen (used to be called Traders Hotel) which is located just next door to Thomastown/Hello Kitty Land.
This is the lobby of the hotel.
We booked the Deluxe Room through Booking.com and paid about RM250 per night for 2 nights stay.
I requested for 2 Super Single Beds (instead of king sized bed) and there is a sofa bed in the room.
Shern and Khye slept in one bed, while and I slept in the other with baby Vern. Hubby took the sofa bed.
You can request for bedsheet/pillows/blanket for the sofa bed at RM30++.
We didn't coz we kiamsiap and also the sofa bed was good enough as it is.
Upon checking in, they told us there was a promotion to use the Club Lounge facilities at RM130++.
With that, we could get buffet breakfast for all at the Club Lounge, Tea and Cocktail food from 5-7pm, and many other fringe benefits like beverages all day. free computer and internet use, etc.
We decided to take that for both nights.
This turned out to be a good decision because the mall next to the hotel became like a "ghost mall" after 7pm.
Many shops there are closed by 7pm. Toys 'R' Us closes by 5pm. Not sure if it is because this is the Puasa month, or this is the usual.
Not many eateries are there too. Saw a Sushi King there and a Ying Ker Lou chinese restaurant. A Superhero shop there with food in it as well which closes at 9pm.
So we ate buffet breakfast (with ala-carte order as well) and dinner there as well.
Food was aplenty and delicious.
And free flow of beer and other liquor during cocktail hours.
I even had a bottle of beer to myself every evening. :P
The wide variety of food during the cocktail hours.
And we ate there overlooking the beautiful harbour.
A shot of us of the harbour behind us.
And by the way, Hotel guests of Hotel Jen are entitled to enter the Legoland Park 30 minutes before regular opening time. They also provide free shuttle bus to Legoland Park every 30 minutes.
So you don't really have to break your bank staying in Legoland Hotel.
With this, this makes Hotel Jen a very recommended hotel to stay in if you plan to visit both Thomas Town & Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, and also Legoland Park.
PUTERI HARBOUR
We had a stroll at the mall next to the hotel, and also at the Puteri Harbour that very evening.
View was really beautiful.
Erm, Vern refusing to take a photo but I took anyway. Haha.
Kids playing with the structures there.
Kids know how to relax as well while waiting for the sun to set.
Beautiful, huh?
We went back after the sun set and went to the club lounge again for some drinks.
Hubby even managed to do some important work there for awhile using the Mac there after the kids zzz.
THOMAS TOWN & SANRIO HELLO KITTY TOWN AND OTHER CHARACTERS
Just next to Hotel Jen is the Thomas Town and Sanrio Hello Kitty Town (used to be called Little Big Club).
There are basically 3 floors there.
1st floor consists of the Sanrio Hello Kitty Town.
Other Characters (which are Angelina Ballerina, Bob the Builder, Pingu and Barney and Friends) are on the 2nd floor.
And on the 3rd floor is Thomas Town.
However, there are only 2 parks tickets. You can choose either Sanrio Hello Kitty Town park and you get to go to the Other Character floor for free.
Or you can choose the Thomas Town park and you also get to go into the Other Character floor. And of course you can purchase two park tickets as well and you get to go to all 3 floors.
1 Park Ticket - RM85
2 Park Pass - RM125
MyKid & MyKad Holders get 20% off.
We initially wanted to only go to Thomas Town, but then hubby found out that with Maybank credit card, you get 30% off, so in the end we bought the 2 Park Passes at RM125 - 30% = RM87.50/each.
Vern was free (kids aged 3 and below free).
And luckily for me, both my younger kids chun chun reached the height limit and so we got our money's worth. :)
We were given a schedule of all the live shows timing.
There were quite a many of them.
Almost every 1/2 hour, there was either a Live Show or a Meet & Greet at one of the floors.
We ended up going up and down, up and down. Luckily everything was within a close proximity.
THOMAS TOWN
Let me first talk about Thomas Town floor.
This floor is all about Thomas and Friends of course.
And most of the attractions are rides.
Luckily for Vern, he got to sit in most of the rides with the accompanying adult.
This is a ride that is like a Ferris Wheel. Forgot the name.
This is Bertie the Bus ride which spins you up and round. My kids enjoyed this one.
I sat this for a few more times with Vern as the brothers went for the Bumper Car ride.
This is Harold's Helitours ride.
This one Vern was allowed in so Hubby sat with him again.
Bumping Buffer Steamies and Diesels Ride was Shern's favourite.
Khye was allowed in if accompanied by an adult.
Vern not allowed in of course as it can jerk you quite a bit as you bump each other's car.
Shern played this for many rounds as he is old enough to ride by himself.
Took photo with Thomas.
Vern called Thomas 'peep peep' coz he always makes this sound.
My favourite - Knapford Station Train Ride.
I like this one because this ride doesn't go in circles which makes me dizzy. I'm too old for those rides that goes round and round. lol.
A short clip of me & Vern sitting in this train ride for many rounds while his brothers played other rides.
This train ride circles a huge Tidmouth Sheds Playground.
Watch a short video clip on it.
It is something like those playground in Adventure Zone, and it was huge. My boys loved playing there. They wouldn't want to get away but we called them out to watch the next live show. :P
These are short clips of some of the rides we took in Thomas Town.
I think this is Vern's favourite.
I like that there are not a lot of people at the place, which means you don't have to go to the stage area way long before the live show start to get a good seat.
People generally only go to that stage area about 5 minutes before showtime.
And there are bean bags for the kids and also a few for the parents.
Look at my boys, lying down watching the Live Show.
Shern got chosen to help to do a task for the Live Show - to put a ribbon on Thomas. He got a balloon for helping. Haha.
A short clip on the Thomas & Friends Live Show.
When bubbles appeared, the kids go crazy catching the bubbles. ;)
A photo with Thomas The Tank Engine and Crew.
Then there was also a Meet & Greet Session with Sir Topham Hat!
Top of this list was to watch Barney.
Khye was especially excited to meet Barney, and he was not disappointed because he got to watch a really lively and happy Barney Live Show.
And to take a photo with Barney.
On the other hand, Vern was scared stiff of Barney.
That is why he was not in the photo above. lol.
I must say Barney looked quite scary for a 1+yo baby.
Here is another photo with Barney, and without Vern again. :P
Another favourite was Bob the Builder Live Show.
They enjoyed dancing along with the songs and show. Look at baby Vern clapping along too.
But when it came to taking photo with Bob and his crew, Vern was terrified of the huge Bob! :)
They also spent quite some time in this Bob The Builder playground. Look at them going down the slides.
Very funny coz seems like the slide is not too smooth with them wearing shorts I guess.
Daddy & Vern going down the slide.
Next, a Meet & Greet photo session with Angelina Ballerina & Pingu.
We missed the Angelina Ballerina Dance Studio session. Sigh. Dunno why but it was not in our printed schedule so we missed that.
Another one of the activities - Dressing Up
Vern refused to dress up so hubby carried him while 3 of us dressed up.
Very limited clothing leh.
My boys chose to be penguins. Pingu I supposed.
And I was Melody.
When asked to do an action, Khye did this. Very funny I cannot stop laughing lol.
Very cute too ;)
SANRIO HELLO KITTY TOWN
First of all, I am not a fan of Hello Kitty. I only got to know there that Hello Kitty's partner's name is Daniel. lol.
But the Live Show was really good too. Not bad.
The Hello Kitty Live Show, which brought us all over the world. Middle East, Japan, UK, etc and that friendship is everywhere.
The crowd at most of the live shows.
Not too many people. Just nice the crowd to me.
A photo of my boys with Hello Kitty and Daniel behind. :)
A short clip of the Hello Kitty live show.
After the live show, we explored Sanrio Hello Kitty Town and saw that many of the attractions are art & craft inside the Wishful Studio.
We all got to create our very own Hello Kitty pin badge.
And all our favourite.
To decorate our very own Hello Kitty cookie.
We also got to create each a personalized Hello Kitty hankerchief.
While holding their hankies, we all went to visit Hello Kitty's house.
In it, we saw Hello Kitty's living room, bedroom, bathroom.
Nothing much I would say, unless you are really a Hello Kitty fan. We just breezed through it haha.
Standing in front of these Hello Kitty trees while eating their very own Hello Kitty cookies. ;)
Behind it was the Hello Kitty's house.
And there was a Hello Kitty adventure game. We were supposed to hold our Hello Kitty toy and to play 3 games in the Hello Kitty land.
It was not very fun actually lol. If you win all 3 games, you would win yourself a charm. We didn't win, no surprise at all!
Inside the land with them holding their Hello Kitty toy.
And the only ride in Sanrio Hello Kitty Town floor - similar to Mad Hatter's Teacup ride...to my horror! I hate this ride lol.
Anyway my kids loved it.
This is the last Live Show of the day and the performers came out on roller blades, and Segwey ride. Very cool indeed.
A short clip of the Candy Parade Live Show.
And then we went down to play some arcade games until they shoo-ed us out at 5pm. Yes, they have kid arcade games on the 2nd floor. I forgot to take photo of the place.
And after that, since it was 5pm then, we walked back to our hotel next door and tucked in the coctail food as our dinner. :P
So worth it right our club privilege!
So how was it, if you ask?
Well, I think overall, this place was really nice. I initially thought we would be done in 3-4 hours but I was wrong, as we spent the whole day there from 10am-5pm!
Let me end this post by giving you all a few tips.
TIPS
#1 - When queuing for tickets, ask if there are any credit cards that give you a discount on the tickets. Hubby asked and we got 30% discount for Maybank credit cards.
#2 - This place is suitable for kids 3yo - 8yo in my opinion, Any older and it would be too kiddish I supposed.
#3 - The place is fully air-conditioned, so it may get a bit cold. So if your kids are scared of the cold, you may wanna bring a light sweater with you.
But this also means this place is accessible rain or shine as it is indoor and air-conditioned. And air-conditioned is also good since the target market here is young kids, and air-cond is always welcome in our hot and humid country.
#4 - Limited food choices there. I'm not sure if food is allowed in. We brought some biscuits and they didn't stop us.
#5 - Go see as many Live Shows as you can. It is quite professionally done. Seeing the live shows already make me feel our ticket prices are worth it! ;)
#6 - I read online review that Thomas the Train ride has the most queue, so if you go during peak season, you may want to queue for that ride first.
Anyway, we went during Malaysia's school holiday, and also during Singapore's school holidays and there was not many people there. But we went on a weekday.
That's all for now.
Hope this post give you an insight of the place, and inspire you to bring your little ones there for a day of fun!
Stay tuned for our next post - Legoland, Johor!
1 comment:
hi.. may I know is there any height limit for all the rides? Thank you
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