Martin and Cheryl Invade the Philippines!

[milst1]

2015? Time to go get more credits. We didn't even wait for 2014 to end. We left on December 31st and didn't have any midnight as we were flying over Alaska somewhere.

 

We were generally delighted and surprised by the Philippines. The people are friendly, they love to have fun, they love Americans, and they love food! And the food is pretty good. And cheap! Outside of expensive name brand stuff and electronics, were were surprised by the low prices overall.

 

We hit a few parks on the first day. Hope you enjoy!

Top shelf to Manila.

This is a jeepney. They are a cross between jitney and jeep and they are ubiquitous. Usually you see a million people inside, sometimes even riding on the top out in the provinces!

First stop was Storyland at the SM Fairview Mall. Unfortunately, it's gone.

There are still some signs.

But the few remaining remnants are scattered througout the mall.

We were stuck in the mall for a bit, so we walked around. Pope-Mania was certainly taking hold. The Philippines is mostly Catholic and it's the only Christian nation in Asia.

Kenny Rogers Roasters! We must be in Asia because there are none in the States!

Next stop was Sky Ranch Pampanga, which just opened. I don't know how I discovered this. It wasn't even in rcdb until I sent it in.

It's outside of another mall. There are about 15 rides or so, and it was hot and packed with people.

Loop Coaster was moved from the now-defunct Carron Dream Park, which was only open for a year, or less.

The other credit is Dream Coaster, which moved from a different defunct Storyland mall park.

The Carron Dream Park founder also has a ride company called Westech, so the guys are still in the business, even if their park isn't. Oddly, Westech is the name of a Swiss ride manufacturer too, but the Filipino company comes up first if you google.

There are a few other flats around. Apologies to Larrygator, but it was hot and crowded and we had to find our driver.

Nice logo! This is the second Sky Ranch in the Philippines. We'll show you the other one later.

Next stop was yet another mall park, World of Fun.

Again, very crowded. Twenty pesos per ride comes out to less than 50 cents!

There was actually some theming at this park, like the Eiffel Tower.

London Bridge

Egypt.

And the credit actually encircled the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Here's the sign.

Here's the train. This was actually fun.

Decidedly low-tech form of DDR, but it was incredibly fun to watch the little kids try to dance along. Lots of little babies in the Philippines, despite condoms being sold everywhere. It's a young country.

Circle of Fun was the last stop of our exhausting day. This is an amusement area inside of a huge city park. There are tons of vendors and flea markets and stuff in the big city park.

Wild Wind was the credit.

This is actually pretty intense, and I tested my OTSR and it locked away from my body, so it was doubly terrifying.

There's also a powered dragon coaster.

Most of the other rides are kiddie rides. It was fun. Lots of people just come and pay admission and then sit on blankets, hanging out.

Okay, some fun Philippine facts: Babies wear cologne.

Instead of giant family sizes, household products are sold in tiny packets.

Japanese favorite Pocari Sweat is available!

Jolibee is the Filipino answer to McDonald's, and I was shocked to learn that they have 32 locations in the USA.

dippin' dots can be found in the Philippines! Check!

And a popular ice cream desert is called Halo-Halo, a mix of soft ice cream, fruit and syrup, and red beans, shown here on the side. Yum. Hope you enjoyed Day 1! More to come!

Edited February 1, 2015 by milst1

[cfc]

Perhaps they'll develop a "Soarin' Over the Papal Visit" ride. After all, they already have the gift shop.

Edited January 17, 2015 by cfc

[milst1]

^^^

And that wasn't the only gift shop we saw, Chuck. Lots of papal merch available everywhere. Ironically, the Pope went to visit victims of last year's hurricane and his visit has been cut short by another storm.

[WFChris]

Cool report as always, Martin! Can't wait to see more.

[milst1]

Many thanks for checking out the report; here's Day 2!

Day 2 found us heading to the southern part of Metro Manila known as Alabang. There are two malls, each with a kiddie. The first, X-Site, can be found in the Festival Supermall. As we have found in other Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore, mall culture is big in the Philippines. It's safe, there's lots to do, and it's air-conditioned.

There's our target.

Getting closer.

They had all of the entries roped off except for the first.

Vekoma Juniors can be lots of fun, especially indoors. I'm sorry that I didn't get better photos of X-Site. It's basically an FEC.

Literally across the street from Festival Supermall is the SM City Fairview Mall. Nice to have a theme park in the mall.

Starland also occupied a massive indoor mall space.

Starland was a bit sad but it was open for business. It wasn't wholly without charm.

Astroworm is an excellent name for a wacky worm.

There is the Astroworm!

We always get more track circuits than we want.

There was this huge castle thing and a bunch of kiddie flats.

Here's another view from a lower level of the mall. Notice giant ceiling fan. The mall was quite dead that day, but we did find a sorta hip coffee shop.

After the malls we were on our way to the premiere theme park of the Philippines, Enchanted Kingdom. Here we see another common site in the Phlippines, the motorcycle with sidecar. After the jeepney, this is the most common form of public transit.

There is Enchanted Kingdom in the distance.

We're here!

It's a busy day, coming at the end of the New Year's holiday weekend. Only the Pope's open air mass had more people. You can see umbrellas for the sun.

Whoa, utter chaos. We did not have a good experience. There were queues upon queues, confusing signs, people stopping in the queue and nobody going around them, etc. Cheryl basically cut everything and got us tickets, then cut everything again to gain entry, but people were just standing there so we weren't actually cutting. It was weird.

Just so you know, it's about 45 Philippines Pesos to the dollar, so one entrance came to a little over US$13!

Here's what you see after entering and turning to the right.

There are two credits, Roller Skater, a Vekoma Junior shown here,

and Space Shuttle, this Vekoma Boomerang.

Lunch was also a crowded affair (we were a little starving by now), but better organized.

Here's what we got. It was good. Cheryl loved her chicken. I loved my corn soup and my Lumpiang Sariwá was pretty good.

Thankfully, I had my Philippines Food App (yes, there's an app for that!), so I knew (sort of) what it was before ordering.

The final cost of lunch was a little over $17 for the two of us. This was actually on the expensive side relative to our other comparable meals in the country, but not unreasonable.

Well, the sign says no line jumping, but there was plenty of it. Alas. It was about 90 minutes to ride the Boomerang, but most of the queue was thankfully covered. The sun was brutal. Another notable point here is that the majority of signs in the Philippines are in English, even though people aren't speaking English. It's weird, but it makes it easier to navigate the country.

There is some nice theming about.

Themed kiddie rides in this dinosaur section.

Another dino kiddie flat.

For families, there is this ferris wheel. There were one or two other big kid flats, but we spent so much time in the queues that we didn't really get a chance to photograph much.

This drop tower is apparently an upcharge attraction (I read that somewhere, maybe Richard B.'s page?) but it was disassembled at the moment.

There were some interesting food choices.

Corn is a very popular snack.

Pizza Hut for those longing for American fast food. Decent ice cream too.

Our wait for the roller skater lasted into dusk. Thanks to Enchanted Kingdom for calling our driver for us when our phone wouldn't work. Thanks also to Mario Manon, who was out of town but in touch with us. If you don't know, Mario Manon is the CEO/President of Enchanted Kingdom and is immediate past Chairman of the Board of IAAPA.

Back in Manila means back to the malls near our hotel! FYI, Philippines has McDonald's!

And they're really pushing their Chicken McDo. Fried chicken seems to be huge here.

Basketball is huge here too. The Philippines Basketball Association is enormously popular and tons of people are sporting NBA clothes.

Yes, this caught our eye for obvious reasons. But it's an acronym that actually stands for "Supreme and Most Honorable Society of the Children of the Nation", which was a Filipino revolutionary society formed in 1892 that fought for independence from Spain. No relation to that other KKK. But this is also like naming a restaurant "Sons of Liberty" or "Founding Fathers" or such.

Finally, we discovered Beard Papa, a cream puff chain, but once again, we've discovered that there are plenty of these in the States. I guess I could have read the sign more carefully. Hope you're enjoying the report! Thanks for reading. More to come!

[larrygator]

I experienced my first and only Beard Papa in Edmonton. Those cream puffs are wonderful.

[bert425]

great report thus far.

 

Not sure I could do such a crowded park! (odd, since I go to super crowded conventions every year).

[VinTheAttendant]

Loving the report! Sky Ranch was not open last time I went to the Philippines, I had no idea it would be the size it is now based on the pictures. Also, I rode Dream Coaster (aka Silver Streak) as a kid, I thought it was gone forever; very happy to learn that it found a new home. I can't believe you photographed a full train on Wild Wind. When I went, everyone in the park was afraid to ride it. The drop tower at Enchanted Kingdom was not upcharge when I went; though it's a shame it wasn't operating when you went, those Larson towers are insane.

 

I always enjoy reading your reports! Can't wait to see more.

[GwaziBSRider1]

Great TR, Martin!

 

The Jeepney (or whatever it is) reminds me of a moment on the Mexico Tour. While we were all on the bus waiting to get into Teotihuacan, there was that van next to us that was crammed with what seemed to be more people than on our bus!

[technfxrick]

Great Report. Love seeing pictures from these far away parks. Cant wait to get there myself one day!

[milst1]

Loving the report! Sky Ranch was not open last time I went to the Philippines, I had no idea it would be the size it is now based on the pictures. Also, I rode Dream Coaster (aka Silver Streak) as a kid, I thought it was gone forever; very happy to learn that it found a new home. I can't believe you photographed a full train on Wild Wind. When I went, everyone in the park was afraid to ride it. The drop tower at Enchanted Kingdom was not upcharge when I went; though it's a shame it wasn't operating when you went, those Larson towers are insane.

 

I always enjoy reading your reports! Can't wait to see more.

 

Vin, just checked out your Philippines report and it's great. I'm glad that the Philippines is getting some attention here.

[milst1]

Well, I'm just wasting time during the blizzard instead of doing work, so I might as well update this report. Day 3 had us getting a credit, then some culture credits, and then more credits!

Fun Ranch! Yes, we live for these crappy kiddie coasters!

Actually, it's a nice little private atmosphere in this FEC. Incidentally, "Kids Rule Here".

So there are a lot of kiddy flats.

And a coaster!

Credit!

There's also a play structure inside and party rooms and the like. Thanks, Fun Ranch!

Time for some culture.

Rizal Park honors the spiritual father of modern Philippines, José Rizal.

Rizal is venerated throughout the country. Near the park is the actual site where he was executed by firing squad. The Spanish sentenced him to death for being a revolutionary. By contrast, he was actually a very cultured and learned man. He was an opthalmologist who was also an accomplished artist, novelist, and poet.

There is an excellent museum dedicated to Rizal here where he spent his last hours in detention inside Fort Santiago, which is part of the old city of Manila known as Intramuros.

We then visited San Augustin, a 400+ year old church. We did not visit the big cathedral that the Pope visited.

Afterwards on the drive, we saw this statue of Ninoy Aquino. The airport is named after him too. I was in high school when he was assassinated by the Marcos regime upon his return from self-imposed exile. He was shot at the airport that now bears his name. The picture of his dead body was on the front page of the New York Times, if I remember correctly. His death launched his wife's successful effort to politically topple the Marcos dictatorship. Their son is the current president.

Getting ready for the Pope!

First a classic Filipino meal at the Manila standby, The Aristocrat.

And now, Star See-Tee! I mean, Star City! No really, that's how they say it, "see-tee".

Star See-Tee!

Star See-Tee!

Price board info!

Surf Dance! This is an indoor-outdoor park.

Argh, the only credit we expected to get and didn't. Star Flyer was down. Seems to be down a lot, which might be expected of an inverted Pinfari.

Popperoo is pretty good.

There's also a Giant Frisbee.

And my best attempt to get the Frisbee and the Surf Dance at the same time.

Dragon Express is a wacky worm.

And Wacky Worm is also a wacky worm.

They have this dreadful Peter Pan walkthrough.

Most of it looks crappy like this.

At brief moments, if you squint and huff glue at the same time, it gives a hint of Disney.

But most of it is utter crap.

Which is a shame, because then a little further down the hall they have some decent theming.

The sign at the gate said that "Blizzard" was down, but then we found it operating after all.

Slightly fun, but mostly violent and terrifying.

There was this odd upcharge climb thing with a belay. You had to climb it and ring a bell in an absurdly short time, like 4 seconds.

Games.

Bumper boats.

We did not partake in Snow World. For me, ice attractions lose their appeal after about 5 minutes, when I start to get too cold. Of course some of them are quite good. We just didn't feel like it.

But we did have some ice cream, in deference to ice. The bottom scoop is ube, or purple yam flavor. Can't remember the top flavor. Both were pretty good.

Facade looking good at night! Thank you Star Cee-Tee! Thank you for visiting with us, dear TPR readers!

[WFChris]

That inverted Pinfari looks wild. Wildly disturbing

[Nrthwnd]

On that ticket board. What the heck is a "3 Cheers" ticket?

I'm sure you didn't check, but still. "3 Cheers"?

 

Love those miniscule parks you find, Martin.

Give my best to Cheryl.

[VinTheAttendant]

Vin, just checked out your Philippines report and it's great. I'm glad that the Philippines is getting some attention here.

 

Thanks a lot! When I saw your TR surface, I was thinking the exact same thing. Great pictures, I've never seen Star City during the day, it looks great being able to see everything clearly. You've also got great taste in ice cream. Too bad you couldn't get on Star Flyer. I was able to ride it just a few days before heading back to the States, and (I can't believe I'm saying this) it's actually a fun, not-at-all painful coaster. It was a huge surprise. Glad you guys had a great trip!

 

EDIT: I just noticed that Enchanted Kingdom got an Air Race. Were you able to try it?

[milst1]

[vimeo]I just noticed that Enchanted Kingdom got an Air Race. Were you able to try it?

I should have taken pictures. No, we're not huge fans of spinny flat rides. I rode the one at Coney Island with Robb once and I was grateful when the cycle ended. In any case, the line queue was really too long for us.

[milst1]

Day 4 was our last amusement park day, so I'll just add a few highlights of the rest of the trip after that.

That island there is Taal Volcano, which has erupted 33 times since the 16th C., causing 5000-6000 deaths.

It's in a lake so you need a boat to get there.

Then you need to pay the tourist tax.

Many tourists (largely Korean) ride horses up to the top.

Many of the horse managers are children.

We hiked it.

The steep beginning becomes flat in the middle, then steep again at the top.

That's a seismic measurement station.

You can see steam coming out of the ground.

At the top, you're looking into the caldera, which is now a dead lake because of sulfur and boiling.

There's a little caldera on the bank of the caldera lake.

Refreshments and souvenirs are sold at the top.

Back across the lake.

To Sky Ranch Tagaytay!

There's the credit, Nessi Coaster!

Since the park is on a cliff overlooking the giant volcano lake, you get some great views.

There's a carousel.

Kiddie flats.

F&B. I admit that the place looked kinda sad. But it grew on us. It was empty and cloudy when we got there, but crowded and sunny when we left.

A few random flats.

There was a really cool two-way zip line that ran over the cliff edge. Great views flying through space.

You can see the lake and the zip tower from the ferris wheel.

Another zipper. The park actually used one of these pics on its Facebook page.

I'm standing on the far zip tower. You can see a powered coaster going up. This has been reported and updated on rcdb. This was the Storyland credit that we missed at the beginning of the trip. I also checked with the park's office and they said they are adding a bunch of other rides too. They said all done by February or March, I can't remember.

And the most hilarious sign of the trip. This was at a pony ride area.

Well, that was it for amusements, unfortunately, but we spent another week in country. Here are a few highlights. First we took a grueling full day to drive up north...

To see the famous Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We did some intense trekking into the rice terrace mountains.

Then another drive to Sagada to see the famous coffin caves, an alternative to burial. There used to be more, but a lot fell into the cave after an earthquake, so our guide said.

Yep, that's an arm. Or a leg. Or something.

But no snacking!

We did a little caving ourselves. I found it quite challenging, climbing around in bare feet after they made us take our shoes off. Watch out for bat guano.

Sagada is famous for its hanging coffins.

After the even longer drive back to Manila, we took an internal flight to the Philippines' top beach resort...

Boracay! I loved it, but it may not be for those looking for a tranquil private resort, at least in the part where we stayed. Big beautiful beach and hopping night life. We had fun. You can get a couples massage for something like $10 an hour!

And we were there during the Ati-Atihan festival. There must have been a hundred different marching groups with drums and glockenspiels. It went on all night and all day all over the island.

Back in Manila, we discovered the biggest and most elaborate breakfast buffet we've ever seen at the Manila City of Dreams Hyatt.

And for our flight out of Manila to Tokyo, I got the thrill of my life when I asked to take a picture of the 747's cockpit.

And that's our trip to the Philippines in a nutshell. Thanks for joining us!

[Meteornotes]

Nice report.

 

Jolibee is the Filipino answer to McDonald's, and I was shocked to learn that they have 32 locations in the USA.

 

Yeah, there was one of these not too far from my house outside of SF. It was always insanely busy.

 

dt

[gerstlaueringvar]

Great report! Philippines is an interesting country!

[larrygator]

I never heard of Jollibee but it looks like there is one close to you in Woodside, Queens

[Nrthwnd]

Amazing update Martin, especially that last culture part of your trip!

 

And those hanging cliffside coffins....

 

Lovely. Very very nice.

[milst1]

Thanks for the love, Nrthwnd and everyone else.

 

Uh, larrygator, we saw that and freaked, but we still haven't checked it out. I think Jollibee is even less healthy than McD's, if that's possible.

[mattguyver]

Thanks for another awesome TR! Great pictures. Hope to visit there some day.

[boldikus]

As usual, a fantastic report.