1. Megazip Adventure Park
As we had already done our annual family trip in June in 2016, we had no overseas vacation planned for end of the year. So instead, we decided on a short staycation in Sentosa just 3 days before Christmas.
We dove to Sentosa and arrived at around 10.30am that morning and decided to proceed to do our check in before heading out for the activities. After check in, and as expected our rooms were not ready, so we left our bags with the concierge and headed out to take the Sentosa free shuttle bus to Imbiah Lookout, the bus stop nearest to Megazip Adventure Park. From the bus stop it is about a 100m gradual uphill walk to the park.
There are 4 activities that you can choose from in the park, Megazip, Climb Max, Northface and Parajump. There are various combo tickets available depending on which activity you wanted to participate in. The Megazip is the most popular activity and we all decided to do that only. It cost SGD45per person and if you want to do it a second time it is an additional SGD15 for each additional zip. So long as you keep your wrist band that they put on for you, you can go back anything before 6pm the same day to enjoy the discounted subsequent zips.
After we got our tickets, we put on our harnesses with the help of the guides and then we were ready to go!
After we were all harnessed up, we climb up a metal structure tower to our Megazip Adventure! The view at the top of the tower was beautiful. We could see the straight line zip onto the Siloso beach below!
The zip with the forest below you heading out to the sea was exhilarating! I thought I’ll be scared, as I have a fear for heights, but I was not scared at all. The feeling was amazing. You actually sit on the harness and slide down. It was really fun and can be done by young and old.
DD was initially reluctant to do it. But after one zip, she wanted a second one! In the end the 3 kids went for the SGD15 additional zip each.
2. Sentosa Skyline Luge
After the Megazip, we took the Sentosa Beach tram to our next activity, the Skyline Sentosa Luge. All the trams and buses in Sentosa are free. We fell in love with the luge since we first tried it in New Zealand in 2011. We have also done the one in Sentosa previously, and definitely want to do it again. We decided on the family package which was at SGD68 for 12 rides.
The kids each did 3 rides, I did 1 ride and DH did 2 rides. There are 2 trails, the dragon trail and the jungle trail. From the lower section, we boarded the skyline to the top of the hill for our luge ride. The skyline is like a chairlift. Max 4 persons each time. It is included in the price of the luge ride.
We went on the Jungle trail on our first ride. It is more windy than the Dragon trail. Lots of sharp turns but was still not difficult to manouver. If I can, then most people can as I am not the most agile person around. It was fun.
After that, DH and I went to reche for a place for lunch, while the kids went for their subsequent rides. They went for the jungle trail for a change. They said it is a faster trail as it is less windy. We decided to have lunch at Good Old Days, a restaurant nearby which serves local food. I decided to wait in the restaurant for them while DH went for his second ride with the kids.
3. Lunch @ Good Old Days
Good Old Times is a restaurant diagonally opposite the Luge and across from iFly. It has a black and white deco which reminds one of olden Singapore. Very pleasant and comfortable atmosphere.
The food that they serve here are mainly local street and hawker food but there are also some western favorites like fish and chips. There are chits of forms on the table where you select and tick your orders, then you bring that to the counter and place your order and make payment. Your food is served to you once it is ready.
DH is a big laksa fan. You can either order ala carte or set. Set comes with a choice of soft drink. DH was pretty disappointed with his choice. He say it tasted like curry noodles and not laksa, the gravy was not “lemak” (fragrant for lack of a better word). Laksa gravy normally should be made with dried shrimp but that taste is lacking.
I had the Chicken Briyani, a Singapore version of the Southern Indian dish. The briyani rice is appropriate made using long grain rice and flavoured with saphron. It came with a spicy chicken in briyani gravy, achar (pickled vegetables) and papadam (flour cracker). It was yummy. The Chicken Briyani does not have a set meal, but you can add on a drink and dessert at $4.50.
Both boys had the Chicken rice. Rice was fragrant and the steam chicken was tender. Pretty good.
DD wanted Fish and Chips. It look a long time. We almost finished our food before hers came. We had to ask the waitress to check with the kitchen. At least she liked it. I suppose you can’t really go wrong with this.
After our mains we had our dessert. I had a hot Tau Suan, a mung bean dessert soup. I love tau suan and the one here is pretty good. Beans are not too mushy and the dessert is overall not too sweet. DS1 and DD had boring ice- cream. DS2 had chendol. It is a popular dessert in Singapore and Malaysia. Chendol is the green flour strips made with rice flour. It is added with red beans and sweet corn and topped with shaved ice then drizzled with coconut milk and gula melaka, a type of palm sugar, to make the Chendol dessert. DH had Cheng Thng, which literally mean clear soup in Chinese. It is a light dessert sweet soup which can be eaten hot or cold. DH had his cold. It is made with dried longan, white fungus, red dates, lotus seeds and ginkgo nuts. A refreshing dessert that is different from the other local dessert soups which are generally thicker and richer.
Only lacking facility here is the toilet. No toilets in this restaurant and you need to cross the road to the buildings opposite if you need to use the toilet. It rained heavily after we got to the restaurant and the waitress was very nice and loan DD and I and umbrella when we wanted to go to the toilet. But it is definitely very inconvenient.
Overall, it was a decent meal which cost us SGD83.
4. iFly Singapore
After lunch, the rain had stopped and we headed across the road to iFly Singapore. iFly gives participants a chance to experience true free-fall conditions, just like a real skydive. It is something which we have not done before but thought the kids would like.
DH and the 3 kids decided to go for the 2 fly package at SGD119 per person for two 45sec fly. Paying with Amex credit card gave us a 10% discount. I am a scaredy cat, so I sat out of this. If you book online at least 2 days in advance, it’s cheaper.
You need to put on covered shoes for this. We were in open toe sandals and so we paid $4 each to rent a pair of shoes. It came with a new pair of iFly socks which we get to keep.
Each session has quite a few people. Our session has more than 10 pax. The session starts with a 30min briefing and video. After that, the group get themselves dressed and start their session. Each group has one instructor who guides participants in their fly. After all the participants are done, the instructors does an impressive demo fly.
DH and the kids enjoyed their fly tremendously. It was very expensive but very much enjoyed. Truely an unforgettable experience for them.
After our session , we went to pick out our photos. We had preordered the 5 digital photo and a video of the entire session. Paying for the package before the session is cheaper at $110. If you decide to get the photos after your fly session, then the photos cost more. I must say the photos were very well taken and captured the faces of each flyer clearly. You can’t take such photos on your own. So since it is something we will only do once, it was worth paying for the photos in my opinion.
When we were done, it was past 4pm and so we headed back to the hotel. The hotel had called earlier when DH and kids were doing their fly. Our rooms were ready.