Be A Dragon Warrior At Dreamplay By Dreamworks (After Eating Like a Viking)!
The facade of Dreamplay, a one-of-a-kind theme park produced by Dreamworks Animated Studios in the City of Dreams, Manila.
I'm featuring two attractions in this post: the first being Vikings Luxury Buffet at SM Mall of Asia followed by Dreamplay by Dreamworks in the City of Dreams, Manila. We went to these establishments to prematurely celebrate my brother's 12th birthday one day before the actual date.
We made a prior reservation for the 11:00 AM Vikings' lunch service and arrived an hour early for it; however, there was already a queue and we were already sixth in line.
Tips: It's always wise to make a reservation before showing up, as there are some cases of walk-ins who were entertained looooooong after they first showed up while some were not entertained at all. Making a reservation is free and easy, anyway!
Photo from GenzelKisses.
Kids' Menu. There's chicken wings, calamari, cajun potatoes, and build-your-own burger.
"Binusog" na lechon (stuffed lechon).
The carving station offers Beef Chuck Eye Roll, Rosemary Lamb, Mediterranean chicken, and turkey. Make sure to try all of them! The lamb and beef are good even without sauce or gravy, but the poultry taste a little dry solo (try the cranberry jelly with them).
Appetizers and cold cuts station.
The fish tempura is good!
Taiwanese-style adobo is also good! Sweet, salty, and savory all at the same time!
Salad, soup, and bread station.
The Japanese station.
Vikings sushi, for me, taste generic. There's nothing special about them, but they're better than standard sushi, too. I've tasted better.
Dim sum station.
Miso soup! Perfect for when your tummy needs a little loving after two or more plates! I'd love this even more, though, if it tasted a little more sour.
Google search results yield the following facts about chawan (mushi): It is a Japanese hot appetizer-- a type of egg custard, but not sweet. “Chawan” means tea cup or rice bowl and “mushi” means steamed in Japanese, and it is indeed steamed food in a cup.
Beverage station. Vikings Mall of Asia has lesser options compared to the branch in SM BF.
Build-your-own pasta section.
Pizza station.
Grill station.
Dessert station.
Sugarless strawberry cheesecake. I loved this!
Natto jelly. I'm amused by how simple this is!
Sprinkles for the ice cream. They only have 6 flavors in display-- none of which is chocolate. *sad emoticon here*
My sister and my niece at the make-your-own-crepes section.
After the meal, a server even offered us some Earl Grey breakfast tea to make the whole meal easier for our digestion.
We left by 2:00 PM and rode a taxi to Dreamplay, a theme park created by the folks at Dreamworks Animation Studios, famous for full-length animated films like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, the Madagascar series, etc.) At first, the taxi driver did not know the place even after we used keywords like "Dreamplay", "City of Dreams", and "casino". We even had to describe the building (it had a giant golden egg-like structure in the middle and on the outside, it looked like it was covered with irregularly-placed sticks). In the end, he seemed to recognize the place when we said it was across DFA.
Some of the entrances to the place were closed, so we had to circle the place just to get to the only available entrance. Traffic was kind of heavy then, so what should have been a five-minute ride from Vikings to Dreamplay got extended to almost thirty minutes.
When we finally arrived, though, we were amazed with the whole building and the establishments therein. High-end brands such as Rolex and BCBG Maxazria lined the halls, and a casino was front and center.
Anyway, up the escalator and at the end of one hall was Dreamplay, and my brother ooooh-ed and aaaah-ed.
Donkey and Dragon's hybrid children on a balloon ride.
The gang from Madagascar (brother included).
This is the reception, where the attendants encode data about the visitors and give them a bracelet pass. There's a queue.
Locker rooms. A locker rental is Php 50.00.
The first area we encountered was the Kung Fu Panda area where most of the adrenaline-junkie attractions were. The set looked realistically like Ancient China.
The Thread of Enlightenment is a mid-air obstacle course attraction.
The Furious Five Academy is where aspiring Dragon Warriors train by following one of the Furious Five's kung fu movements in an interactive fun activity.
The Wall of Destiny is a wall-climbing attraction.
No need to worry. I mean, Po is the Dragon Warrior after all.
Stairway to Heaven is made up of a series of pillars of increasing height. Warriors are meant to ascend them. This is tougher than it actually looks.
The Dream Theater shows a 4D montage of some of the most iconic scenes from Dreamworks movies like Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon, etc.
Bathroom break?
The Chez Gingy food court. Gingy also holds gingerbread cookie-cooking and decorating classes here. (Pre-registration is required.)
Prices are a little steep.
IMPORTANT INFO: To be accommodated into the Dreamtales Dream Library, the wearing of socks is required. The one-year old baby we were with was not allowed in without wearing a pair, so I had to buy from the merchandise store. One pair of baby socks for Php 250.00 was just too steep, my morale fell over the edge.
This is what you'll see when you look up at the library's ceiling.
At the Madagascar set.
Musical organ.
A reflex game.
Whatever Floats Your Boat is where kids can assemble their own boats and have them cruise down a path of streaming water.
It's basically a ball pit.
At the How to Train Your Dragon set, there are dragon slides (some were still being constructed though).
Here, kids can assemble their own dragon and have them glide down a zip line.
Basically, the only thing you do here at Dinotrux is to race spheres along a fiberglass track. The game's pretty confusing and plain.
You can have an in-depth look at how an ogre lives inside Shrek's House. The goal of this attraction is to look for keys. When you do find them, swipe with the red bracelet.
The Dreamshop also serves as the exit. This is where you need to head to when you've had enough Dreamworks and decide to surrender your bracelet pass. This is also where I bought the overpriced socks.
There are a few important things to consider when going to Dreamplay, but the most important rule probably is the one postulating that adult visitors need to be accompanied by a child to be eligible to enter the park. In short, if you're a non-minor travelling solo or accompanied by a non-minor sweetheart and wanted to go on a sweetsy date in Dreamplay, you won't be allowed in.
Over-all, I found the park somewhat boring but not because it's lame. Let's just say that a 26-year old woman with a full belly from the Vikings buffet will not find climbing walls, racing spheres, watching puppet shows, and assembling boats appealing. What I did enjoy watching, though, was my birthday-boy's triumphant smile as he leered at me from the highest peak of Stairway to Heaven, Wall of Destiny, and other adrenaline activities. I equally enjoyed seeing my one-year old niece's gleeful squeals as she saw puppets of King Julien and the Penguins of Madagascar dancing to "Move It Move It".
Priceless. However, I still resent the Php 250.00 worth of pink Mort socks.
For more notices and to check for current ticket prices, visit the Dreamplay website.
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