Visiting Dream World: Bangkok's Low-Key Version of Disneyland!
Dream World's cute and colorful facade is manned by an antlike mascot. I didn't know why, but somehow a wave of déjà vu then hit me while I stood in front of the gates waiting for them to open. I actually half-expected to see a giant revolving globe or a hovering surfboard (ridden by a mouse mascot and his loyal pooch) inside the gates.
I've already mentioned in my previous blog post that I was very fortunate to have been given the chance to leave (and eventually re-enter) the UK and join my family in my home country, the Philippines, for a three-week stint before the global coronavirus-related lockdown started. This was in February 2020, when the virus was merely a far-off threat and was just starting to bare its fatal fangs-- erm, or maybe its RNA (what makes up a virus, anyway?)-- for the world to fear. Before setting foot into my native soil, however, I deplaned at Bangkok, Thailand where my family eventually joined me for four days of pre-planned holiday in the Land of Smiles to celebrate my adorable little niece's sixth birthday.
Thailand is famous for being an adults' playground and a shopping mecca for cheap products, but that's not to say that the country does not have its fair share of kid-friendly activities. In Bangkok, the ICONSIAM is a mere five-minute drive from our accommodation. It is a luxury riverside shopping mall but it also contains tons of family-friendly entertainment options including the Alangkarn Hall, the Musical Fountain, and Sooksiam-- ICONSIAM'S world-renowned indoor floating market! A few more miles further lies Bangkok's long strip of malls where the world's only LINE theme park, LINE Village, is housed in Siam Square One Mall (LINE is a cutesy messaging app that is popular in Southeast Asia). Meanwhile, neighboring Siam Paragon Mall plays host to SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World. While Thailand's capital city is full of fun things to do for visitors with young children, an amusement park located 40 kilometers to the north of Bangkok takes the cake.
The flowers are in full bloom at Dream World.
Everyone's excited for its gates to open-- and we arrived an hour and a half early!
I took a lot of photos of the facade because I just love how colorful it looks!
It looks empty now, but this area would be filled with eager families with their young kids a quarter of an hour before opening time.
Oh, it was a day before Valentine's when we visited the theme park. My niece was born on 13th February 2014-- God's most valuable present to our family.
Well, she may be God's most valuable present but my niece is not perfect. She is deathly afraid of clowns and would freeze whenever she's near one.
(Related post: Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea!)
The mascots are all so cute! (Yes, I am a girly girl!)
PREPARING FOR OUR VISIT TO DREAM WORLD
First off, because Dream World is a 40km distance away from Bangkok and we didn't want to take public transport for fear of contracting coronavirus, we booked a 12-seater premium air-conditioned van from Thai Rhythm via Klook. I love their service and, of course, the vehicles! The vans were very roomy and clean, and the air conditioners were very cool and refreshing. I couldn't thank them enough for promptly providing us with a private van when we urgently needed another one to go home from Dream World because *sigh* careless me misunderstood my booking to be for a return trip when in fact, I erroneously only booked for one way. On top of that, I also neglected to pay the 400.00 THB (10.00 GBP) surcharge fee for trips extending outside of Bangkok. (I know, I'm a very bad customer!) Thai Rhythm had every right to be mad at me, but they remained very courteous and polite while transacting with me.
Fee breakdown: Base fare, one-way trip from our accommodation in Khet Khlong San is 1, 155.00 THB (28.00- 30.00 GBP) and the surcharge is 400.00 THB (10.00 GBP).
Top tip: Travel early to arrive early. Bangkok's roads can get very congested, and travel times can sometimes stretch to double the normal. Their rush hours are usually from 7:00 to 9:00 in the morning and from 18:00 in the evening to 21:00.
Thank you, Thai Rhythm Bangkok, for making our trip to Dream World a fun and memorable one! (Image from their Klook page.)
Thai Rhythm Bangkok's spacious 12-seater van. (Image from their Klook page.)
Aside from transportation, we also pre-booked out tickets for Dream World from Klook. The page has three packages to choose from: Dream World ticket only (680.00 THB or 17.00 GBP), Dream World ticket + entry to Snow Town (828.00 THB or 20.45 GBP), and Dream World ticket + entry to Snow Town + lunch buffet (around 930.00 THB or 23.00 GBP).
For tickets purchased from Klook, customers have to redeem their physical tickets at the Guest Information Services building which is sandwiched between the ticket booths and the colorful main gates.
Go-Karts and Water Fun are not included with the ticket price. My little princess wanted to go to Water Fun, the water play area of Dream World, so we paid 120.00 THB (2.97 GBP) upfront at the kiosk.
All good to go!
DREAM WORLD PLAZA
Visitors' first encounter with Dream World will be a colorful shaded walkway leading to the Plaza where-- surprise! I knew there would be a giant globe somewhere in the park!
Aha! I love how there are no crowds around the globe! We took a ton of pictures without having to worry about photobombers! Also, I think the mist is a wonderful added effect!
This is a good spot to just sit down, relax, and people-watch near the end of the day.
A pair of flamingo lovers dancing in the water immortalized in cement.
I love how there are so many trees proving shade in the park!
Some statues lined up along the merchandise shop front.
The park is perfectly decked out for Valentine's.
An elderly man just quietly reading his paper.
These quirky figures are so much fun to look at!
These are hilarious!
(Related post: Read about my four days in Barcelona, Spain before the lockdown started!)
SNOW TOWN
So you've had your fix of photos with the giant globe and the quirky statues-- but where should you go next? My cousin had the idea of going to Snow Town first because, based on his own research of the park, it's one of the more popular attractions. We predicted it would be jam-packed with kids later in the day (15 minutes before the park was set to open, around 5 double-decker buses arrived carrying children who were on a school trip on the day of our visit). As I've previously mentioned, our tickets came with entry to Snow Town; otherwise, we'd have to pay 180.00 THB (around 4.45 GBP) for each adult and child.
Entry to Snow Town comes with complimentary rentals of snow boots and winter coat.
A winter lodge replica inside Snow Town!
It's Frosty!
With my happy pill.
There are tons of interactive displays within Snow Town, including falling snow, Santa's sleigh, and even a giant woolly mammoth! The most fun thing, however, is the plastic luge slide. Visitors can slide down as much as they want on a shallow slope and feel the cold frigid wind in their faces!
Sliding down a slope in Snow Town!
Over-all, I think Snow Town is a very fun place to visit while you're in Dream World. The place is definitely worth the value of its entrance fee, and while it wasn't the first time I had experienced snow, fake or otherwise, it was for my little princess so I thoroughly enjoyed watching her happily dance around like Queen Elsa on a sugar rush-- until she began to sniffle.
PHOTOPIA AT DREAM WORLD
There are always three types of theme park visitors: (1) the adventurous ones whose straightforward mission is to conquer all of the rides before the park closes down, (2) the foodies who think that the greatest adventure is to sample all of the bestselling food and snacks from all of the park's restaurants and concession stands, and (3) the camera-savvies who are most comfortable taking pictures and/or selfies in the park's every nook and cranny. I am personally a little of all three types, but for those who would very much rather prefer to scout for Instagram-worthy fodder, there's Photopia.
I hope they don't get sued for these Minions lookalikes.
My little lady tries her luck at being the new owner of the Excalibur.
Spoiler: We now call her Queen.
Photopia is Dream World's less-hyped answer to Disneyland's Fantasy Gardens. The walkthrough attraction features interactive displays that make for good photo-ops.
The giant man half-buried in the ground is a popular background for many a groufie and selfie.
Hobbit houses!
They look so cute and quaint! Unfortunately, they are just for display.
The upside-down Sir Arthur Castle in Photopia. Inside, all the furniture are topsy-turvy.
A cute caterpillar.
The little pastel-colored candy house. Fortunately, this house is explorable and interactive!
The sitting room.
I wish I could live in a house just like this!
What kind of criminal leaves macarons out to melt?!
The vegetable house.
The giant vegetable patch.
This faintly reminds me of an existing Pixar movie.
A wooden grandma.
Fun fact about my little niece: she's an incredibly talented actress (*cough*shegotitfromme*cough*). In this photo, she's fake crying and asking for someone to save her from Kong.
In the end, no one could save the pretty little princess (her words, not mine). *Sob* What a touching performance!
I can't say it enough-- I'm really grateful and in love with the fact that the entire park is cool and shaded by tons upon tons of trees!
THE GIANT'S HOUSE
Based on the renowned tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, visitors to Dream World can fully explore the same house that the eponymous character had stolen from, complete with a realistic breathing giant and lots of interactive elements for kids and adults alike!
Entrance to the Giant's House.
I wish cherries would grow this big for real.
The Giant's dining room. Risk-taking visitors can climb on the rocking chair or even onto the table.
Try to be as silent as mice and please DON'T WAKE HIM UP.
Nice touches to the fireplace!
Ah, the symbol of human greed: the Golden Eggs.
THE MIDWAY GAMES
I have always been lucky when it comes to midway gaming. I tend to win loads of prizes and stuff. I'm particularly good at games that involve a lot of shooting (as in a gun or darts) and throwing small balls (yes, I'd say I'm good with small balls). So when I got bored, I lumbered over to one of the kiosks directly opposite the Grand Canyon Ride where, for 100 Baht, players are given 5 ping pong balls that they need to throw into specific holes on a table. The only reason why I chose to play was because the prizes were One Piece character plushies (and everyone knows I'm a big OP fan)! And win I did-- big time! Good thing the attendant was such a good sport and at the end of the day, after six large plushies and two small ones, she was even using me as proof to tell potential customers that her game was very easy.
(Related post: My visit to the official One Piece theme park in Tokyo, Japan!)
This area was swarmed with school children from the educational tour group minutes after the theme park opened for business.
I managed to win two of those baby seal plushies for my little princess. She gave the other one to her best friend as a souvenir.
Look at these moochers posing with my loot.
You can see the kiosk where these prizes were from in the background.
Luffy, Zoro, Chopper, Law, Sabo, Ace-- I only stopped playing because they were the only characters up for grabs on that kiosk.
Proud of these babies!
LOVE GARDEN AND THE 7 WONDERS OF THE WORLD EXHIBIT
Located in the Love Garden, near the entrance to Dream World (right after the Dream Plaza) is the 7 Wonders of the World exhibit where replicas of each marvel are displayed for visitors to see.
Colors and blooms all make the Love Garden a pretty place to get lost in.
India's Golden Mountain Temple.
Another jewel from India, the Taj Mahal.
That's supposedly the Great Wall of China.
The Pyramids in Egypt-- complete with a proud looking guardian sphynx.
Cambodia's Angkor Wat.
The eternally leaning Tower of Pisa and the Statue of liberty in one photograph.
France's very own Eiffel Tower.
The Roman Colosseum which, unfortunately, looks nothing like the real thing's current sorry state of disrepair.
THE RIDES AND OTHER ATTRACTIONS
Visitors to Dream World will likely never run out of things to do. From kid-friendly monorail rides to faith-defying roller coasters, there's a lot of something for every kind of guest.
Two of the best ways to explore the park are by riding the Sightseeing Train or taking the high route via the Cable Car which, by the way, are free (do the 60 and 80 pictured above mean prices?).
Water Fun is Dream World's wet play area for little kids. It costs an additional 120 Baht on top of the ticket fee to enter for both child and accompanying adult. The little madam packed a swimsuit in anticipation and spent a good one hour before she got bored inside because there weren't any kids to play with.
Photo from Phil.uk.net.
The Speedy Gonzales Mouse mini-coaster. I've seen it run and I think it's too fast for little kids.
Something for adrenaline junkies-- the Black Hole Coaster.
Wouldn't ride this unless my life depended on it.
This is a ride I am always fond of dubbing the "Milk Foamer" because-- well, I've used something that looks like this in the past to make lattes.
The Grand Canyon is a wet ride modeled after the thrills of canoeing in wild river rapids.
Some themed decor beside the Grand Canyon ride.
The Dream World monorail is perfect for when you just want to figure out your life's priorities after losing big money from all the midway games.
The monorail guarantees a peaceful ten minutes of just looking at the view from your window as it slowly crawls on its tracks.
The Viking Ship.
Oh, yay! I loved the Bumper cars!
The Haunted House, which was actually funny more than it was scary!
Trapped in a neverending game of UNO Cards.
The 4D Adventure Cinema which was unfortunately closed for maintenance during the time of our visit.
A huge man-made lake for boat paddling.
The petting zoo, where little tots can interact with precious farm animals. This is the part of the park that my little one enjoyed to her heart's content. There is also a twice-daily animal show featuring domestic animals like dogs and birds. For showtimes, please consult the brochure.
Mr. Bean.
Lastly, I don't have any photos to show for it, but once in the morning and in the afternoon, Dream World has a stunts and special effects show called Hollywood Show that is eerily similar (though of lesser quality) to Universal Studios' Waterworld. For showtimes, please consult the brochure.
FOOD OPTIONS
Dream World has limited dining options to choose from. I don't think the park has a lot of choices for those with special dietary needs such as halal, gluten-free, or vegan. Also, nothing as fancy as a themed sit-down restaurant like the ones that are all over Disneyland. The streets are dotted with kiosks and propped tables and chairs selling full meals, traditional Thai snacks, and Western carnival food. There's even an eatery near the car park. Finally, for the pickier eaters, there's a KFC on-site where my family and I chose to eat.
The samosas actually look, smell, and taste good.
Go for the traditional Thai milk tea!
Nothing like colorful dim sum and steamed buns to cap off your visit to Dream World.
VERDICT: Over-all, we've had tons of fun at Dream World. Sure, we've been to better, more topnotch amusement parks but at the end of the day, smiles were flashed and squeals and laughter were heard-- the most important of which were from the little five-year-old girl who had turned six inside the park's walls with the people who love her the most.
(Related post: Read about this eccentric steampunk wonderland in France!)
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