My #EpicFail at #Epic Kidzania Singapore

For Mummy Chan and myself, every weekend is a where-to-bring-the-kids medley of brainstorming, idea throwing and internet research. But 9-Apr-16 was a different one. Through a wonderful friend, I managed to get my hands on 4 preview tickets for the Chan Family to gain access to Kidzania Singapore 3 days before its official grand opening and for once, I told myself that I'd blog the most fantabulastic review of the much anticipated kids theme park!


The day came and I must say, the kids enjoyed themselves very very much and so did Mummy Chan and myself :)
From fire fighters to pilots to lab scientists to window washers to store cashiers, Renzo and Rynus role played to their hearts' content. One particularly interesting experience was that after his 20-minute stint as a KFC chef, it even inspired Renzo to want to make a burger dinner at home the week after.

So yeah, at the end of a rewardingly exhausting 7 hour stay at Kidzania, I rested myself and days later when I was ready to pen down that informagical review that I promised myself to the world, a quick search on the internet revealed more than a handful of top-notch blog posts out there (most popular being cheekiemonkie) have already done that.

So instead of sharing what's at Kidzania like all those posts have already masterfully did, I'll share with my #epicfails (and by epicfails, I mean my fails, not Kidzania's... they are just too good) and what tidbits of information that might help you prepare better for your kid's (kids') Kidzania trip~!

#1. Bring along your jacket and wear your socks and shoes!
Yes this is more like an indoor theme park, don't get me wrong, you do not need to wear socks to enter Kidzania, it's just that the air conditioning inside is pretty strong. Kids are pretty okay as they will be busy carrying out their tasks and at certain point, the boys did complain that they feel hot and requested to take off their jackets. But for adults, true enough we need to follow them around, but once they start their job, we just have to wait, and it can get a bit chilly there. Especially the play area for kids below 4, that place is freezing cold! I guess they do not want 1 kid to occupy the entire ball pit for the whole day, so switching on stronger air conditioning is the right strategy. I thought Rynus could be playing inside while I rest on the couch and watch for the entire afternoon, but we "escaped" after less than 30 minutes playing there.

#2. Decide on the must dos and waste no time once you step in.
We are not referring to the activities yet. But here's 2 things you need to know about this place. First of all, if you have been to Kidzania in other countries, then you would know that there's this thing called a Kidzania Pazzport, which costs SGD18 per child. Your child will start as a Neutralized Citizen with benefits like earn/save 2 extra Kidzos for their participation in activities. They receive stamps for each activity completed and with collection of 30/60 stamps, they will get upgraded to Distinguished / Honorable Citizen for unlock even more benefits. So decide before you go, and proceed to level 2 to apply for the pazzport if you want it. I do think if you believe this is a place you would come back for sure, then just get it. Another thing is, the currency used in Kidzania is called Kidzo. When your child works and earns their money, it's paid in Kidzo (cash) or credited to their ATM card. So if you would like them to be paid cashlessly, then activate the card immediately when you enter. The queue at the bank is pretty darn realistic (long and slow). And only kids can bring their card in so do prepare them for this task if your child is too young to handle it independently. Obviously Rynus' card has not been activated, he can do that if he's joined the queue with Renzo and with korkor's help it should be much easier, but too bad, he didn't even want to join the queue.

#3. Try to show pictures or even videos to your kids before going there
I am sure they might get too excited to even fall asleep if you were to show them anything before hand. But I would highly suggest you to do this. Kids like Renzo who needs more time to warm up, was rather lost for the first 30 minutes inside not knowing what to expect. And it totally didn't help when Mummy Chan and myself were mountain tortoises who don't know anything at all. Their staff were friendly and were trying hard to invite the kids into their station without noticing that the kids haven't settled into the environment yet. So it took us a while to figure out exactly what to do inside and how to do it. As for Rynus, it's even tougher, he said "I want to go home" more than 5 times through our stay there. Most of the activities are for age 4 and above but that doesn't mean he's able to understand what's going on. So places that require more action, like the fire station, attracted his attention immediately when he heard the siren from the fire truck. And only after trying that out, he's more willing to explore other activities.

#4. The ATM is for checking account status (not for depositing)
Why must I mention this, isn't that common sense? We were caught by surprise when Renzo went ahead to activate his ATM card, but didn't get to deposit any money through ATM machine. Right so we told him to join the long queue and get his card activated, we gave him 20 Kidzos to deposit while activating his card, thinking that the rest of the money can be bank in at later time through ATM machine, since there's not much queue at ATM so we could just do it at any time. But nope, those machines are just for checking bank record! Isn't that weird? But I guess the idea is to activate the ATM first thing when you go in, it has 30 Kidzos on the card and kids have 20 Kidzos in cash. So deposit that 20 Kidzos at the same time, from then on, just use the ATM card to pay / earn inside there. We did everything the opposite way. Because the queue was too long when we first step in, we went straight with cash. So end of the day when we have lots of cash in hand and didn't deposit them in while activating card, the only solution is to queue again. By the way the bank queue is long throughout the day, so just be prepared, to queue.

#5. Bye Bye Data Plan
Not too sure if this was intentional but the 4G/3G/your-G signal there is pretty bad. So please stay near your family instead of relying on your phones to gather at a certain "meeting spot". If you absolutely must, there is WiFi on the 2nd level lounge (but really, power off the mobile, this is a day to be with the kids)

#6. Aviation Academy Alert
One of the main attraction (at least to my boys) was the job as a pilot at the Aviation Academy. But with great attraction comes long waiting time. For me, the wait in line was about 30 minutes, after which the kids will be brought to a secondary waiting room where parents are not allowed for another 30 - 50 minutes. Do the maths and you'll get 1 hour waiting time for 20-30 minutes of aviation fun. Not the best ROI for time (but I'm sure it was great fun). Remember to bring your kid to the restroom before embarking on this hour-long waiting journey.

And also, because almost the plane is restricted to kids only, your wonderful picture of your smart looking kid in pilot uniform would most probably come from one of the assigned Canon photographer instead of your shiny new camera, of course that definitely comes with a price, SGD$20 per piece if our memories serve us right.

#7. Save the food making activities for meal time

There are restaurants inside Kidzania and we had simple KFC meal while waiting outside the aviation academy for the boys. But for kids, plan your timing so when they get hungry, bring them to make burger, pizza, yakult or even icecream. But if your kid is as young as Rynus, then either the elder sibling will need to make double trip at the station to make extra portion of food, or you just need to bring along extra milk powder, if your kid is a milk junkie like Rynus.

#8. Let your kid go in group with their elder cousins or friends
We've seen many upper primary kids roaming around the place like pro, followed by some younger siblings, cousins of friends. Sometimes they discuss about the activities and those younger ones get encouraged to try out different things, even if they might not fully understand. But if your kid is there alone, or like Renzo's case although he's there with his brother, Rynus is much younger to be of any help. Renzo covered a total of 7 stations in 7 hours, Rynus didn't get to go in together for a few places like Yakult factory or Learning Lab which are meant for 6 / 7 and above. As it's a soft launch the crowd was still manageable, I believe now since it's already opened officially on April 12, you might expect less stations covered for same hours inside.

#9. Spend your Kidzos at the Department Store and/or Shopping Alley
Too much cash on hand or busting the binary limit on your ATM card? Unfortunately not all the establishments accepts Kidzos. You'll need to bring your kid to the Department Store or Shopping Alley where Kidzos in an accepted currency. This is especially true if you are not expecting yourself to be visiting Kidzania anytime soon :)