Family Adventure at Legoland - 1 Sept 2012

Being 38weeks pregnant and having an opportunity to visit Legoland before it opened officially on 15 sept was a chance not to be missed!

Before baby boy is born we will make one more trip with Elayna as a family of 3 to Legoland!  Thanks to my cousin we managed to gain entry through private media event for Legoland before its doors opened to public on 15 Sept!

It was a sunny day as we set out from Singapore at 9:00am towards Tuas Link and we made a quick stop just after the toll for a quick breakfast. After the pit stop we resumed our way towards exit 312 nearing Legoland!

All in all with passing both customs,taking a break, we took under 1hour to reach exit 312. Upon exiting we had no problem finding our way towards Legoland with all the various road signs indicating Legoland and all the banners showing us the way towards Legoland. We finally arrived close to 10:45am.

We made a short wrong turn to a carpark but we subsequently found our way towards the correct carpark (carpark 1) to arrive at the welcome walkway. The long walkway towards the ticketing counter from the car park was a challenging walk for my 91 year old grandma and was quite a distance for E who was the shortest person in the group to walk to far, of course she had to be carried by daddy to the entrance.
When we did reach there we found a q at the various counters for invited guests who were redeeming tickets or purchasing additional tickets.

Once you arrive at the ticketing counter you see all the lego figurines and the design all reminding us that this is Legoland and you are finally here.

When we got into Legoland, you will see first the Legoland shop which houses various current popular Lego toys appealing to all the young and adult alike.

The first thing I noticed about the park was that it was spacious with seats before the shop. Unfortunately, strollers were not available for rental but luckily wheelchairs were available for grandma. By the time we got the wheelchair it was about 11am.

The first thing we noticed was the 4 seater roller coaster called the Technic Twister, it did not look that high and not that scary at first impression. Being 38weeks preggy meant that I could not sit on it at all, but hubby went with my cousin but just before they were about to be next for the ride there was a technical fault. After being in the queue for the ride for about 40mins, they decided to give up the ride as there was no sign that the ride will resume anytime soon.

While waiting for them at the ride E got to try the water cannon, this was quite fun as this acts like a sabotage effect for those who were riding the Aquazone wave racers splashing them with water! The ride had not started yet when we were there so E got to try her hand at the cannon!

There wasn't any ride at this themed area for Elayna to sit so we had to give it a miss as she was not tall enough to take any of the rides. It then became our mission to find rides that she could do.

We walked towards Lego Kingdom and there was another roller coaster which looked like a Lego dragon - The Dragon. Unfortunately she was not tall enough to ride and thankfully to make up for that disappointment, there was a playground called The Forestmen's Hideout for her to play in. While daddy accompanied her in the playground I went around to explore the rest of Kingdom.

It was this time that I found several other rides and I found one that she could do! - Royal Joust!

At first I was worried that she may not want to do it alone, but to my surprise she did it all by herself. This tells me that she has grown up quite a bit! Was so proud of her!  Throughout the ride, she kept going Go Horsey Go! She was having so much fun. This was the only ride she could do at the Lego Kingdom that she could do as many of the rides required a minimum height.
Along the way, we also  noticed some carnival games that visitors could play, but it put me off as it required us to pay to play.

We next came to Miniland and we had to skip it as E was attracted by the play ground but the thing that caught our eyes first was this - Singapore!

 After the playground, grandma had to go home and we continued our family adventure at Legoland. But before we went forward we had a break for lunch at their Market restaurant.

They had a varied menu here but at 1pm, they ran out of fish and chips and lucky for us we got the last few chicken rice. I opted for the fried black pepper Udon with Shrimp as I felt that the chicken rice, had abit too little rice for my pregnant state.  Whereas their kids portion of chicken rice was pretty good at RM15 which came with main course, ribena and fruits. But E wiped out not only her chicken rice but also daddy's rice too! And daddy wiped out the rest of my udon as I found it too peppery for my liking. I ended up having more fruits and cleaning up my strawberry slushie which was a wonderful comfort for the hot day.
The other thing I would complain at the restaurant was the menu labels, I went to one counter that said Black Pepper Udon and the staff pointed to to another counter where I should be ordering the food from. But what I would say is that the kids menu portion was abit small and with kids running about all day, I suppose a larger portion would be better. But since they have F&B kiosks about, it may work out but E can be quite particular about what she wants to eat so it seems quite limited.

After lunch, we decided to hit across the restaurant for the train ride around Legoland. It was a short train ride but E was pretty excited about it with her going choo choo all the time while waiting for the train. When she finally got on she was so happy!

We caught sight of many things along the way on the train ride.

When we got off the train, E was abit sad as she wanted to go on it again but the queue was so long so we convinced her that we will go to Land of Adventure to look for more rides! And she agreed.  But along the way, she got distracted by one thing....

Lego cars! She bounce into the ride at the Junior Driving school for kids 3-5yrs old whereas the Lego driving school was for kids from 5yrs old up. She got into a bumper car ride with another younger kid but she was really good instead of getting angry she got even and raced pass the other driver and proudly exclaimed that she won!! Initially she had some problems but with some practice with the car she managed to get the hang on it. Again, I was amazed by how much she has grown from in 6months. When we went to HKDL she was still worried about sitting alone for some rides. But I believe these rides look smaller and less intimidating for her. After the drive we managed to convince her to the Land of Adventure. But along the way, mummy and daddy stopped by at Mini land and managed to catch some of the Mini land features.

When we arrived at Land of Adventure we saw the Lost Kingdom ride but they were closed for maintainance, but we saw something that E could do, Beetle Bounce!

This was one ride that saw her laughing from the start to the end of the ride. She was laughing, giggling throughout the entire ride and when it ended she ended on a high!

After the ride, she saw another playground called Pharoh's revenge and it was essentially picking up the balls and allowing it to explode upwards with the balls firing all around the place. Daddy played with her while I waited outside and I could hear her laughing inside. One thing to note though, parents with young children should always have one adult acompanying them as there are other larger kids and I mean larger kids like 10 - 12yrs old who are also playing inside and can easily knock the smaller kids over.  Hubby also wondered how regularly do they clean or change the balls as E hands were all dirty and black by the time she came out. Luckily we were equipped with both wet wipes and hand sanitizers. I would advise parents to bring along wet tissues and hand sanitizers when bringing the kids to these rides and games as they can be quite a challenge to find a toilet at this particular themed land.

We took a short break at the F&B kioks here and I managed to catch a bite with a Jumbo chicken hotdog which tasted quite good or I could be hungry with me wiping out another bottle of mineral bottle there.

Along the way we saw more of those pay to play carnival games.


We went on to Imagination land and Daddy and E went to catch the 4D movie just in time. I didn't go in as we checked if its advisable for pregnant women, they said there were no moving seats but there were some foam and gas so maybe not that advisable. So I sat that out and they managed to get in after some checks with the staff inside the theatre.  They watched the 4D racing movie and I think Daddy enjoyed it more than E did.

When they came out, we went on our way but not before E was caught by a CNA reporter - Melissa Goh for an impromptu interview about the park. She of course answered everything with a Yes. And was the perfect interviewee.

Along the way back from 4D land towards the main entrance we saw the train again. This time E waved hello to everyone!

By then, it was already nearly 5:30pm and E had gone without her nap for the entire day and she was on a high. And since we promised that at the end of the day we will visit the shop we brought her to the shop and let her see what she would like to buy. Ended up she bought a Princess Sword, a Lego Friends box set. Daddy got for himself a Lego bike traffic police officer. He likes the bike.  Mummy got the Legoland magnet which is what I often do whenever I go someplace, I would get a magnet signature of the place.

The only thing is the magnent didn't say Legoland Malaysia, that would be unique.

After the shop, we visited the cafe which served pasta, breads, sandwiches and there wasn't much food left as they close at 8pm that day. Which meant that E didn't have much to eat, luckily by then 6:30pm she was so tired that all she wanted to do was eat a red bean bao which they had there and it was nearly 3/4 of her face. The bao was big but the filling was not much at all.  But I think the lunch was still quite filling and she was so tired out that she didn't complain much when we said that we wanted to her to change to new clothes so that she would be more comfortable in the car. We found a family room with changing facilities and all but the lock was abit spoilt so midway while we changing her someone managed to pull the door opened.

It took us quite some time to change her, we went in with the sun up and we came out the sun was down. Outside the clown was still entertaining visitors with ballon sculpting and little tricks for children and family but we made our way out as we wanted to avoid any jams leaving the causeway.  As we left, we saw how the lights lit the words at the entrance way and we managed to ask someone to take a family picture for us.

As we left the park, we were left abit confused on which way to exit towards Tuas so it would be better if there were directions as it was not as brightly lit or as clear on how to leave the place.

After the entire day of fun, E fell asleep in the car seat once the car started moving. And I guess that for a 38weeks preggy like me to be able to walk about for a full day and finding the available seating around the park near the rides was good. Although I thought that more shade would be good at Land of Adventure as it was a pretty hot day. And the F&B kiosk could do with more cold mineral water but they made up for it by giving us a cup of ice water to make up for the lack of chilled mineral water.

All in all, Legoland is a good place for families with children with the most of the rides being more for kids than adults. The playground at each themed land is a good addition for kids who may not be able to enjoy all the rides but be warned that parents have to accompany or be near by so that if you have a child younger than 6yrs.

But if they were to open at full capacity I wonder if they would be ready as some of the rides and the restaurants do not seem to be ready to handle full load of tourists. If that day was not at full operation capacity and they ran out of certain foods by 1pm and 6pm when their closing time is 8pm that may be a letdown. Service at the Market Restaurant was not as good as at other F&B kiosks and restaurant but that could be due to the fact that they looked overloaded at lunch time.

Rides for children are only good if your child is 100cm and above, so my next visit to Legoland would be when E is around 100cm tall so that she can sit on most rides. But in essence the best height is when they are 120cm tall and this would mean taller kids around 10 - 12yrs old.  But if you really want your child to be able to enjoy parts of the park, best to know if your child can sit on rides on their own even with them hitting the height requirements. If they do not dare to sit rides on their own, best not to visit as alot of the kids rides are lone riders only.

The put off was the pay to play carnival games, although there were prizes but I think that if we have paid for admission I would not want to pay to play more.

Prices for the day where it was 10% off merchandise and 30% off food which makes it a good deal as 30% off food made a difference when you are left with limited choices.


Getting to the park from Tuas was easy and fast less than 45mins without any jam at the customs - How to get to Legoland 
But getting out may prove abit confusing for those first time visitors there. Lucky for us we managed to spot the road sign up above the highway leading to Tuas so leaving Legoland at 7:30pm to reaching back home at 8:15pm including passing customs and all was not too bad at all.

I will look forward to next year when the water park opens before visiting again, by then E should be tall enough for most of the rides.  And hopefully, we will not hit large crowds when visiting the next time.

Raising Children in Singapore

Its been a while since I wrote anything and its rare that I can find myself awake at this time with a 2nd pregnancy. 

Now the government says that they would want to review the parenthood and marriage policies at this point to boost the declining birth rates in Singapore.

But having spoken with several parents some of the most common agreements are:
- Too expensive to raise a child in Singapore
- School systems do not allow you to not stress your child
- High cost of living
- Lack of work-life balance

1) Too expensive to raise a child in Singapore and School systems do not allow you to not stress your child
These 2 go hand in hand in the thought where if you want your child to do well then you have to send them to the best tuition schools, start them in the right childcare/preschool/early education, send them to the right enrichment programmes (or as many as possible). And all the above requires one to spend more money.

Parents have to ensure that the child gets good grades so that they can go get their degrees, earn more money when they working, have a good life. All these starts with good education.
From the moment they are born, parents work hard to provide good childcare, preschools, early education programmes or enrichment to ensure that they have the luxury or benefit to do or anything.

But I think the value is lost the why are they sent for all these.
A) Is it because the child cannot earn more money without a good education? (We all know Steve Jobs did  not have his degree - but he saw an opportunity and he perserved towards his goals)
B)The child has to do many tuitions to do well in education have good results to achieve the goal of earning more money or find a good career that earns them alot of money?
C)Is because they need to learn many things to be multi talented so that they can be versatile and be praised for being Jack of All Trades?
D)Is is because by knowing alot of things they can become more talented?

I think all the above has lost the true meaning for what experiences is all about. A child wishes to learn and as parents we support that learning and encourage that interest in learning. But if the child has lost interest and with a valid reason, I think we have to accept and move on.

Education is a must in today's context but honestly, with the right values taught wouldn't the child cultivate the right attitude towards learning at the end of the day? Where hard work would pay with the right smarts and opportunities would create the ability to do well.

I was having this discussion today about how luck can be part human and part divine intervention.
Part Divine Intervention - Where an opportunity if provided for you
Part Human - Where you evaluate if its an good opportunity and make the call to use it and also work hard on treasuring this opportunity given to you to make it a success. And how this good opportunity turns out is the result of one's own evaluation and determination to make it suceed, along with creating good plans and decisions to make it work.

So to determine luck or good fortune, I would say that it is 20% luck and 80% sheer human determination and perseverance.

I digress simply because I want to point out that nothing comes without any work or proper thought process and evaluation. Sometimes it takes abit longer but I think it boils down to what we what to make out of our lives.

Such as our children, where children have immeasurable amounts of potential but its finding the right source to unleash this potential. Identifying their individual characteristics and making a point to say that you are right and you should try.  

As I grow, I learn from opportunites given and I have a feeling that as I continue to grow (er hem.) wiser. I would be making better decisions and working on getting better at understanding each particular characteristics.After all each child is unique!

I know that I have not hit the core of the issue at hand but raising a child is not simply about money, but in Singapore, money is a real issue that even affects how we can raise a child well. No matter how we want to avoid the money issue, we cannot.  Realistically, we have to face this issue that we have to work harder or more to provide for our children.

But we also must look at how we can achieve that work-life balance but honestly in Singapore to achieve that, its really hard when our children attend tuition or enrichment while parents spend time working. Work-life balance applies to our children too, not just the adults. Undoubtly it is true that we wish to have more time to spend with our kids, we should also recognise how we want to spend the time we have with them. I think having regular chit chats, understanding how we can know our children better is one of them especially when they grow up so fast.  Time v.s Money v.s Value. But the equation can never be Time+Money=Value when we apply to our children.

Values, Limitations

Sometimes I get really tired of doing what I do. I try really hard every single day and I try to do everything the best that I can but sometimes its just that I have my limitations.

But then I ask myself this question, limits is what we set for ourselves but as long as we try and push ourselves abit to determine exactly what that "limitation" is then we know what is our true strength.

The only thing I cannot control are the limitations set by others. I do not see it as a barrier but I see is as another problem which I need to evaluate or to solve.

I need to remind myself that this life is what I am given and what I make out of it. My values and my value is to who I am and what I am worth to myself.

I cannot stop others from thinking what they think and what they say but I can tell myself what do I mean to myself and to those who value and need me.

I know one thing is for sure, there is a purpose for me and this is where I find myself and what I do as true to who I can be.

To a certain extent there are certain physical limitations and that I concede and not refute but I know that one thing is that I value myself and that is why I will always understand where those limitations stand. But I refuse to concede to areas where I know I have to try and try unless the limitations are beyond my control after evaluations and solutions.

Its all life.