Beach Blues
For all those who miss being thrashed by the whacking waves, here’s some news. B’lore has a beach!
Well, almost. Heard of Wonderla? They have this wave pool thing which simulates a beach for half an hour, every hour. Ofcourse, it’s nowhere close to the real thing. But what the heck. If u try convincing yrself that u have never smelt the mystifying sand on a beach and never enjoyed salt water caressing yr skin, u r surely gonna have a great time in the make-believe blue coloured beach.
I for one was thrilled to wade into the 2 feet deep pool which brought back memories of M’lore beaches. For someone whose feet were stroked by waves almost every weekend, the wave pool comes as a blessing!
There is this pool called lazy river. You just get into a life saver and laze arnd. Very few ppl come there. So we had the whole pool to ourselves. I guess ppl r not lazy these days..!
The other rides in Wonderla are also just as exciting. I'm not an adventurous person myself so I didn’t try the too-scary-looking rides :) but one ride I particularly liked was the‘dropzone’.
Wonderla gets a thumbs up frm me.
posted by Aparna S Mallya at 8:40 PM
6 Comments:
looks like fun...but still, like you say, nothing to beat the real deal
have to agree with vinnu. ppl, forget abt artificial stuff. U can get news about real beaches in Mlore at my blog. (Beat that!!!) :)
This fight is restricted to emails only. Don't mess up my blog! ~@$#%
Well, let's not get too focused around comparing Wonderla with a beach. There's no question about it - Wonderla doesn't come light years within striking distance of the magic that a real beach offers. Granted, waves in a swimming pool may be making waves (pun intended), but give me a break; for someone who has grown up along the coast, I found it a little difficult to digest the near mass-hysteria I was experiencing in the "Wave Pool". But enough about the Wave Pool.
On the whole, I thing it was decent value for money. A weekend ticket cost us Rs. 480/- per head (I have been living under the constant fear that one day I will be pulled up for "child marriage" and was therefore relieved when Wonderla insisted I pay adult fare for my wife too). Once you enter, you have free access to try each ride unlimited number of times. We enjoyed about 7 rides (one of them twice, two of them for over 30 minutes) and there were at least 4 rides that we didn't have the stomach for - at first because we were too hungry and later because we were stuffed ;-) (Okay, granted; perhaps when no one is listening I will admit we were just too scared to try out a couple of rides). So at an average of Rs. 40 to Rs. 70 per ride (and that cost goes down I guess if you take a ride more than once) I have to say, it is money and time well spent.
The cost of locker rental is Rs. 20/- for an entire day for a small locker (comfortably takes in a regular-sized back-pack with two pairs of footwear and two bottles of water) and Rs. 40/- for a large locker. There is also a Rs. 100/- refundable deposit.
The general service of the staff was also pretty good - responsive and courteous at all times.
But, without meaning to turn off or discourage anyone from going to Wonderla, here are a few things you should know, just so that your expectations are moderated:
[o] The locker room could do with better air circulation. Each time I went into the locker room, I was relieved to be out.
[o] When you are taking water rides, you have to be moving around without footwear. Between 12pm and 3pm this is a guaranteed recipe for burnt feet (if this was Wonderla's way of ensuring we don't develop cold feet about some of their rides, someone at Wonderla sure has a sardonic sense of humour [is 'sardonic' the word I want here?]). Instead, if they could have provided grassed pathways, it would have made things a lot easier.
[o] There were no lawns where people could relax by just lying down. Lawns offer a cosy option for lazing around.
[o] Your own transport is a must. Wonderla is 20 kms. from the Mysore Road junction after Vijaynagar and I didn't see any drop-off/pick-up service offered by Wonderla.
There have been a couple of reports doing the rounds that cast a shadow on the safety practices and norms at Wonderla, but I didn't see any evident lapse while we were there. On the whole, an option worth exploring if you have an entire day at your disposal. Especially if you have to entertain guests who are not the type who will go "Eh Devva! Kitle hod palaylé vé?" on seeing Forum. The distance from city limits and the entry ticket cost also serves to filter the crowd.
Sounds like fun. Thanks for the information.
some of u guys are comparing it with a beach.. how the heck can u think of it..? There was nothing in Bangalore before that.. one had to travel all the way to Mysore to some amusement park which is not half as good as this...
The only thing i did not like was comparing it with a Beach..
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