Family Day at Manila Ocean Park

The company where my husband works decided to give away Manila Ocean Park tickets for their employees and the family members. It is supposed to be for the family day activity. I am pregnant and not really sure if I would have the energy to roam around this theme park all day but I decided to participate in this activity for my daughter. So one Saturday morning last Nov 2012, my husband, my daughter and I went to the Manila Ocean Park.

Our free tickets give us access to the following: Oceanarium, Fish Spa, Trails to Antarctica, Jellies Exhibit, Sea Lion Show and Fountain Show. We arrived around 9:30 am and though it is still early, the place is already jampacked. There were so many people; most of them are students and teachers on a field trip. I wish the management of Ocean Park would set a limit to the number of group trips because the crowd makes it hard to appreciate the place.

Our first stop is the Oceanarium which is a large display of different forms of marine life. This experience would have been much more awesome if not for the huge crowd. We still manage to enjoy it though and took a few blurred pics.

There is a space where children can pick reading and coloring materials but that time, the crowds makes it look like a battle place.

Then we opted for the fish spa which is just what we needed after braving the crowd. It is a good thing that my husband and daughter enjoyed the fish spa very much. The fishes that nibble the dead skin cells on your feet is relaxing and tickling. They just need to improve this area because there aren’t even small lockers to put one’s belonging while one is in the spa area.

The penguins at the Trails to Antarctica are so cute. I like this attraction even though one needs to pay again just to have a picture with the penguins. The jellies exhibit is fascinating too but can be a bit boring.

Well, we did all that in less than 2 hours so we have lots of time to kill before the sea lion show at 2:30. We opted to go home then just catch other shows next time. Yes, we can do that as long as we keep the tickets and it will not go beyond the expiry date. I guess if you want to catch the fountain and sea lion show, it is best to just schedule your trip around mid-afternoon.

On our 2^nd visit, we catch the sea lion show at 4:30pm. We arrived 10 minutes late though so can’t say much about this. The sea ions are adorable but you need a great spot to really appreciate the show.

The musical fountain show made our second visit worth it. It was breathtaking and entertaining. The show lasted only for 30 minutes but it seems like an hour has passed.