What’s so magical about Genting Highlands? Apart from the high altitude experience and across the border staycation, I’m sure every parent in Singapore will at least bring or want to bring your kids for a weekend trip? We got lucky last month, pacing into the newly revamped Genting Malaysia with our two boys on our usual media trips. You won’t believe it but we got a list of stuff to share – especially on what to expect if are planning a family staycation with the kiddos! Oh, bring your jackets! In my case, I have totally forgotten that we were going up into the mountains, and it was going to be cold! So it was summer outfits at the windy tops! *shivering* (Bad planning here, Don’t learn!)

THEME PARK HOTEL

Accommodation got to be the first thing on the list for you to consider – especially with a pram/stroller in hand, you don’t want to stay too far away from the main attractions/theme parks. Located at the doorsteps of the Arena of Stars and SkyAvenue, the resort’s latest lifestyle mall, we are merely 5 mins walk away! And this media FAM trip, across 7 hotels, we got to experience one of the more family-friendly on Resort World Genting – THEME PARK HOTEL! 

The moment we stepped in, it felt like we were down into a rabbit hole of surprises awaiting! We met all of the Genting Malaysia’s mascots (you will get to see them at the mall as well!)

 

Quad Room

With the two boys in tow, we were given a QUAD room across at the valley wing. In total there are 456 rooms available for everyone to chose from. Theme Park Hotel is a boutique hotel perfect for those who like to keep it together whether you are coming in pairs, quad or even sixers!

We were allocated to a Quad room with two Queen sized beds, cozy enough for four pax – which is us! It boasts of a tatami style bedroom with the large beds on the elevated platform, on one hand, it’s easier for the kids to climb into bed and another it forms more space for storage! Definitely providing that wow and fun factor that no other hotels are providing around the region!

The minimalist rooms are decorated with quirky and playful designs with artist-drawn murals and stickers seen all around. The hand-drawn murals show us the various features to use during your stay. From the TV box, luggage area, bed lights, to the clothes hanger, hunt down the quirky fun designs around the room!

Even their bathroom also has its own stories! No doors to keep the washing area enclose but this enables everyone to share the space efficiently. Including a separate shower and toilet area are segregated for those who need their privacy! Perfect for parents liked us who needs to bathe the kids while another needs to use the toilet – you know what I mean!

Something you might have noticed but if you haven’t, the room came with a ceiling fan! The reason why it might be that at night the weather is cold enough to keep you in the covers, so really there wasn’t a need to have air conditional system! The only advise for you would be asking for a better window view during check-in, as for us, we were facing the other side of the hotel so we only had walls to face, but it doesn’t matter as we were all knocked out by the time we came back from the tons of activities at the mall!

Eatopia

Being the only cafe in the hotel, this self-service outlet is where you can just grab and go! Another thoughtful spot where the hotel understands the need for convenience and affordability, there’s everything you need here without compromising on quality and taste.

Find Eatopia at the Lobby Floor, Theme Park Hotel with Operating Hours from 8.00am-10.00pm.

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ATTRACTIONS

 

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A post shared by Ruby liang | Sg Mum | Travel | (@familystaysg) on Mar 14, 2019 at 10:22pm PDT

SKYAVENUE

The Ultimate lifestyle mall with unlimited choices of restaurants, cafes, eateries, play areas and retail shops, the purpose of us going there! With more than 100 retail options, SkyAvenue is a haven for shoppers. You can get everything ranging from your every day needs to exquisite jewelry, timepieces, shoes, and gadgets.

SKYSYMPHONY

The magnificent atrium features Genting’s signature SkySymphony – a free-to-public performance showcasing an extraordinary orchestra of audio, visual and motion graphics programming. Watch the dynamic transformation of 1001 winch balls suspended from a four-story-high ceiling weaving stories and larger-than-life cinematic visuals and original music mix.

Find out about the various timings on SkySymphony website. Or you can watch our Instagram highlight under “Genting“, I posted our IG stories on the shows we saw on our trip! – Jungle Jam, Ocean Groove, Forest!

AWANA SKYWAY

Ever felt like you are floating up in the mountains? Well, the Awana Skyway gives you the thrills of standing among forest because it’s really transparent! We took a ride up in a Glass Floor Grandola (total 10 of them among the 100 cable cars available ) which was an express lane and we had no queues at all! It took us 10mins to ascend from Awana Station to the final stop, SkyAvenue Station.

Midway, there was Chin Swee station at no extra cost. We didn’t have much time but if you do, explore the Chin Swee Caves Temple and its scenic surroundings. Hold on to the cable car ticket at all time for the return journey, and enjoy the key attractions at the resort with a bird’s eye view of the surroundings.

Fly up to the top in style. There’s no better time than now!

Tickets are priced at $3 and $6 (Glass) on Klook. 

GENTING HIGHLANDS PREMIUM OUTLET

Featuring a whopping of 50 Outlet stores, this is the final destination of Awana Skyway. The destination for families to go wild on great discounts for shopping and eating! If you are traveling from Singapore via car, it takes approx an hour, from KL it takes 3 hours, but if you are from Senai intl airport, it’s even nearer than you can imagine! Factory-direct savings up to 65% off and shopping starts right from the building we got off!

We found a family mart below the get off point at the cable car station, which actually sells ODEN  exactly like Japan and Taiwan! Many traditional snacks and tidbits originated from Malaysia can be found within the 3 stories of the mall. If we had brought enough RM, we would have carried a heavier bag home, but we keep it down to just buying the BACON slices from this brand seen below – LONG JI! The pork belly (bwa kwa) taste liked honey melted bacon, seriously you will be addicted on the first bite!

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THEME PARK

THE VOID

STAR WARS^TM: SECRETS OF THE EMPIRE & GHOSTBUSTERS

In teams of four, be transported in a brand new hyper-reality experience from Lucasfilm, ILMxLAB and The VOID or become a Ghostbuster as you track and trap supernatural foes in a New York apartment complex!

Personally, this is the best experience I had throughout the whole trip! Disguising ourselves as stormtroopers with our blaster in our hands, we storm into the mysterious reality rooms for serious fun and thrilling walk into the space of VR WORLD with my media friends! We held our breath and hands, scream and laugh at each other without any clues on what to expect but the moment the screen went on right in front of us, we do what we had to do! And it was beyond fun! Now, we finally knew what was the hype all about!

This is one of the TOP RECOMMENDED things to do in RWGenting, even if you need to ditch your kids and husband for that 15 to 20mins of completing the tasks (that’s what I did!), you will not regret it!

Other Games to try: RALPH BREAKS VR & NICODEMUS: DEMON OF EVANISHMENT

RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT ADVENTURELAND

Eagle Landing Zipline

Got the balls to fly down the fourth floor of Sky Avenue Mall? It’s 200 meters to the first floor which can take with 5 mins to touch down to the other side of the mall. We have seen some kids sliding their way down as if they were flying just so to be able to arrive at Skytropollis Indoor Theme Park faster! You will glance across the bursting lights of the entire Skytroplis which covers an area of over 400,000 sqft!

Zombie Outbreak

Beware of the Zombie Outbreak! This part of the Adventureland not only gives you the thrills but now the chills! It’s more than just an abandoned house, think again! Will not forget the moments with the living dead comes scaring us from behind the doors and bloody scratches on the window, yes we challenged and survived! Not too bad for a first time (ever!) to a haunted house!

Jurassic Research Center

Located right beside the Zombie Outbreak, we took a step back 65 million years ago, into the land before time when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Our kids were deep into the forest to discover the life cycle of these astonishing creatures. Get up close and personal with these oversized reptiles in person, explore their fossils, the last pieces of DNA that the dinosaurs have left behind in the long wake of their destruction. Towards the end of the walk, we were trapped in a lab where one particular Dinosaur escaped! No spoilers for you, but this is something suitable for the entire family to explore and learn about the names of different Dinosaur!

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Odditorium

An odditorium like no other, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! holds dear the wackiest and weirdest items that our unusual world has to offer! Very much liked Science Centre Singapore, this odditorium offers the exploration of the strange and unique artifacts, exhibits and interactive experiences. We saw paintings made of hair, toast, seen an entire “Cinderella” carriage made of pumpkin and many more! Though some of the displays may be little too daunting for the little ones, there are however plenty of interactive displays that mingle science and play together to entertain the brood! Many of which, I don’t really believe it! What about you?

Below image, see Noah looks smaller in that corner of his, Looks like the room was slanted just to make the illusion of him being even more smaller than he is.

In the world, there is an actual man who could actually fit into even small boxes than these – before Yoga got popular! Meantime, Let’s pretend to be one!

Trick Eye Museum

No need for explanation, just check out the photos! How real are these! No doubt, we all had our fun being a part of the paintings! Similar to the one we had in Resort World Sentosa, more to discover at Resort World Genting!

Jungle Gym

One of the largest Indoor Playgrounds in Malaysia, one of my friend told me that Jungle Gym is similar to what we have in Singapore – The Polliwogs, you got your ball pits, slides, crawling tunnels, trampolines, air guns, activity boards and much more! Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to feature this in part of our trip, but if you are heading down, here’s the price list for you to take note!

This newly opened Jungle Gym, Kid’s Adventure Playland located at Level 4 Sky Avenue, Genting Highlands. The playland is suitable for children aged at the mid-teens.

Adventureland Arcade

With tokens at 5 for RM20, we couldn’t resist riding on open-air buses circling the Adventureland, climbing onto dinosaurs larger than us but still as tame of course as they pace slowly around the premises with the guide of their staff just in case your kid decides to jump off to another more exciting ride!

Motor rides and Bumper vehicles are found everywhere, alongside with cafes, fast food outlets, spa & nail parlor, and toy stores, no doubt the kids (and adults) loved this place as much as the Skytropolis arcade at level 1! I would recommend for those younger kids to just stay in Adventureland for a day of cheap thrills!

ENTERTAINMENT

GOLD CLASS WITH DBOX

Oh, forget the regular cinemas, movie watching will never be the same for us anymore! Feasting our eyes, ears, and senses thru an enhanced movie experience in this media trip was one of my favorite moment, as a movie addict, I absolutely enjoyed the Gold Class D-Box seats. The entire hall sits up to 48 viewers, every bit of whisper and sound was impressively and it felt like we were literally in the movie with the characters.

Each D-BOX seats are equipped with high tech proprietary motion system with four levels of varying intensities – each left, right turns of the motion on the screen, allowing viewers to customize their own viewing experience. I had the seat laid back all the way, legs up on the cushion leg rest, we only hope the movie never ends.

Considering the currency is on our side, I don’t think to watch too many movies are any crimes right?

REDTAIL KARAOKE

Singing will not be the same again, the moment we stepped foot into RedTail Genting, we got the urge to unleash our inner singing diva (with a baby sleeping in the pram, as if we could!). Hosting up to a capacity of 60 pax, each private rooms are able to 2 to 20 pax in a party. We spotted the fun mascots adorned in the rooms – Steve the drum-playing gorilla, Eddy the saxophone-playing panda and Joe the break dancing flamingo. So, grab on the standing mic and blow off some steam with friends and families with different themes across Reggae, K-pop, EDM, Rock, and Classics!

You can sing your vocal dry from 6 pm till 4 am in the morning!

Other than that, immerse in the largest collection of games, including life-size drinking games such as beer pong, jenga, and snakes and ladders at RedTail by Zouk adjacent to the clubs!

 

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DINING

THE LAUGHING FISH BY HARRY RAMSDEN

Giving our both thumbs up to the best seafood in the world! This casual English pub and restaurant had everything you can find from a wholesome weekend roast, banger and mash, and Harry’s favorite fresh catch. We say cod and haddock is not only the Brits favorite we are now a convert too!

Find this at LEVEL 4, Skyavenue

12 noon – 11 pm (Sunday – Thursday)
12 noon – 1 am (Friday – Sunday)

MEDAN SELERA

Get a variety of your local favorites such as Nasi Lemak, Nasi Dagang, Fried Noodles, Tandoori Chicken Curry, Roti Telur, Roti John, and many more in this dining outlet. It felt liked a muslin food court thru a buffet style of going around the counters to order what you want, the diverse selection was pretty value for money and taste!

Want something on-the-go, drop by to pick up some freshly made curry puffs, samosas, or even choose from an assortment of delicious kuih-muih (traditional cakes).

The only take away from this is, kids may not be able to enjoy much options here but parents could possibly grab some fruits from their open concept fridge area.

Find this at Level G, SkyAvenue (below Bona Cinemas)

Monday to Thursday – 9am to 9pm
Friday to Sunday, eve of public holiday & public holiday – 9am to 10pm

HIGHLINE

It’s a bar, dining area and comes with live band performances! Set on the rooftop of SkyAvenue, the High Line Roof Top Market offers outdoor dining in the cool and fresh air. To enjoy fresh seafood such as ” Seafood in the tub” or local delights such as “Lobster nasi lemak”, you got to come up for a sit!

Groove to the music by the resident band and special DJ appearances

Find this at Level 4, SkyAvenue

Monday – Sunday: 12.00 noon to 1.00am daily

MOTORINO

Being one of the RWGenting franchise, Motorino offers more than just fire-baked pizzas. The bona fide Italian goodness are found in all their dishes, if you have a big brood to feed, this is the place to get them fed. And fed well with their family feast that only costs RM98 (SGD 32++) that comes with meatball, spagatti, caesar salad and a huge pizza!

Some things to know!

Crazy hot
The pizza is cooked in a special wood-fired oven at 800-900 degrees Fahrenheit.

Express pizza
The small mouth and low dome of the oven gets the pizza cooked in 60 to 90 seconds.

Soft and chewy
Unlike crispy American pizza, the Neapolitan is soft and chewy, thanks to a specific finely milled pure wheat flour with no additives.

Like a Frisbee
A typical Neapolitan pizza is about 12 inches in diameter. Just nice for one.

Balanced trio
Minimally topped, the Neapolitan strikes a careful balance among crust, sauce and cheese. Forget over-the-top cheesiness.

Level 1, SkyAvenue

Mon to Thu: 11.00am – 10.00pm
Fri & Sat: 11.00am – 12.00am
Sun: 11.00am – 10.00pm