Happy 16th Anniversary, Enchanted Kingdom! - Go-Kart, 4D and Fireworks!

Yesterday was the schedule of our hike to Mt. Pinatubo but it was only recently when we became aware that it was postponed. Coincidentally, on our flight back from Coron last Sept. 18, I saw an ad on Cebu Pacific's Smile Magazine regarding the 2nd Asian Sky Wizardry Fireworks Competition to be held on Enchanted Kingdom on October 22, as a part of their 16th anniversary celebration. I turned sad because it had a conflict with our Mt. Pinatubo hike, so immediately after knowing that the Mt. Pinatubo hike was postponed, I told Boots that we must go to Enchanted Kingdom.

Watching a fireworks display/competition had been one of my simple pleasures in life, dating back from 2007 on the 2nd World Pyro Olympics Competition held at The Esplanade in SM Mall of Asia. Since Boots and I had long planned to try Go-Kart (but it remained an unfinished goal), going to Enchanted Kingdom on October 22 would be like hitting two birds in one stone - to finally fulfill the long overdue Go-Kart goal, and watch a fireworks competition on the side.

We had our misadventures, though. We got caught in traffic and reached Cubao at lunchtime so we ate first. We then proceeded at the side of Farmer's Market to board the van going to Balibago but unfortunately, after a long time of waiting, no vans arrived so we had to go to Buendia and board the bus there. It was already 2:30 pm when we arrived at Enchanted Kingdom and due to the long queue combined with the inefficiencies, we were only able to get inside after 30 minutes of waiting and queuing.

finally got in and was welcomed by a zombie! 

The first thing that we checked out is their 4D Discovery Theater. I had never tried it before (because of the additional fee of P 60, what a spendthrift), but since all of the rides had enormous queues, if we want to maximize our stay, we had no choice but to resort to the rides that require extra payment (these were the only rides without queues during the time).

We bought our ticket and it was scheduled for 4:00 pm so we still had time to go-kart first. Like the 4D Discovery Theater, we did not encounter queues because the go-kart requires an additional fee. A one-seater go-kart was charged at P 380/10 minutes.

Upon arriving at Kart Trak, we bought our tickets then filled-out our waiver forms. We were then asked to proceed to the area where the helmets were stored and we got one each. Soon enough, we were already seated on our separate one-seater go-karts. The staff assumed that we would rent a two-seater go-kart like the other couples before us wherein the guys drove while the girls were just passengers . Unfortunately, the staff was wrong about me.

my first time to go-kart...so excited!

I had no trouble with the controls, only with speed. At one point, I wanted to overtake someone so bad that I somewhat lost control. I did not slow down at a curve, hence sending me rotating at full speed to the opposite direction. My helmet got disoriented in the process. I admit that I got scared, and the thing about "death" on the waiver form automatically flashed in my mind. Fortunately, there was no one close behind me, and I was able to take my time doing the reverse (at least I had the chance to use the reverse, that's the only positive thing I thought of). I doubt if any of the staff saw what happened. Even Boots was not aware because he was on his own, too. He only found out when I told him about it after our time was up.

After our 10-minute ride, we went back to 4D Discovery Theater. Showing was a Yogi Bear movie. Because I already experienced Philharmagic on Hongkong Disneyland, my expectation was that 4D Discovery Theater would also feature varied smells to complete the experience. However, 4D Discovery Theater was just sort of a mix of 3D theater and Rialto, with water sprinkled on our faces from time to time.

After our exposure to the sprinklers at the 4D Discovery Theater, we wasted our time queuing at Space Shuttle. "Wasted" was the term because we spent an hour queuing. I have to admit that it was somewhat our fault because we started queuing at the sign where they wrote "2 hours to ride from this point" and went on queuing even after reading their advisory that the ride would close for the 2nd Asian Sky Wizardry Competition. While we were nearing the "1 hour to ride" mark after being line jumped by students on a school trip, the staff announced that the line would be cut.

So we just grabbed something to eat and sat around waiting for the fireworks competition. We found our spot near Swan Lake, fronting Wheel of Fate. The 2nd Asian Sky Wizardry Competition was set to start at 7:00 pm, but it started around an hour late and there were long gaps in between the presentation. The participants - China, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Philippines each had their 20-minutes worth of fireworks presentation. It was my first time to watch that many fireworks displays in a day because the fireworks competition held in SM Mall of Asia just had two displays per night. There were also guest performers, among them were Freestyle and  Six Cycle Mind. The 2nd Asian Sky Wizardry Competition was hosted by Marc Nelson and Angel Aquino. I so wanted to at least see Marc Nelson (but was shy of Boots, hehe) so I satisfied myself with just the view of the fireworks.

resulted from boredom due to waiting for the fireworks - just shot a photo of Wheel of Fate in front of  our seat 

Because of the long interval in the presentations, after the third participant, we left and rode the Anchor's Away. Surprisingly and coincidentally, the proceedings had been fast and the last remaining two countries presented while we were queuing and riding Anchor's Away.

a glimpse of the 2nd Asian Sky Wizardry Competition

Upon finishing our ride at Anchor's Away, all the countries had already presented so we queued for Wheel of Fate (its operation was stopped, too, for the competition, just like Space Shuttle). We spent almost an hour queuing before we got to ride. While we were aboard, Six Cycle Mind was performing and they also announced the winner of the 2nd Asian Sky Wizardry Competition - Singapore!

took this photo of Boots when we started queuing - a remembrance of our one-hour queue

The park closed at 12:00 am that day, due to the high volume of the people and the special event. And of course, we were there until the closing time. Of the six times that I've been here, this by far was the most crowded I've experienced. Happy 16th anniversary, Enchanted Kingdom!