Mia: Who made TVs?
Me: I don't know.
Mia: Maybe Jesus?
Me: Well Jesus did make everything.
Mia: Jesus is so smart. He should get a sticker. He’s a good boy.My daughter providing us laughs a minute on our $6 taxi ride to The Mall Bangkae.
You won’t read about this place on Trip Advisor, I looked. You won’t find a website, they don’t have one. But finally here is a place you can find it. Travel With Bender reveals one of Thailand's best kept secrets.
So how did we find out about this place? Bangkok.com was pretty much the only place I could find it mentioned. They mention 3 waterparks and after reading bad reviews on the other 2 we decided no news was good news. After all, the park was only opened in 2009 so it really couldn’t be that bad.
Fantasia Lagoon is located at The Mall Bangkae (map below). Getting to The Mall is hard work. It's only a local shopping mall, which not even many of the locals are aware of. Our taxi driver asked 5 different people and eventually called a helpline. We described where we wanted to go and then she told him in Thai. On arrival at The Mall, we were greeted by a large open area set up like street food stalls. There were so much beautiful and colourful foods. Things we had never seen or tasted before. The kids chose this rather tasty treat. It was kind of like a crispy pancake with a melted marshmallow inside. It was way too sweet for me, but Josh downed 3!
Anyway after that we made our way to the top floor, level 4. This is a great shopping centre; there is a little pond with real birds, fake hippos & elephants. The lift overlooks this as you go up. On the 4th floor is the entertainment precinct. There is bowling, movies, lots of little food stands, a kids play area, an amusement park and Fantasia Lagoon.
Before we entered we bought Caius a $5 pair of swimmers from the Swim Wear shop and a 30-cent ride on a Thomas the Tank Engine. Finally we climbed the grand stair entrance to Fantasia Lagoon.
Fantasia Lagoon is on the roof of the shopping mall. The lady at the desk was so friendly and told us there was a special on until October. Entry at student prices, 100 baht! I am not sure what the usual entry fee is but we paid just over $3 each admission and the kids were free. Bargain!
We walked through clean glass doors and stood in awe. The place is simply amazing.
Before you get too excited, this is no Waterbom Park, there is maybe 4 or 5 slides for older kids, its main aim is younger focused. But believe me this was no New Kuta Green Park either! This place is made for toddlers right up to maybe 12 year olds. There are so many sections to this place. Pirate ships, water play lands, lazy river, waterfalls… I mean just look at the pictures, it’s hard to explain.
One thing about this park is that everyone must wear swimming caps. They hire them out at about 30 cents each. It seems weird, but it’s a great idea to stop all that gross hair floating in the water. They also hire out tubes for floating in the river; these were about $2, towels and lockers.
There is one food joint inside, but it only consists of drinks and chips. However there is no greedy Western culture behind this park. You are allowed to exit the park and return with your food. I left Josh and the kids munching on pretzels while I exited to find us some Thai junk food.
I came back a little while later with:
|
Cup of corn |
$0.60 |
|
|
A crepe with blueberry jam |
$0.60 |
|
|
3 mini pancakes with sausages in them (hot dogs) |
$1.00 |
|
|
2 sausages |
$0.60 |
|
|
Noodles |
$0.60 |
|
|
Spiral potato on a stick |
$1.00 |
|
|
Total cost of lunch |
= |
$4.40 (AUD) |
After lunch we went some more. Mia was not allowed on the larger slides, there was a (broken-English) 1 metre 20-height restriction. But I managed to talk them around and she loved them. One was especially scary and given it’s Thailand, I didn’t let her (or myself) do it again haha.
The high slides go for a while, and are quite slow. But the view is amazing. Remember you are on top of a building and you can see for miles. I loved those slides. The water was shallow in every pool. We were told by a local that Thai people don't swim. It feels rather dangerous going down a slide into 80cm water, but we survived.
The kids loved running through the fountains, doing the pirate slide, splashing in the pools. We stayed from 10:30am – 3:30pm. I reckon if they didn’t look so dog gone tired with Caius falling asleep in my lap on the lazy river we could have stayed longer.
The water seemed clean to me, a few bugs and leaves, but they had staff there with nets working constantly. The music was really repetitive and quite frankly annoying, it plays through the whole park and gives it great atmosphere, but if you are there for long periods of time I think it is maybe 3 songs on replay! The ground near the pirate ship was a bit dirty and chipped, but overall I was really impressed with this place. And at roughly $10 for lockers, caps, tubes and entry it became one of our favourite attractions here in Bangkok.
Next door to the waterpark is also a small amusement park. It has a beautiful fake ceiling with blue skies and white clouds. It is filled with rides and activities on a pay as you go basis. We had a walk through, but were too tired to stop and do anything.
I have some hesitancy in writing this post. I wonder if it’s kept a Thai secret for a purpose. But as always my goal is to nut out fantastic family-friendly places and give you something to look forward to on your visit to Bangkok. It’s not just a big city, you will love it.
Need somewhere to stay in Bangkok? Check the latest prices here.
Address:
English: 275 Moo 1, Petchkasem Rd. Phasicharoen Bangkok 10600.
Thai: 275 หมู่ 1 ถ.เพชรเกษม แขวงบางแคเหนือ เขตภาษีเจริญกรุงเทพฯ 10600
Reader Comments...
"I respond to every comment by direct private email. I look forward to your feedback" - Josh Benderthat place looks cool
Hi,
I would be excited to know, where The Mall exactly is located? Is it the one in the Ramkhanghaeng Street or in another place?
I would really like to go there soon as it sounds like a good plan.
Thanks a lot!
Bangkok Fan
Love your daughter's sense of humor! I lived in Bangkok about 12 years ago and don't think the water park was there then. Too bad, it looks like a lot of fun and a great way to cool down.
Thanks for your comments everyone. Fantasia Lagoon is located at The Mall Bang Kae. It's west of Central Bangkok. Google Maps link: http://goo.gl/maps/6XYyR
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Glad to hear that you had such a great time and enjoyed the water park so much. The park was designed mainly for kids up to 15 and obviously the slides for older young adults to adults. The park was originally open back in 1994 and was refurbish slightly in 2009 but not enough until we came in and we were hired to re-design the park with a new wonderful face-lift with a limited budget and we did what possible be done in a rather short period of time.
The Mall Group is also having us re-design x3 other malls in Bangkok, being Mall 8, Mall 6 and Mall 10. All of these malls should be open next year if all goes well and perhaps you and your family can come en enjoy them too and we would like hear back from you with your comments that a very helpful and informative form the visitors side. Cheers.... :)
By the way, if you are interested in seeing more of the videos, designs and information on our companies, current and past work, please feel free to visit our Face Book page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/3Di-Creative/234888029925061
Bernado, thanks so much for writing and letting us know the details about the opening and design. I have emailed you a reply also. Can't believe it only just had its Grand Opening, fabulous!
really want to go but how do i get from Siam square???
tx
@Yael - there is a google map to the right that can help you find your way.
What a great post! Glad I swung over from the Travel Bloggers Group on Facebook- Thanks for sharing.
Thanks TWB for this great Post. Your blog inspired us to check out Fantasia Lagoon last weekend and we weren't disapointed. We have three kids under 8 and the combination of the indoor amusement centre and outdoor waterpark were perfect for our family. In comparison to similar places in Bangkok, we found Fantasia Lagoon cleaner, safer and better staffed. On the bigger slldes, we had a 'must be over 10yrs' rule applied to us rather than the usual height restriction, but our eight yr old was allowed on and there were enough smaller slides and other things to do for our youngest two. Tip 1: It gets busy by lunch time, so go early to avoid the crowds! Tip 2: Petchkasem Rd is a nightmare at the moment while they extend the BTS. Avoid going this way if possible.
We were in Bangkok in October 2012 and wanted to take our 2 boys aged 5 and 9 to a water park. After reading reviews on all the major water parks we came across this blog and were so glad we did.
Were were staying in the Pratunam area of Bangkok and new it was going to be a challenge to find a taxi driver to take us and knew where they were going. We did though and it was well worth the 45 min trip.
It did rain for the first 20 mins we were there and when it does rain heavy they close the slides and pool till it eases off for safety reasons. That was fine and then it was full steam ahead.
The boys and us had an amazing time, their is so much to do not only in the water park but the shopping center it self. We started off in the water park then took the boys in to the games area, and what a games area it was. It was like walking in to a fantasy land. The we went to the food court in the shopping center. If you can find a taxi driver who knows where he is going then go for it, you won't be disappointed. We are going back to Bangkok in April 2014 and this place will definitely be on our list of things to do again.
Loving all the comments on people finding the place and enjoying it. And the updated tips too. Thanks everyone!
looks amazing will be taking the wife, step daughter and probably rest of family and half of village just after Songkran :) hope i wont have have enough of water by then
Hi, we will be travelling to Bangkok in September and would really like to go to a water park. Would you recommend this one for a group of adults too, or mostly for families with children?
Wow--this looks cool--thanks for sharing. We're headed to BKK in July 2013 so will try to seek it out using a combo of BTS and taxi. LOVE SEA prices :)
Thank you very much for your shairing and welcome everyone. ^^
Hi
I'll be travelling in May '13 with my wife and kid enroute to Phuket. Was looking for a water park. while there are several refrences on the net as you mention, but nowhere is such a clear discription and so many photos provided. So a BIG thank you to help me make up my mind! I'll certainly visit.
I may add that you have the location wrong here. The Mall has 2 'malls' both with Water Parks at the top. The one you have earmarked in the map is in the suburbs and not in main Bangkkok. Since you have quite a few people following this post, you may want to point to the correct location of the one that you visited in west Bangkok!
thanks again.
N
Hi Nitin, So glad the post helped you. We loved Bangkok! As for the map location, I am quite sure it is correct having been there already. The mall is slightly lower then the pin on the intersection, but the actual suburb and map is correct. We hope you find it easily enough.
Thanks so much for sharing this. As a result, we took our 2 kids aged 6 & 7 when we were in Bangkok July 2013. We LOVED it, and as it was on a monday, we practically had the place to ourselves. And admission is still 100B for adults, and 80B for both our kids. And maybe because it was a quiet day, and also possibly because our kids are quite tall for their age, they got to ride the big slides without much problem (ok 1 lifeguard did try to put the brakes on our youngest in the late afternoon but we assured him that we would take responsiblilty). Hint: get a English-Speaking Thai person to write down the name of the Mall in Thai so that you can give it to your taxi driver--works much better! we wrote about our time at Fantasia Lagoon here http://www.with2kidsintow.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/bangkok-with-kids-5-fun-things-to-do-on.html
Hi , we went today to Paridise water park some times called fantasia water park . Yes quiet difficult to find , but we got sky train to Talat Phlu , then taxi to water park ( mall ) taxi was only 107 baht for a half hr journey , well worth the money .... They are currently building sky train out that far , so depending when you go worth checking . It is well worth the effort , but its not wet n wild ect...... My kids loved it , they are 10 and 12 , but we are a family of going off the beaten track and happy not seeing any other westerner around , that for us is a great day ! We do come from a very small town in NZ if your expecting a lot it won't happen but if you want a great day out with the locals it is fantastic :) plus it was spotless and the swim caps didnt bother you at all , thanks so much for the recomondation my girls certainly were impressed , plus they read the reviews for Siam water park and really didn't want to go ! There is one in Singapore exactly the same which we went to some years ago , bought back awesome memories :)
I live here quite some years and have found that the Taxi Dirvers from Bangkok side are not knowing the Thonburi side very well. Now you can grab the BTS (Skytrain) Silom Line and jump into a Taxi at the End-station Bang Wa. Every Taxi Driver in Thonburi Area will know The Mall Bang Kae. Off Course it may be a secret for Tourists, but on weekends it is real crowded with Thai People.
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