How NOT To Plan A Trip To the Aquarium

If you have not visited the want to visit the SEA Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa yet, you really should. This, however is probably NOT how you should do it:

1. Drive to and park at Mount Faber because you think it would be fun for the kids to enter Sentosa via cable car.

This was (lousy) idea was conceived in part from my aversion to having to pay the horrendous parking charges that I knew I would be incurring at RWS. There was a 50% discount promo for all adult tickets (33% for child tickets) with a DBS/POSB card -- a promo that is actually still on-going, till May -- so I thought, why not? I knew the kids would love it and I would much rather spend the money on an actual ride than on a parking space. 

I was right: they did enjoy it tremendously.

Glued to the window!

The very interesting looking Adventure Cove which we have yet to visit!

But I somehow had the idea that the cable car station was walking distance to RWS and in that respect, I was SO VERY WRONG. We ended up having to take a bus too (Woohoo! another mode of transport!) with my two wriggly kids.

Let's just say I was already rather frazzled when I finally made it to the entrance to the Marine Life Park. 

Kids who wanted to look everywhere but at the camera? Not helping.

2. Forget to bring your Aquarium Annual Passes

After brushing off my husband's reminders to remember to take the Annual Passes -- "I never forget these things!" -- I arrived at the door to discover that I had indeed forgotten to bring our Annual Passes. Shock and horror. The thought of having to pay another $49 was too much to bear so I made some desperate attempts to get the ticketing staff to let me in. And to my immense relief, they did! After taking my particulars for verification, the ticketing manager led me through a back entrance straight into the aquarium, allowing me to bypass the Maritime Museum and the queue to enter. So maybe it worked out better for me in the end! 

Still, the next time we're going, I'm going to be triple-checking for our passes!

My kiddies enjoying the awesome entrance panel while I caught my breath.

3. Let your child out of the stroller

When you have two kids who are fond of running off on their own, holding at least one captive is probably a good idea. Finding yourself having to track two children while being slowed down by a cumbersome stroller in a crowd? Probably not so great. Then again, trying to get Naomi to do something against her will… who am I kidding?

At least they had great time getting up close and personal with all manner of weird and wonderful sea creatures. And I didn't lose them!

Arrr!

Cute little starfish!

The beautiful double height cylindrical tank, where the fish just go round and round...

Noey's favourite: the weird, almost alien-like Emperor Nautilus 

The upside down jellyfish. When I startled when I first saw these cos I thought they were dying!

Mesmerized by the colourful coral and fish.

Look, a sea urchin!

4. Forget lunch

Since we took ages to get in after factoring in the cable ride plus bus ride plus waiting to be let in to the Aquarium, I was seriously off schedule. The plan was to get through the Aquarium in the morning/early afternoon then go grab a bite before heading home. Instead, I found myself at nearly 2pm having to quickly buy some sandwiches from the stand at the viewing gallery of the Open Ocean to feed my hungry kids. Score one for bad parenting.

At least we could sit down and just watch the mantra rays drift by as we munched. It was almost therapeutic.

She ownz the sandwich yo.

Naomi passed out after she was fed, and honestly, it was much easier after that, having to handle only one kid! 

The Aquarium was running a conservation programme during that week so Noey had the chance to try out some activities to learn about conservation. And some of them were mighty creative! I think it was mostly pitched at Primary school-aged children but he gamely gave it his best shot.

Fixing a starfish puzzle

Drawing what the puzzle revealed. I thought it was good of them to give him something to copy!

At the "Jenga" station, where they learn about activities that are good and bad for ocean conservation. He was pretty good at the Jenga and Mummy appreciated the writing practice. 

The fishing station, where the kids identify and fish out trash within a time limit. Here's Noey circling the number he got.

At the very end, there was a pledge station where kids can write/draw how they would do their part to conserve the oceans. I was quite proud of my little man's contribution. (As you can tell, he was trying to write as short a message as possible!)

5. Have your car battery go flat after a really tiring day and end up having to get the AA man to rescue you.

Really, my worst nightmare. After leaving the aquarium a shocking 2 hours later than I had planned and deciding to save time by taking a cab back to our car on Mount Faber cos I was deadbeat, not being able to start my car was like the last thing I needed. I ended up having to wait an extra hour for help to arrive and for the extremely-difficult-to-remove battery on my car to be changed.

At least the kids learnt something new out of this. As did I -- Citroen car batteries are really expensive and hard to change!

The mechanic's helpers… well, kinda.

After all that, it's going to take me a while to pluck up the courage to go again! But I know we will soon cos the annual passes need to be used and anyway, I hear that part of the dolphin area has been opened. You can be sure though that I will not be following this list!

 

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