The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani

A visit to the The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani was in place. After our recent visit to Bangkok, we booked a night at Sabye D hotel in Surat Thani and spent the night, but first it was straight from the night train into the water park. 

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; the entrance area

Straight ain't the right word though, we had to wait two and a half hours before the water park opened at 10am. The hotel room wasn't available yet and almost nothing else is open in town. It was a bit of a challenge but we managed,

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; photo opportunity!

The water park is located on the 417, leading out of Surat Thani towards the airport, after the second PTT gas station on your left hand side. Can't miss it, there are big signs and it's pretty much straight on the road.

There's plenty of parking space available outside but non is sun covered, your car will be steaming hot once you get back to it.

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; adult obstacle course

The entrance fee was really good, 250,-THB for adults and 150,-THB for children under 120 cm, added up to 900.-THB for the whole family, can't beat that!

Once inside, to your left are lockers, showers and bathrooms. There's almost no shade to be found, some shelters are set up with chairs inside and there's a big areas to your right at the entrance where small food stalls can be found, but only two or so were open yesterday which made excellent seating fro our group, out of the beaming sun.

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; adult obstacle course

This is a bit of a problem, that there's almost no shade to be found. You will burn really quickly, so plenty of sun lotion on your body is required. Best is to act like the Thais and cover up your body with long sleeved shirts and at least knee length shorts.

The other problem I had was that not all of the attractions were cooled down by water, which could cause burn wounds due to rubbing the plastic cover of the attractions and very hot foot soles by walking over very hot rubber.

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; adult obstacle course

The attractions are air filled, like the bouncy castles at local fairs here in Thailand. That partly explains the cheap entrance fees, but it comes with a few downsides, as explained before. I burned my knee and some attractions were just plain uncomfortable due to the plastic or rubber being way too hot and not being cooled down by water.

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; children's obstacle course

The actual attractions boil down to two big pools for children, one just to play and with some slides and one big pool with small paddle boats.

The other two main attractions are two lengthy obstacle courses, one for people taller than 150cm with deep water surrounding the course and one for children with shallow water.

Both courses are challenging though and difficult to complete. On both courses there seemed to be plenty of staff at hand that could help out in case of problems.

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; children's obstacle course

As already mentioned though, some of the rides are not cooled down enough or sprinkled by water so the plastic cover becomes steaming hot and you burn your feet easily. Some parts of the obstacle course have the same problem and it is rather very uncomfortable.

Trying to complete the courses can also be very tiring, pending on how serious or relaxed your attempt to completing a course is.

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; children's pool and slides

Although there was a big, roof covered area, hence shay but still hot, with typical Thai small food stands, only two out of ten stands were open. There's also an air conditioned restaurant on the premises, but we didn't check out the options available and there's a coffee shop that sells shakes and is part of the park, but is located outside of the park and you need to get a big, fat stamp at the exit so you can get back in again. This is the only place where fruit shakes are being sold, and although various tastes are on the menu, a mixed fruit shake is not an option! Very strange indeed.

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; small paddle boats in a shallow pool

When we visited, a week day but during a long Thai school holiday, it was not busy at all, I wonder how busy it gets during a weekend, probably a bit busier.

The Pirate Park, water park in Surat Thani; my preferred ride

All in all I'm glad we visited, but I don't see us return that quickly. Too many small things that were missing that once added up, made it for a mediocre experience. The kids loved it though.

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Camille

Coco Splash water park in Lamai

Coco Splash water park in Lamai

Samui's first water amusement park; Coco Splash, down in Lamai! Yesterday we visited this park with our two children and two friends and although we didn't arrive until just after 1pm, we had trouble getting them out of there again by 5pm. It was a great success and they can't wait to get back again and get wet! The place is open now for around a month.

The park is set up and run by a French couple and they seem to have hit the nail on the head, this is something that Samui has been lacking for a long time, a great day out with your children!

Although the park isn't that big, approximately 30 by 70 meters I would guess, for a 5 years old it must be big enough, especially looking at the reactions of our kids!

The smaller glide, for 5 years and older with a max height of 160cm. A big fave by all the kids that we took and the kids already in the park or who joined later.

The big slide, for 8 years and older or at least 125cm height. A big hit with especially my son. I rode it a few as well and it's surprisingly fast! Be warned!

An overview of the park, there are two main slides and a water basin with some minor attractions. Opening times are between 10.30 and 17.30 and it may get crowded during the weekends or school holidays. Birthday parties are also available at request.

How to get there

Entrance fee is 200,-THB for the day for swimmers/players and free for non swimmers. A membership card is available at 350,-THB with each visit only being 100,-THB, however the membership card is only valid for 6 months. I'm sure we will visit again but most likely not to justify the expense of a membership, especially considering we live relatively far away from the park. Information can be obtained on 08 1082 6035

Food and drinks are also available at the park.

I'm happy the park is here now and I'm sure we will visit again, don't hesitate and have a visit, your kids will love it!

Camille

Dream World, Bangkok

Dream World, Bangkok

Today we left by now familiar sights of Pattaya for a trip to Thailand's best known amusement park; Dream World in Bangkok near the old Don Muang airport. With free flowing traffic it's about an hour and a half trip from Pattaya. Their website explains pretty straightforward how to get there.

The park is fun and our kids, now 7 and 4 loved it but the pricing structure is rather strange. For Westerners there's one price that probably includes all rides, but is a rather expensive price compared to the Thai rates. Having said that, the Thai rates are confusing, you can get a simple entry ticket and pay for every ride you want to take in the park an additional fee between 20,- and 120,-THB or for about twice the price you get a ticket that will get you once in almost everything or for a bit more you can get a visa that will get you unlimited in everything or so you think!

Some of the rides, like the new Sky Coaster and the tremendously popular Snow Town are not included in any ticket and are as much as 180,-THB per adult. We paid more for our party to get into Snow World than the initial entrance fee was!

The park is split up in 4 parts, Dream Plaza, Dream Garden, Fantasy Land and Adventure Land. You can walk everywhere easily, it's not that big. being a Friday today, there were loads of schools on a day trip and I guess that in the weekend the families come out. Be aware that the park opens around 10am but most of the rides won't open until 11am.

Some of the popular rides like Space Mountain and Grand Canyon had long waiting lines of an hour around 2pm. It may pay off getting there early!

A very popular ride is also this Super Splash, a classic in most parks where there's plenty of sunshine.

The Sky Coaster was cool, it took me about 20 minutes to get on the ride, which lasts about a minute and 40 seconds, Asia's first hanging coaster. It was a very good ride!

Snow Town was already and it's immensely popular since it must about the only place in all of Thailand where snow can be experienced. It's a great sight to see all the Thais (especially the Thai girls in their skirts, legs exposed) freeze their respective butts off in the freezing hall temperature and they love it! My kids went berserk in there and my 4 year old son went 3 times on the ride as pictured above in the video.

A great day was had by all and the kids were already making plans when we would return! Having said that, if you've experienced Western style amusement parks, Dream World is good and lots of fun but it's not gonna hold up with a good quality Western park. Still not a reason to skip it! We will be back!

Camille