The school holidays can be a frustrating time for parents. Looking for ways to continue work and still keep the children out of mischief. My wife and I both work for the company, and have the three young boys to entertain in the process. Having a big family, can be an expensive day out when it comes to theme parks and tourist attractions. One of those exciting new attractions to the island is Siam Park, the water kingdom. Millions have been spent on this project, and plenty of hype has made it a must see for most people. We decided to visit the park and give our children aged 4, 5 and 7 a great day out. Entrance to the park cost us close to 100 Euros, its not cheap, but if they have got it right we wouldn´t need to spend anymore inside, apart from a drink and something to eat. This is still expensive, and we could do alot with 100 Euros, I can actually feed the family for a week here in Tenerife for the same amount. But it was not the time to grumble, and this was a family attraction, somewhere I could find sanctuary, relax and leave the children to play. As you arrive, you first need to buy parking, yes thats right, buy parking. I had just spent 100 Euros now I have to pay to park. I found this a bit shocking, after all it's not like I am going anywhere else. I can get a bus for free to the attraction, but if I save them the trouble, I get charged to park? With no choice, we entered the park and got hit by the usual photographer, something you get used to with attractions on the island. You don´t have to purchase the photo if you don´t want it, and guess what, it's not included in the admission price either. Once in the park, you are left to work it out, you will need a locker, you guessed it, you have to pay for it, again everyone will need one, so why not just included it in the admission price. Instead you have to wait in the queue, pay for you locker, leave a deposit, (incase you try and steal it) and then wait in the queue to get your deposit back. A long process which is a real pain.
After all that, you´re finally ready to experience the water kingdom. Armed with suntan cream and a towel we headed off. You are first met by the Floating Market, I big part of the advertising for Siam Park. I seem to remember reading "Authentic floating market on the lazy Thai river". Problem was there is no floating market anymore, it's gone, its now just a float- less market. As you slowly drift around the "authentic" river on a rubber ring. I don´t seem to remember the Thai doing that in Phuket, which is where it was apparently modeled on? OK so we went to get on, but we couldn´t, the two youngest were not big enough, so my eldest son could have gone on his own, or we could have left the others why we went and drifted around, but we came as a family, and decided we would go onto the next attraction. Here come the waves! the Wave Palace is certainly well designed, the waves are tremendous, and it must have some extremely good engineering to make the whole thing work. But unfortunately there is still a problem here, there are not enough beds and areas to sit. It seems this is a huge problem with the park as a whole. There are not enough places to sit, its great if you want to stand up and walk around all day. But the idea we got was a place to relax? unless you like relaxing standing up, (I found its very hard to do). So, can you leave the children here, not really, because our children are still young, and the waves are so fierce, this attraction is really for the young teenagers upwards, who I saw having some great fun. Ok lets find something for the kids!, we hit the Lost City, this is a great play area for them, very safe, and lots of fun, but what do the adults do? well we sit down of course and relax, leave the children to play where its safe don´t we? No, there are not enough seats or loungers. This is the only area designed for young children, there is no other attraction which will let a child under 110 cm. So every family that have been tricked into the marketing, and charged the same amount for their kids, are now trying to squeeze into this attraction. As you stand and bake in the sun, and try to smile everytime the kids wave, you become more and more frustrated with the young teenagers, and adults who have taken the seats and marked them with their towel. They then wonder off around the park, leaving all the parents of the young children to stand and work on their tans. This is a huge problem, and if you are visiting the park with young children GET THERE EARLY, else your day will be ruined. Standing and walking around finding height signs and telling the kids sorry, for 4-5 hours is no fun. The other rides, well who knows, the kids were not big enough, but had to pay the same price for admission, its a bit naughty really, and upsetting. We are residents here, and this project was partially funded by the government who we pay our taxes to. So its upsetting to feel the owners of the park are maxing every penny from it, and forgetting about value for money. And so it went on, people scrambling for seats at restaurants, and other places around the park, fighting over towels and deck chairs. So much planning has gone into the rides, but so little into the customer experience of the whole park. Presently I would encourage any young teenagers, or groups to go and enjoy the attractions, it is definitely value for money for that age group. They can use all of the rides, enjoy the whole park and will come back thrilled by the experience. But if you have a young family, I would advise you to wait until they are all over 110cm, you will then get some value for money. I was not the only unhappy customer, as I spoke with many people visiting the park and got some feedback (maybe something Siam Park staff should do). Some complained about the prices of everything in the park, but thats the usual theme park style, we've got you here so now lets get the maximum spend out of you. Many people did complain about the same things as I found though, advertised as a family day out but nothing for the young kids who still pay the same admission as a 15 year old. No chairs to sit down as they were all taken, and total chaos in the restaurants when trying to get a meal. So its definitely more cash than splash, and I think the owners of Siam Park should either re-think their pricing or invest in more younger attractions. And with the car parking money, buy a few more deck chairs.
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